Bad to the Bone by Debra Dixon Read Free Book Online Page B

and find your dad.” Jessica sighed, realizing how short she sounded, and leaned forward. The section of hair with the white streak brushed the coffee table as she did. “Iris, I don’t believe in tarot cards or crystal balls. All that stuff we said about your
feelings
and the cards was just to fool Sully. To get rid of him.”
    “You’re in the reading.” Iris knew that would get her attention. People loved to hear about themselves.
    “Me?”
    Iris picked a card up and handed it to her. “The Empress.”
    Hesitantly Jessica took the card and looked down at it, surprised by its sensual nature. The card’s predominant figure was a naked woman standing in a moonlike boat with a snake twined around one arm and some kind of staff in the other hand. “Does your dad know you have these cards?”
    “Of course he does! There isn’t anything here I haven’t seen in sex education. I
am
twelve.”
    “Right. Twelve. Naked snake ladies in sixth grade. Where have I been?” She handed the card back. “So should I be insulted or impressed with myself?”
    “Scared. Major Arcana cards mean it’s out of your control. I don’t think you can stop whatever’s going to happen between you and the detective.”
    Smiling, Jessica said, “Believe me. I am in complete control.”
    “Not a chance.” Iris tucked her hair behind her ear and began pointing out cards. “Here. This card, where it all begins. It’s
so
strong; this part is so cool. He’s a hunter who seeks prey to escape his own darkness. And it’s capped by the Wheel of Fortune, which means something has changed, been set in motion by cosmic forces. Which is probably the problem with my dad. See the hand reaching up to grab hold of the wheel?”
    Stunned by Iris’s performance—Jessica didn’t quite know what else to call it—she asked, “How do you know all this?”
    “I read about tarot.”
    “You can’t get all this from books.”
    “Sure you can. All you need is a great memory. I’ve got one of those. I read two thick books just about this one deck, and I’ve read all about symbols and colors and numerology and
I Ching
. It’s all here in the cards. Once you memorize all the meanings, you just have to read the pictures and the symbols.” Iris lifted her eyes to make sure Jessica was ready to go on.
    Jessica nodded.
    “Okay,” Iris said. “Tarot is like a story. This is where the Empress comes in. That’s how he sees the situation. She’s the card of passion, of energy. And love. I don’t mean kissy-face Valentine’s Day love. I’m talking about major emotional stuff. That’s represented by the water. See it rocks the boat.”
    Drawn into the bizarreness in spite of herself, Jessica made a connection to Sully, and she felt the tiny hairs on the back of her neck prickle. “He doesn’t like the boat rocked.”
    “Not the way the Empress rocks it. It’s too real. He doesn’t like real. That’s what he’s afraid of.” She tapped another card. “He doesn’t like being human. He fears the devil in himself, but he’s drawn to the Empress and she’s about as real as you can get. She’s good and bad.”
    Jessica’s heart skipped a beat. “W-what?”
    “Oh, I didn’t mean
you
were bad. The Empress is human. That snake represents”—Iris frowned and closed her eyes as she struggled for the right word—“
transformation!
Because of how it sheds its skin. That’s change, right? Some people say it also means evil, that desire and evil are a part of the Empress card just like love is.”
    “A part that she tries to hold away from herself,” Jessica whispered.
    “Cool! It does seem like she’s holding the snake away. Or trying to. I never noticed that before. It doesn’t work, though.”
    I know
, Jessica agreed silently. “Iris, what does any of this have to do with your father being missing?”
    “Everything in this reading points to you. The detective can’t see anything but you. I don’t know what you did to set him off,