“Or at least what’s left of it,” Elizabeth said. “She would only get half, at most. She’ll have to split it with whoever is helping her. She must have at least one accomplice to approach the victims about investing their money.”

“But if you chase her out of the city, won’t she just go somewhere else and do the same thing?” Cybil asked.

The four of them sat in awkward silence for a moment as they considered the magnitude of the problem.

Then Zelda said, “She wouldn’t do it again if you could frighten her, though.”

Everyone turned to her in amazement. Zelda’s lovely face was the picture of innocence, and Elizabeth could hardly believe she had come up with such a fiendishly clever idea.

“Frighten her?” Anna echoed. “What do you mean?”

“Yes,” Elizabeth said knowingly, “what do you mean?”

Zelda blinked in surprise at the intensity of their questions. “I . . . I’m not exactly sure, except that she probably frightens her victims to get them to do what she wants them to do, so why not try to frighten her into seeing the error of her ways?”

“Zelda is an idealist,” Cybil said by way of apology.

“Because she wasn’t raised by con men,” Elizabeth said, “but she may have something. In fact, she may have something very important.”

—

And so, darling, I’m going to have to return to Madame Ophelia’s at least a few more times,” Elizabeth concluded after bringing Gideon and his mother up-to-date. At least she had waited until after dinner to do so. She probably hadn’t wanted to spoil his appetite.

They were seated in the parlor, enjoying an after-dinner drink of sherry for the ladies and whiskey for Gideon, who was going to need a second glass now that he understood the situation.

“I told Elizabeth I would help,” his mother said, “but she said I can’t really because we’re related and my testimony that Elizabeth’s predictions were accurate would be suspect.”

Plainly, his mother found this exceedingly disappointing, but Gideon’s relief that she wouldn’t be involved was short-lived.

“I told her she could attend a séance or two,” Elizabeth said. “It would probably look odd if she didn’t.”

“We certainly wouldn’t want anything about this to look odd,” Gideon said, defeated.

“Oh, darling, I know how much you hate this, but it isn’t the least bit dangerous,” Elizabeth said.

“You always say that,” he reminded her.

“But this time it’s true,” she said, not even bothering to deny it. “I’m hardly likely to let Madame Ophelia con me out of any money, and she isn’t really a medium, so she can’t ask the spirits to haunt me or anything, so what can she do?”

“You said she has a crew,” he reminded her.