A Grave Prediction (Psychic Eye Mystery) Read Free

who’ve gone to bat for you, who’ve insisted on working with you, we’re in the line of fire too.”
    My shoulders slumped and I turned to look behind me. There were seven agents at their desks, not including my husband, Brice, or Gaston, whose reputations could be called into question. All because they believed in me. Taking a deep breath, I turned back to Brice and said, “Okay, then.”
    “Yeah?”
    “It’s not like I have a lot of choice here, Brice. You need me to play nicey-nice with the L.A. bureau? Fine. I’ll do it. But I get an expense account.”
    “You do,” he agreed. “Seventy-five dollars a day not including hotel or your hourly rate.”
    He said that like he thought it was a generous offer. “Gee, Brice . . . the timing on this is a little awkward, but I think I need to inform you that my hourly rate just went up.”
    My boss raised an eyebrow. “It did, huh?”
    “Yep. Inflation. You know, a gallon of milk is getting crazy expensive these days.”
    “How much?” he asked me, clearly unhappy that, even while forced to accept an assignment against my will and better judgment, I was trying to negotiate a better deal.
    “Well, as I’ll be spending two lonely weeks in L.A., away from my paying clients—”
    “You can do readings by phone,” he said, because he knew full well I could.
    I adopted a mock smile. “Oh, you mean those clients I already have scheduled during the day? Yeah, how about you clear that with the L.A. bureau? Tell them I’ll just need a conference room all to myself for a few hours four days a week while I make my way through my private client list.”
    Brice dropped his chin and rubbed his temples. “Can’t you just reschedule them, Cooper? You do it for us all the time.”
    “Oh, I’m going to reschedule them, but I’ll have to put them off for two weeks or schedule them for a session at night after I finish up putting on the dog and pony show for the L.A. frat boys, which I definitely don’t want to do, and all of
that
will be a huge pain in my ass and not something I’m willing to do without some form of compensation.”
    He stopped rubbing his temples and eyed me curiously. “You have two full weeks of clients already on the books?”
    I smiled genuinely this time. “I have six full
months
of clients already on the books, my friend.”
    “Damn,” he said with appreciation. “Word’s really getting out about you, huh?”
    I brushed my knuckles against my shirt. “Told you I had mad skills.”
    He laughed. “Okay, okay, what’s this gonna cost us?”
    “Eight grand,” I said, going for broke.
    Brice rolled his eyes. He knew I was pushing it. “Four.”
    “Six,” I countered, setting my jaw. No way was I taking less. “And you can double that lame-ass food allowance while you’re at it.
And
no crappy motel in some seedy neighborhood either. You put me up someplace nice or no dice, Brice.” I bounced my eyebrows to emphasize my point . . . and of course my exceptional rhyming skills.
    In turn, Brice lowered his brow and frowned hard at me.
    I squared my shoulders and raised my chin to show him I wasn’t scared of him. (Much.)
    With a grin he suddenly put out his hand. “Deal.”
    I let go a little breath of relief and before offering my hand, I said, “I totes would’ve taken five.”
    His smile widened. “I would’ve gone up to seven.”
    I was about to pull my hand away when he grabbed it and shook it quickly. “A deal’s a deal, Cooper,” he said.
    I got up and waved at him dismissively. “Yeah, yeah. If you need me, I’ll be at home packing. Oh, and Dutch is going to take a long lunch today, so don’t give him any crap when he’s not back by one.”
    “Does he have an appointment or something?” Brice asked.
    “Yep,” I told him. “He’s not going to see his wife naked for the next two weeks. I suspect he’ll want to make a memory that’ll last him till I get back.”
    Brice actually blushed and I chuckled all the