Texas Tango: A Flint Rock Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

years.   His mother still lives in Naples.   I hear from her a couple of times a year."
     
    Ava sipped tea,
     
    Flint asked, "any of your thirteen hundred clients die or become disabled?"
     
    Ava paused.   "Yes.   Nine have died—that I know about.   Four of cancer, three heart attacks, one of a stroke, and one more that I am not sure about the cause of death.   There may be others that I don't know about.   Some people stay in communication with me after treatment ends, some do not."
     
    "Anyone blame you for any of the deaths?'
     
    "No.   A least I don't think so."
     
    Flint was quiet, thinking, then said, “of course a woman could have stolen that truck and driven it aggressively last night.   The model Harry described to me could be driven by anyone who can drive a stick shift.   How about female clients who might hold you responsible for something they don’t like about themselves or their lives?”
     
    Ava looked at him intensely.   “I’ll make that list right away.”
     
    “While you are at it, do you have any clients who don’t do well with hypnosis or who refuse to let you use it?”
     
    Ava’s eyes widened.   “What makes you ask?"
     
    “Because you spent a year in India learning about it.   I assume that you find it a fast and powerful tool for bypassing guilty secrets.   Those who are hiding something while pretending to ask you to know them might be worth another look.”
     
    Ava smiled, a spontaneous wide smile.   “I like the way you think Flint.   It’s a short list.   In fact no one has refused, but three people were hard of hearing and had trouble with focus.   They came for only two appointments and did not return.”
     
    Ava sat at her computer and typed.   Flint looked at the titles of the spines of books on her rich wooden shelves, then stared through the glass wall at the wet central Texas landscape.   When the page emerged from Ava's printer, she stood and handed it to him.
     
    Ava’s phone sounded.   It was Laura calling to reschedule her psychoanalysis appointment.   Ava had phoned all of her clients before 8:00 A.M.   She decided to clear her calendar for the following week.   She rearranged appointments for all but nineteen who did not answer.   Perhaps they had stayed up late seeing the old year out.   She had left messages for them.
     
    Seconds after Ava hung up, her phone rang again.   It was another call back from a client asking to reschedule.   Flint watched Ava’s body become more erect.   Her voice tone stayed friendly but he heard a slight change.   No suggested time was agreeable for the person to whom Ava was talking.   By the time Ava hung up, Flint knew she did not like the conversation.
     
    He almost let it go, but then he couldn’t think why he should.   “You don’t like the last caller as much as you do Laura,” he observed.
     
    Ava paused, looked a little surprised.   “Did it show that much?   It’s a woman whom I’ve been treating for only a few weeks.   A colleague retired because of ill health.   He recommended me to her.   However, something about me seems to offend her.   I have suggested that she find someone else.   I gave her names and phone numbers of three local possibilities, but she hasn't called them yet.”   Ava thought for a moment.   "Come to think of it, she is a person who doesn't really go into trance.   She says that she has never been able to relax."
     
    Ava’s phone sounded again.   “I have several more clients to reschedule.   It may take me an hour or more.”
     
    Flint knew he could enjoy the day hanging out with Ava.   He also knew that she was tired and stuck.   And he needed to talk to Zeta and Harry.   He gave Ava his card in case she needed his mobile phone number.   “I will call you in a couple of hours,” he said.
     
    “This means you will keep helping me?”
     
    “All I can.”
     
    She gave him a long tight hug.   Flint left knowing she would not