Page 5 of Gumbo, Ghosts, and Deadly Deception
“Thin?”
She glanced up at me. Her eyes were dark, not just in color, but stormy, shrouded. “The veil. Between here and there. Some places are thinner than others. Your house is one of them.”
I gave a half-smile. “That explains the electric bill.”
Delia didn’t laugh. Instead, she reached into her bag and pulled out a deck of cards. They were worn, well-loved, and bound in a purple silk cloth. Purple was definitely her color. She began to shuffle, slowly, the sound of paper on paper hypnotic.
“I shouldn’t,” she murmured, almost to herself. “But I have to know.”
“Know what?”
She laid three cards face down on the table between us. Her fingers hesitated over the middle one, then flipped it.
The Tower.
Lightning striking a crumbling stone structure. People falling. Fire.
I knew just enough about tarot to recognize it wasn’t exactly a “have a nice day” kind of card.
“I knew it,” she whispered. “It’s coming.”
I leaned forward. “What is?”
Before she could answer, the lights blinked. On, off, on.
We both looked up. In the hallway, I swore I heard a creak. Then another.
One of my guests? Probably the teen girls sneaking out to find college boys and cheap beer.
Teddy raised his head and made a sound low in his throat.
Delia gathered the cards quickly, hands shaking. “I shouldn’t have come. But I didn’t know where else to go.”
“What do you mean? You’re safe here,” I said, not entirely sure it was true.
She shook her head. “No one’s safe when the Tower falls.”
“What were you dreaming about?” I wasn’t even sure why I asked her that. It was my personal stance that dreams didn’t mean a doggone thing. They’re just brain gumbo. Everything thrown in the pot and then gets stirred up at night.
"Visions, really.”
Visions were even less believable to me than dreams. I was pretty sure they were just dreams that occurred when the sleeper was semi-lucid. Trapped halfway between awake and full sleep.
“They're usually metaphorical. Symbols, colors, feelings. But this one was different. Specific. I saw someone screaming. A woman with dark hair. And there was water everywhere, but not like flooding. Like...like crying."
That really didn’t sound specific to me.
“Do you want some tea?” I asked, because I still wanted a cup myself and I honestly didn’t know what to say to Delia.
“I would love some, thanks.”
Glancing around as I headed to the kitchen, Teddy left safely perched on Delia’s feet, I looked up the wide staircase and down the narrow hallway that led to the back door. I could see it was locked. A glance to the left showed the front door was locked as well. At this time of night, guests used a keycode to get in either door. There was no sign of my other guests.
When I returned, I handed the cup to Delia. She had retrieved Teddy from the floor and was petting him. She took the cup with her free hand, took a sip, and set the cup down, never pausing in her Teddy pets. He shot me a smug look.
"Delia, do you really think a séance is a good idea because?—"
She cut me off.
