“Yesterday when we were at Raina’s house you sensed something important in that shoebox where we found the clippings. You detected it just by touching the box. Do you, by any chance, have some paranormal ability, Simon Cage?”
“Please don’t tell me you’re one of those people who is obsessed with psychic phenomena.”
“I’m not obsessed with it but I do find the subject fascinating.”
“Fascinating.”
“It makes me curious,” she said.
“Everything and everyone seems to make you curious.”
“Well, yes, but the paranormal is particularly intriguing to me,” she said, her enthusiasm sparking. “It apparently interests others, too. Are you aware that Duke University established the Parapsychology Laboratory several years ago?”
Once again Simon’s hands tightened on the wheel.
“Yes,” he said.
“And then there are Edgar Cayce’s readings and his Association for Research and Enlightenment.”
“Cayce is either delusional or a fraud. I’m betting on the latter.”
“You can’t possibly know that.”
“Do you really take all that stuff about dream readings and astral projection seriously?”
“Well, no. But I think he and others are serious about the research, and I do believe the subject deserves to be studied. It’s not as if a lot ofwell-respected people haven’t tried to investigate the paranormal. Take Arthur Conan Doyle, for example.”
“It does seem amazing that the man who created Sherlock Holmes could be so easily fooled, but here’s what I know about mediums and fortune-tellers, Lyra. They are all frauds and con artists.”
“I agree,” she said. “I had some readings done by tearoom psychics, and I attended a séance. Houdini would have exposed all of them in a minute.”
He shot her a searching glance. “I’m glad to hear you didn’t fall for the con.”
She wrinkled her nose. “You don’t have to look so stunned and amazed that I was able to detect the fakery.”
“Sorry. It’s just that I know how easily even very smart people can be fooled, especially when it comes to the paranormal. People believe what they want to believe even when the evidence points in another direction.”
“Just to be clear, while I don’t believe one can talk to the spirit world or make predictions about the future, I do believe there are forms of energy in the world that we have not yet been able to detect with our modern instruments and gauges. I am convinced that the concept of paranormal energy deserves legitimate exploration.”
“Figures.”
Lyra smiled. “You know what?”
“What?”
“We should probably change the subject. A full-blown quarrel wouldn’t fit our cover. We’re on our honeymoon. At this point we should be utterly besotted with each other. The arguments come later.”
Simon startled her with an unexpected crack of laughter.
“How would you know?” he said. “You told me you’d never been married.”
“No, but I have been engaged. Once was enough. I don’t ever plan to marry.”
Simon thought about that. Then he smiled.
“You’re a very modern-thinking woman,” he said.
He sounded satisfied, she decided.
