Chapter 18: Paid in Full

The woman walked up the center aisle at her own pace.

Every camera in the garden turned to follow her.

She stopped at the foot of the stage and looked up at Gemma.

"You said you'd pay the rest after the party," she said. "You said there'd be no recording."

"I don't know her," Gemma said. "Daddy, I've never seen this woman."

"Then you won't mind these."

The psychic opened a worn leather purse and took out a rubber-banded stack of index cards.

She held them up to the cameras.

They were small and white and covered in round girlish handwriting.

"Eleven cards," she said. "Written in purple ink. I read them to the mother of this girl in a trance, in a hotel room, three years ago."

"I was paid four thousand dollars at sixteen and eleven thousand more at nineteen. Last week she wired the balance for my plane ticket."

She turned the top card toward the reporters.

"This one says the elder daughter will hurt the younger one and the family must run."

Chiara's mother made a small sound and put both hands over her face.

"It's a forgery," Gemma said.

"The bank wire is in my phone. So are four years of your texts."

"She's lying!" Gemma shrieked. "She's an old crook, Daddy, she'll say anything for money!"

"I have said it for money," the psychic said. "That's the shame of it. I'm done."

The insurance man was on his feet now, with his phone to his ear.

A reporter called out from the second row.

"Mr. Pellegrino. Was the crash staged?"

Chiara's father stood very still at the podium.

He looked old suddenly.

His face had gone white.

"Leave my daughter out of this," he said. "She was a child."

Keep reading free with an account. Start He Let Me Grieve a Lie, Now He Begs Forgiveness from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.