Chapter 4: The First Card
"I’ve just made tea, Inspector. How do you take it?” Sienna asked, sitting calmly at the low table as Detective Inspector Alex Reyes took in the room, his gaze lingering on the flickering shadows cast by candles lining the walls.
He looked back at her, eyebrows raised. “Thought you’d know those things already,” he answered with a trace of sarcasm.
Sienna smirked, striking a match to light a fresh candle. “I’m not a mind reader, Inspector.”
“Right,” Reyes muttered, settling back in his chair, though his eyes were still wary, scanning her trinkets and softly burning incense. “Mary Poppins,” he quipped, almost to himself.
“Just a spoonful of sugar,” she replied smoothly, stirring her own tea with a smile that was almost playful.
For the first time since he’d arrived, Reyes relaxed a bit, a reluctant grin pulling at his mouth. Maybe, he thought, she’d be worth listening to. “Ms. Haile, about the Hat Fair,” he began, but she cut him off with a raised brow. “Inspector, you came here for a reason. Am I a suspect?”
Reyes shook his head. Her stare, those deep blue eyes, held his gaze firmly. “No, Ms. Haile, we’re just following leads.” He paused. “What lead am I then, Inspector?”
He straightened, realizing he’d need to cut to the chase. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the photo of the tarot card he had googled after the hat fair. “I need your expert opinion on this card… the Eight of Swords as it relates to my investigation into the crime scene.
Sienna picked up the image, studying it with a steady, unreadable gaze. “The Eight of Swords, this is just one representation of many tarot decks inspector. However, the card, I pulled for you on Friday was a message”.
“A message”, Reyes queried the statement.
Inspector, In tarot, the four suits are Cups, Pentacles, Swords, and Wands—each represent a side of human experience.” She set the photo down, looking up at him. “But Swords… they’re special. They symbolize the mind and the trials we go through in pursuit of clarity. They’re about intellect, inner conflict, the need to face uncomfortable truths.”
He crossed his arms, watching her closely. “And that’s supposed to mean what to me?”
She leaned forward, eyes never leaving his. “You’re dealing with someone who wants to outsmart you, who thinks he’s intellectually superior, and whose methods carry historical weight. It’s a calculated challenge, Inspector. Not an accident.”
Reyes narrowed his eyes, leaning in as well. “And you think that’s a ‘he,’ Ms. Haile? What makes you so sure?”
“Because only a man,” she replied coolly, “would leave such a messy trail while thinking he’s leaving none at all.”
Chapter 5: Cards on the table
Sienna said, would you like a reading inspector?
Reyes, looked across at her and leant forward, Ms Haile, I’ve come here because you described the murder scene rather accurately”
“I simply pulled a card, inspector, Spirit is trying to help you”
She began to slowly shuffle the Tarot deck as she spoke. “Spirit, will never tell you what you must do, it will only provide you images, options and revelations which only you can choose if the cards resonate with you”.
She stopped shuffling, “it’s up to you inspector”
Reyes’ curiosity was at a hiatus now.
“So, what does Spirit have to say to me” he said confident that she would simply lay cards which made no sense.
She shuffled again, but this time a little faster.
“Spirit, we thank you for being with us today and for helping Inspector Reyes understand the ways we communicate. Can you give him something to work with in this awful dilemma he is facing?”
The shuffling was fast and then the card flew from the pack as if fired from a casino deck. “There it is”, Sienna stopped shuffling.
“The Moon” she said softly. “There is a secret, she was unable to share, Spirit says she had a hidden fear or anxieties, and there was a sense of “entrapment” due to a relationship perhaps.”
Reyes looked closely at the card, “how do you get that from what looks like two howling dogs between two towers and a lobster crawling out of the water”
“You are not looking at the card as the Spirit is inspector”
“Ok, enlighten me”
“You have come here for answers and you don’t believe in these things, you are curious but want to dismiss all this as a just a coincidence, you have to believe inspector or the cards will just simply suggest odd images to you”
“ how can I believe, this Ms Haile, tell me what you see”
“The Moon card can indicate that you're unsure about something and might lack the knowledge to make a good decision” she paused. “It is also connected to natural cycles of life, such as a woman's menstrual cycle”
There was an inner feeling now, the hairs on Reyes’ neck were tingling as the card became more clear with her explanations.
“ Was she pregnant inspector?”
Next time.... Will Reyes, believe? and who could have done this on his patch ?
As Detective Reyes delves deeper into the secrets left behind by the woman at the Buttercross, will he finds himself reluctantly drawn back to Sienna Haile's tarot cards. Will the cards reveal more about hidden lives and dangerous liaisons?
What card will Sienna pull next - if you have a prediction feed it back to me sometimes the only way to unravel the truth is to surrender everything one thinks one knows… even if it leads you straight into the shadows.