The Case of the Psychic's Vision (3 page)

“Wait'll you hear the rest of what I learned about him and his family today,” Frank said. He told his friends about his lunchtime conversation with Colin.

When Frank finished, Chet said, “He could have killed us!”

“No. I think he just wanted to scare us away. He's afraid that if all this psychic stuff upsets people, they'll have to leave town again, and he doesn't want to do that,” Frank said. “He probably thought that if he could keep us occupied with a chase long enough, we might miss the séance.”

“Well, that's not going to happen,” Chet said. “There's Callie's house just down the street.”

Chet parked in front of the house next door to the Shaw's.

“How are we going to do this?” Joe asked. “We weren't invited to the party. Are we just going to crash it?”

“I've got this all figured out,” Chet said.

Frank was sure he did. Chet knew every trick in the book.

Frank and Joe followed Chet around to the side gate of the Shaws' house.

“Iola said they were going to have the séance inside the gazebo in the backyard,” Chet said. “Nella told them it has just the right atmosphere.”

Good,
Frank thought.
Callie's parents might not appreciate having Chet's practical joke carried out in their house.

Chet slowly opened the side gate. It was dark enough now that they couldn't be seen in the shadows beside the house. The Shaws' backyard was planted with tall leafy trees and thick flowering bushes, which hid them as they headed toward the gazebo at the back of the yard.

All of the spotlights in the backyard were off, too, and the only light was coming from a candle in the center of the gazebo.

Frank could feel the adrenaline flowing. He loved a good practical joke too. He only hoped Callie appreciated it.

Finally they reached the side of the gazebo without being detected.

Through the latticework, Frank saw Callie, Iola, and Nella seated around a table.

“Are you all believers?” Nella was saying.

“Yes,” Callie and Iola said.

Suddenly, Iola giggled.

“Iola!” Callie whispered. “Stop!”

“Sorry,” Iola said.

“If you do not believe, you will ruin this for everyone,” Nella said.

“I believe,” Iola managed to say.

“Then listen carefully and concentrate on what we're doing,” Nella continued. “We must make sure the spirits have the right atmosphere, or we won't be able to contact them. Do you understand?”

Callie and Iola nodded.

Frank peeked through the latticework again. The flickering candles made strange shapes inside the gazebo and distorted the faces of the girls. Callie had said this was all for fun, as part of the sleepover, but Nella seemed pretty serious about it. No wonder Colin had panicked. Things like this tended to upset certain people in the community—and sometimes those people could cause problems.

Joe heard someone murmuring and thought it had to be Nella.
This must be part of the ceremony,
he thought. He was beginning to feel kind of creepy being there. He looked around, wondering if Nella would be able to attract spirits to the séance, then stopped, surprised at himself for even thinking that.

Suddenly, Nella stopped murmuring. “There are spirits here,” she said. “I can feel them.”

“Who?” Callie asked.

“Call out some names and see who answers,” Nella said.

“Roberta Sanders,” Iola said.

The three boys looked at each other. Roberta Sanders was a physical education teacher at Bayport High School. She had gone to South America one summer and just disappeared. A lot of the girls were really upset about it.

Suddenly, Chet said, “I'm here! What do you want?” He used a high-pitched and faraway-sounding voice.

“Oh, my gosh!” Callie cried. “It works!”

That seemed to spur Chet on.

“I heard you calling me from faraway South America,” Chet said in his ‘spirit' voice. “I've come back to Bayport to answer your questions.”

Joe had started to wonder if Chet was going too far. Just as he looked over at Frank to see if he felt the same way, Frank fell to the ground and disappeared around the other side of the gazebo. It was as though someone was dragging him out of sight.

“Frank!” Joe shouted.

On the gazebo, the candle had gone out, and the girls began to scream.

Frank was fighting just to breathe. Someone had grabbed him from behind and had his hands around Frank's throat, choking the life out of him. It was so dark that he couldn't see the person's face, but Frank was sure that he knew who it was.

Finally, Frank managed to flip over onto his back. The person's hands were still around his neck.
Choking. Frank knew he was close to passing out. He couldn't let that happen. With one final push, he managed to shove his attacker off of him.

Frank sat up, gasping for breath. Floodlights lit up the backyard. Mr. and Mrs. Shaw had come outside to see what was going on.

“Is everything all right?” Mr. Shaw shouted.

The girls were all standing together in the center of the gazebo, looking down into the yard, where the three boys were crouched.

“Frank! Joe!” Callie shouted.

“Chet!” Iola shouted. “I should have known!”

Joe was hoping that at least one of the girls would start laughing, but nobody seemed to think there was anything funny about what had happened.

Chet and Joe helped Frank up.

“We just wanted to see what the séance was like,” Joe explained lamely. He didn't think this was the time to mention practical jokes. “We didn't mean to scare you.”

“Well, you shouldn't have slipped up on us like that,” Callie said. “You should have just joined us around the table.”

“And you definitely shouldn't have pretended you were Ms. Sanders, Chet,” Iola told her brother. “That's just, well, that's just plain sick.”

“Sorry,” Chet said.

“Nella!”

Everyone turned to see who had come through
the side gate. After a few seconds, Colin Randles walked into the light.

“I need to talk to you!” Frank shouted at him. “You have some explaining to do.”

“What do you mean?” Colin said.

“If you'll come closer, I'll show you the bruises your fingers made on my neck,” Frank said.

“You're crazy, Hardy!” Colin said.

“Really?” Frank said. “So you deny attacking me just a few minutes ago?”

“Yes, I do,” Colin said. “I just got here.”

“I don't believe you,” Frank said.

Just then, two more people came into the light to stand behind Colin.

“Colin's telling the truth. I'm his father,” the man said. “We've come to take Nella home.”

Frank was stunned. If Colin hadn't attacked him, then who had?

“Why don't we all go inside and discuss this?” Mr. Shaw said.

Frank could tell by the expression on Nella's face that she was hoping her parents would accept the invitation. Since the tone of Mr. Shaw's voice was nonthreatening, Mr. and Mrs. Randles agreed.

Once inside, the Shaws made everyone feel at ease. Their large family room was comfortable and already stocked with snacks and cold drinks for Callie's friends.

“Now then,” Mr. Shaw began, after everyone had plates piled high with food, “who wants to start?” He was looking at Frank, Joe, and Chet.

“We thought it would be funny to scare the girls
during the séance,” Chet volunteered. He shrugged. “I guess it kind of got out of hand.”

“Yeah, just a tad,” Callie agreed.

Iola was giving her brother a dirty look.

“Who were you fighting with, Frank?” Mrs. Shaw asked.

Frank looked around the room, his eyes finally landing on Colin. He shrugged. “I thought it was Colin, but I guess it wasn't.”

“You don't know?” Callie said.

Frank shook his head. “It was dark. When the lights came on, the person was gone.”

“It was someone who was visiting the séance,” Nella said.

“Nella!” Mrs. Randles said sternly. “Keep quiet.”

Mr. and Mrs. Shaw looked at each other.

“It's okay, Mrs. Randles,” Mrs. Shaw said. “We're an open-minded family here. We always try to listen, even if we, well, don't always believe everything we hear.”

“We moved here to Bayport to get away from all of this,” Mr. Randles said. “It's become a curse!”

“What has?” Callie asked.

“Our psychic powers,” Mrs. Randles said.

For a few seconds, nobody said anything, then Joe said, “Colin, are you sure you weren't fighting Frank? Somebody was.”

Colin took a deep breath. “I called your house and told you not to come to this séance,” he admitted,
“and I followed you in my car, trying to keep you from coming here. I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have done either one of those things, but I was not fighting Frank by the gazebo.”

“I've already told you that,” Mr. Randles said. “Colin came home and told us what he had done and why Nella was here.”

“That's why we came over here,” Mrs. Randles added. “It was the first we knew about the séance Nella was holding.” She looked at her daughter. “Why?”

Nella bowed her head. “I thought it might be a way to make friends fast,” she said. “I'm tired of never having any friends.”

Callie and Iola went over and put their arms around her. “We'd be friends with you, Nella, even if you didn't hold a séance.”

“Some people won't have anything to do with you if you're psychic,” Mr. Randles said. “You scare them. So we all agreed to stop. We just wanted the kids to have a normal life.”

Frank shook his head. There had to be more to this than he was hearing. Somebody had been fighting him by the gazebo. If it wasn't Colin—and he was almost sure now that it wasn't—then it had to be somebody who had come to Nella's séance. But that would mean he was fighting a person who wasn't . . .
alive.

Mr. Randles stood up. “We've taken up too much
of your time already,” he said. “We need to be going home. I have a job interview in the morning.” He turned to Nella. “Get your things,” he added.

“Why don't you let her stay?” Mrs. Shaw said. “The girls have been looking forward to this.”

“Please, Dad,” Nella said.

“I don't think there will be any more séances,” Mr. Shaw said. Looking at Frank, Joe, and Chet, he added, “Or young men playing practical jokes around here. Right, Chet?”

“Right,” Chet said.

Mr. Shaw turned to Mr. Randles. “What's the job interview you have?”

Mr. Randles named a factory in Bayport. “It's just assembly line work, but it's work, and they may even have something for my wife.”

Mr. Shaw thought for a minute. “I've just bought a hardware store here in Bayport, and I'll need a manager and a clerk. Do you two know anything about hardware?”

“Well, we've had to use it a lot, because we've never been able to afford a lot of plumbers or carpenters over the years,” Mr. Randles said. He looked at his wife and smiled. “And we're both fast learners.”

Mr. Shaw wrote down an address. “I'll meet you here in the morning at nine o'clock. I think this may work out for both of us.”

Mr. Randles turned to Nella. “It's all right if you
stay, as long as you girls get some sleep.” Nella nodded.

As they headed out of the Shaws' house, Colin came up to Frank. “No hard feelings, Charlemagne?”

Frank grinned. “No hard feelings, Geronimo.”

Frank, Joe, and Chet got back into Chet's car, but Frank told Chet to wait until the Randles had already gone.

“Why?” Chet said. “There's no way I'm going to play another prank on anybody!” He grinned. “Not tonight, at least.”

“That's what I thought,” Joe said. “I didn't think your practical joke playing days were over.”

“Not by a long shot, buddy,” Chet assured him.

“So, what are we waiting for?” Joe asked Frank.

“There's just something here that's not adding up,” Frank said. “I can't believe that Mr. and Mrs. Randles would be so upset about Nella's having a séance at a sleepover. It has to be something bigger.”

“Well, they did say that they used to tell fortunes in other towns,” Joe reminded him.

“What's the big deal there?” Frank said. “That shouldn't really get people all that riled up. There are a lot of fortune-tellers around. No, it has to be something else. They weren't telling everything they knew about their psychic abilities.”

No one said anything.

Finally, Frank said, “I think it has to do with
Colin. He's the only one in the family nobody said anything about.”

“What do you mean?” Joe asked.

“I think Colin is the real psychic,” Frank explained. “Oh, I don't mean the rest of them aren't. During that séance,
something
attacked me. It could have been sticks and stones blown up by a strong wind, I guess, but what if Nella contacted a really angry spirit? Anyway, I'll wager that séances and fortune-telling are minor compared to Colin's psychic abilities.”

“I say we find out,” Joe said.

“I say we do, too,” Frank agreed.