And so, Grady picked up where he'd left off, channeling the "spirit" of the dead girl. I tried to relax, but startled at every noise and movement, waiting for the children to come and make their presence known.
"What the hell is that?"
I jumped and glanced over to see Kristof staring at Grady, who was waving his arms, rolling his eyes, shaking and moaning.
"I think he's possessed," I said.
"By what? Epilepsy?"
"He's a famous TV medium from the U.K.," I said, as if that explained everything.
Kristof sniffed. "Not so famous that he can afford a decent tailor, evidently. Or acting lessons."
"They aren't letting Eve come back, are they?"
"No." He spat the word. After a moment, he went on. "I have, in the past two years, on occasion, tried to find reasons for them to let Eve return, if only temporarily."
"And they think you're tricking them again."
A humorless laugh. "Not 'again.' I haven't tricked them yet, damnable spirits. Eve's tried too. No luck. You can't blame us, but they get..." A dismissive wave. "Offended, as if we're insulting them, when the fact is that we are the ones who should be offended. We play by their rules. We assist in their enterprises. We are--" a twist of his lips, "--their humble servants, and yet when we ask for the briefest respite from our bargain, you'd think we were the most unrepentant convicts asking for a day pass."
I had no idea what he was talking about, but knew he couldn't explain.
"So they said no."
"They'll 'look into it.' And, perhaps, should I prove to be telling the truth, they'll find someone to help you."
"But not Eve."
He looked away, but not before loneliness and disappointment pushed the bitterness from his eyes. "No. Not Eve."
He pushed to his feet. "This is ridiculous. They cannot expect us to wait on their forbearance and trust that they will find someone suitable. Eve isn't the only person who can help us. The Fates won't like my choice, but that is their problem."
It seems to me that forbearance and trust are things a higher power can reasonably expect from mere mortals. But men like Kristof Nast are not accustomed to being refused, and being dead didn't change that. If his insolent determination helped my case, I wouldn't argue.
"Who are you--?" I began.
A dismissive wave. "You'll see."
NATURE AND SCIENCE
I HAD ANOTHER INTERVIEW after the seance, then nothing. Jeremy would be her
e in a few hours. Robert hadn't found anything useful. Kristof hadn't returned. So I was stuck cooling my heels. I decided to call Paige, check what she knew about rituals involving children. This wasn't a call to make in a public place, so I headed outside.
As I sat down on the front porch, Will hailed me. I greeted the portly young man and he handed me an icy bottle of water.
"I saw you heading outside and thought you might need this. The sun's a killer today."
"That's so sweet. Thank you."
"Oh, and I also wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your segment the other day, with Tansy Lane. Incredible. The whole crew's still talking about it. I think you've made some believers, Ms. Vegas."
I laughed. "Jaime, please. And I hope they're still believers when all this is done, because that definitely wasn't a typical summoning for me. I got lucky, which I can only hope is a good omen for the show."
My gaze strayed toward the cell phone in my hand--a subtle hint that there was something I'd come out here to do.
He stepped closer and lowered his voice. "I also wanted to commend you on how well you handled Angelique."