Tags:
Humor,
Mystery,
Travel,
Germany,
cozy,
cozy mystery,
senior citizens,
tourist,
maddy hunter,
from bad to worse,
from bad to worst,
maddie hunter
dashâ fashion, bumping into each other as they tried to cut each other off. âWatch where youâre going!â I cautioned as they raced past me, monitoring the readout screens on their phones as they fled.
âHow are you doing, Emily? Are you all right?â Zola Czarnecki paused in front of me, her freckled face creased with concern. âWhen I heard the explosion I feared the worst, so I canât begin to tell you how thankful I am that there werenât more casualties.â
I grasped her hand and stared her straight in the eye, torn between disbelief and awe. âYou knew.â My voice caught in my throat like a fish bone. âYou knew what was going to happen.â
âNot exactly. I got spooked by a bad vibe that turned out to be more than just a vibe.â
âButâ¦how could you have sensed what was about to happen on that street? How is that possible?â
She shrugged. âItâs a clairvoyant thing. I donât expect civilians to understand the process, but what it boils down to is, Iâm not wired the same as everyone else.â
Guilt gnawed at my conscience, leaving a sour taste in my mouth. âI should have gotten the word outâwarned the other guests. If Iâd told them about your misgivings, maybeââ
Zola held up her other hand, cutting me off. âYou think they would have believed me? Shoot, you didnât believe me. You thought I was a pain in the butt and a little nuts, and donât tell me otherwise because I could see it in your eyes. You started thinking the ole clairvoyant might prove herself to be not only annoying but a real financial drain on your whole operation. I dare you to tell me Iâm wrong.â
Wow. If she could see all that in my eyes, I needed to think about blinking more. âIâuh, I guess the financial implications did enter my mindâ¦a little.â
âWhich is why when I get my twinges, I try not to shove them down anyone elseâs throat. But Iâm not about to charge straight into the jaws of danger if my ears start humming and every hair on my body is standing on end.â
âIs that what happens when you get one of your twinges?â
âNah. Thatâs the Hollywood version, but itâs as good as any. Iâve never been able to explain what happens exactly because Iâm being bombarded by too many sensations when it hits me, but my ma used to say it was like getting zapped by a bolt of lightning, only on a smaller scale.â
âSounds a little scary.â
âI donât recommend it to the general public. People think it would be so cool to be clairvoyant, but Iâll let you in on a secret: itâs highly overrated. Way too much grief involved.â
Her words spurred two images. Zola standing in the plaza, head bowed, eyes closed, focusing all her energy on Astrid Petersonâs hand, and Zola releasing Astridâs hand, looking completely unnerved. âYou knew Astrid was going to die, didnât you? You saw it when you did your hand-holding thing.â
âThatâs not true. I had no idea she only had minutes to live.â
âThen what caused you to look so alarmed after you released her hand, remember? Your expression frightened her so much, she asked if youâd seen something horrible in her future, and you said no.â
âI told her the truth.â
âThen why did you look so rattled? If you didnât see her imminent death, what did you see?â
â Thatâs what frightened me. I can always predict somethingâsomething fun and harmless: a birthday party, a wedding, a vacation. Itâs never unclear.â Her eyes grew haunted. She elevated her hands and stared at her palms. âBut when I tried with Astrid, I felt as if my whole system had broken down. It was the first time anything like that had ever happened to me. It scared the bejeebers out of me. It was like looking into a
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