Spookalulu

"Its late" said Shandy, "We can visit Clare tommorrow. Not that I want to I'll have you know. As was said, we have history and not in a good way. But I agree, she may be able to help. We have to find out who killed dear old Morty" her eyes started to water. Dirk placed his large muscular arms around her shoulders.

"Don't worry, I promise you we will find this person"

"Come on darl" said Iva "You can crash at my joint, cause I don't want you bein on your own luvvie".

"Perhaps your right Iva, thanks honey"

The following morning Dirk drove to Iva's flat in St Kilda. It was bedlum inside. All the "girls" were there. Dirk could not get a word in edgewise as they were arguing about who would join Shandy to visit Clare. Finally it was settled, Iva and Carmene would join Shandy and Dirk. Margot was most displeased and sat on the couch poutting.

Shorty after, the foursome were on there way in Dirk's snappy car.

"Why do you and Clare have a history" asked Dirk. Before Shandy could respond Carmene replied. "Oooohhh its a bitchy affair darling. Clare was THE drag queen on the Melbourne circuit. More popular than Liz Street. She was glamour, none of the usual tackiness, a veritable style maven, wore the best frocks money could buy, but then she always had a steady stream of monied boyfriends. That girl was a class act, people couldn't get enough of her........ until....... a certain black bitch arrived in town" Carmene pointed a finger at Shandy. "Clare had competition and she was pissed bad".

"It wasn't deliberate" said Shandy

"Maybe not darling, but you got your rocks off on the rivalry, admit it"

"Well I will say I enjoyed the adulation. The gay boys loved me. You have to remember Marcia Hines and I were really the only black chicks about at the time, I was at my peak sister"

"Anyways, Miss Beeotchy here soon became the darlin of drag society. And another reason she was popular, she was one of the first to go through the change"

"I don't understand....the change?" asked Dirk

"For christ sake, she was one of the first to have her cock chopped off"

"Girl, please, must you be so vulgar" replied Shandy

"Well its true. So basically Shandy started gettin all the plum jobs and Clare had to settle for being lady in waiting. She left the scene saying she was answering the psychic call, she could no longer ignore the voices in her head. She said she knew she had a talent when she took the TV Week Psychic Quiz. Now the bitch is famous and consults with all the celebs, movers and shakers.

Dirk looked at Shandy "Well it will be interesting to see how she reacts to you, does she know your coming"

"Yesssss I called and made a booking" said Iva "She was cool over the phone"

Shandy flushed with nerves.

Momements later they drove up to the gates of Clare's home, Elwood by the Bay.

"I thought you said it was run down" motioned Iva with her hand

"It was when I last saw it, but that was years ago when she first bought it" said Carmene

Dirk pushed the intercom. Seconds later a voice "hellooooo"

"Miss Voyant, ummm we have an appointment to talk with you"

"Yes, yes.... come"

The gates slid open and they approached the house, a stunning modern structure of white washed walls and floor to ceiling glass perched a top a cliff face.

"Fuck the cow is stinkin filthy rich" remarked Iva

They approached the double frosted doors and pushed the buzzer. Immediately the yapping of a dog was heard, then a voice "Snookums, get back, stop that, I said come away, MOVE IT YOU DIRTY LITTLE BITCH"

With a flourish the door was whisked open, there before them stood the "woman" herself, Miss Clare Voyant. Momentarily flustered, she gathered the small white poodle from the floor and regained her composure.

"Enchant'e dahhlings. Pardon moi, but my little precious gets carried away when the door chimes, she so loves visitors. It takes a stern voice to ummm sooth her. Do, DO come in" Clare shot a quick glance in Shandy's direction, quickly eyeballing her up and down.

Likewise Shandy eyed Clare. She had changed little over the years. A tall slim woman with prematurely greying hair that was swept into a tight and intriguing bun atop her head. She wore a stunning sheer Pucci batwinged kaftan in hues of turquoise, cerulean, cuan and azure. Around her neck a multi stranded Dinosaur Designs necklace of lapis beads, complemented by silver Georg Jensen earrings and a cuff bracelet. No makeup except for dramatic eyeshadow that Shandy instantly recognised as Guerlain Peacock Bleue # 9.

"Miss Voyant. I am Chief Dectective Dirk Flynn. I believe you know the ladies and are aware why we have come, yes?"

"My dear Detective, do call me Clare. Yes, yes we are old acquaintances. Shandy dahhling" Clare approached and air kissed her cheeks "How delighted I am to see you after soooo many years, why you have not changed a scerric. Iva, Carmene, lovely, lovely, but yes our reunion is bitter sweet is it not. Morty Hempel, dead - ghastly. I simply cannot comprehend it. That man was responsible for me success. Who would want him dead I ask you"

"Clare" said Shandy tentatively "Thankyou for allowing us to come, we need your help, we need to see if you can shed light on Morty's murder"

"Shandy, gorgeous thing. How could I not, I will do my best. Come to the parlour"

"The what" said Carmene

"The lounge, don't you know nothing" snapped Iva

They entered a large room. The windows had uniterrupted views over the ocean. In the centre was a circular glass topped table and chairs. The room was otherwise sparsely furnished except for an elaborate credenza with a statue surrounded by candles, flowers and small offering plates.
"Whats that, or should I say who's that" asked Carmene

"That" said Clare "Is Lakshmi, goddess of beauty"

"And wealth" added Dirk

"You impress me Detective. You are au fait with the Hindu religion then"

"I have an understanding of it you could say"

"Bravo, there should be more like you. I converted some years back, many in fact when I "ahem" gave up my superficial but incredibly succesful showbiz career and travelled to India where I found salvation with the spiritual enlightenment of Bagwan Shree Rajneesh and his followers, whom you would know as "Orange People". It was all so uber spiritaualle. I spent several years studying yoga and meditation which in turn opened my third eye"

Iva snickered. Caremene jabbed her with an elbow.

"This bought my psychic ability to the surface and the rest of course is history dahhhlings. But enough of my prattling, we have work to do. Please, do take a seat"

Clare moved to a panel of buttons on the wall, suddenly the blinds lowered shrouding the room in semi darkness.

"Now dahhlings, I ask you to join hands and close your eyes whilst I take a minute to connect to the other side"

Carmene's palms moistened as adrenalin pumped through her body. Shandy felt nervous but secure holding Dirk's strong and reassuring hand.

Clare sat erect and drew deep breaths. Her eyes closed.

"Spirit world hear my plee"
"Third eye open let me see"
"Lakshmi goddess of thine temple"
"Tell me who killed Morty Hempel"

Several seconds of silence followed. THEN. Clare started to quiver. The room grew cold. THEN, her eyes popped open.

"A vision. I have a vision. This horridness, yes yes, its growing clearer, come dahhling show me, show me"

"Who the hell is she talking to" whispered Iva to Carmene

"Shhhh"

"It is not A PERSON, it is PEOPLE that you seek. There are 2, no NO wait, there are 3. Yes,
they are showing me signs, at first it was a riddle, it perplexed me, but now I see. The first is a boy but he looks like a girl, the second is a girl who looks like a boy. How biazzaro. The boy is maybe of middle eastern or oriental decent, Im not certain. The girl, large of frame, pale complexion, red hair, yes red, a little bit ugly. But who is the 3rd, come dahhling, come, show me yourself. Hmmm all Im getting is that its a male, he was the one who held the gun.......andddd, No, no, dahling don't go, stay, who are you? Wait................Too late, he has gone back into the mist, I can get no more for now, but later maybe. Is this of any help. Does it make sense to you"

"Clare, more than you can possibly realise" responded Shandy "But who is this mysterious 3rd man, who is he?"