Chapter 1
JACKSON SQUARE DOESN’T LIE
Chapter One
The First Card Turns
Aries
Dessert: Sicilian Cannoli
Scripture:
For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.
Luke 12:2
Italian Proverb:
Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
Gematria:
111
Rune:
Kenaz
Gemstone:
Garnet
Pendulum:
YES
The morning fog still clung to Jackson Square when Valeri Caronna carried the last folding chair across the brick walkway.
Street musicians were tuning instruments.
Artists were hanging paintings.
Tourists were already drifting toward the cathedral with coffee cups in their hands.
Everything looked normal.
That was the first sign something was wrong.
Normal never lasted long in New Orleans.
Especially not in Jackson Square.
The five tarot readers were setting up their tables beneath the shadow of St. Louis Cathedral.
Brandi Bellucci spread a crimson velvet cloth over her table.
Christina Caronna arranged blue candles around hers.
Regina Romano placed green stones beside her cards.
Ashley Alto adjusted a purple silk runner.
Lisa Lipari quietly lit a gold candle and said nothing at all.
Five families.
Five readers.
Five tables.
Valeri floated between them carrying supplies.
That was her role.
She wasn’t tied to one table.
She gave breaks.
Delivered coffee.
Ran errands.
And because she moved between all five readers, she often noticed things nobody else noticed.
Like patterns.
The first client arrived just after eight.
A woman wearing sunglasses despite the cloudy morning sat at Brandi Bellucci’s table.
“I need to find someone.”
Brandi shuffled.
The cards whispered across the velvet.
The Magician.
The Moon.
Eight of Cups.
Interesting.
“Who are you looking for?” Brandi asked.
“My husband.”
Brandi studied the spread.
“He left willingly.”
The woman frowned.
“How do you know?”
“He wasn’t taken.”
The woman stared at the cards.
Then quietly left.
Twenty minutes later another client sat with Christina Caronna.
A middle-aged man carrying a folder thick with papers.
Invoices.
Receipts.
Shipping manifests.
“I need information about someone.”
Christina shuffled.
Justice.
King of Pentacles.
Seven of Swords.
The man swallowed.
“Can the dead still own property?”
Christina raised an eyebrow.
“Sometimes.”
The man turned pale.
By ten o’clock Regina Romano had received her own visitor.
Then Ashley.
Then Lisa.
Every single one asked about the same thing.
A missing man.
Not the same name.
Not the same relationship.
But the same man.
Valeri noticed it immediately.
The woman at Brandi’s table called him a husband.
The man at Christina’s table called him a business partner.
Regina’s client called him a debtor.
Ashley’s called him a performer.
Lisa’s called him a ghost.
Five people.
Five stories.
One man.
Valeri stood beside the cathedral fountain holding a coffee she had forgotten to drink.
A strange feeling settled in her stomach.
The kind that came before storms.
Or funerals.
Or family meetings.
The kind that whispered something important was moving beneath the surface.
Across the square the old fortune machine clicked.
Nobody touched it.
Nobody stood near it.
Yet the gears turned anyway.
A yellow card slid from the slot.
Valeri walked over.
Picked it up.
Read it.
What is divided will return in pieces.
She frowned.
The machine had never done that before.
At noon the readers broke for lunch.
Lisa Lipari quietly ate a cannoli.
Brandi stole half of Regina’s.
Ashley complained hers was too small.
Christina rolled her eyes.
The conversation lasted exactly four minutes before Valeri interrupted.
“Y’all got a second?”
The five readers looked up.
Valeri set the fortune card on the table.
Silence.
Then Brandi spoke.
“I got a missing husband.”
Christina blinked.
“I got a missing businessman.”
Regina looked confused.
“I got a missing debtor.”
Ashley frowned.
“I got a missing performer.”
Lisa slowly lowered her coffee.
“I got a dead man.”
Nobody spoke.
The church bells rang overhead.
One.
Two.
Three.
The sound echoed through Jackson Square.
Valeri stared at the fortune card.
Then at the five women.
Then at the cards spread across the tables.
The Magician.
Justice.
Five of Swords.
The Star.
The Moon.
A complete Tre Quarti spread.
One card from each family.
One piece from each reader.
One secret divided five ways.
Somewhere in New Orleans, somebody had scattered the truth.
And now Jackson Square was putting it back together.
Five-Card Tre Quarti Tarot Spread
Bellucci: The Magician
Caronna: Justice
Romano: Five of Swords
Alto: The Star
Lipari: The Moon
The first card had turned.
The mystery had begun.
Closing Prayer
Most High God,
Grant us wisdom where confusion lives.
Grant us truth where lies have taken root.
Let what is hidden be revealed in Your timing and for Your purpose.
Protect the innocent, expose the wicked, and guide every step taken toward the truth.
May Your light shine into every shadow.
Amen.
