Nightmares Can Be Murder (A Dream Club Mystery) by Mary Kennedy Read Free Book Online

him under the table.
    She gave a little snort. “Absolutely. Anything you tell Sybil is all over town by dinnertime. Last week I told her Barney had a hairball, and three people called me up that day with homeopathic remedies for him. One woman even dropped by the store with a little bottle of castor oil flavored with tuna fish. She guaranteed it would solve the problem.” She reached for the blueberry syrup and poured a hefty dollop over her waffles.
    “I’m glad you didn’t say anything about my dreams to her,” I said, feeling a little relieved. “It must just have been a lucky guess on her part.” It was quiet in the kitchen. The Casablanca fan was whirring above us, and Barney was sleeping on the window ledge of Ali’s second-floor apartment. Ali didn’t open the shop until the afternoon on Sundays, so we had the early-morning hours to ourselves. I took another look and spotted Barney’s catnip mouse nestled between his front paws. Had he found it under the refrigerator as Sybil had suggested?
    “What did Sybil tell you? Now you’ve got me really curious.”
    “I suppose she was trying to be helpful, but she told me not to let the
nightmares
get to me.” I frowned. “That it was unhealthy to block my dreams. I guess she meant well, but the whole conversation was a little disconcerting, that’s all. She seemed to know I had a history of bad dreams and that I had them for a reason.”
    “Wow, that’s very weird. Creepy, actually.”
    “I know,” I agreed. “I wasn’t sure what to make of it.”
    Ali poured more coffee for us, my favorite, hazelnut cream. “I don’t know how she could have figured this out on her own; it’s simply not possible.”
    “Has she made these sorts of pronouncements before?”
    “All the time. I’ve never really believed this dream-hopping talk of hers, but sometimes she seems to be dead-on in her predictions. She sees things other people don’t see. Not just in dreams, but she seems to sense things about people. It’s almost like she can look inside their souls and their psyches.”
    I felt my eyebrows shoot up. “So you think she’s psychic.”
    Ali chuckled. “Well,
she
certainly thinks she is. I don’t know what to make of her comments,” she added with a little sigh. “But I’m sorry she said that to you. It must have felt a little intrusive, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Sybil has never been known for her sensitivity. She’s like a bull in a china shop, but you probably figured that out from the way she dominates things at the Dream Club. Along with Dorien, of course.”
    “The two of them have strong personalities,” I murmured. “But maybe that’s not a bad thing; they keep the conversation going. And they do have some interesting insights. They came up with some interpretations I never would have thought of.”
    “I just hope they don’t drive new members away,” Ali said. “We want to keep the group small, but everyone has such busy schedules these days that I think we could accept a few more members. I like to have at least eight people for the meetings, so we can have plenty of material to cover.”
    “Do you accept anyone into the group?”
    “Pretty much. They have to be recommended by a current member, of course. It’s a tight-knit community in Savannah, and most of us who are doing dream work know each other. I like to be careful, though, and I don’t want to jeopardize the integrity of the group. I don’t want someone to show up one time just out of curiosity and never come back. And I certainly don’t want any reporters in the club.”
    “A smart move,” I agreed.
    Ali nodded. “We insist on discretion in our group; otherwise people won’t feel free to discuss sensitive material. I even ask members to sign confidentiality agreements. They probably wouldn’t hold up in court, but it just makes me feel better to have a signed document.”
    “I can understand that. It sounds like you have a good plan.” I was