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Phoebe’s voice went frosty. “I can assure you, I left explicit instructions that the building was to be left empty for twenty-four hours. I’m not an amateur, you know.”
“Nevertheless, I know what I feel.”
“Maybe this disturbing aura you’re feeling is just the ghost,” Tom said mildly.
Allie forced herself not to look at him.
“Perhaps.” Madame Gloria puckered her lips in distaste. “Or perhaps not.”
“Maybe if you describe this feeling, we can help.” Viola nodded toward Gus. “We spent a lot of time inside this building.”
“Very well. I’ll try to articulate what I’m sensing.” Madame Gloria closed her eyes and began swaying.
This was more like it. Allie closed her eyes as well and tried to concentrate. A vision of Tom staring down at her as he slowly rocked inside her popped into her head. Oops. Nope. Don’t concentrate on that.
Last night was important to me.
“Yeah, right,” she muttered. What a line!
Phoebe’s grip on her hand tightened. “Hush!” she admonished Allie.
“Sorry,” Allie whispered.
Okay, concentrate. She’d think about the dead—no—the non-living entity they were trying to communicate with.
“I sense a great disturbance in the force,” Gloria announced.
Oh, Madame Gloria did not just go there.
Allie didn’t have to look at Tom to know what he was thinking. Because she was thinking it, too. Madame Gloria was a quack. How very…disappointing. She mentally sighed. She could still write the article. She’d just have to put the emphasis on the novelty behind the séance, not its actual authenticity.
“It’s passion,” Madame Gloria said. “The disturbance involves a great deal of passion.”
“Like a murder?” Phoebe sounded as excited as a Chihuahua on crack.
“Perhaps. But…no, I don’t think so.” Allie could have told them there hadn’t been a murder in the senior center. But she kept her mouth shut.
As long as you know that before you leave town, you and I are finishing this conversation. My way.
What did that mean anyway? His way? Who did he think he was? Frank Sinatra?
Madame Gloria made a tsking sound. “This is a different sort of passion. One that had been long denied. And only very recently satisfied.”
Allie’s eyes flew open to find Tom staring at her. She shut her eyes again. Coincidence. Madame Gloria’s choice of words were just a coincidence.
“I sense a huge range of emotions here,” Madame Gloria continued, her voice rising with enthusiasm. “Betrayal, sadness, anger and…something else.”
“Like what?” Gus asked.
Roger leaned forward in his chair. “Yeah, like what?”
“A release. A very great release. Right here in this exact same spot.”
Okay, this was getting voyeuristically creepy. The table had been set up in the same spot where the air mattress had been last night. A
llie peeked around the room. No one was looking at her, except Tom, but Allie refused to make eye contact with him. Her palms began to dampen. She tried to pull her hand out of Phoebe’s to wipe off some of the moisture, but Phoebe’s bony fingers had her in a death grip.
Madame Gloria shifted in her chair, causing her bracelets to jangle against one another. “Perhaps if I concentrate a bit more. Let’s start again. Everyone must clear their minds and focus. The more communal energy we create the harder it will be for the spirit to resist us. And this time, no talking,” she instructed. “All this input is only confusing the spirit. My voice must be the only one he or she hears.”
