The Psychic Next Door

Chapter 9: Suspect

The realization that my psychic neighbour and Polly's sister's ex-boyfriend were the same person changed everything. But, though we had stumbled across something significant, we had no idea what it actually meant. It was like a giant puzzle spread out before us, yet we were missing the picture to use as a guide, so we didn't know where to even begin putting the pieces together.

It couldn't be coincidence that both her sister and I were attacked by some supernatural force after being in contact with Luc. He was the only thing we had in common, aside from Polly. He had to have something to do with this... but how? And why?

"It's his fault," Polly said for the millionth time as she paced the hotel room we had taken shelter in. Her crutches thumped rhythmically after her. "I know it."

"How can you be sure?" The coincidence was hard to ignore, but I had my doubts. Luc hadn't exactly been nice to me, but he had never been threatening.

The speed of her pacing picked up, and Polly rambled on. "I just have a feeling, okay? Apparently intuition is a real thing now, so why can't I have a hunch?" Thump-thump, thump-thump. "But you don't need to be psychic to realize he's the only link. And I just know it's him."

"Okay, I will admit it's pretty suspicious, but why would he target me? Your sister, Lillian, had at least been in a long-term relationship with him! I've only spoken with him once!"

She came to a sudden stop, right in front of me. "Maybe... he's just a sicko?"

"You said he dated your sister for years. Did you think he seemed like a sicko then?"

Polly went quiet for a second, then eventually shook her head. "But maybe he was good at hiding it," she muttered.

"Maybe..." I said, but I heard the doubt in my own voice.

She rolled her eyes. "Why are you suddenly defending this psychic jagoff? He was a dick to you! I mean, I know he's cute and all, but he's also the only remotely supernatural person you've been in contact with, and all this started right after you went to his shop. So."

I raised my hands in surrender. "Okay, yeah, that's all true. But still... all he did was give me a bad fortune. He never tried to kill me."

"Oh, no? Then what do you call that thing?"

It was my turn to roll my eyes. "We don't know he had anything to do with that. Look, I can agree that he's suspicious, but all I'm saying is... I just want more proof before we go, like, staking the guy."

"I don't think we need to stake him," Polly said, but her eyes shifted to somewhere far away for a second, and the corners of the mouth twitched up, like she was imagining doing it anyway.

"Well, whatever we need to do, I just want to make sure before you go all attack dog on him. So keep an open mind until all the evidence is collected."

Polly snapped back to reality. "Evidence? You watch too much crime drama, Rach. Whether you like it or not, Luc is the most likely suspect... Unless, you know, you can think of any other supernatural weirdoes who might have reason to kill you?"

I pondered that for a moment. It wasn't like I had a ton of enemies, or any for that matter, and certainly not supernatural ones. "Rick, maybe? But he doesn't hate me... He wants me back, not dead. And he's not exactly the paranormal type." I got no response from Polly, so I continued to sift through the people I knew in my head. An absurd candidate came up, but in some ways it made sense... "H-Harriet?"

She snorted and then burst into raucous laughter. "Are you serious? I mean, I know she's a pain in the ass, but... no. I can't see it. She's just a wannabe Regina George."