Bull's Eye: Confessions of a Fake Psychic Detective #3

Chapter 8

Zandra isn't back in business too quickly, though. She's escorted unceremoniously back to her cell to await further instructions from Vince.

If there are to be any further instructions. Ten million is a lot of dollars. Even if he has it, he might not make it out of Stevens Point alive. Speaking of which, what ever happened to Amanda?

She asks the guard, but she gets a shrug in response.

Fitting. Maybe Gene decided she was inconvenient. So why am I still alive?

Zandra studies the wrinkles on the back of her hand, raising it to her face. She laughs to herself. It's too loud for something so innocuous. The guard raises an eyebrow in her direction.

"You want to know what's funny?" Zandra says from her perch on her bed, rubbing her swollen ankle.

"Not really, but I have a feeling you're going to tell me," the guard says. "You have an updated number on my death clock or something?"

I wish.

"No, I was just thinking about gravity. It's a force powerful enough to hold an entire planet together, to give structure to the entire universe. But despite all that sound and fury, I can raise my hand away from its pull without breaking a sweat," Zandra says.

"That's the joke?"

"Yes, and it's funny as hell," Zandra says and rocks in place. "The best laid plans, child, the best laid plans."

The guard shakes his head. "Lady, you are the weirdest fucker I've ever met."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"You can take it however you want, it doesn't change the fact," the guard says.

"At least I'll be somewhere near the forefront of your mind when you kick the bucket soon," Zandra says and cackles.

"Bullshit."

"The best laid plans, child, the best laid plans."

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning I'm not dead," Zandra says.

"I can see that. Would you like me to change that?" the guard says.

"You would've by now. But you didn't. And do you know what that means?"

"No, but now I have to give a shit because we've been having this stupid conversation for too long for me to bail."

Zandra grins through the slime dripping down her chin and into her sleeve. She wipes and says, "It means Gene wants me to go through with this bullshit trial. There's a good reason for it, too. I don't know what it is yet, but it's got to be good. He's got this entire city in his pocket."

He's going to pin something on me that I didn't do so he can cover his ass for his political campaign. I'd bet $10 million.

"So?" the guard says.

"So he's going to have to let me walk out of here should my new best friend Vince post bail. He needs everything to look legit," Zandra says. "And once I'm out, I plan to find out why."

"But you're not out. You're here," the guard says.

"And soon I won't be," Zandra says. She winks. "Trust me. I'm a psychic."

Psychic or not, her prediction proves correct.