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ever threatened her?”
    “She said, just before she died, that if Everett Lester ever caught her with another man, he would kill her.”
    The courtroom shook momentarily, until Sprockett pounded his gavel.
    “How long was the relationship more than friends?” Dooley asked, as I squirmed in my seat.
    “Several years, I believe.”
    “To your knowledge,” Dooley asked, ever so strategically, “did anyone else know about this romance between Endora Crystal and Everett Lester?”
    “No one but me,” she said quickly. “Endora assured me no one else knew.”

    When I arrived at Endora’s private room on the second floor of Baptist Hospital of Miami the day after the incident in my high-rise, she was already sitting up in her bed, surrounded by colorful bouquets from friends and clients. Her makeup was just right, and the room smelled from the new coat of dark brown polish she was applying to her long, fake nails.
    “How many times must I tell you,” she scolded the thin, shy-looking nurse who was on her way out as I entered, “I want chopped ice and cranberry juice, chopped ice and cranberry juice. A constant flow of it. Is that too much to ask, when it’s practically all I’m asking for?”
    She turned to see me and feigned innocence, with her head lowered, eyes raised, and lower lip protruding.
    “Everett, you’ve got to persuade the doctors to let me go, darling,” she insisted, her usual zeal intact. “I’m fine and I’ve got business to tend to in southern California. You remember, my niece’s wedding is in ten days. I’ve got to be there to help—”
    “You know what the doctor said, lady,” I said, revealing a box of chocolate turtles that had been hidden behind my back. “He wants to make good and sure your heart is fine before sending you cross-country on a plane. Just relax. Enjoy the rest.”
    “Pooh. Easy for you to say.” She smiled now at the sight of her favorite candy. “Thank you, sweetheart.”
    “You’re welcome.” I removed the cellophane from the box. “Listen, Endora, I need to know what the heck went on at my condo, with the Love card, and your passing out.”
    I figured enough time had passed. She seemed stable enough.
    “To be honest with you, I really don’t want to talk about it,” she sassed, taking a bite of a turtle.
    “I’m still paying your retainer, correct? You need to explain the Ace of Cups to me. What was it telling you?”
    She slammed the bottle of polish down amid her other beauty tools on the bed beside her, then looked out the window.
    Her wheels were turning.
    “It was quite scary, actually,” she said, still staring out as if in a trance. “I was shown that someone is going to come into your life, posing as a new love—offering new life.”
    Her head turned toward me, her eyes still in a daze. “But she will betray you. She will lead you down a path you do not want to travel, Everett. Do not follow her.”
    “Who? Who is this person?”
    She looked back down at her hands and newly polished nails, which now rested on her lap. “I’m not sure. I didn’t get that yet.”
    “When will you know?”
    “I’ll know when I know.” She shook her head and looked away again.
    “What’s wrong, Endora?”
    “It’s heavy, that’s all. Very heavy.”
    “Why did the card heat up?”
    “I told you, it was a warning! Listen to me, Everett. This is nothing to fool around with. Take heed.”
    “Why? What kind of threat are we talking about?”
    She glared out the window. All quiet.
    I let her think.
    “She will bring an end to your career. Possibly…an end to your life.” She finished the sentence in a mean, almost wicked whisper.
    I stood and walked to the tinted window. The sun shone brightly on the plush lawn, palm trees, and sidewalks that curved amidst the well-manicured native greenery outside. After watching cars and people come and go for a few quiet moments, I crossed back to Endora, patted her shoulder, kissed the top of her head, and