Free Never Saw It Coming: (An eSpecial from New American Library) by Linwood Barclay Page A

the last couple of nights, but went back to her own place this morning. I’m going to pick her up later.”
    “She’s not very old to be living on her own,” Keisha said.
    “When Melissa was younger, she didn’t care much for observing our rules. So we all agreed it would be a good learning experience for her to try living on her own.”
    “I see,” Keisha said. “And when I saw her on the news, it looked to me as though, that she might be—”
    “Yes, she’s pregnant.”
    Keisha forced a smile. “Isn’t that wonderful.”
    Garfield couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes. “Yeah, it’s terrific. I don’t really want to talk about Melissa. If you’ve got something to tell me about Ellie, if you’ve got some damn vision you want to share, then let’s get to it.”
    “I get the feeling you’re not going to be very receptive to anything I may have to tell you.”
    He shook his head. “Not at all. Go ahead.”
    “There is
another
matter we need to talk about first.”
    “Here we go.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “I’ve been waiting for this. What’s it going to cost me, to get a glimpse of this little vision of yours?”
    Keisha adopted a look of great patience. “What do you do for a living, Mr. Garfield?”
    “I work at Home Depot,” he said.
    “They provide you a salary for that?”
    “Indeed they do.”
    “I bet you have to be very knowledgeable to work there. You have to know about so many things. About paint, and lumber, and plumbing and appliances. All the different kinds of screws and nuts and bolts? Am I right? They don’t pay you just for the work you do. They pay you for what you
know
. For your
experience
.”
    “Go on.”
    “It’s no different with me,” Keisha explained. “This is my livelihood. I have a gift, and I’m offering to use it to help you. But I don’t provide a service without some reward for my knowledge and experience. If you were to hire a private detective to assist you in locating your wife, you wouldn’t expect him to put in his time and use his experience without compensation.”
    “Oh, of course not.”
    “I’m pleased to hear you say that.”
    “And what sort of money are we talking here, Ms. Ceylon?” he asked.
    “One thousand dollars,” she said, not being the slightest bit shy about it.
    His eyebrows went up. “You’re not serious.”
    “I believe the sum is reasonable,” Keisha said.
    He thought about it. “I’m not a rich man.”
    “I understand,” she said. “I’ve taken that into account.”
    “So there’s a sliding scale? You take a look at the house and the kind of cars in the driveway, and if you see a Beemer you jack the price up? What the market will bear and all that?”
    She started to get up once again. “I think I’ll just be on my way, Mr. Garfield, if that’s okay with—”
    “How about this,” he said. “You give me a hint of what your vision’s all about, a little sneak peek, and if it sounds credible to me, then I’ll give you five hundred dollars. And if the information you have leads to my finding Ellie, I’ll pay you another five hundred.”
    She considered his words a moment, then said, “I will tell you about a few of the initial flashes that have come to me. If you wish to hear more, how the images evolved, then I will tell you everything for the full amount of one thousand dollars.”
    He let out a long sigh, wondering how this all might look to a third party. His wife is missing, and he’s going back and forth with this woman like he’s buying a new Toyota. But he still didn’t know what her game was, and he was wary, though it didn’t strike him that he had anything to lose by accepting the deal she was proposing.
    “Okay,” he said.
    “I’m very pleased,” she said. “Not just because we’ve reached a satisfactory arrangement, but because I do very much want to help you.”
    “Yeah, yeah, fine.”
    “Do you have something of your wife’s that I might be able to hold?”
    “What