Free Stay Tuned for Murder by Mary Kennedy Page B

historical society over here for the second hour. I’m not sure if that’s going to work out,” she admitted. “Everyone who knew her is pretty devastated. I don’t know if I can get anyone to agree to go on the air on such short notice.”
    I nodded. “We can go with two hours of calls, if we have to. Maybe get a history professor over here to talk about changes in the town over the years, and how the historical society documented all the milestones. That would honor Althea and it also would fit in with the time capsule promos. And you could try Professor Grossman. He wrote a book on south Florida history and he’s been dying to get on the show. Remember? He’s the one who’s always sending over press releases.”
    “Good thinking! I’ve got his phone number in my files. And Cyrus can probably get someone from the chamber of commerce to do a phone interview with us. Or maybe even sit in as a guest.” Vera Mae took a pencil from behind her ear and started jotting down some notes. “I better skedaddle, hon.” She glanced at her watch. “See you in a bit.”

Chapter 8
    “Lola and I really didn’t see much from the back of the room,” I told Rafe a few minutes later. “Chantel went into a sort of trance, and then Michael gave a little spiel about evildoings in town. He warned us that all of us were in danger. Or maybe just one person.” I made a dismissive wave of my hand. “He was very cryptic. I’m not really sure what he meant.”
    “Michael?” Rafe had whipped out a notebook and stared at me, pen poised. “Do you have a last name on this guy? I need to talk to him.”
    “Good luck with that.” I bit back a laugh “He’s a spirit guide. Chantel channeled him, and he gave us this message from the great beyond.”
    “Oh.” Rafe gave a rueful smile. “So he said everyone’s in danger, but he didn’t go into specifics?”
    “That’s right. There wouldn’t have been time anyway. I don’t know how long séances usually last, but this one was only a few minutes.”
    “Interesting,” Rafe muttered, making a note.
    “I think it was just a marketing opportunity for Chantel. People were lining up to buy her books after the séance.” Rafe and I were sitting on cheap turquoise plastic chairs in the break room, while Opie was down the hall, interviewing Chantel in Vera Mae’s office.
    Rafe had asked Opie to get some background information about Chantel and the séance, but I think he just wanted to give the young officer something to do. I knew Rafe was planning his own interview with the flamboyant medium as soon as he finished talking to me.
    “I have the feeling most of the people at the historical society had never met Chantel before last night,” he said. He laid a small tape recorder on the table between us. “You don’t mind if I tape the rest of this, do you?” he asked, catching my glance. He kept his tone deliberately casual, and he had his cop face on, closed and inscrutable.
    “Of course not.” Actually, I did mind a little, but I decided to play along. Seeing the tiny red light spring to life on the recorder made me uncomfortable, which was why I had never taped my sessions with my patients back in Manhattan. Switch on a recorder and people would freeze up, become guarded, reticent, and you’d have to dig a lot deeper to get information out of them. I relied on my memory and I made notes as soon as they left the room.
    Of course, Rafe and I were having more than a conversation. I knew that everything I said would end up in police report someday.
    “To answer your question, I’d guess that hardly anyone had met Chantel before last night. Vera Mae had met her here in the studio, of course.” I paused. “And a lot of people in the audience knew her from her appearances on my show.”
    “How do people react to her?”
    I smiled, remembering Vera Mae’s nonstop commentary on the séance. “They think she’s a little over-the-top, if you ask me. But still, it’s all about