A Scrying Shame by Donna White Glaser

known her since she was twelve.”
    “Whatever.” He turned and wrung out the dishrag in the sink.
    Arie stifled a sigh. “Did you eat some of the chili I made?”
    “I’m surprised I didn’t have to call in the paramedics. It’s obvious you’re trying to kill me. In fact, I probably should’ve saved some for evidence.”
    “Saved some? You mean you ate the whole pot? Grumpa, that was supposed to be for both of us, and there should’ve been enough left over for lunch tomorrow.”
    “Well, there wasn’t. And I had to make the cornbread by myself. You can’t eat chili without cornbread.”
    Arie opened the refrigerator. “Did you at least leave me some cornbread?”
    “Of course not. What good is cornbread without chili?” Grumpa stomped off into the living room.
    Arie leaned her head against the refrigerator door. The cool surface felt good on her forehead. She heard rustling behind her and turned.
    Chandra had pulled a loaf of bread from the breadbox and was digging through a cupboard. She pulled out a nearly empty jar of peanut butter.
    “I don’t suppose Ol’ What’s-His-Name has any grape jelly in there?”
    Although Chandra had decided that peeing on the carpet was the way to go, Arie led the way to her bedroom. She plopped on her bed while Chandra perched on the dresser.
    “This feels like high school,” Chandra said.
    “Tell me about it.”
    Arie reached into her purse and pulled out Marissa’s wedding program. She passed it to Chandra. “Is the woman from the funeral in Marissa’s wedding party? She seemed pretty in with the immediate family.”
    Chandra squealed. “She sure is. Riann Foster. In fact, she owes me for her B-plus in Eastern Religions.”
    Arie quirked an eyebrow at her friend.
    “She flunked the midterm and barely passed the final. Her only hope was the final essay, and believe me, this girl couldn’t pull together a ten-page paper on her own. She was one of those perpetual students, always changing her major. And she was a major party girl if the rumors were true. I gave her a little help.”
    “You mean you cheated.”
    Chandra shrugged. “Yeah, but let’s face it, it was Eastern Religions. I also had her in Astrology, but she managed to get by in that class.” Chandra frowned. “Or else she found someone else to help her.”
    “How about any of the other names? The fiancé, Chad Atwater?”
    Chandra studied the names but shook her head. “Looks like one of the groomsmen might be a brother or cousin. Same last name as the groom. But I don’t know any of these others. Just Riann, and really, I barely knew her.”
    “I’ll try to Google them later.”
    A long pause ensued. Chandra finally broke it. “All right, maybe you’d better tell me about Brant now.”
    “I can’t even imagine where to start.” Arie scrabbled through her purse to find her bottle of ibuprofen. She would need that plus caffeine to take the edge off the pounding headache that had finally erupted. She simply had to figure out a way to stop the visions.
    “I take it Brant knew Marissa,” Chandra prompted.
    Arie nodded wearily. “They were engaged.”
    “Engaged? Are you kidding me? How come I never heard about this?”
    “It was the only secret we ever really shared. And it was a while ago. Two years, maybe. I ran into them at the movies and made Brant introduce us. If he could’ve gotten away with just ignoring me, he would have. She seemed really sweet, though.”
    “I still can’t believe you never told me.”
    “Anyway, they broke up about three months later.”
    “How come he wanted to keep her a secret?”
    Arie shook her head, which only made her headache worse. “I don’t know. He acted . . . embarrassed, which was crazy. I mean, like you said, she was one of those golden girls. You know, one of those Barbie dolls with a sparkly smile and perfect skin. I can’t believe I didn’t recognize her from the book photo. Back then, though, the only thing that surprised me was