“You hear about Billy Jack?” the guy asked.

I shook my head. “Nothing good can come from that.”

Suddenly a woman with baby on one hip stood in front of me, her hand on her other hip. “Get your worthless ass up and mow. Now.”

“You don’t want to mow the grass,” I blurted out.

“What?” Seth asked, sounding confused.

My heart raced. Did Billy Jack have anything to do with the attack on Mason? But Seth was waiting for an answer. “I told you I’d talk nonsense at first. You’re such a complicated man, I’m having trouble honing in on your aura. Let me try one more time.”

“Okay.” He slid closer to me so that his thigh touched mine, giving him a better view of my chest. Pervert.

I closed my eyes again, still holding his hand between both of mine. I considered holding both of his hands, since he was close enough for his other hand to fondle me, but I figured Jed had me covered. This time I focused on whether Seth had betrayed Skeeter and if so, who he was working with. But when the room faded, I saw the same gray nothingness I’d experienced before the start of my previous vision. I felt stuck in the haze, and I was starting to panic when I thought of something else I was sure I’d see—what Seth was going to have for lunch tomorrow. Instantly an image of his hand holding a hot dog topped with sauerkraut popped into my head.

The vision faded, and I said, “You’re going to have a hot dog for lunch tomorrow.”

“That’s weird,” Seth said. “I was just thinking about hot dogs tonight.”

“That’s quite a coincidence,” I said, a dull ache starting in my forehead.

“So what color did you see?”

“Oh.” I dropped his hand and scooted back toward the arm of the sofa. What had Neely Kate told me about auras? “Your aura is a light greenish-blue. It means you’re loyal to Skeeter . . . a loyalty that will be rewarded.”

He gave me a leer and slid closer, reaching for my hand again. “I’d like to prove my loyalty to you.”

But before he could finish his sentence, Jed grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. “Skeeter would prefer for you to save your loyalty for him.”

Panic washed over Seth’s face. “But she works for him. I’m loyal to ’em both.”

Jed pulled him to the door. “She works with Skeeter, not for, and you best not forget that.”

“I didn’t mean nothing by it. I swear.”

“I know, Seth. I won’t mention it to Skeeter, but for the record, he considers her his, if you know what I mean.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean—”

Jed opened the door and pushed Seth out before closing it without another word to the man. “Did you have two visions?” he asked me.

I nodded. “One to see if he was part of the plot to kill Mason and the other to see if he was going to betray Skeeter.”

He chuckled. “And you saw a hot dog?”

“No. I saw absolutely nothing the second time around, just gray haze. I kind of got stuck in it, so I decided to think about what he’s going to have for lunch tomorrow.”

“What about the lawn mowing?”

“I think his wife was nagging him to mow the lawn, but some guy next to him asked if he knew about what happened to Billy Jack.”

“Who?”

“Neely Kate’s cousin’s boyfriend.”

“The girl who’s missing?”

“Yeah. He sound familiar?”

He pressed his lips together and shook his head. “Nope, don’t know him.”

Billy Jack could have something to do with whoever was after Mason. Was Dolly’s disappearance related to it too? Maybe she and Nikko had uncovered the plot?

I’d have to puzzle it out later. Another man was about to walk through the door. “Are there any questions I didn’t ask that I should have?”

“Nope, you’re a natural.”

I wished I felt like one. I spent the next twenty minutes interviewing the next three men. I’d forced two visions with each, and none of them were involved in either Mason’s attack or the betrayal of Skeeter. Instead, I found out what all three of them were getting for Christmas—the question I asked in a panic when I got stuck in the gray haze after asking about Mason—and I knew what they would have for lunch the next day. By the time the last of them left, my head was pounding.

I pressed my hand to my temple. “Can I get a glass of water? And maybe some ibuprofen?”

Jed picked up my glass. “Does your head hurt? How often have you done this sort of thing?”

“I’ve never had this many visions in such a short time period, let alone forced ones.”

“Maybe you should just have one vision each for the rest of these guys.” He went into the bathroom that was connected to the room and came back with a glass of water and two tablets. He handed them to me, worry in his eyes.

I swallowed the tablets and put my glass on the table. “I need to figure out how to combine the questions. Maybe I’ll try it with the next guy. How many are left?”

“Seven.”

My stomach rolled at the thought. “One at a time, right?”

“You can stop any time you need to.”

I shook my head and instantly regretted it. “I can’t. I’ll be fine. I was too nervous to eat much for dinner. I’m sure that hasn’t helped.”

Jed studied me as a knock came at the door. He walked over to peek through the peephole, then turned to me. “Good thing you took that medicine.”