The Fortune Teller's Daughter by Lila Shaara

Author:Lila Shaara
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780345509406
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2008-12-30T05:00:00+00:00

30

KNIGHT OF CUPS

REVERSED

A young man who is not what he seems

Harry went for a long walk in his neighborhood again, the weather being fine, hot but clear; the dry air felt as if it was tightening and refreshing his skin. When he got back to his house, he poured himself a tall glass of iced tea and sat down at his computer. To his surprise, there was already a message from Louise Glade. The text was far shorter than the banner above it: “Found it. Emily’s left of Charlie.” He opened the attachment with a curious excitement, and as he waited for it to appear on the monitor, he imagined the smell of stale cigarettes traveling from Louise’s undoubtedly tar-stained fingers through the wires and misting up at him around the keys.

The picture had been taken outdoors; the sun must have been behind the photographer, since almost everyone in the well-dressed group was wincing blindly. Charlie Ziegart was at the center of a group of fifteen people. Harry would have had no trouble finding Emily, even if Louise’s directions had been ambiguous; to the right of Charlie was a grinning boy that Harry could see was the adolescent version of Jonathan. The grin was too wide, and Harry couldn’t imagine Dusty ever giving the camera the gift of such open glee.

Emily Ziegart was a head shorter than her husband, and was the only member of the party not smiling. She was also the only one not directly facing the camera; instead, she was angled a quarter turn toward her husband, giving the impression of movement. Her eyes hadn’t reached his face yet when the shutter had clicked. The couple weren’t touching, but her hands were lifting, as though she was about to take his arm, but like her gaze, her hands hadn’t yet made contact. Her face was small enough relative to the rest of the scene that he doubted he’d recognize her in another picture if he came across one, but it was enough to get a sense of her. She was altogether rounded and soft-looking, her hair long and straight, some vague light color. She was dressed in brown trousers that were too tight and a wrinkled matching jacket buttoned up to her breasts that sat too wide on her shoulders. Her posture was rounded, too, giving her an air of weakness mixed with anxiety that was hard to look at for long. He examined her face more closely. Round cheeks and a small mouth, dark eyes in shadow. Harry thought, She doesn’t look like a genius.

His eyes wandered back to Jonathan, and it was only then that he noticed the boy’s hands, clasped at crotch level. The left hand was underneath the right, and Harry rolled his chair back, then pulled himself closer to the desk again, staring at the screen from different angles. But after his eyes had recognized the images for what they were, there was no unseeing them; Jonathan’s left hand was giving either his father, his stepmother, or both the finger.

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