"And cue the waterworks," Edgar said, acting entranced.

"Daddy," Heda sniffed, her voice suddenly tearful and broken up, "I really need to talk to Mom. She's crossed a line --"

“SHE should be a thespian," Joanna muttered admiringly.

“I've seen seniors who can't do that kind of drama."

"Thank you," Heda said, her voice almost a whimper. Then just as suddenly, "Do NOT pawn me off on Dad again! Yes, I know I do it, but that's a daughter's prerogative. I don't care. No, having sex with him does not give you the same rights, and ewh! No talking about that in front of your children. What kind of mother are you?"

"You wanna go inside?" Ed asked, “and you guys can give me the scoop on what's been going on around here. I got a dossier from the University and another from King Reichert. Besides, this looks like it's going to take a while."

"So you're a PI, huh?" Anthony asked.

"Sounds sweet."

"Yeah, there's not a lot of paranormal private investigators, or at least not many credible ones." He followed the crew inside and then started asking about what everyone knew and what they had heard and what was being done. He showed great compassion and tact when talking with Carla about her experience. Joanna knew he must be good at his job. She wondered what else he might be good at.

"You should talk to Madison too," Carla said at last, having relived her ordeal for what felt like the hundredth time.

"She's the one who found me."

“Madison Sloan?" Ed checked his notes.

“But she's blind." When his eyes came up, he noticed that everyone was looking shifty-eyed at each other.

“What? Says here that she's legally blind. Is that not correct?"

"No, she's legally blind all right," Joanna said.

"Yessiree."

He raised one eyebrow. ‘Something is really odd here.' "She can't see then?" The redhead raised his hand.

"Yes . . . Kevin, is it?"

"Yeah. Uhm, what do you mean by 'see'?" Kevin's utterance was met by a punch in the arm by Peter.

"What?!"

Ed was really confused.

"Can she or can she not make use of her eyes to intake light and so on and so forth to . . . well, see?"

"Nope!" the whole crowd said at once.

"Okay, what the fuck is going on?"

"Nothing," came the synchronized response.