Downward Facing Death by Michelle Kelly Page A

the last of her tea and said good-bye to Jack, who gave her an affectionate wink, and waved at Tom, who, although he was apparently looking right at her, appeared not to notice.
    As she made her way to Crystals and Candles, she had to walk past Raquel’s Diner, a pretty-looking place with a cheerful poppy stencil in the window and red-checked drapes that matched the cloths on the two small tables outside. Through the window that made up the shop front, Keeley could see the interior was busy, though Raquel herself sat in the corner, drinking from what looked like a champagne flute, with two young male customers hanging on her every word. Like a queen holding court. The menu boards outside offered traditional food: a full English breakfast, steak and ale pie, and the famous Codnor cod. There was unlikely to be fierce competition between the traditional diner and her own Yoga Café, but Keeley did remember Raquel as being highly competitive at school. Not that any rivalry had included Keeley back then, as she hadn’t been high enough on the social scale to matter.
    Keeley smelled Crystals and Candles before she saw it. The door was open, and the heavy smell of a musk-based incense wafted down the street. Keeley entered, pushing through the velvet strips that lined the doorway, into a shop that looked more like a fairies’ grotto. Crystals of all shapes, sizes, and colors lined one wall; candles, the other. A selection of the candles was lit, causing the crystals to twinkle a rainbow of colored lights. In the middle of the shop, a large table offered all manner of New Age knickknacks, from tarot cards to angel statuettes. Megan sat behind a velvet-draped counter, perched on a stool, though she jumped up with a shriek of delight when she saw Keeley, coming round from behind the till and giving her an enthusiastic hug, which Keeley returned awkwardly.
    â€œSo nice to see you again! Would you like anything to drink?” Megan waved at a selection of herbal teas in front of her, and Keeley nodded, picking a brand she recognized from New York.
    â€œYes, thank you. I just thought I’d pop by.”
    â€œMake yourself at home. It’s been quiet today, so I may as well lock up. Are you meeting Duane tonight? He’s done nothing but talk about you!”
    â€œReally?” Keeley blushed, feeling more embarrassed than flattered. Megan thankfully didn’t seem to require an answer as she disappeared into the back room to make the tea, chattering all the while. Keeley sat down, the incense making her feel light-headed.
    â€œI suppose you’ve heard about the body?” Keeley asked as Megan came back out, then winced at the abruptness of her own words, which somehow sounded harsher in the otherworldly atmosphere of Megan’s shop.
    Megan pursed her lips and nodded.
    â€œYes, of course, but we didn’t want to mention it. You must be terribly upset. I always did say that man had a very dark aura, but karma catches up with us all, you know.” Megan nodded sagely. Ignoring the other girl’s slightly strange conception of karma, Keeley leaned forward over the counter.
    â€œYou knew him, then?”
    â€œOnly by sight. He was hardly the type to come in here, and to be honest, I wouldn’t have wanted him to.” She shuddered as if the very thought of Terry’s dark aura had poisoned the serene atmosphere she was trying to create.
    â€œWas he really that bad?” Keeley wondered aloud. In spite of the sympathetic article in the local press, so far no one seemed to have a good word for the man. Megan sipped her tea and gave a worldly wise sigh.
    â€œSome people just have a darkness around them, a negativity. It makes you feel drained being around them. Psychic vampires, they’re called. Terry always struck me as that sort of person.”
    â€œRight.” Although Keeley wasn’t sure she bought into Megan’s spiritual beliefs, she knew exactly what the