Truth or Dare by Jayne Ann Krentz

“I had a visit from Tabitha Pine.”
    â€œSo did I. She seems to feel that we need to experience some of her meditation sessions before we can draw up our proposals.”
    â€œI think she’s right,” Lindsey said. “I signed up for a full course of twenty sessions.”
    Zoe did a silent aaaargh . She had been considering dropping in on one or two of the classes. A full course of sessions probably cost somewhere in the neighborhood of two thousand dollars.
    The front door of the show house was locked.
    â€œLooks like we’re the first to arrive today,” Zoe said. Each of the designers had been assigned a key. She reached into the red tote to find hers.
    â€œI’ll get it.” Lindsey already had her key in hand. She fitted it into the lock and opened the door.
    â€œThanks.”
    Zoe found Lindsey’s efficiency one of her more irritating characteristics.
    Zoe went briskly across the threshold, not hesitating as she usually did before entering a structure because she had already been inside the Designers’ Dream Home on several occasions during the past few weeks. There was no need to brace herself for the unknown.
    When she was younger she had assumed that everyone picked up on the invisible miasma of strong psychic energy that sometimes clung to the places where people had lived, loved, laughed or died. It was only when she was older that she had come to understand that, while a lot of folks did get occasional twinges of sensation or experience an inexplicable sense of déjà vu when they walked into a strange house or room, what she felt was quite different.
    It had not taken her long to figure out that, as far as most people were concerned, “different” usually translated into “crazy.” As a result, she had gotten very good at hiding her sensitivity to the psychic energy that was sometimes trapped in the walls of a house or building.
    She had gotten so good at concealing the truth about her psychic side that she had been able to keep it from her first husband. She had loved Preston dearly and she knew that he had loved her. But deep down she had always known that if she told him her secrets he would have worried desperately about the state of her mental health. He never would have been able to look at her the same way again.
    She would not have blamed him. There were times in the past when she herself had feared for her sanity, especially during those ghastly months at Candle Lake Manor.
    The most unsettling aspect of her relationship with Ethanwas that, although she had told him about her sixth sense, he had been relatively unfazed. That was the good news.
    The bad news was that she was pretty sure the reason he had taken her revelation so calmly was because he did not really believe that she was psychic. In his opinion, she was merely extremely intuitive. As a private investigator who relied heavily on his own intuition, Ethan could accept and deal with that explanation.
    Lindsey went ahead of her down the hall, heading for the wide staircase that led to the second level of the big house.
    â€œI took a look at your library yesterday on my way out,” Lindsey said over her shoulder. “I see you decided to go with those dark red bookshelves. Don’t you think that color will be too strong in that space? You’ve already got a lot going on in there.”
    Take deep breaths, Zoe told herself. Whatever you do, don’t get defensive.
    â€œThe effect will be much different once the books are on the shelves,” she said.
    â€œWell, it’s your space.” Lindsey started up the stairs, clutching her satchel. “But you’ve already got so many colors in there. All that ocher and terra-cotta is a bit much. The room seems very warm, especially for such a hot climate.”
    Zoe ground her teeth but managed to keep her mouth shut.
    Lindsey did not wait for a response. At the top of the stairs she turned and disappeared in