Page 49 of The Diamond in the Rough

Why not choose psychic abilities?she asked.

I blinked.Psychic abilities?

It’s something that might benefit you outside of the class,she pointed out.And I don’t think even Mason knows much about its history.

I thought about it for a second.It’s a good idea,I acknowledged.But where would I start?

Sylvia snorted.Come now, sunshine,she said.Think about that for a few seconds.

I was about to argue with her, but then realized how stupid that would sound.Fiona.

She smiled.Almost as though a librarian can help you research things…

I rolled my eyes.Thanks, Sylvia.

You’re welcome, sunshine.

The storm had passedby mid-afternoon, although it was still raining, the precipitation slow and steady and the sky still heavy and dark. Ward had come in just after lunch, with Mason having stayed home for the rest of the day with Jackson, who had the afternoon off school. Fiona had almost immediately replied to my email asking if she had any recommendations about the history of psychics with a list of about twenty things, which is what I’d spent the rest of the morning and lunch hour collecting from online databases.

It was a good day.

And then a very wet, very cranky Detective Dan Maza came in through the front door.

He stood on the welcome mat inside the door, dripping.

I got up and grabbed a towel from the stack Mason had left on the coffee table in the lobby for precisely this purpose.

“Thanks,” Maza said when I handed him the towel, taking the thick terrycloth and wiping his face first. “Do you have somewhere I can put this coat?” he asked me. “So I don’t completely soak the floor?”

I nodded and pointed at the coat tree we’d tucked behind the door. The entry area was tile—unlike the rest of the lobby, which was hardwood—and had just been finished in November. We had added the coat tree, an umbrella stand, and a thick mat for people to wipe their shoes on, and it had made a huge difference in the mud and salt on the floors during winter.

“Great,” Maza said, then paused. “Hold this?” I took the towel and the strap of a very wet messenger bag while he stripped off the coat and hung it on the rack. His generic blue button-down had damp spots around his neck, shoulders, and cuffs, suggesting that the old black jacket wasn’t really all that waterproof anymore. He took the towel back and ran it over his dark hair, causing it to stick out.

“Do you need Ward or Mason?” I asked him when he handed the towel back to me and took the bag, holding it away from him a little.

“Ward,” he answered with a grimace.

I nodded, then went down the hall, stopping in Ward’s office doorway. “Detective Maza is here and needs to see you,” I told him when he looked up at me.

He nodded once, then pushed himself back from his desk. “Thanks.”

I could hear the low rumble of his wheels on the wood as he headed toward the lobby while I kept going back to put the towel in the little hamper we kept in the back for things like dishtowels that Mason would take home to wash once a week.

“…know what happened,” Maza was saying as I returned to my desk.

“I can do that,” Ward replied. “Let’s go back to the conference room.” Then he paused, just past my desk. “Can you join us, Rayn?” he asked.

I blinked, startled. I’d never been asked to join in a séance before. “Um. Okay.”

“Lock the front, would you?”

I nodded, getting up to lock the front door, flipping the sign over to indicate that we were unavailable. I’d put a QR code on it that linked to our booking site, so if someone came in person, they’d still be able to reach us.

That done, I walked back down the hall to the conference room with its spectacular new table, pausing in the doorway.

Ward looked up. “Have a seat, please, Detective,” he told Maza. “You, too, Rayn.”

Confused, I nudged one of the chairs with a hip so I didn’t have to touch it with my bare hands, then sat awkwardly on the edge. I still had no idea why Ward wanted me here.