Absolutely, Positively

Evie.”

    Molly came to a halt beside the table. “Are you sure you won't tell me how you got the blue king to come up twice in a row, Evangeline?”

    “Aunt Evie will never reveal a trade secret.” Harry picked up the deck of cards and began to shuffle them with practiced grace. “I, on the other hand, have absolutely no professional ethics when it comes to this kind of thing. Here, I'll show you how to make one particular card come up over and over again.”

    “No, you most definitely will not.” Evangeline snatched the deck back from him and put it down on the table. “Not with my cards. Off with you, Harry. You never did have any respect for the business.”

    “You're right, I never did,” Harry agreed.

    “You've ruined this deck,” Evangeline grumbled as she fingered the cards. “Now I'll have to reorganize it.”

    Molly studied the deck. “Does that mean that the blue king is no longer on top?”

    “Right,” Harry said. “I shuffled it the old-fashioned way. If the blue king is on top this time, it's due to pure chance, and the odds are staggeringly against it.” He reached down and flipped over the top card to demonstrate.

    It was another king, but this one was not blue. It was red.

    “Hell,” Harry said very softly. The laconic amusement disappeared from his eyes as he looked at the colorful card.

    “Oh, dear,” Evangeline whispered. She stared at the red king, her attention riveted.

    Molly frowned. “What's wrong? It's not the blue king. It's another card altogether.”

    “Yes, it is.” Harry did not take his eyes off the king.

    “What's the big deal about the red king?” Molly asked.

    “Just a fluke,” Harry said quietly.

    Evangeline shook her head slowly. “There are no flukes when you deal the cards.”

    “All right, just for the sake of argument, let's assume that my love life may be about to improve,” Molly said, trying to lighten the atmosphere. “Why so glum?”

    Evangeline sighed. “This is not the blue king. It's the red king. It has nothing to do with your love life, Molly. When it's the first card in the deck it indicates something else entirely.”

    “What?” Molly was exasperated.

    “Danger.” Evangeline switched her veiled gaze to Harry. “Great danger.”

    Molly scowled. “I don't believe it.”

    “Very wise of you,” Harry said. “It's superstitious nonsense.”

    “I wouldn't put too much credence in it, myself,” Evangeline admitted with surprising honesty. She paused, then said, “If it hadn't been for the fact that it was Harry who shuffled the cards. Promise me that you'll be careful, Harry.”

    Molly frowned at the red king.

    Harry touched her shoulder. “Relax, Molly. It's all an illusion. Smoke and mirrors. Like catching knives or reading minds. Let's go.”

7

    “Isaw you write that check for your cousin Raleigh,” Molly said as she buckled her seat belt. It was early evening, the summer sun still bright on the horizon.

    “Did you?” Harry put on a pair of sunglasses that were so dark they appeared black.

    “Yes, I did. You can't deny it.”

    Harry rested an arm along the back of the seat and turned his head to survey the chaotic parking lot traffic. “Then you know why I don't like to spend a lot of time at the carnival,” he said as he eased the Sneath P2 out from under the trees where he had parked it earlier in the day. “Costs a fortune.”

    Molly smiled. “It was very nice of you.”

    “Raleigh's okay. He and Sheila aren't very good with money, but they're hard workers.”

    “How did things go with your uncle?”

    “Let's just say we reached an understanding. With any luck it will hold until Josh graduates from college. By then Josh should be able to deal with the old man on his own.”

    Molly hesitated and then gave in to the compelling curiosity. “I know this is none of my business, but just how did you talk Leon into backing off?”

    Harry's eyes were unreadable behind the black sunglasses, but his mouth quirked in a humorless fashion. “A combination of bribery and threats.”

    “Bribery I can understand. But what sort of threat did you use?”

    “One that has enough teeth in it to scare even Leon.” Harry shifted gears with a fluid snap and accelerated toward the exit.

    Molly opened her mouth to ask for further details, but the words melted away when she saw the grim set of Harry's jaw. Even the force of her Abberwick curiosity was not strong enough to overcome thatno