Page 34 of The Aura Answer
“I make a living out of spinning straw into gold. I’ll see what I can do with these before giving up.” He turned to the kids. “What if I just hang the tent over a bush right now so you can crawl under it?”
They cheered, too young to disdain makeshift toys. Nice that he could feel like a hero for little kids.
The schoolteacher stayed behind to study the sketches. He wasn’t trying to impress her anyway, was he?
As they pushed through the gate, Pris leaned out the back door waving a phone. “Have you seen Evie? Sheriff wants to talk to her.”
“Left her heading for the courthouse. Does he want to question ghosts?” Lawmen always worried him, but he played blasé well. He chose a couple of branches that might support the vinyl and began arranging it.
Pris relayed the message and started to retreat. Her phone beeped again. Nick’s did the same. Gracie emerged carrying hers, looking worried.
“It’s Jax,” she said. “Sammy Walker has apparently been robbed and murdered, and Evie’s car was the only one seen over there.”
The schoolteacher didn’t even look at him accusingly, even though she knew Nick had just been there, not Evie.
Thirteen
Evie saton the freezing attic stairs and tried to reason with a spirit who hadn’t been too rational while alive. “You sketched Layman and Judge Rhodes on the courthouse steps. Why? Did you hear what they were saying?”
Bertie’s colors rotated in and out of faint. He was a challenge to read.
Nah, man, I don’ know nothin’, he insisted.I was just followin’ the turds and their buddies around, y’know, and they looked... I don’ know. Shifty? So I drew them.
The turds. The Turlocks had earned that epithet over the years. Did that mean Block’s lawyer or his son had been nearby when the money exchange happened? How could she figure out who theirbuddieswere? How many questions would Bertie answer? She tried not to press too much.
“One of your sketches shows Mr. Patel outside his fruit stand. Did he look shifty?” She’d already ascertained that Toby and Verity had been sketched because they were helping Bertie. And he liked Corvettes. He’d not said anything about Teddy Jr. being present though. He seemed to leave him out of most of the drawings.
Peaches man. Bertie brightened.He gave me peaches. I helped him paint a sign. Nice guy.
This wasn’t getting anywhere. Evie called up another sketch on her phone. “Is this your mother in her vegetable garden?”
He appeared to nod.I help weed and eat the tomatoes. She’s sad.
Evie studied the brief lines creating the woman’s face. She could see the wrinkles and worried frown. “Is she sad about you? Or something else?”
She has to move. I wanted to help so she wouldn’t have to. Bertie’s colors dimmed to gray.Gallery said they’d help.
“Gallery” probably meant Verity or her mother. “So you gave all your work to the gallery to sell?”
Not all,he said defensively.I sketch a lot.
She was lousy at interrogation. In frustration, she asked, “How do you choose your subjects?”
His colors brightened a little.People I like, mostly. Places I like. He dimmed, as if a gray thought passed through his limited brain.Gallery Girl wanted sketches of places the creep went, but he doesn’t go anywhere. She said follow his minions.
Gallery Girl.Probably Verity.Creep? Did anyone saycreepanymore?Minions? She imagined little yellow animated bullets running around town. Focus, Evie.
It would be a waste of time attempting to pry names out of a ghost, and she never knew how much time she had. How did she get where she wanted to go? “So where did his minions go?”
Like I said, I followed the turds. They talk to the creep, and they make my mom sad. So I got them good. He sounded as satisfied as his aura looked.
“How did you—” The closet door opened and Bertie vanished.
Jax leaned against the door frame, shivered, and glanced around. “Your phone is dead again.”
She pulled it out and checked. Yup. Bertie had drained it. “Hazard of the trade. Did you need me for anything urgent?”
“Not to be scary or anything, but the sheriff is looking for you, and none of us could reach you, so...” He didn’t look too concerned but straightened when she stood and dusted herself off.
