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“It’s exactly what I told the police. She sat down, and I began like I did with you, touching her hands. She was nervous, but everyone is on their first time to a psychic. I’m not a fake, and I don’t scam people.” She turned and stared at Angel who was having those exact thoughts in that moment. Gabe just ignored her comment.
“Why?” asked Gabe. “Why touch her hands?”
“Everyone has an energy, an aura about them. Touching their hands tells me a lot. Are they nervous, are they skeptics, or are they,” she swallowed, staring at the big man across from her, “something else.”
“Okay, so you touched her hands. Then what?”
“I put out five cards, just like always. The first one told me that she would have good fortune in her life. She wasn’t going to be rich or win the lottery, but she wouldn’t want for anything. That’s always important for someone older. They all come in fearful that they won’t have enough money to live out a good life. The next card said that she would have another love in her life soon. Then there was a card that indicated she had a lot of pain in her life.”
“Pain? Like emotional?” asked Angel.
“No. No, I could feel some of that, but this was physical pain. I was seeing her bones, so I asked if it was arthritis.”
“Well, that’s a stretch for an eighty-year-old woman. Almost anyone that age has arthritis,” chuffed Gabe.
“Listen, you have the right to ask me all the questions you want, but you don’t have the right to make disparaging remarks about my occupation. I’m not making fun of the fact that you were in the Army.”
The three men froze, staring at one another and then back at the woman.
“How did you know that?” asked Gabe. “You’d better think carefully on what you say.”
“I knew it because it’s what I do. The woman had arthritis, and yes, many elderly people have it. But she was in considerable pain in her spine because of it.”
“Alright. My apologies,” said Gabe. “Please go on.” Now, he was eyeing the woman with a great deal of suspicion, and intrigue. He tried to remember if he was showing his tattoos at all, but he knew he wasn’t.
“The last card told me that death was close. It was as if a freight train were coming straight for me. I almost couldn’t breathe. She asked me how close, and all I could think to say was ‘now.’ The next thing I knew, I was in the hospital.”
“Did you see the driver?” asked Noah.
“No. It was dark, and the car was dark as well. But I don’t think it was unintentional. You have to know what you’re doing and where you’re going to hit someone along here,” she said, waving her arms along the iron fence. “Whoever it was knew how to go around the barriers and the other artists and vendors here. A few years ago, six people were killed by a drunk driver. Since that time, they put up the barriers around the Square.”
“Had you ever met the woman before?” asked Gabe.
“Never. She made an appointment with me, but I was crazy busy that day. When she came by, almost everyone had left, and she calmly waited until she could speak with me. I finished up with someone else and then she sat right where he is now.” She pointed to Noah, who gave no indication that he’d even heard her.
“Have you ever done a reading for a man named Al or Mike?”
“I do a lot of readings. I don’t ask for people’s names unless they’re booking the appointment online. Al and Mike are pretty common names. Most would only give me a fake name anyway. They’re worried about how this might look to their friends or family.”
“Listen, Serena,” started Angel, “the woman you read was from a senior community called Maison Soleil. Her friend believes she was intentionally killed. These two men are former police officers, and we think they had something to do with all of this.”
She shook her head, already beginning to pack up her table.
“Wait a minute. Where are you going? Did we say something?” asked Gabe.
“You said they were two cops. Al and Mike?”
“That’s right. So, you do know them,” said Gabe.
“Not in the way you think,” she said, shaking her head. “I lived in New York City a long time ago with an ex-boyfriend. He made fun of my abilities as well.” Gabe felt the knife stab and winced.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to doubt you, but you have to understand how unbelievable this might look.”
“Unbelievable as it may look, this is my life. This is my curse,” she said, shaking her head. “Anyway. I left and started traveling around, making a few bucks here and there. When I arrived in Atlanta, I thought I’d found a home. A place where I could make a difference.”
“What happened?” asked Noah.
“One night, this young man, probably nineteen or twenty, comes to see me. I don’t get a lot of men, especially young men. He says that his older brother was murdered, and he was trying to find out who did it. He had a few items that were on his brother when he died. All I could see was glimmering metal.”
