The Psychic

“Come in! Come in! Let me tell your fortune. No tricks, no lies, just step right in and pay a small fee of fifteen dollars. I’ll have your future laid out for you in just a few minutes!”

“Bullshit!”

“Well good sir, there’s only one way to find out. Step right in, I’ll tell your future for that small fee of fifteen dollars. Such a business-man like you can surely be interested in your career.”

“How did you know I was a business-man?”

“Why good sir, I’m a psychic, I know things others don’t.”

“Fine. I’ll try it. How much do you say? Fifteen dollars?”

“Why yes good sir, fifteen and you’ll step through these doors right here.”

“Well there you go, now do I sit somewhere?”

“Of course good sir, see that plush velvet chair over there. Fit for a king it is. Go ahead and sit right down while I prepare everything.”

“You should lower your prices, fifteen is not a small fee.”

“Well sir, I have to survive somehow. Now fret not as I close the curtain, I simply need the privacy to look into your future.”

“Never said anything about it chap.”

“Now good sir, with our privacy secured, look into this glass ball right here. See the way it reflects the lights.”

“And… what is this supposed to do?”

“Well sir, it makes you sleepy, doesn’t it?”

“I… I suppose?”

“Now close your eyes. Focus only on the way your eyelids look under the lights.”

“They’re… purple… like a… a plum…”

“Fallen asleep yet?”

“...”

“Mary! Joseph! Get in here, bring the stuff.”

“Yes sir.”

“He’s out, Mary I want you to blindfold him and tie him up. Bring him to a separate room. Tie him up, gag him.”

“Yes sir.”

“Joseph, get the stuff for me to interrogate him.”

“What did this asshole do?”

“Joseph.”

“Sorry sir. Just curious.”

“Well enough. This piece of shit beats his children. He won’t be seeing them again.”

“I’ll bring him to the room.”

“Thank you Mary.”

“Yes sir.”

“I’ll go get the stuff.”

“Wait Joseph.”

“Yes sir. What is it?”

“Check on Mary. This case is going to be hard for her. Get those tools first though.”

“Yes sir.”

---------------------

“Where am I? What happened? Why-”

“I’m asking the questions here.”

“You! The psychic, what? Why am I tied up? Why are you-”

“I said.”

“Wait-”

“I. Am asking the questions. Now stop whimpering. It's a cut, not a bullet wound.”

“Please. I have a family. I didn’t do-”

“Oh bullshit. Your family isn’t going to be your excuse. I let you go, you go to the cops. I get jailed, and you get away with-”

“Get away with what?”

“If you interrupt me again, you will have more than a gash to show for it.”

“Yes sir.”

“That's more like it. Now, what's going to happen here is you're going to tell me what you did to your children, in detail.”

“B-”

“After that, you will tell me all your private bank details. Your passcode. I will transfer the money from your hidden account to your wife and stage your death so it looks like you ran away.”

“Why? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“Now.”

“I never hurt them too badly. Please stop. Please-”

“Speak up. I want you to look me in the eyes while you talk to me. And stop begging. Answer my questions, say nothing else.”

“It wasn’t bad. Occasionally I would hit them.”

“Why the burns then?”

“It was a hot spatula. It was discipline, not abuse.”

“And what did you do? Bribe the Social Worker?”

“...”

“Answer me.”

“Yes! Fine, yes I did.”

“You sick piece of shit. Mary! We have another person to get after this.”

“Yes sir, I’ll dig up some info on him.”

“Who’s that?”

“Unrelated. Now, the information, passcodes, all of it.”

“My passcode is 12345. The bank account is 489789.”

“You hid a thousand dollars? That's all? Where’s the other account?”

“There isn’t one I swear. Please. I just got out of debt.”

“Stop begging.”

“Sir, would you like me to take it from here? You can transfer what little he has.”

“Yes Joseph. Thank you.”

“No, no please. Please just let me go.”

“Try to keep him quiet if you can. Hard to focus.”

“Of course sir.”

“No! No! Please I won’t lay a finger on any of them again.”

“Listen to me. You are going to shut up and answer any questions Joseph asks. You deserve far worse than this. You’re a monster, you know that? A monster.”

“What does that make you then? Jigsaw? Some self-righteous kidnapping bi- ah!”

“Thank you Joseph. I’ll go sort all of this out.”

“Of course sir, before you leave, what's the story we’re going with?”

“There was a tragic accident. The local psychic lost his building after a devastating fire. His client, trapped under a falling pillar. We’ve been here for long enough. Time to move onto a new location.”

“Yes sir.” 

“Mary! You get the fire ready.”

“Yes sir.”

“Passcode. Passcode. 12345. Contacts… What's his wife's name?”

“You heard him, answer the question.”

“Lila! It’s Lila.”

“Thanks Joseph.”

“No problem sir.”

“Fire’s ready sir.”

“Light it Mary. Joseph, leave him tied up.”

“Yes sir.”

“Wait! No, please. I won’t tell anyone. Please”

“Let’s go.”

“Yes sir.”

“Yes sir.”

“Call the cops. They can deal with this. Smash his phone, would you Mary?”

“Yes sir.”

---------------------

“This is the local police department, is this Lila?”

“Yes. What’s wrong?”

“You’re husband, his name is Trevor, correct?”

“Yes. Is everything alright?”

“I’m so sorry mam, he came into a building for a psychic reading. The building went up in flames. We couldn’t get him out in time. We need you to come in and get a blood sample for a DNA check. Make sure that you’re related.”

“No. No you’re joking. Please. Please tell me this isn’t true.”

“I’m so sorry mam, he’s gone.”

“A fire? He died in a fire? A psychic building? He’d never go in for a reading.  He didn’t believe in that. Are you sure it's him? Maybe the beasts who ran it snatched him.”

“We already interrogated them mam, they nearly died trying to get him out. It wasn’t them.”

“I… I need to go.”

“Of course mam.”

“Good job Officer. I’m sorry this had to happen to you. You snooped a little too much though. Pushed a little too hard.”

“Joseph, please just put the gun down. I had to lie to that poor lady. I won’t tell anyone it was you.”

“Sorry. Can’t take that sort of risk.”