Read Online Don't Die Dragonfly by Linda Joy Singleton - Free Book Online Page B

beginning. Then it’s on to fame, fortune, and a Pulitzer Prize. With your talent and my brains, anything is possible.”
    “Hold it right there.” I put out my hand. “What I told you is confidential.”
    “But you said you wanted to work together.”
    “Yes, only it’s a secret. No one finds out I’m—I’m different. I’ll give you real predictions for your column if you help me find out who vandalized the school.”
    “Don’t you just know?” he asked.
    “I only know what I’m allowed to know.” I read the confusion on his face and tried to explain. “I can’t tell when I’m going to get a vision and then the images are confusing. Like I saw a bloody dragonfly, and had no idea what it meant until I met Danielle and saw her tattoo. Then another vision led me to the school. I think I did what I was supposed to, but I’m never sure.”
    “Are visions the only way you get psychic messages?”
    “No. Sometimes I’m contacted by ghosts or spirits.”
    “Aren’t they the same thing?”
    I shook my head. “Ghosts are confused—usually afraid to leave Earth to go on to the other side. Spirits are already on the other side, but they can come back to visit. Some are guides, like my spirit guide, Opal.”
    “Does she watch over you like an angel?”
    “Oh, she’s watching all right—but she’s far from angelic. She has this major attitude and says I have to learn from my mistakes, yet she won’t give me any hints about my own future. I know she loves me, I just wish she weren’t so bossy and critical.”
    “Sounds like my dad.” He laughed as he pulled a chair over to sit across from me. “I’m glad I don’t have a spirit guide.”
    “Oh, you do.” I closed my eyes and concentrated. I couldn’t control my visions, but I could usually get a sense of spirit guides. “His name is William.”
    “Are you kidding me?”
    “No, I’m serious. He has a dark beard and a mole on his nose. He used to be a farmer until he took a vow of celibacy and became a monk.”
    “Celibacy? You mean, none—not ever?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Poor guy.” Manny looked up into the air. “Willy, if you’re listening, just know that I really feel for you.”
    I laughed. Manny may be shallow, but he was so honest about it, you couldn’t help but like him.
    “How do we start investigating?” I asked, clasping my hands in my lap.
    “Talk to people, search online, examine the crime scene.” He pulled out a small notebook and pen from his pocket. “Keep track of everything you learn in a notebook. Dig around for holes.”
    “Holes?”
    “Yeah,” he said seriously. “It’s not so much the facts you’re looking for, but the gaping questions that nag you.”
    “Like why did the school get vandalized after I left?”
    “Exactly. Is that a coincidence or a clue?”
    I shrugged. “Don’t know.”
    “So we’ll find out. I’ll check out the crime scene and talk to that neighbor who witnessed someone running away—”
    “Me.” I sighed. “She saw me.”
    “You don’t know that for sure. Anymore than you can be sure about Danielle. Sneaking into the supply room seems highly suspicious.”
    “I won’t break my promise to Danielle, but she told me why she was there. It wasn’t honest, just not a major crime. She didn’t break windows or paint graffiti. And she definitely didn’t attack the janitor.”
    “The janitor.” Manny made a notation in his notebook. “I’ll check him out, too.”
    “But he’s the victim. You can’t possibly suspect him?”
    “Not really. But he chewed me out once for spitting, and I’ve never liked him.”
    “He is a jerk. And a thief, too, if what Opal told me is true. She said his car trunk was full of stolen school supplies—probably some of the stuff they think the vandals took.”
    “I’ll look into that, too,” Manny said. “And there’s something you should do, even if you don’t want to.”
    I eyed him cautiously. “What?”
    “There isn’t much point in