Stage Fright by Gabrielle Holly Read Free Book Online Page A

she and Toni browsed through the costume jewellery. “Do you think either of them even still has a record player?” Bridget whispered.
    “Doubtful,” Toni answered. “Oh geez, Bridge—look at that!”
    Bridget followed Toni’s pointed finger to a long string of colourful glass beads in the case. “Hippie love beads! They’re totally you, Tone. You’ve gotta get them.”
    Jean appeared on the other side of the case with a ring full of tiny keys. “Can I show you girls something?”
    “She’d like to see the love beads, please,” Bridget said.
    Jean flipped through the little keys and Bridget noticed that each one was labelled with a number. The case with the necklace was labelled ‘#127’. She looked around the shop and thought there must be a thousand such locked cases. This could take a while. “So, Jean, where do you get all of this great stuff?”
    “Oh here and there. Estate sales and auctions mostly. We have over two-hundred vendors represented in this building. Each one has their own little space—sometimes a whole booth and sometimes just a case like this one. Ah, here it is, one-twenty-seven.” Jean unlocked the padlock and opened the case. “Go ahead, dear.”
    Toni reached in for the necklace and her hand brushed against some of the other pieces. She jerked back her hand as if she’d been stung.
    “You okay?” Bridget asked.
    “Yeah, fine, I just got a static shock or something.”
    Bridget was not convinced, and when Toni reached into the case again, she held her hand, palm down, just inches from the items. She slowly passed her hand back and forth.
    “What’s she doing?” Jean asked.
    Bridget didn’t answer. She just focused on Toni until her hand finally stopped above a long gold stickpin topped with the figure of a camera. “Tone, did you find something?”
    It seemed that Toni hadn’t heard the question. She just reached down and plucked up the pin. Her body went rigid and she began to quake. Bridget touched Toni’s arm but jerked her hand away when a painful shock passed between them.
    “Jesus! Thomas! Mike!”
    By the time the men reached them, Toni was sprawled out on the floor unconscious. The mangled stick pin was beside her open palm. The psychic came to within a minute and seemed unfazed.
    Jean did not fare as well. She had scuttled behind the cash register and had the phone receiver in her hand. “Out! Out with all of you. I should have known that people who fool with the dark arts would bring nothing but trouble.”
    Thomas helped Toni to her feet then wheeled around to face Jean. “Dark arts? What the hell are you talking about? We’re paranormal investigators, not devil worshipers!”
    “I don’t care what you say you are. You need to leave right now or I’m calling the police.”
    Thomas bent to scoop up the stickpin. “Fine. We’re going. How much for this?”
    In an instant Jean seemed to forget that she was scandalised. “Fifty bucks.”
    “Fifty bucks? The tag said ten,” Bridget yelled.
    “Well it’s fifty bucks now. Take it or leave it. And you’d better take it because that witch bent the pin and I won’t be able to sell it to anyone else now.”
    Thomas reached into his wallet and pulled out two twenties. “Anybody got a ten?” Mike threw two fives onto the counter and the four hurried out into the cold night.
     
    * * * *
     
    Nobody had mentioned the incident in the antique shop. Toni caught them stealing glances at the stick pin she wore on her shirt every day, but it had been two weeks and no one had a said a word. She wasn’t trying to illicit a response from anyone. She just thought it might bring her some answers. So far it had done nothing but worry her friends.
    Today the pin was stuck through the thin cotton of the vintage red punk rock band T-shirt she’d found at the local thrift shop. The collar had been cut out and the hem was riddled with holes. Toni wore it over a bright orange long-sleeved T and she liked the way the