The Hysteria: Book 4, The Eddie McCloskey Paranormal Mystery Series (The Unearthed) Read Online Free Page A

plugged into their recruiting practices, but still. So who the hell did she work for?
    “Okay. Let’s back up.” I pointed at the well-stocked bar. “You mind if I get a water?”
    “Where are my manners?” He made a big deal out of pouring it himself for me.
    “Thanks. So she came back about a month ago. When did the fainting spells start?”
    “About two weeks ago.”
    “What did the doctor say?”
    “Syncope.”
    One of my favorite diagnoses because it doesn’t tell you much of anything. “Transient loss of consciousness accompanied by a change in postural status.”
    “Or as I like to call it, fainting.”
    I smiled. “Did he say why it was happening?”
    “Megan has low blood pressure. If she gets up or changes position too quickly, not enough blood—and therefore, oxygen—gets all the way up to her brain.”
    I considered my anecdote about the giraffe being the animal with the highest blood pressure but thought better of it. I knew a lot of useless bullshit like that. It happens when you read too much. If only I could use my powers for good…
    “How often was she fainting?”
    “Once every few days. It was frightening. One time she was just standing in the kitchen and she went down without any warning.” He brought one hand down on top of the other. “Lights out.”
    “You said she was acting differently too.”
    “Not differently, Eddie. She was a whole other person.”
    “How so?”
    He considered his words before speaking. “Megan is a wonderful woman. A strong, beautiful, goal-oriented woman. Only twenty-six but wise beyond her years. Very warm, very caring, but also very focused. She could set her mind to a problem and block out all the noise and take as long as she needed to solve it. And she usually doesn’t need much time. She is the type of person who would have succeeded at anything. She’s just good at whatever she tries, and she’s good with people.”
    I waited for it.
    “But, when she had these episodes, she became…” Now he was really considering his words. “…remote. Withdrawn. She stayed in her room. When she interacted with us, she was flat. Hollow-like. Almost suspicious.”
    “Suspicious?”
    “It’s difficult to describe. She became very guarded. She rarely spoke. It was like she was pretending to be aloof but there were moments when she was really watching us, listening to what we had to say.”
    “How many times did you see these changes in the last month she was here?”
    He bobbed his head side-to-side. “Seven, eight times.”
    People with mental disease were often drawn to the study of psychology. Probably explained why I was. But with my limited, amateurish knowledge I couldn’t pin a diagnosis on Megan. Dissociative identity disorder was rare and hotly-contested in the psychiatric community. My knee-jerk diagnosis was bipolar disease. But that didn’t work either. Turner had described her as focused. Not exactly an adjective fitting manic behavior. Depressed people were often distant, their affects suggesting hopelessness or apathy. So maybe Megan was depressed. But then she rebounded too quickly from it, seven or eight times in the last month, to a non-manic state. Also, the suspicion suggested paranoia or schizophrenia.
    Either way, I decided to keep my amateur psychology to myself. Because I was probably way off.
    “Tell me about her ex-husband.”
    Turner finished his drink. I could see him thinking about another. “He’s a good man.”
    I was taken aback.
    Turner continued. “A really good man. They just weren’t compatible.”
    “He’s still around?”
    “Yes. He works in the finance department of one of the big insurers.”
    Turner practically glowed when he spoke of his ex-son-in-law. Odd talk from a father about the man who’d divorced his daughter.
    “I’ll need his information.”
    “Strongbow might have it.”
    So he was more than a driver. “Tell me about the guys that came around.”
    “How do you know there were?”
    Time