Sorcerer on the Street

Case 6. Family Values

"Do you think I'm ready to be taking a case on my own?" John hissed, as we moved over to the reading room. The client – Miss Kendrick – was only a couple of paces away, but he was confident enough that we wouldn't be overheard.

"I don't know," I answered honestly. "I'm sorry if you were hoping for some kind of reassurance, but I haven't seen your detective skills yet, so I'm in no position to judge. But this lady seems willing to trust you, which I would take as a good sign. You have spoken to her before?"

"Yes. We were at Madame Rosa's shrine at the same time. The fortune teller I mentioned. I believe that Sarah has bad experiences with someone who claimed the power to see the future, and is in search of someone who can prove that those predictions are false. But no doubt she'll tell us all the details soon enough. I'm just nervous, taking on my first client. I don't know if I'm ready."

"But you don't really have much choice," I said. "If we don't have money today or tomorrow, there won't be many more chances."

"Exactly," John agreed, and sat down. Then he turned to Kendrick, and waited for her to start.

"It's all about my mother," she said, after a long pause to collect her thoughts. "Or maybe my father, if you think of it like that. They were always hard-working, and determined to stick together. Never really successful, as such, but they had good jobs, a place to live, and they never had to ask for a handout from anybody. Old-fashioned values, you know? Retired now. I moved out, got a place of my own, but we still stay in touch. It seemed like for years they'd been talking about going on a cruise to celebrate the turn of the century. Even when it was years away, they're looking forward to the year two thousand. Always the optimists."

There was a pause then, heavy with emotions that were hard for anyone else to read.

"What happened?" John eventually voiced the question.

"They said it was an embolism. Mum woke up one day and found him in the lounge. Slumped on the couch like he was having a nap after watching the football. The doctors said he didn't feel anything. But Mum took it so badly. She couldn't accept that he was gone, you know? It's like the heart went out of her life. She stopped talking to most of my uncles, barely even calls me now. Just sits at home. If I go to visit, she'll still tell me that they're going to go away together for the millennium celebrations, celebrate a long life together. It's like she just denies that he's gone. I mean, it's been a few years now. She knows it really, but she prefers to live with her dreams sometimes. Until last year.

"This guy, Wells, he's the problem. I don't know how he found her. But he calls himself an evidence-based spiritist. Says that he can talk to dad in the other world, and they're trying to prepare a place for her so they can be together at the end. But there's always some problem. Like dad will be able to come back and reassure her in person, just as soon as he's got two hundred bucks for a new spirit board, or a more powerful crystal ball. Every session costs more than the last, and the promises about what he'll be able to give her just get wilder and wilder. And the worst thing is that my mum, who's been so calm and collected all her life, is suddenly hanging on every word. Desperate to believe, no matter what it costs her. She's paying him thousands now, spent all her savings, and if it keeps on like this I worry that she's going to lose the house. I don't want to see her taken advantage of like that."

"If he had real powers, he wouldn't be charging money," John said firmly. "That's a big red flag right there."

"I told her that," Kendrick nodded. "But she can't believe it. She wants to think that he's still out there. I need to find some proof that this Wells guy is lying, but I don't know what will convince her. I've tried everything I can. Talked to other people he's 'helped', but she insists that it's for real. Because he'll tell her things only dad would have known, just as soon as he has a bit of extra money so he can make a real connection."