by Sharon Joss
CHAPTER 9
I walked into the Sand Castle restaurant and immediately spotted Karen waving to me from a table near the window, overlooking the lakeshore. The dining room was nearly empty. At one time, the Sand Castle was considered the swankiest place around. Karen and I came here with our dates for dinner at our senior prom, but I hadn’t been inside the place since. White tablecloths, origami napkins, and wineglasses waiting to be filled decorated each table. The Tuscan garden décor featured trompe-l’oeil murals of crumbling walls and vineyards beneath a night sky; white twinkle lights entwined with plastic vines circled floor-to-ceiling plaster columns placed throughout the room.
“I can’t wait to show you what I found. You’ll be blown away.” Karen vibrated with pent-up excitement. She had a big manila envelope sitting in front of her, which she opened as soon as I sat down.
“I hope so.” Karen’s smile was contagious. “I could use some good news.”
“Hello Karen, so wonderful to see you again. May I offer you ladies some wine?”
I looked up and my heart skipped a beat. Standing before us in an elegant summer suit of dove-grey and a pale silver silk tie was Mr. Wonderful. His tan was accentuated by the bright white of his crisp shirt and ash-blonde hair. Light from the lake reflected aquamarine in his eyes. I kicked Karen underneath the table.
“Oh. Mattie, this is Garlan Russ. He’s the owner. Garr, this is my good friend Mattie Blackman.” Karen introduced us.
“Please, call me Garr, Miss Blackman. Everyone does.” He gave me a half-bow, a charming old-world European touch.
Hel-lo handsome. “Call me Mattie. I think I’ve seen you work out at my gym. Midtown? So nice to meet you.” I gave him my best smile. His eyes were hypnotic.
He smiled and snapped open our napkins and laid one on each of our laps. His muscular hand brushed my thigh, and my skin hummed. Heat rushed to my face.
“I’ll send your waiter right over.” He bowed again and left us.
“Karen, that’s the guy.” I grabbed her elbow. “The one I told you about. My potential future boyfriend.”
“You said you were giving up on men altogether. As I recall, you said there were no good men left on the planet, remember?”
“You’re right, I’m giving up on men. I mean it. But man-oh-Manischewitz, I may have spoken in haste.” Garr greeted a couple at the door and escorted them to a nearby table.
“I admit Garr is a first-class hunk of beefcake, but he’s old enough to be your father.”
“Ooh, you’re just being mean.” I stuck my tongue out at her. “You said Russ. You mean as in Mad Otto’s son?”
Mad Otto earned his nickname during prohibition, and added to his family fortune by supplying bootleg whiskey and gin to speakeasies all over the northeast. Mad Otto’s reputation for ruthlessness and dangerous associates had always kept local law enforcement at a distance. These days, rumors hinted at his dementia and need for round-the-clock nursing care.
“Yes, Garr is Mad Otto’s one and only. Garr took over the restaurant a few years ago. When Otto passes on, Garr is set for life.” Karen raised her eyebrow. “And he is available. Not that you’re interested, I’m sure.”
“Of course not. I’m just curious. How do you know so much?”
“Martin and Garr are old friends and business associates. They play tennis together, and we come here for dinner all the time. Their spinach salads are the best.”
“Maybe I should come here more often.”
“This is probably the last time we’ll eat here. Martin says the place is closing next month.”
“Why? The Sand Castle has been here forever.”
“It’s going to be torn down to make way for the new marina.”
“What a shame. I guess the restaurant business isn’t what it used to be. By the way, I drove by Mystic Properties on my way over, but it was closed.”
“Just call and make an appointment. Sonja says the mage is a spelunker. Is that fascinating or what?”
I rolled my eyes. “Alright, speak English. What the heck is a spelunker?”
“He explores caves.”
I made a face. “Not my idea of a good time.” I gazed longingly at Garr, as he chatted up a party seated at another table. “I like tennis, though. I do like a man with big hands.”
Karen snorted. “Forget the hands, it’s the shoe size that matters. I still can’t believe you stayed with that loser Kip for as long as you did. You probably should stop dating.”
“Are you going to make rude comments about my love life or tell me what you found?”
Karen handed me a stack of copies. “Take a look at this.”
“Why can’t you just tell me? The sooner I get my strange little problem taken care of, the sooner I can resume my normal um, social activities.” I admired how well Garr’s shoulders filled out his suit jacket; I’d bet money the suit was custom tailored.
“Okay, but pay attention.” She put on her glasses and patted the pile of paper sitting in front of me.
“The top article talks about spirit guides, and says you don’t need to be from an indigenous culture to encounter them, and they’re always present in our sub-consciousness. You don’t even have to believe in them to experience them. Sound familiar? And look, here it says clairvoyants are most likely to come in contact with them.”
I nodded and finished skimming the article. “Oh, it says here they can be both animal and spirit.” What a relief. I glanced over and smiled at my gaggle of spirit guides, but they did not respond. “I’ll bet somewhere in that stack of copies you have information on what each animal means.”
“Ta da!” She handed me several more pages, as our waiter arrived with our coffee. We both ordered the house spinach salads with dressing on the side. I waited until he was out of earshot.
“Give me the short version,” I said. “What do these things mean?”
“The lizard is about dreams and keeping an extra careful eye on the people around you. The cat means you’re in a period of magic and mystery. The toad says you’re going through some personal changes, and right now is a good time for solitude.”
“And?”
“Don’t you get it? It’s perfect. You’re discovering your extrasensory abilities. Wouldn’t you agree that’s magical and mysterious?”
“Okay, I’m with you there. How does this help me get rid of them? I can barely breathe. My food tastes like you-don’t-want-to-know. Every time another one shows up, it scares me half to death. After the fifth one popped up this morning, things are getting kind of crowded in Mattie-land.”
Her eyes opened wide. “Five? Are you kidding? When did this happen?”
“When I woke up this morning, there was a disgusting rat-thing sitting next to the others at the foot of my bed. The snake creature showed up right after I talked to you this morning. They have the same skin and yellow eyes as my other three, but of the five, the toad and the rat are definitely the worst.” Between discreet hits off my dryer sheet and bites of spinach salad, I gave Karen the details about my morning visit from Agent Porter.
“This is getting complicated. I think the mage is our best bet to tell us what’s going on.”
I sighed. “I sure hope he’s as good as you say.”
“Listen to you. Yesterday you thought you had teratosis. Then you thought you were going nuts. Now you’ve gone beyond the explainable. You’re psychic. You have spirit guides. That’s huge progress, if you ask me. A lot of people in this are are paranormal.”
“Name one.”
“Mayor Brunson is a registered psychic. It came up during the election last year. It's perfectly respectable, practically mainstream.”
I sighed. “Okay, you win. I think I need a little time to get used to the idea, but yeah, I think you may be right. The only thing is, I’m not sure Agent Porter is going to understand about these spirit messengers. Would you come with me?”
Garr returned to our table. “Ma
y I offer you ladies some dessert? We have a selection of fine seasonal fruit sorbets, or a chocolate lava cake, if you prefer.” He spoke to me this time. I blushed.
“Just the check please, Garr.” Karen gave me an exaggerated eyebrow wiggle. I kicked her again.
I’ll send Dennis right over. A pleasure to meet you, Mattie. Enjoy your afternoon, ladies.” He winked at me as he left the table.
I smothered a gasp. “Did you see that?”
“When’s the last time you actually went on a date?”
My eyes followed him, helplessly. “When I didn’t have to pay? I don’t remember.”
“Speaking of dating, my cousin Ramona ran into your brother with Zoey Nussmeyer at Wegmans a couple of months ago.” She made a face.
I shook my head. “I don’t understand what’s gotten into him lately. He used to tell me everything, but now I get a feeling he’s hiding something from me. I had no idea he was dating Zoey. ”
“Well, not anymore.” She reached out and touched my arm. “Zoey’s dead.”
“What?”
“Don’t you ever listen to the news? She was one of the first Night Shark victims they found. The wounds were so horrific, they had to use DNA to identify her.”
I pushed away my salad. “Oh no.”
“It’s been in all the papers. All the victims have been from Shore Haven.”
“That can’t be. They found a body over in Picston yesterday.”
“Yeah. It was Joanne Reynolds.”
“The Sheriff’s wife? Oh my gosh, they live right down the street from Lance.”
Karen nodded. “Be careful. Make sure you keep your doors locked. And you may not know this, but she had a registered demon.” She checked her watch. “I’ve got to get going. I wrote the mage’s phone number on the envelope.”
“Would you come with me? I know its short notice, but couldn’t you take the afternoon off?”
“Sorry, Adam has a doctor’s appointment at two. Just tell Agent Porter the truth. You’ll be fine.”
“Okay. I guess I’m still getting used to the idea. I don’t know what’s worse: the fact that I’m psychic or that you were right.” We both laughed.
“Don’t worry, Mattie. Everything is going to work out, your luck is about to change.”
“I hope so,” I said. “I want my life back.”
“Let me know what the mage says.”
I followed her out of the parking lot, and turned my car up the street toward the Thruway. I had a date with Agent Porter.
