“What he’s always talking about,” Elizabeth said, “nothing of importance. So Madame Ophelia has a young woman working for her.”

“Yes, but as far as I could find out, she hired the rest of her crew right here.”

“What kind of a crew does she need?” Mrs. Bates asked.

“Probably those confederates I mentioned to pose as clients to find out things about the real clients while they’re chatting in the waiting area,” Elizabeth guessed.

“Yes, but she also convinces clients to recruit their friends and relations,” Jake said.

“I guess they tell everyone what a wonderful experience they had, talking to their dead loved ones,” Anna said, making it clear that she had not had a wonderful experience.

“It’s a little more than that,” Jake said. “When she’s milked a mark for as much as she can get, she offers them free sittings if they bring someone new, preferably someone with money, and of course they have to tell her everything they know about the person first.”

Mrs. Bates gasped at the perfidy. “Anna, do you think she offered your mother a free sitting for bringing you?”

“I hope so,” Anna said. “If not, I’ll demand it, and she should get two more for bringing the two of you as well.”

Jake sighed dramatically. “I’m so proud of you, Anna.”

“You are really trying my patience today, Jake,” Elizabeth said.

Jake ignored her.

“What else does she need a crew for?” Mother Bates prodded, getting them back on the subject.

“I gather she tells some of her clients that they will meet a tall, dark stranger or something like that, and when they do, they should take his advice.”

“That’s the con the Old Man told me about,” Elizabeth said. “I guess that’s how they make their big scores.”

“Yeah,” Jake agreed. “The séances pay the rent, but she’d have her eye on the big money.”

“Mother hasn’t said anything about meeting a tall, dark stranger,” Anna said.

“Probably because Madame Ophelia knows she doesn’t have a lot of money, but she still has friends who do,” Elizabeth said. “Gideon had a client come in yesterday and ask him to give her a large sum from her late husband’s estate so she could invest it. Apparently, the dead husband had advised her to do it.”

“Through Madame Ophelia, I presume,” Anna said.

“That’s what Gideon surmised. He didn’t give her the money, but I’m guessing Madame Ophelia won’t take no for an answer, so she’ll put some pressure on the widow.”

“How awful,” Mother Bates said. “Taking advantage of poor widows like that.”

“I think they’re rich widows, Mrs. Bates,” Jake said with a twinkle. “Poor widows wouldn’t be worth the trouble.”

Elizabeth gave him a glare, but Mother Bates just smiled benignly at him. She wasn’t helping a bit.