Free The 7th Tarot Card by Valerie Clay Page A

Yes, ma’am,” Julie responded and closed her window. The officer glared at us for a beat, then moved on to spread cheer to the next car.
    “ Wow, she was mean,” I said. “Whatever happened to sisterhood and women supporting women?”
    “ Gee, I don’t know, Victoria, why don’t you go ask her?”
    I looked out of the window as Ms. Sunny Delight turned back toward us.
    “ Uh, oh, Julie, she’s giving us the death stare.”
    Julie cranked the ignition. “Go follow Mark and I’ll park the car. I’ll catch up with you in the terminal.”
    I hopped out of the Jeep, pulled my hat down low over my eyes and rushed into the bustling terminal. The interior was loud and hectic, overflowing with travelers pulling and pushing their bags. A large tour group with a petite female leader in a power suit, holding a sign and shouting instructions in what sounded like German blocked my path. After some jostling and sidestepping I managed to circumnavigate the group, and frantically scanned the crowd until I found Mark standing in a long, winding line for the check-in kiosks. He’d removed his jacket, and underneath wore a grey WSU Cougar sweatshirt. Pulling out my cell phone, I dialed Laini, wondering how on earth I was going to tell her about this.
    She picked up on the first ring, “Vic, what’s happening? Have you found out anything yet?” Her anxious tone was fraught with fear, and I swallowed hard, hating what I was going to have to say next.
    “ I have some weird news, Lain,” I began. “You’re not going to believe this, but we, uh, we followed Mark to the, uh, airport.”
    “ The airport!? What do you mean the airport? What airport?”
    “ He didn’t exactly go camping. We’re at SeaTac at the Alaska Airlines check-in area. I’m so sorry to have to tell you that.” The silence on the line was palpable. I continued as gently as I could, “I’m wondering — do you think you could go online and find out where he’s going? Do you know Mark’s passwords?”
    “ No. I don’t know. Maybe . . . He always uses the same password. I can’t believe this. This is crazy!” Her velvety voice trembled with distress.
    “ Okay honey, hurry, go find out and call me right back!” I flipped the phone shut and continued my surveillance of Mark from afar.
    The queue for check-in grew longer by the minute, so I decided to get in line with the rest of the passengers and wait for Julie. As the line slowly progressed, I pulled out my cell phone again, this time speed-dialing Amanda. I reached her voicemail and left a message. “Amanda, it’s Vic. Just wanted you to know that Mark didn’t go camping. We tailed him to SeaTac Airport. Laini’s trying to find out where he’s going. We’ll let you know.”
    Julie came up next to me.
    “ Oh good, there you are,” I said, feeling relief as I punched the button, ending the call. “I was afraid you might have a hard time finding me.”
    “ Please—in that hat? Where’s Mark?” she asked, scanning the crowd on tiptoes.
    “ He’s near the front of the line. It doesn’t look like he’s with anyone, but maybe they’re planning to meet at the gate. I called Laini and she’s going to try and find out where he’s headed.”
    Moments later my phone rang, and it was Laini with some vital information. “I don’t believe this. This can’t be happening,” she sniffled. “He’s actually booked on a flight to Las Vegas. Alaska Flight 606, seat 25-C. It leaves at noon.”
    “ Good job—thanks, Lain. We’ll do some checking and call you back soon. Don’t worry, there could still be a perfectly good explanation for this,” I lied. “Hang in there. We’ll call you the minute we know anything.” I flipped the phone shut and told Julie what she’d said.
    Julie looked at her watch. “We need to go to the gate. If he’s meeting someone, we’ll see who it is, and you can shoot some photos with your tie.”
    “ I hate to be a downer, Julie, but you do realize we can’t