Chapter38 A Fraud Exposed

Madame Chybovsky doesn't pass up the opportunity for another demeaning criticism. "Nice for the two of you to join us. Cindy, darling, do you want we bring you up to speed; or, are you such extraordinary psychic that you know what we've been talking about? Some professional advice, darling; is good to go to where something took place if you wish to channel those spirits involved." Biting her tongue, "Gee, thanks; I'll take that under advisement for future reference, Madame Chybovsky." "You do that, darling." She turns to Anna, "Now littlest bushka, tell Madame Chybovsky again what happened." "I was sitting on the couch, and, it started to get real cold. The room was getting covered with ice…and, me too. I started hurting really bad. Then I woke up, and the room was warm again. Then I saw Chelsea. She told me not to believe Mary or go in the woods with her. Then, when she was gone, there was writing on the mirror in blood. Then everyone came back." "This writing in blood; what did it say?" Madame Chybovsky asks Beth. "It said to stay out of the woods." "I see, a warning; very ominous indeed." Madame Chybovsky starts traipsing about the room with her arms extended out at her sides, swaying her body side to side, head tilted back, eyes blinking rapidly, dogmatically repeating her mantra of "oohmm - oohmm". After a few minutes, she ceases. She turns to the sheriff, who's standing by the fireplace with a bewildered looking Martin, and an unimpressed, non-believing deputy. "Sheriff Faulkner, there's much danger in this house. The spirits here have attacked this child once already. I strongly recommend these people leave this house until I can rid it of these poltergeists." The deputy laughs, "Poltergeists? Are you shitting us, lady? What are you, the President of the Steven Spielberg fan club?" "How dare you mock The Great Madame Chybovsky! I come here to help this family, and you have the audacity to ridicule me! You question my ability to determine what it is the spirits want? You bring this foolish child here, thinking she's some sort of true psychic…with a gift greater than mine? How dare you!" "Hold on there, Madame Chybovsky," the sheriff tries to mediate the situation, "I'm sure Deputy Hopkins didn't mean any disrespect to you. Did you Mike?" "Well, I don't know, Lloyd; the ‘Madame' over there is the one with the super senses….Why don't you just go with whatever your feelings are, Madame Chybovsky?" Madame Chybovsky snaps, "Insolent dog!" The deputy retorts, "‘Ghostbuster' wannabe!" "Madame Chybovsky doesn't have to take this!" "Yeah well, Madame Chybovsky doesn't have to keep on referring to herself in the third person either; but, she keeps doing it anyway!" The deputy goes to Beth, "Look, Mrs. Lazinski, don't listen to the garbage this dime store fortune teller's feeding you; my niece knows what she's talking about. She's already found out where the epicenter is." "Epicenter?" Beth's totally lost. "The center of all the activity; it's out in the barn." "The barn, Mike?" "Yeah. Tell him, Cindy." Cindy explains, "Whenever you have a haunting…or, any supernatural contact…there's always a point of origin where it starts from. That's the strongest source of its power. It's a kind or vortex…no wait…more like a portal between our world and theirs. I'm sensing that in this case, the barn's that point." "Wait a minute," Beth goes to Cindy, "Mary stays out in the barn. Her and Tommy." "Whose Mary and Tommy?" Cindy asks. Madame Chybovsky jumps in, "Aha! You see! This foolish child doesn't even know what spirits are involved! She's a phony…a fake! All this talk about portals and vortexes and ‘epi' whatevers…all rubbish!" "The only rubbish here's coming from your mouth, sister!" The deputy defends his niece. "Cindy has proven psychic abilities according to accredited organizations dealing with the paranormal. She also has a proven track record with the Boston Police Department. And, she's never been investigated by the Bunko Division of the F.B.I., like yourself!" "Lloyd," Beth's flustered, "what the hell's going on? What's with this...whatever this is!" "Calm down, Beth…" The sheriff's interrupted by a very agitated Beth. "Don't tell me to calm down, Lloyd! I will not calm down! Not until I know what the fuck's going on! Is Madame Chybovsky a legitimate psychic like you said she was; or not?" "Of course I am, bushka…" "You ‘bushka' me one more time lady and I swear…Lloyd, please; what's going on, damn it!" The sheriff takes off his Stetson and nervously twirls it in his hands. "Madame Chybovsky, would you mind waiting for me out in my patrol car?" "Yes I mind! I mind very much! Is real nice. I come to help, and I get insulted. What is this?" "Hey, why don't you just go out to the car and save your psychic act for the next politician that needs to scam someone." The deputy takes the crystal ball from her hands and throws it into the fireplace; smashing it into tiny pieces. Madame Chybovsky scolds the deputy; however, her once strong, Romanian accent has now changed to a straight-up Brooklyn-ese dialect. "Yo, asshole! Do you know what one of them balls costs! Look, you'se owe me fifty more bucks for that! I'm outta here!" The Great Madame Chybovsky storms out of the house. Sheriff Faulkner's staring down at the floor. Beth slowly walks over to him, takes a moment to give him a stern look, and then, slaps him across his face. "What the fuck, Lloyd! What the fuck! You knew what this meant to us…to me! This is serious shit going on here, Lloyd! My God; Anna could've been killed that night! She's still in danger, Lloyd! We all are! And, you bring this phony here? You tell us she's legitimate…used by police departments….What the fuck, Lloyd; why?" The sheriff remains silent; staring down at his boots. "I asked you a question, Lloyd! Why?" There's no response from the sheriff. "Answer me, God damn you!" Deputy Hopkins intervenes. "Hold on, Beth; this wasn't Lloyd's fault." Beth raises her hand to the deputy. "I don't want to hear what you've got to say, Deputy!" "Well that's just too damn bad!" Deputy Hopkins grabs the back of Beth's shirt collar and pulls her over to the couch; tossing her into the cushions. Martin starts to approach the deputy, but, stops when the deputy points his index finger out gesturing for him to go back to the fireplace; which he does. The deputy turns to Beth, who's motionless on the couch, puts his foot up on the cushion next to her, and leans in. He gives his niece a look; which she realizes means to take Anna to another room. She puts her arm around the shoulder of a frightened Anna, and walks her to the kitchen. The two stare at each other a moment before the deputy begins. "Look, Beth, you're upset now; and, rightfully so. After all that you've been through; and then, you find out you've been lied to…that would piss me the hell off too; so, I know where you're coming from in that regard." Beth starts to interrupt, "Oh; and just how many spirits have you had trouble with, Deputy? How can you possibly…" "Quiet now! I said I understand why you're upset; I never said I fully know what you're going through out here. Hell, the only spirit troubles I've ever encountered were with drunks. You're very upset; and, I totally understand that. Let me tell you something Ms. Lazinski; as much disdain that we've shown to each other…all in all…I have nothing but the utmost respect for you. I think you're one brave woman. But, you can also be a real pistol; you know that?" For the first time this afternoon, Beth cracks a smile and laughs. "I guess." "No guess; you are. But, that's alright; I think a lesser person wouldn't be able to handle what you're handling out here. Now, Lloyd and I are trying to help you out, but here's the thing; we're running into opposition from a few of the town's officials…and, some higher level politicians…who don't want whatever's going on here exposed. So essentially, we're all here by ourselves with this situation….We can't even rely on the rest of the department. Not that they're all bad; most of them just let themselves be intimidated by those elected boobs. As far as Madame Chybovsky goes, bringing her here to con you folks was the Mayor's and town council's idea. Lloyd only went along with it because he believed that if he didn't cooperate with them, they would take more extreme measures against you. He figured you're going through enough with these spirits; and, that you don't need to be worrying about those assholes. We'll deal with them; you can bank on that. As far as these spirits are concerned; that's what Cindy's here for. Lloyd knew Madame Chybovsky was a phony…yes…but, when I told him about Cindy being the real deal, he insisted we bring her in on it. So lighten up on him; all right." Beth looks at Sheriff Faulkner, who's still twirling his hat nervously…his eyes halfway looking at her; halfway to the floor…resembling how a scolded child who knows he did wrong looks. She gives him a smile and says… "Okay." The sheriff lifts his head and returns her smile while confidently placing his Stetson back on his head. "I'll be back. I'm going to radio for another deputy to pick up Madame Chybovsky and take her back to the airport. I do believe it's time we send her off on her way." The sheriff tips his hat and starts to leave. Martin calls out to Sheriff Faulkner, "Wait a minute, Lloyd; I'll go with you." He asks Beth, "Are you okay with that, Beth?" Beth looks up at Deputy Hopkins, smiles, and then, turns to Martin, "It's fine." The sheriff and Martin go outside. The deputy takes his foot off the couch and stands up straight; tucking his thumbs into his gun belt. "All right then, let's go see what my niece has to say; shall we?" Beth gets up off the couch. "Okay; let's do this Deputy Hopkins." "Before we do; let's get one thing straight." "What?" "It's Mike."