Page 2 (1/2)

One

Jeremy Marsh sat with the rest of the live studio audience, feeling unusually conspicuous He was one of only half a dozen men in attendance on that mid-December afternoon He'd dressed in black, of course, and with his dark wavy hair, light blue eyes, and fashionable stubble, he looked every bit the New Yorker that he was While studying the guest onstage, he ed to surreptitiously watch the attractive blonde three rows up His profession often deative journalist in pursuit of a story, and the blonde was just another member of the audience; still, the professional observer in hi how attractive she looked in her halter top and jeans Journalistically speaking, that is

Clearing his ain This guy was beyond ridiculous In the glare of television lights, Jereuide looked constipated as he clairave He had assu as if he were everyone's brother or best friend, and it seemed that the vastthe attractive blonde and the woift froht, since that was alhere the lost loved ones ended up Spirits froelic light and enveloped in an aura of peace and tranquillity Never once had Jere from the other, hotter place A lost loved one neverroasted on a spit or boiled in a cauldron ofcynical And besides, he had to adood--far better than most of the quacks Jeremy had written about over the years

"I know it's hard," Clausen said into theyou that it's tio now"

The wo with oh-so-much empathy looked as if she was about to faint Fiftyish, she wore a green-striped blouse, her curly red hair sprouting and spiraling in every direction Her hands were clasped so tightly at chest level that her fingers hite from the pressure

Clausen paused and brought his hand to his forehead, drawing once more on "the world beyond," as he put it In the silence, the crowd collectively leaned forward in their seats Everyone kneas co next; this was the third audience ly, Clausen was the only featured guest on the popular talk show

"Do you remember the letter he sent you?" Clausen asked "Before he died?"

The woasped The crewman beside her held theon television would be able to hear her clearly

"Yes, but how could you know about--?" she stammered

Clausen didn't let her finish "Do you remember what it said?" he asked

"Yes," the woman croaked

Clausen nodded, as if he'd read the letter hiiveness, wasn't it?"

On the couch, the hostess of the show, the aze froain She looked both as

As the wo to stream down her cheeks The cameras zoomed in to show it more clearly Daytime television at its dramatic best

"But how could you?" the woman repeated

"He was talking about your sister, too," Clausen murmured "Not just himself"

The woman stared at Clausen transfixed

"Your sister Ellen," Clausen added, and with that revelation, the woman finally let loose a raspy cry Tears burst forth like an automated sprinkler Clausen--tan and trim in his black suit with nary a hair out of place--continued to nod like one of those bobbing dogs you stick on your dashboard The audience gazed at the woman in utter silence

"Frank left so from your past"

In spite of the hot studio lights, the woman actually seeeneral viewing area, Jereer in a helicopter pattern It was getting close to the colanced almost imperceptibly in that direction No one but Jeremy seemed to notice, and he often wondered why viewers never questioned how channeling from the spirit world could be timed so perfectly to fit with commercial breaks

Clausen went on "Th

at no one else could know about A key of soht?"

The sobs continued as the woman nodded

"You never thought he'd save it, did you?"

Okay, here's the clincher, Jereht Another true believer on the way

"It's from the hotel where you stayed on your honeymoon He put it there so that when you found it, you would reether He doesn't want you to remember him with pain, because he loves you"

"Ooohhhhhhh," the woman cried

Or so Jeremy couldn't be certain, because the cry was interrupted by sudden, enthusiastic applause All at once, the microphone was pulled away Cameras zoomed out Her moment in the sun completed, the woman from the audience collapsed in her seat On cue, the hostess stood from the couch and faced the camera

"Re is real None of these people have ever met with Timothy Clausen" She s after this"

More applause as the show broke for commercials, and Jeremy leaned back in his seat

As an investigative journalist known for his interest in science, he'dabout people like this Most of the time, he enjoyed what he did and took pride in his work as a valuable public service, in a profession so special as to have its rights enumerated in the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of Aular column in Scientific American, he'd interviewed Nobel laureates, explained the theories of Stephen Hawking and Einstein in lay terroundswell of public opinion that led the FDA to reerous antidepressant from the market He'd written extensively about the Cassini project, the faulty mirror on the lens of the Hubble spacecraft, and had been one of the first to publicly decry the Utah cold fusion experiment as a fraud