The Broken Clock is Right Thrice: Confessions of a Fake Psychic Detective #4

Chapter 29 - The Mark

"You say you want the secret to life? I'll tell you. It's simple. If you know which way the wind is blowing, you can go anywhere and become anything. Don't worry about Imposter Syndrome. Most people are shadows. They make a lot of movement and they seem mysterious, but they are all products of their environments and there's no depth to them."

~ Zandra, to a client, Sneak Peek

Zandra gives Hank's hair another pull. He gets to his feet, and Zandra whispers in his ear, "Run and hide, and don't come out."

Hank doesn't need to be told twice. He scurries out of the lounge in the direction opposite Sunglasses.

Sunglasses, his hand still in his jacket pocket, cocks his head in surprise and says, "You're going to let him get away?"

Drop the act.

"Please. We're adults, child," Zandra says and coughs, this time without muffling the blast in her sleeve.

"I don't understand," Sunglasses says.

Zandra points the lawnmower knife at the pocket with the Spirit Box inside. She says, "It'd be obvious you were recording me if you used your fancy phone. You thought you'd be clever and catch me on the Spirit Box. You're not that clever, Sunglasses, or whatever it is your real name happens to be."

Sunglasses slides the Spirit Box out of his pocket and places it on a nearby table. The revolver fills his empty hand.

"Put the knife down, Zandra. Let's talk about this," Sunglasses says, maintaining his usual robotic professionalism.

I'm only 20 feet away from you. Even with my bad ankle, I can still get to you with the knife before you shoot me dead.

"No, here's what I think you'd actually like me to do," Zandra says. "I think you'd like to record me saying I think Hank was out to kill me. That gives you a fall guy to use after you actually kill me, but not before I tell you where the discreet assets are hidden in this place. Because that's what this is all really about, isn't it?"

Sunglasses remains unconvinced, even though the revolver is now pointed Zandra's way. He says, "I understand part of who you are is connecting disconnected information, but I'm here to protect you."

Zandra rolls the paracord-wrapped handle of the knife in her hand. She says, "Come on. It's over. You lost. Let's clear the air so we can get on with deciding which one of us is going to haunt this gaudy mansion for the rest of eternity."

"I don't know what you mean."

"Here, does this help?" Zandra says. She reaches with her free hand into the pocket of her purple gown and pulls out a plastic sandwich bag that appears empty.

"It might if I knew what was in it," Sunglasses says.

Upon closer inspection, Zandra realizes she can't see whatever is in the bag, either. She gives the plastic a shake, and a long, yellow-gold sliver prints against the bag.

"It's hair," Zandra says.

"Are you feeling alright?" Sunglasses says.

Never better.

"Do you know where I found this hair? This one little strand of hair?" Zandra says.

"A barber shop?"

"No, smartass. It was stuck to the inside of a tunnel at the hotel, in the room that you booked for me," Zandra says. "It's the last, physical piece of evidence I needed to prove what I knew the second we first met. Put that on your fancy smartphone, chucklefuck."