Elizabeth Basque - Medium Mysteries 01 - Echo Park by Elizabeth Basque Page B

see Carla helping with this, but you, Mack?”
    “ Hey.” Mack looked hurt. “How often have I helped you?”
    “ Only when you want something in return,” I shot back. Now wasn’t the time to argue with Mack, though. I wasn’t petty, but I did like my friends to have my back, as I had theirs. I turned back to Michael. “So, you’re going to stop three drug dealers?”
    “ If you think I should take care of more, I could,” he offered. Apparently, he considered me an expert in the redemption business.
    I kept on topic. “The way I see it, you would be saving a lot of lives. Of course, some addicts will just find other…sources, as you call it, but it all depends on how you go about this.”
    “What do you mean?” Carla asked. She wasn’t in the least frightened; she was just as excited as Michael and perhaps Mack, although he kept his tough demeanor throughout the conversation.
    “ I mean, sure, you could scare these losers into stopping. That will definitely be a good deed. But you might just be stopping new ‘clients,’ as you call them, from becoming addicted,” I said.
    “ That would be great!” Michael exclaimed.
    Michael had had three main connections in his previous life. He gave details about where they lived, and how they did business. He was forthcoming about a little on their personalities, too.
    I listened to his plan, impressed with the thought he’d already put into it. He was a smart kid, I thought to myself. He gave Carla and Mack the names and addresses of two of them, saving the one who had driven Michael to his own death for himself. I began to believe that it could really work.
    “ So,” I said, when they had gotten all the specifics down. “When do you plan to start this pre-Halloween prank?”
    “ Uh, there’s just one thing,” Michael looked at me as he said this.
    “ And what’s that?” I asked.
    “ We’re going to need your help, too.”
    “ Me?” I let out a nervous laugh. “What could I possibly do?”
    Carla cut in. She knew she had a soft spot in my heart, and she was no dummy either. “Well, Pauline, we can haunt them, and scare them. But we might not be able to explain to them why we’re doing it.”
    That shut me up.
    Mack folded his arms across his chest and looked at me with a plea in his eyes. They wanted me to play Medium for them, to communicate. That meant I would have to…
    “I’m not having any of those people enter my home,” I declared. “I’m not crazy. But they are.”
    “ We would never ask you to do that. We’re not stupid,” Carla said.
    “ Then, what do you want me to do?”
    “ Well,” Michael hesitated, “after they are good and scared, we thought you might be able to come with us…and help us explain. To make it clear they have to stop selling drugs, if they want us to stop haunting them.”
    Now my jaw dropped. Me? Visiting illegal drug dealers? “Look,” I tried to reason with them. “None of you really have anything to lose. No one can kill you. You can’t even be arrested. I, on the other hand, would be risking both.”
    “We won’t let anything happen to you,” Carla said. “I promise.”
    “ I can keep any undesirables away from you,” Mack said. “Don’t worry about that.”
    I was stunned. I glanced around at my nice, safe apartment, which I hardly ever left now. I loved it up here, at the top of my little hill, where I could look down…look down at the city below, a city full of crime and drugs and gangs.
    “Now who’s being selfish?” Mack asked me point blank.
    “ Quit reading my thoughts, old man,” I said irritably.
    But Mack had a point. It was all very well and fine for me to sit back, drink martinis, and watch TV while they did the dirty work.
    “It’s all right.” Michael tried not to sound dejected. “I don’t blame you. You’ve earned your place here. I understand.”
    “ Well, I don’t,” Carla said. Her eyes were angry, glowing a little now. “You’re the one who brought us