by T. Jones
"Hey, like I said, you've been helping me, I'll help you."
"We'll wait for a while, let things cool down. I can get you in the building. I'm going to act like the son he wishes he had, long enough for him to let his guard down, then we'll get the tape. I'm going to make that son of a bitch wish he'd never laid a hand on me." Billy nodded.
"Anything you want Oz, I got your back, man."
Chapter Seven
"So, how did it go with Callie, Deeann? You two get to know each other really well?" Jane Macdonald snickered and shot a sidelong look at Teresa Blackburn. "The way you were kissing her ass, I thought maybe she'd actually let you kiss her ass."
"Very funny, Jane. No, I did not give Callie any special attention. We spent the day meeting some of the Sisters. She's back at school now, and she has a very serious girlfriend."
"I could fix that for you, Dee, if you want me to. I know a few things about Callie Fisher's past. If she gets to be too much of an inconvenience, I just might have to talk with Jenny."
"Now Teresa, play nice, we can all get along. She really does want to improve the group. And you two know I'm married, I would never fool around with a young girl like that." Deeann managed to keep a straight face for a few moments, but burst out laughing, when the other two women started. "Okay, I mean Jesus, look at her! But the point remains, she will be good for the group. Once the deal goes through, does it really matter? Jane, I know you want to skip town, and Teresa, you've talked about divorcing Frank for years. Are either one of you going to want to stay around and keep doing the work? We can only spend so much money, maybe we take a big payday, then move on."
"I think my Cabana boy's name will be Carlos," Jane Macdonald stared into the distance smiling. "Carlos or maybe Francisco, yeah, I like that better. I'll lay in the sun, and Francisco will rub lotion all over me. And I do mean all over." Teresa chuckled at her.
"Then I'll take Carlos, we wouldn't want him to get lonely. You two need to come up with your funds pretty soon. I'm going to meet with Marsh next week, and we need to be ready with our share."
"Oh sure, actually I brought a check with me." Deeann bent down, grabbing her purse. She opened it and handed Teresa an envelope. Teresa peered into it, frowned, then looked up at Deeann.
"Dee, this check is made out to me."
"Sorry, I couldn't remember the name of the brokerage house, if that's not okay, I can get the bank to issue another cashier's check."
"No, it's okay, I guess it doesn't matter." Teresa rolled her eyes in Jane's direction. "It's just a lot of money to trust me with, but don't worry, I won't skip town with your share."
"Teresa, you've made me three times that over the years." Deeann smiled, picking up her champagne glass. "Besides, we're connected, I could find you anywhere. I am a pretty gifted psychic myself, don't forget."
"I'm glad we're all such old friends," Teresa said with a little edge in her voice. "Heaven forbid that you would have to come looking for me." Jane glanced between them warily.
"I'll get my share over to you tomorrow, Teresa. If I have to find you, I'll just call Carlos." They all laughed, but Teresa gave Dee a sharp look, over her wine glass.
"So Deeann, all kidding aside, you need to keep Callie Fisher away from this business. Danielle is moving on the Marsh kid, hopefully she can keep him away from his old man. What kind of a son would kill his father, anyway? Callie wants to get even with Ozzy, which would be fine if she wasn't so damn independent. As it is, she could try something unexpected, and screw up our plans somehow."
"Or get herself hurt." Deeann added. Teresa smiled at her cohort.
"I certainly wouldn't want that, Dee. You need to spend as much time with her as you can. Keep her busy with other Sisters' business, or drag her into bed, I don't give a shit. But we need to be able to take Ozzy out of the mix, and I don't want Callie around when it happens."
"I'll call her tonight and schedule some more meetings for the weekend. She did say she'd be in town this weekend." Deeann agreed quickly.
"Are you sure you don't want me to come with?" Jane asked, winking at Teresa.
"I saw that!" Deeann frowned, then joined in the laughter. "You two are terrible, I have no plans to seduce Callie Fisher." Both the other women rolled their eyes. "I don't!" After another drink, Deeann picked up her bag, still laughing from the teasing she was receiving, and left the club. Teresa Blackburn stopped laughing, looking suddenly serious.
"Can you believe that idiot actually gave me a cashier's check for five million dollars?"
"No, she has the Gift, but that doesn't mean she's very bright. But why do you want to keep Callie away from Ozzy? She would have a better chance of knowing when he gets crazy enough to go after his Dad."
"That little blonde bats her blue eyes at Dee one time, and she'll spill everything I said. The more Callie thinks I want her to stay away, the more she'll get involved. At the very least, they'll keep each other busy, and out of our deal. Once old man Marsh finishes the stock deal, I don't really care what happens to Ozzy, or Callie Fisher, for that matter."
***
Deeann drove north to the nursing home that housed her husband, parked and walked inside. She always tried to spend a couple of hours with him, even when she was busy with Sisters' business. It bothered her, the tension with Teresa. It hadn't been that way at the start, before Jane and Teresa had become obsessed with money. It had been about trying to make things better, changing little things to improve other people's lives, sometimes even saving them. It had been exciting and challenging, and at times a lot of fun.
Deeann Long sat next to her husband's bed at the nursing home, reading aloud to him. She was well aware that he couldn't hear her, that he hadn't heard anything for months, but it passed the time, and eased her guilt. Logically she knew that she shouldn't feel guilty, that it was mostly the guilt the living felt when they watched the dying. It was normal to feel that way, to be happy it wasn't you. But part of the guilt came from just wanting it to be over. There was no chance that her husband would ever wake up, she had been assured of that by the best doctors money could buy. But he continued to breathe on his own, his heart continued to beat, and she didn't have the strength to tell them to stop nourishment.
She met Terrance Long right after college. He was her father's accountant and twenty- three years her senior. She was attracted to him instantly and pursued him relentlessly, much to the chagrin of her parents. When they threatened to fire him, should she continue to try to win him over, she retaliated by moving out of the house, insisting she would live the impoverished life of a teacher rather than capitulate to their demands. Since her share of the family trust left by her grandfather was only a year away from delivery, there was little danger of her starving, but she made her point. Her parents, and eventually Terrance, both bent to her will, and they were married shortly after Deeann's twenty-fourth birthday.
They were deeply in love. Deeply, but not passionately. Terrance was the kindest, sweetest husband a person could be, and Deeann spent her days trying to find ways to make him happy, and fill both of their lives with joy. There was a lot of that, but not a lot of lovemaking. It wasn't the difference in their age, and it wasn't that they found each other unattractive. Terrance just didn't like to have sex. It wasn't something he was interested in. Deeann tried every manner of seduction, and when that failed, couples therapy, but nothing helped. He was deemed a-sexual, a term Deeann wasn't familiar with.
He had warned her, before the nuptials, that while he found her smart and beautiful, he wasn't like most men. Sex wasn't a priority for him. Stubborn, and convinced that her passion and enthusiasm would increase his libido, she promised that it didn't matter, and they married anyway. In every area except the bedroom, it was a wonderful marriage. They remained childless, which Deeann learned was the result of her infertility, not the fact that they seldom had sex. She resigned herself to living without that satisfaction. As the years passed, rarely having sex, became never.
&n
bsp; Ten years into their marriage, her husband suggested the unthinkable by encouraging her to find a lover. She was furious with him for even thinking it, but at thirty-four, Deeann was striking and vibrant. She told herself she would be fine being celibate, but she craved a lover's touch. Being involved with the Sisters had taken her mind off her desires, at first. She never told her husband about her strange abilities, the spot-on premonitions, the uncanny sense of which stocks were going to do well. The group was growing, but Bess Fisher had gone, and with her, the will to stop Teresa's manipulations. She was constantly looking for new ways to bend the vagaries of Fate to suit her needs. Using sex to change the course of destiny wasn't a new concept, certainly it had been done throughout the course of history, and some of the members thought it was an acceptable tool, most notably Teresa.
Jane Macdonald had taken a wayward husband or two out for drinks, even slept with a few. Keeping a man from his date with Destiny was easy, just smile and put a hand on his leg. He was likely to forget the appointment that seemed important enough to drive drunk across town, killing three innocents in the process. While the cause seemed good, Deeann refused to have sex with a man other than her husband, and she had been clear about that with Teresa. But, Teresa wondered, what about a woman? Jane found the idea abhorrent, and refused. A tryst with a married man was in her wheelhouse, but no girls.
Deeann resisted at first. A girl had kissed her once at a college party and she had kissed back. It was dark and they were drunk, sitting in a quiet corner of a sorority house. It was college, an excuse to experiment, and Deeann enjoyed it up to a point. When the other girl's hand wandered under her skirt to the inside of her thigh, she curiosity failed her, and she made a quick exit. It occurred to her more than once that she had made a mistake. It was college, after all. When the opportunity presented itself again years later, the timing seemed better. The conversation with her husband was still fresh in her mind, he wanted her to be happy, and sexually fulfilled. It seemed like fate had presented a compromise of sorts. Have an affair, just not with a man. She finally agreed to try it.
Elaine Hopkins was a young college student, failing French and in need of a tutor. With a Master's degree, and a minor in French, Deeann had no problem arranging things. Elaine had just turned nineteen. She wasn't especially pretty, but clear eyed and supple, with the softest skin Deeann had ever felt. Elaine was destined to spend the next fifty-seven years of her life miserable, in loveless marriages to three men, all because she refused to acknowledge to herself that she was gay. Deeann spent many long, heated afternoons exploring her own desires, and Elaine's love of the female body. It turned into a protracted affair, lasting much longer than it was meant to, and in the end, it hurt them both. But Fate had been changed. Elaine would go on to find love with another woman, and Deeann was careful after that, not to let things go on for too long, or become too serious. She intended to be married to her husband until death parted them, a time that seemed to be drawing near.
Deeann leaned forward, gently stroking her husband's forehead, listening to him breath. Her sight wasn't as clear as some of the members, certainly not as good as Callie Fisher's, but she knew that her husband would pass soon. There was a time for all things, and big changes were coming. Changes for her, and for the Sisters.
***
Callie tossed her backpack on the coffee table and dropped onto the couch next to Jenny. Jenny cringed and let out a yelp. "Oh my God, don't touch me anywhere! Everything hurts. I worked out for two hours this morning with Danielle, I can hardly walk."
"So, pizza for supper?" Callie smiled. "Not much good as a cook, if you can't walk."
"Is that why you keep me around?" Jenny hoisted her sore legs up and deposited them across Callie's lap. "Rub my feet, can you?"
"Good grief, you are no good to me at all. I slaved at school all day, and now I suppose all you want to do is lie here?"
"And get my feet rubbed, you're forgetting about that." Callie laughed and started rubbing the redhead's feet. Jenny sighed happily. "I wish you were coming home with me Thursday morning, I'm not going to like sleeping alone."
"Can't, I have a date." Jenny rolled her eyes, not taking the bait.
"Anybody I know?"
"Just Deeann Long. She wants us to spend all weekend talking to more members. Don't worry, I think I can resist her charms, plus I don't really think she's after me. I just like getting a rise out of you."
"Well it didn't work, I'm a confident twenty-first century woman."
"With ticklish feet!" Jenny screamed, suddenly not too sore to jump from the couch and run up the stairs with Callie right behind her.
***
Jenny left Thursday morning after dropping Callie off at school. She had an afternoon shift, which gave her plenty of time in case the roads were icy. Callie didn't like the idea of Jenny on the road by herself, but the Camry was new, and a lot more reliable than Jenny's car. Callie was sure that the car in her dream, had not been hers, and that Jenny was not involved. But it seemed odd to her that she couldn't remember any of the details in the dream. She hoped painting it might help bring things into focus, it usually did.
Danielle picked her up after school. The tall woman looked withdrawn, and a little angry.
"What's up with you? You look pissed off. I can always grab a bus, if you're busy."
"No, it's not that. I had a meeting with Teresa. She wants me to move faster with Ozzy. Whatever deal they're working on involves him and old man Marsh somehow, I'm sure of it.
I really don't like the idea of screwing that slime ball, but Teresa wants to know what he's up to. She said she doesn't think you can get in his head, even with me as a go between."
"I don't know either, but if you're going to go through with it, bring him back here. I'm not sure if proximity is important or not. Getting into the Sisters heads just kind of happened, and maybe it was possible because they're all like us. Maybe it isn't possible to get any specifics from Ozzy. I don't know how we're going to pin anything on him, without some special insight. We could get him busted for drugs, but the cops are probably on Marsh's payroll. God, don't sleep with him just because I want to get even with him, there's got to be an easier way."
"Teresa doesn't think so. She doesn't seem very interested in getting Oz for what he did to Natalie, it's more about keeping him away from the old man. Not sure what that's about. Maybe, when you're on your date with Deeann on Saturday, you can pick her brain."
"Jesus, it's not a date, why does everyone keep saying that?" Danielle bit back a smile.
"Actually, Jenny told me to give you some shit about it."
"Great, now you're on her side. I thought you were my friend!"
"But she's just too adorable, she gets me to do whatever she wants, and she doesn't have any abilities, just that cute smile."
"She has that effect on people. I still can't believe how lucky I am that she cares about me so much. But, it worries me, having her anywhere near all this. I've had a couple dreams where she's in danger because of me, dreams about her and Oz. If he ever tried to hurt her, that would be the end of him."
"We'll find a way to get him for what he did to Natalie, Callie, without you going to jail. So, I guess I'll have to act like I'm falling for Ozzy quicker than I wanted to."
"Why? Because Teresa says so? I'm guessing you know better than Teresa how to get information out of a guy. I think you're right, make it too easy and he'll lose interest. When are you going out?"
"Tomorrow night I guess. Don't worry, I won't bring him back here, but I might have to go to his place, give him just enough to get him worked up."
"I don't know. Don't get him too worked up, what if he doesn't want to stop?" Danielle smiled.
"Then I'll break his thumbs. No means no, he'll behave one way or another. I want him to think I'm just a little too classy to screw him right away. When we get to that point, I'll bring him here. Maybe if he's enjoying himself enough, he won't realize you're roaming around in his he
ad."
"I don't know, the Sisters sure knew right away. But then Ozzy is about as thick skinned as they come. Maybe, in the throes of passion, I can get a sense of what he's thinking, other than the obvious, I mean."
"The main thing is he can't have any idea of what you're doing. I can't imagine he would, even if he was aware of it, he wouldn't believe it was possible. If you go slow, you might be able to tell if he knows. Shit, I don't know. Even though I'm clairvoyant myself, it's hard for me to believe that you can just pick his brain. Even all the Sisters together only get vague impressions, not individual thoughts."
"Well, it's worth a try. Anything I get, plus what he tells you, will help. We need to find out why Teresa wants him gone. She wanted him dead, and probably still does. I keep thinking it has to do with the money, the big deal the three of them are involved in."
"You need to work on Deeann, she knows more than she's saying. Be really friendly, you know she wants you. I'm taking one for the team, you can too." Callie laughed.
"Honestly, I'd be getting the better deal. But I'm not going to lead her on, she's a nice person, just lonely. I really think she's had her fill of Teresa too. I'll see if I can get anything out of her, but it's possible she doesn't know anything, or Teresa's lying to her too."
"So, what are you up to tonight?"
"Art History and some Economics. I really don't know why I'm even going to school, this whole Sisters' business takes up a lot of time. I suppose sooner or later I'll have to get a real job, a degree might be nice at some point." Danielle looked at her oddly.
"You know, my only source of income is from the Sisters, right? I get that you don't like Teresa, but she is the one that controls the purse strings. It's great to have a noble purpose and all that, but we have to live too."
