He made a helpless gesture. “How can I know for sure? Even if that was a spirit talking to me, how do I know it was my mother? There are probably a million spirits, maybe more, and some of them might be troublemakers trying to trick people.”

“I can see you are a thinking man,” she said, nodding sagely. “You want to believe but you are not easily persuaded.”

“I’m not gullible, if that’s what you mean.”

“You are wise to question. Perhaps your mother will send you a sign to prove her sincerity.”

He frowned his concern. “What kind of a sign?” A message in a whiskey bottle, maybe.

“I do not know, but I have seen the spirits take matters into their own hands when they are anxious to make contact.”

Jake sighed. “If that happens, I’ll be back to see you again. Until then, thanks for an interesting afternoon.”

She let him go without another word.

Persephone was waiting in the front room. Everyone else had gone. She smiled wanly. “I guess it didn’t go as well as you hoped.”

“I don’t know what I expected, but I didn’t get the answer I was looking for.”

“Then you’ll be coming back,” she guessed.

“I don’t think so. My mother is just the type to string me along for months. I hated it when she was alive, and I don’t have to put up with it now that she’s dead, so I’m not going to.”

She looked genuinely disappointed. Either she was thinking about the money they would lose or she had started to like him. He wanted to think it was the latter, but he was probably wrong. “What did Madame Ophelia say to you afterward?”

“She seemed to think my mother’s spirit would try to contact me some other way to prove she was real or something.”

“Yes, that does happen. You would be amazed how involved the spirits can be in our lives.”

“I would definitely be amazed because I’m still not sure this is real,” he said with a small smile.

She smiled back. “We love convincing unbelievers, and just imagine if the spirits began to advise you in your business. You could be the most successful stockbroker in New York.”

“Madame Ophelia already told me the spirits don’t do things like that.”

“They have their own ways of helping the ones they choose. You just need to have a little faith.”

“Right now I don’t have very much.”

“At least promise me that if you get some sort of sign, you’ll return and tell us. Madame Ophelia will want to know, and so will I.”

“I promise,” he said with mock solemnity.

“And I wouldn’t mind seeing you again even if you don’t get a sign,” she added shyly.