The Haunted Air by F. Paul Wilson Read Free Book Online Page B

morning?”
    Gia had been trying to forget it. She’d hated the week Vicky had been gone last summer—the seven loneliest days of the year—and was dreading her departure tomorrow.
    â€œI did. Forgot completely. I realize you’ll miss her terribly, as will I, but I know just the thing to ease the pain of separation.”
    Gia smiled and twirled a lock of Jack’s hair. “And whatever would that be?”
    â€œThat’s my secret until tomorrow night.”

    â€œI can’t wait. And speaking of secrets, what’s Ifasen’s?”
    â€œNo-no,” Jack said. “First you tell me the question you asked. If ‘two’ was the answer, what was the question?”
    She shook her head. She now found herself a little embarrassed by her question. If she could get away without revealing it …
    â€œYou first. Tell me how that man can give answers when he doesn’t know the question.”
    â€œYou’re sure you want to know?” Jack said, turning his head to give her a smile.
    A smile from Jack … so few of those since Kate’s death. She missed them.
    â€œWhy wouldn’t I?”
    â€œMight spoil the fun.”
    â€œI can handle the truth. How does he do it?”
    â€œPretty much the same way Johnny Carson did when he pulled his Karnak the Magnificent shtick.”
    â€œBut he was reading off cue cards.”
    â€œExactly. And in effect, so is Ifasen.”
    Gia shook her head, baffled. “I don’t get it. We sealed those envelopes. We heard him give the answer, we watched him open the envelope and read the question.”
    â€œThings aren’t always as they appear.”
    â€œI know that only I knew what was written on my card.”
    â€œNot after his brother Kehinde did his work.”
    â€œKehinde? But he just—”
    â€œAppears to be a gofer? That’s what you’re supposed to think. But Kehinde is key. Ifasen put on the show, but he couldn’t have done it without his brother’s help. The method is called ‘one ahead.’ If you remember, right after Kehinde collected the sealed envelopes he took the bowl around to the rear of the podium and made a show of covering it with the cloth. That’s the key moment. Because while you think he’s fiddling with the cloth, he’s really slitting open one of the envelopes and removing its card—or billet as the psychics like to call them. He was also tossing in a marked envelope containing a blank card.”
    â€œWhy?”

    â€œThink about it. When Ifasen—and by the way, if that’s his real name, mine is Richard Nixon—when he removes the white cloth on the bowl, he looks down and reads the question on the card Kehinde opened for him. Then he picks up one of the sealed envelopes and raises it above his head. But he doesn’t answer the question in the raised envelope; he answers the question on the card in the bowl.”
    â€œI get it!” Gia said, feeling a burst of pleasure as all the pieces fell into place. “After he answers the question in the bowl, he tears open the envelope and pretends to read the question he just answered, but actually he’s seeing the next question.”
    â€œExactly. And for the rest of the show, he stays one envelope ahead—which is how the method got its name.”
    â€œAnd the blank card in the extra marked envelope is so Ifasen won’t wind up one short.” She shook her head. “It’s so simple.”
    â€œThe best tricks are.”
    Gia couldn’t hide her chagrin at being so easily fooled. “Am I so gullible?”
    â€œDon’t feel bad. You’ve got plenty of company. Millions, I’ll bet. That trick’s been conning people since the eighteen hundreds. Probably started as a sideshow mentalist gag, then the spiritualists picked it up and they’ve been milking it ever since.”
    â€œSo Ifasen’s a fake