“That’s what I saw when I went there, and later when I went to True Light’s compound.”
“Why do you think that is?” she asked, but it was strictly rhetorical. He could tell by her tone and expression that she knew why. Shannon answered anyway. “Vishna’s taste in women for the harem he’s building.”
Susan sat there stewing, a darkness clouding her face. “What a despicable place,” she said.
“I agree. That’s why I don’t want you going back there. If for no other reason than it’s not good to be around that type of negative energy.”
“Oh, but I am going back there, my darling. Anything I can do to help you nail that place, I’m going to. Also, the great all-powerful Vishna is supposed to make a visit in the next couple of days. I’m dying to see the look on his face when I tell him off!”
Her eyes smoldered with anger, and while the passion made her more beautiful it also made her eat faster and with less awareness of what she was doing. Shannon watched helplessly as she tossed her remaining pizza crust on her plate and took the third and final slice of garlic and olive, too caught up in her emotions to realize what she was doing. He stared glumly at the two slices of broccoli pizza that were left for him before looking back at her.
“The place is freakish over there, hon,” she said, the words tumbling out of her. “The instructor, a girl named Luanne, had this glazed, zombie look in her eyes. So did her assistant, Debbi with an i, and the rest of the girls there weren’t much better. And the positions they put us through were not yoga. I think they were designed more to cramp and stress the muscle than to stretch it. Anyway, it was tiring, and while we were in those positions Luanne and Debbi with an i would walk around the room and put their hands on our backs and whisper stuff to us about how our chakras were all wrong, and how we had all this hidden sickness that needed healing, but that Vishna could bring us to peace and health. At least that’s what they were doing when they weren’t having us chant.”
“I heard some of that chanting when I was there. Something like: ‘Vishna the one true source’.”
“That was one of them,” she said, nodding. “Also, ‘Vishna will lead us all to peace and serenity’. And my favorite: ‘open your hearts and minds to the touch of Vishna’.”
“People there were buying it?”
“They seemed to be. I’m so furious a place like that exists. Those poor girls who go there have no clue what they’re being sucked into. And they’re so young! Other than me, I don’t think there was anyone there older than twenty.”
“Probably helped that you don’t look much older than that yourself, otherwise I don’t think they would’ve let you join the flock.”
“I had that thought also, so I lied on my application and put down that I was twenty-five. I figured if they were as out of it as they looked I could pull it off.”
“Even if they were bright-eyed and bushytailed you could pull off twenty-five.”
“Right.” Susan rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I’m sure the bad lighting there, along with the incense-induced fog, didn’t hurt. As bizarre as the experience was, it was kind of fun trying to figure out what homeopathic remedy types all those people were.”
“Did you figure any of them out?”
“Still working on it.” As she took another bite of her garlic and olive pizza slice, she stared down at it, puzzled-her outrage toward Vishna Yoga having calmed to the point where she could taste what she was eating-then gave an equally puzzled look at the rest of the pie. “Oh, hon,” she said apologetically. “I’ve been stealing your half of the pizza!”
“I didn’t even notice,” Shannon said as he avoided the chunk of broccoli on his slice.
“Sure you didn’t. I’ll make up for it later, maybe see if I can buy some secondhand pom-poms after all.” Her face brightened. “Oh, I haven’t told you some terrific news I got! I talked with my Stramonium patient-the one who works as a psychic for police departments-and he’s had a remarkable turnaround. His checkup today showed that all of his systems have improved greatly. His heart, kidneys and liver were all failing before. Now none of them are. His doctor’s completely baffled as to what’s happened, and had to admit to him that it’s looking like he’s going to fully recover!”
“That is terrific news,” Shannon said. “You gave him the remedy only a couple of days ago. Can it work that fast and dramatically?”
“It definitely can, hon, as he’s proving. I talked to him about you also and he’s willing to meet with you. He has no idea if he’ll be able to contact those deceased students-he’s never done that before, but he’ll give it a try if you’d like. He’ll need articles of clothing from them. That’s what he uses when he connects to the dead and near-dead children that he finds. His name’s Les Hasherford. It’s probably too late for you to call now, but I’ll give you his number when we get back to the hotel and you can try him tomorrow.”
“Les Hasherford,” Shannon repeated. “His name’s familiar.” He hesitated, his eyes squinting as he concentrated. “I think he consulted on a case in Watertown when I was on the force. If I remember right he helped find a little girl who had been buried in some perv’s basement. He saved her life.”
Susan nodded, her eyes misting. “He told me about that when he found out I was from Cambridge. You don’t know what it means to me to be able to have this type of impact on his life.”
“I’m proud of you, darling,” Shannon said.
“I know.” Her eyes turned liquid as she closed them part way and flashed a smile that made him weak in his knees. “Right now I wish we had ordered room service,” she said, her voice a soft throaty whisper.
Shannon nodded silently. He dropped twenty dollars on the table to cover the bill, then walked Susan out of the restaurant. Eddie had packed up and left his spot under the streetlamp and the rest of Pearl Street seemed desolate; the few college kids and transients they had passed earlier having already called it a night. Susan held him close as they walked, her thin arm wrapped tightly around his waist. In the cool night air he could feel her body shiver. It was so quiet and still out, as if they had all of downtown Boulder to themselves. When they got back to their room, Susan took hold of his hand and led him to the bed. He watched as she undressed and then he joined her. There was so much emotion in her, so much passion as her body buckled wildly under his, her breath hot against his face. It was a long time before they were done.
Afterwards, Susan fell asleep quickly, her head nestled against his shoulder, her legs lying over his, one of her arms stretched across his chest. There was a contentment in her as she slept. Shannon had an arm around her side and could feel the rising and falling of her ribs as she breathed. He let his hand drop so that his fingertips touched her small hip and felt the coolness of her skin. He felt relaxed as he lay there, as if he could drift off easily. He almost did several times, but he tried to stay awake and concentrate on one of the lucid dream exercises Eli had given him. It was hard, though, his thoughts drifting away while his own breathing grew more shallow.
Then he was simply drifting along, his body bobbing up and down as if he were riding waves at the beach. After a while he saw her in the distance. A shawl draped over her shoulders covered her as she sat with her knees bent to her chest and her hands clasped together around her legs. She looked so small and frail sitting alone, almost like a porcelain figurine. Long blond hair fell past her shoulders and ran halfway down her back. She turned to face him and he recognized her. Reluctantly, he accepted that he would have to talk to her. The next thing he knew he was no longer floating peacefully in the current he’d been caught up in, but now had his feet rooted firmly on the ground as he stood next to her. He saw the headstone by her elbow, then all the others. As he read the words carved on the polished black granite stone next to her, he realized she was sitting by her own grave.