River's Edge

by Terri Blackstock

  A nervous chuckle went across the room, and then Graham’s wife—who Blair knew held a job as a nurse at a Savannah hospital—came into the audience with a velvet bag. A spotlight followed her around the room as people dropped in their objects.

  “Wanna put anything in to test him?” Blair asked Cade on a whisper.

  “No, I don’t.”

  “I have something.” Rani dug through her purse as the wife headed in her direction. She pulled out a big tortoise-shell barrette. “It’s Lisa’s.”

  Cade stiffened even more. “Do me a favor, and don’t let them know it’s hers.”

  “Okay, but he’ll know. You’ll see.”

  Amber came to their table, and Rani dropped the barrette in. After accepting a few more items, she pranced back up to the stage and handed the bag to Carson.

  Carson sat on a stool, which had been spray-painted gold, and reached in for the first object. He pulled out a handkerchief and held it by one corner with two fingers.

  “I hope this isn’t used.” Laughter rippled over the crowd. He shook the cloth out, revealing a flower embroidered at the center of it. “I’m sensing that this handkerchief belongs to a woman.” Again, laughter.

  He laid it across his knee and stroked his hand across it. “A very pretty woman. I’m seeing bright sunshine associated with this handkerchief. This could be a woman who works outside, maybe spends a lot of time at the beach.”

  A woman at one of the tables began to laugh, and the group around her began to whisper.

  “Rocket science,” Cade muttered. “We live on the ocean.”

  “Is this yours?” Carson asked the woman.

  “Yes,” she said as the spotlight sought her out.

  His face sobered. “You’ve recently been to a wedding or a funeral. Am I right about that?”

  She caught her breath. “Oh, my gosh. Yes, I’ve been to a wedding.”

  “How hard is that?” Cade muttered to Blair. “Everybody’s been to a funeral or a wedding.”

  “You met a man there,” Carson went on. “He might have been in the wedding party…or maybe just a guest. Is that right?”

  “That would cover just about every man there,” Blair whispered.

  Rani shushed her.

  “Yes. He was an usher.”

  “And some romance may have developed.”

  The woman hesitated, but he kept going. “Not really a romance, but just some interest…maybe a little chemistry?”

  She smiled as if she’d been caught. “Maybe.”

  “I think that man that you met may actually be someone you need to get to know a little better.”

  Her eyebrows came up. “Really?”

  “I see another wedding in your future. Only this time you’re the one wearing white.”

  The group at her table began to laugh raucously. The crowd applauded.

  Cade leaned over to Blair’s ear. “And how can you refute anything he just said? All you can do is wait to see if it happens. Smoke and mirrors. And if she gets married, she’ll think he got it right. He predicted her walking down the aisle in white.”

  Blair thought about his prediction about her own marriage. It had been specific, that Cade would propose. But was it such a stretch? Wasn’t it what she’d hoped for? If it happened, did it mean that Carson Graham was gifted or that he was just a good guesser?

  Or was he off-base altogether since there had been no mention of any kind of commitment between them, much less marriage?

  Blair watched as Carson pulled out an unsmoked cigarette with lipstick stains on the filter. He held it up, took a sniff of it, and turned it around in his fingers. “This belongs to someone who is trying to quit smoking.”

  The crowd chuckled.

  “But this person is also grieving over the death of someone she loved.”

  “Oh, he’s right!” a woman said, and the spotlight quickly found her. “Yes, that’s true.”

  “It was someone very close to you.”

  Blair thought that could apply to her. In fact, it could apply to almost everyone.

  The woman paused, as if not sure whether to help him or not. “My mother,” she blurted out.

  “You’ve got to stop blaming yourself,” he said suddenly.

  The woman just stared at him, stricken.

  Blair’s mind raced critically ahead. Wasn’t guilt a natural aspect of grief? Didn’t everyone who’d lost a parent blame themselves for something they hadn’t done?

  “You have regrets over the way you treated her,” Carson said. “You want to know if she’s forgiven you. But she wants you to know that there’s nothing to forgive.”

  Whether he’d hit the nail on the head or not, the audience sat spellbound, hanging on every word.

  “What, is he a medium now too?” Cade whispered.

  Carson came out into the audience and made his way to the woman. He handed the cigarette back to her. “You’ve also been sad that your mother won’t be at your wedding.”

  The woman gasped. Blair looked at Cade.

  “Engagement ring,” Cade whispered. “Either that, or she’s a plant.”

  Maybe…but maybe not.

  “She wants you to know that she will be there. She’s not going to miss it for anything.”

  The woman began to cry, and the man next to her pulled her against him.

  Rani turned back to them with tears in her eyes. “Isn’t he wonderful? He’s given her so much comfort.”

  Blair didn’t say anything.

  Carson dug into Amber’s bag again. This time he came up with the barrette Rani had dropped in.

  Cade shot Rani a look, reminding her not to react.

  “How can you think he’s not for real?” she whispered. “He told us where she was!”

  “Please, Rani,” Cade whispered. “Just sit tight. See what he says.”

  “All right, but only to prove it to you.”

  Carson stood among the tables, holding the barrette to his head. “This barrette belongs to a blonde woman. I’m picturing a pretty woman with blondish hair.”

  Blair looked at Cade. Lisa was a brunette.

  Rani looked distressed.

  “Kind of a sandy blonde, with a little brown. Highlights of auburn.”

  “He didn’t mention gray,” Cade muttered under his breath.

  Carson looked around the room, as if reading the faces to see whom this might belong to. “I get the impression this barrette belongs to a very troubled person.”

  Cade glanced at Rani, saw that it was taking all her effort not to respond.

  “Who put this in here?” he asked finally. “I need to see you. I’m getting some very vivid impressions…”

  Rani looked back at Cade, but he slowly shook his head.

  “Don’t want to tell me?” Carson shrugged then and dropped the barrette back into the bag. “Let’s move on to something else.”

  Rani shot Cade a condemning look. “I should have stood up.”

  “Why?” Cade whispered back. “If you had stood up, he would have known right away that it was something to do with Lisa. That’s all that’s been on your mind lately.”

  Blair leaned toward Rani. “If he was for real, Rani, wouldn’t the object have told him something?”

  “He said he got some vivid impressions! Maybe they were too vivid. Maybe he just had more scruples than to blurt them out.”

  “Or maybe he was drawing a blank,” Blair said.

  Rani sat there for a few moments longer, as Carson made more educated guesses about the people whose objects had been in that bag. Finally, she got up and strode out.

  “Guess she’s mad,” Cade said, “but maybe she learned something.”

  They watched as Carson demonstrated his performance skills and his keen ability to read body language. But it clearly wasn’t magic.

  When they were finally driving home, Blair looked over at Cade. “If the guy’s a fraud, how did he know where Lisa’s body was?”

  “That is exactly what I int
end to find out.”

  CHAPTER 48

  She’s coming!” Sadie’s cry shook the walls of Hanover House the next day. “Mama’s getting out tomorrow, and she’s agreed to come here!” She bounced down the stairs and into the kitchen, and she grabbed Caleb off the floor. “Caleb Seth Caruso, your mommy’s coming home!”

  Morgan felt the staggering relief taking hold of her, but even as it did, a profound sadness followed. “Are you sure she’s coming here?”

  “Yes. She called collect and said that they’re releasing her tomorrow! I can’t believe it,” she squealed. “I’ll have my whole family back together. This is the new beginning that Mom needs.”

  It was the new beginning Sadie needed, too. Maybe there would be healing for her in Sheila’s release, but Morgan couldn’t imagine it being best for Caleb.

  Or for her.

  As soon as she was able to get away without Sadie wondering why, she slipped out and drove to Blair’s house. She needed for her sister to pray with her.

  Blair saw the pain on her sister’s face the moment she let her in. “Oh, no. Sheila refused to come?”

  “No, she’s coming tomorrow.” Tears hung in Morgan’s eyes, ready to shatter. “I know I should be happy, but I’m scared, Blair.”

  Blair was struck by the frantic expression on Morgan’s face, the smear of mascara under her eyes as if she’d cried on the way over, the nervous way she kept wiping her hands on her jeans and sliding them into her pockets.

  “Sit down,” Blair said.

  Morgan pulled out a chair at Blair’s kitchen table and dropped into it. Blair wished she had some cookies to offer her, like their mother would have done. If not cookies, then wisdom. But she didn’t have much of that, either.

  Morgan was the wise one, the more mature Christian, the one who cast her cares before the Lord and left them there. Morgan had prayed so often for Blair, but it was only recently that she had been able to ask for prayer in return. Blair was glad that pattern had been broken.

  “What specifically do you want me to pray, Morgan?”

  “That I’ll love her.” Morgan wiped the smear of mascara under her eyes. “That I’ll be a bigger person. I’m so disappointed in myself, Blair. I should want what’s best for Caleb, not myself. If I can give Caleb back his mother and teach her how to parent him, then I’d be glorifying God. But I have these selfish thoughts.”

  “How does Jonathan feel?”

  Morgan shook her head. “He’s worried, too. But I’m Caleb’s primary caretaker. I do everything for him. How can I turn it all over to her?”

  “Morgan, that’s a natural response. You need to stop beating yourself up.”

  “Do I? Or am I just an ungrateful wimp?”

  “No, Sis. You have a tender mother’s heart that’s just about broken in two. One side for your miscarried baby, and the other side for Caleb.

  Morgan lost it then, and Blair pulled her into her arms and held her for a long time. She needed to pray. A fierce sense of responsibility gripped her, and she started to pray aloud. She felt the Holy Spirit directing her thoughts and words, administering a healing balm over her sister’s heart.

  When they’d finished praying, Blair let her sister go. “Sis, you rescued Caleb and Sadie from pure evil. You’ve loved them and given them things that they’ve never had before. Even if the day comes when Sheila takes them away, I know you would do it all over again.”

  “Of course I would.”

  “It’s going to be all right. You’re just like Mama. You give and give, and every time it glorifies God. Sometimes it’s going to hurt. Break your heart, even. But you’ll keep doing it, because that’s the way you are.”

  Morgan reached for her again, and they wept together until there were no more tears.

  Later that day, Morgan lay on the bed, curled up next to Jonathan.

  “It’s gonna be okay, baby,” he said. “I know it is. We’ll make it work. God is looking out for Caleb. He’s going to take care of him.”

  “But I want to take care of him.”

  “You will. Sheila will need your help. She’ll be grateful for it.”

  Morgan wondered if that was true. The woman she’d seen in jail a few days ago didn’t seem grateful or even willing to let Morgan help.

  “You know, we need to talk about where we’re going to put her.”

  “I was thinking Mrs. Hern’s room, since she’s gone to the nursing home.”

  “Or Gus’s room.”

  They hadn’t had the chance to really consider Gus’s request. “I guess we need to talk about that, don’t we?”

  “Yeah,” Jonathan said. “I’ve been praying about him and Karen a lot.”

  “So have I. What do you think?”

  Jonathan sat up and leaned back against the post at the foot of the bed. “Ordinarily, I would say that it’s way too soon for Karen, that she needs to finish our program, that she doesn’t need to take on the responsibility of being a wife.”

  “But this isn’t an ordinary situation.”

  “No, it isn’t. Karen has the baby, and Emory needs a father.”

  “Gus would love to be his daddy,” Morgan said. “He’s been around since he was born. I have no doubt in my mind that Gus is ready to handle the responsibility of a family. If they stay here, then Karen can finish the program, and we can help her with her parenting skills and give her a solid foundation to overcome her addictions once and for all.”

  “Besides,” Jonathan said, “I hated to see Gus leave. He’s like family.”

  Morgan smiled. “Then we’re going to give them our blessing?”

  Jonathan sighed. “Are we crazy?”

  “I don’t think so. I mean, I’ve been thinking that maybe this was all part of God’s provision for Karen and Emory. Maybe he brought her here so that she’d meet Gus. Emory’s father is a violent, abusive drug dealer who had no intention of marrying her, and even if he did, he’d put Emory in danger. Maybe God was taking care of her by making Gus fall in love with her.”

  Jonathan reached across the bed and kissed her. “As if we didn’t have enough to do, now we’ve got a wedding to plan.”

  “Let’s go tell them!”

  They hurried downstairs and found Gus and Karen sitting on the sun porch with Emory.

  “You guys don’t have time for lounging around when you have so much to do,” Jonathan said.

  Gus got up. “You need help with something, mon?”

  “You bet I do,” Jonathan said. “I need help figuring out where we’re going to have your wedding.”

  Karen screamed and shot out of her seat, and they all threw themselves into joyful hugs.

  CHAPTER 49

  The Tuesday issue of the Observer was even more sensational than the one the week before. McCormick had brought it to Cade in his office, and Cade had lost his appetite for breakfast. He scanned it now as his coffee slowly got cold. It was packed full of articles about Ben and Lisa’s life together, about the journey their infertility had taken them on, about the rumored affair…

  Vince Barr had more pictures of Lisa’s wet, dead body in her car, pictures of her parents at the funeral, an article about Rani’s outburst last week, and a lengthy interview with Lisa’s best friend, in which she accused Ben of the murder again.

  He chronicled the searches of Ben’s home, car, boat, and business, complete with interviews with each of his employees, defending his character and denying that he’d ever had another woman.

  He even profiled Ben’s opponents in the election, with questions about whether Jonathan or Sam might have had anything to do with the murder.

  He was thorough, imaginative, and left no stone unturned.

  Too bad one of those big networks who kept interviewing him about the case didn’t just hire him so he could turn to the scandals of politicians and athletic stars—and get off Cade’s back. Cade knew Barr wasn’t about to let the case go until he’d milked it for everything it was worth.

  When Cade finished s
couring the tabloid, he turned to Blair’s new issue, which had also come out today. She’d handled things tastefully and accurately, in contrast to Vince’s fiction, though she hadn’t sold nearly as many copies.

  It wasn’t fair, but it would be all right. Blair would build her circulation, and eventually she would give even the Tampa paper a run for its money. He knew her potential. She could do anything she set her mind to.

  Blair perused the Observer, gritting her teeth at the things Vince Barr had reported. The man had gall.

  She set the paper down and looked around at her cluttered office. She’d been up most of the night trying to get the paper out. She was exhausted. She didn’t know how much longer she could keep up this pace, and for all the work, she still put out a less-than-stellar little paper that few took seriously.

  She’d been thinking about hiring a night staff—maybe two or three people to handle the printing—since she’d bought the paper. But ever since Carson Graham had made the prediction about her buying the South Farm Insurance Building, her imagination had been running wild. What if she really could expand that much, start putting the paper out every day, and grow her circulation to all of Georgia rather than just the island? She was good enough. Her investigative skills, coupled with her research and writing skills, could catapult her to the top echelon of the media in no time…

  Not that she was listening to Carson. She knew better than that. The idea had already been in her mind somewhere, dormant. A dream planted by God. Carson simply awakened it.

  Inspired by the vision, she decided to drive over to that vacant building, just to see. She crossed the island and found the building, which had been vacated when the insurance company had moved to bigger facilities in Savannah. A “For Sale” sign sat on the front lawn. Rani and Lisa’s real estate company had listed the property.

  There was no way she could afford it, but it had been on the market for a long time. Maybe they would consider some sort of lease.

  But even that would be out of her budget, wouldn’t it?

  Her heart began to pound, and her mind began to calculate. She had spent every penny she had in savings to buy the paper. It had been a good investment, but she had nothing left. Still…there might be a way if God was in this…