Page 13 of Power of the Mind
“Um, new treatment plan. You heard me read that part, right?”
“It could have been a regular physician. You’re assuming.”
“But it’s not impossible.”
“It’s stupid. The suggestions came from a fucking tabloid and a teenager.”
Tallustsked. “Don’t call me stupid. It’s rude.”
“I’m not calling you stupid. I’m calling your theory stupid.”
“I know it sounds far-fetched. I know you thinkI’mdelusional and paranoid, but this isn’t the first time in history that mind control has been blamed for multiple deaths. In fact, it’s not the first time this woman has been accused of mind-control murder. She was arrested in the eighties for exactly this.”
I frowned, trying to recall what he’d told me earlier. Something about a sideshow fair and two dead men.
“Okay,” Tallus conceded, “the case was dismissed, but it still happened. It was a thing she was accused of, so I’m not out of my mind.”
“Tallus, no one in authority is blaming mind control forthesedeaths.”
“I am, and I don’t want my best friend to go anywhere near this wacky woman if she’s magically murdering people.”
A low rumble grew from deep in my chest. “You mean your fuck buddy.”
Tallus chuckled. “Yeah, D. Sure. Whatever you say. Can you help me look into this woman? I’d feel much better if we could clear this up.”
“There is no such thing as mind control.”
“Not true. I thought that as well but look.” Tallus clicked around on the computer. “Stories supporting mind control go back decades. In fact, multiple articles talk about how the CIA has been performing illegal experiments on human subjects surrounding mind control since the fifties. In some cases, on their own operatives without their consent. In fact, one of their operatives, who was ready to walk away from the job because he believed what they were doing was unethical, ended up randomly throwing himself out a window at a hotel in New York.For twenty years, the family tried to sue the CIA, claiming the organization drugged and manipulated his brain. It’s believed he was murdered…” Here, Tallus paused for theatrical effect before adding, “through mind control.”
A black-and-white image of a man stared back from the computer. Handsome guy, and true to Tallus’s claim, the headline spoke about a CIA mind-control experiment and his suspicious death.
Barely giving me time to absorb the article, Tallus returned to the search bar and entered new parameters, pulling up another piece that claimed three tower workers from out west jumped to their deaths after having undergone hypnotherapy at a bachelor party the previous weekend. Same symptoms as Allan and Amber.
It didn’t mean anything.
Then he showed me another. Three high school kids from Florida were hypnotized by their principal, and all three killed themselves within weeks of one another. It was believed the trio were in a trance-like state when they took their lives.
“Mind control,” he repeated, hammering the point home.
Before Tallus could throw moreproofin my face—the guy was on a roll—I slammed the laptop closed and left my oversized hand on the surface so he couldn’t open it again. “Enough. I get it. It doesn’t make it real. It doesn’t mean Madame What’s Her Name is responsible for those two deaths. Hell,myclients have a higher chance of killing themselves than hers do.”
Tallus smirked. “That’s because you’re a cuddle bear.”
“It’s because I’m an asshole.”
“Potato potahto.”
I glowered, but it got me nowhere.
“Can we at least look into her? Give her a good once-over to be sure there isn’t anything sketchy in her past?” Tallus considered his words. “I mean, sketchier than being a psychic mind healer.D, she was on trial for murder once. I don’t care if a judge dismissed it. What if it happened again? What if she’s been to prison? I can’t subject Memphis to her mind-melding whatever she does without knowing it’s safe. He’s my BFF. I’m obligated to look out for him.”
I wanted to say no because the whole thing was stupid, and I would never waste my time on such a ridiculous notion for anyone. I wanted to say no, simply because he was doing it for Memphis, who I fucking despised.
But this was Tallus.
If I said no, it meant shuffling him out the door and going back to my pathetic stalking and those rare, drunken midnight visits to his apartment where I failed on every level to be the guy he wanted or deserved. It meant watching from the street as he spent private time with Memphis, knowing they were probably sharing a bed and exchanging orgasms. Each encounter with Tallus risked being the last as I waited for my mouth or manners to fail me for good. As I waited for him to officially get tired of my quirks and tell me to fuck off.
It was a matter of time.