Fate Actually (Moonstone Cove #2) - Elizabeth Hunter Page 0,18
new name with fancy credentials, critics and restaurant people around here ate it all up and thought Fairfield walked on water when a lot of them would barely answer Nico’s calls.”
Drew nodded. “Interesting.”
“Yeah. So I get that some of Fairfield’s employees are annoyed that people don’t like their boss, but to be fair, he’s made a lot of enemies with his attitude. And he’s not above playing dirty tricks. He used shell companies to buy all his property. No one knew he was accumulating that much acreage. And the people who didn’t want to sell? A lot of them got harassed big-time.”
“Harassed how?”
“Oh…” She spread her hands. “Broken equipment. Busted wells. A barn fire once. Hiring extra harvesting crews just to keep them from picking for someone else.”
“I’ve never heard anything about any of this stuff,” Drew said. “Are you sure it’s not just rumors?”
“People aren’t going to report shit like that. It’s not the way things work around here. Did my cousin call the police when his tractor up and quit? No. He called me. Plus no one ever linked anything back to Fairfield. The guy’s not dumb. But you tell me it was a coincidence that every single person who resisted selling to him ended up doing it in the long run.”
“And you think Nico’s next on the list?”
“I think Nico has land Fairfield wants. And if playing dirty worked in the past, why not keep doing it?”
Drew rubbed his chin. “I’m gonna have to think on all this.” He sat up straight. “But thanks, Toni. I really appreciate the time. You’ve given me a much better picture of the situation.”
“So are you going to question Fairfield about Nico’s tractor? And that finger? Because honestly, what the hell? Who just leaves a finger lying around?”
Drew walked to the door and opened it. “I definitely want to ask him some questions. When I can find him.”
Alarm bells started going off all over Toni’s brain. “What do you mean?”
“I mean when I got the message from his secretary here that he was in the city, I called up to the Fairfield Enterprise offices in San Jose. And they told me that he was down ‘at the ranch’ for a while.”
Toni blinked. “So his office up there thinks he’s down here?”
Drew nodded. “And his office down here thinks he’s up there.”
“So what you’re saying is… he’s missing.”
“Except no one has reported him missing.”
“Oh.” Her stomach sank. “Shit.”
“Yeah.” Drew grimaced. “Shit.”
Megan held a few carved stones in a small leather pouch, moving them from hand to hand with her eyes closed.
“Is Whit Fairfield somewhere in Moonstone Cove?” Megan opened her eyes and cast the stones into the middle of a circle outlined with a long leather strip. The collection of crystals and polished stones bounced onto the wooden table.
Toni tried to keep her face straight. She glanced at Katherine, who was watching the stone casting intently.
“The Mars stone and the Saturn stone are in a cluster here with the place stone I got from around your house,” Megan said. “So… that’s interesting.”
Toni wasn’t going to ask, but Katherine would. Katherine would always ask.
“Why is that interesting?”
“I’ve met Whit Fairfield more than once,” Megan said. “My ex was desperate to get that man’s account, so he completely sucked up to him. Whit was very aggressive. Very dominant. Very arrogant.”
“Traits associated with Mars,” Toni muttered.
“Exactly.” Megan examined the circle of stones that she’d divided into four quadrants with two more leather strips. “And Saturn is in the same cluster. That is associated with really negative energy. Misfortune. Pessimism.”
“And the place stone?” Katherine asked.
“Well, I’d think that would indicate he’s around here.” She pointed to a bright green stone on the opposite side of the circle. “And his luck stone is all the way over here. He’s in the opposite place of lucky right now.”
Don’t roll your eyes. Don’t roll your eyes. Don’t roll your eyes.
Katherine leaned her elbows on the table and examined the circle of stones carefully. “Megan?”
“Yes?”
“You’re a confirmed telekinetic.”
Megan nodded. “Yes. But I’ve been reading a lot. And psychic energy can be channeled in ways that aren’t always obvious. A lot of it is just practice.”
“Noted.” Katherine frowned a little. “But my question is, since you can move objects…”
“Yes?”
“And the rocks are objects…”
Megan pursed her lips. “Uh-huh.”
“Is it possible that you’re subconsciously moving the stones into a pattern that answers questions the way you want them answered?” Katherine leaned her chin on her palm. “In theory.”