My stomach lurched and my skin grew ice cold. Oh my dear God in heaven. My sister was possessing the body of Julie Murphy and she didn’t want to give it up. I knew Julie was a spirit channeler. But her father, Mick, had told me she hadn’t had an episode of contact since her grandmother had died when Julie was three or four. I didn’t want to frighten her, but possession is a big deal. That’s taking channeling to a new level. I’d seen Vicki do it—twice—but she was an adult. She knew the dangers and was careful not to take it too far. But I wasn’t sure either the girl or the ghost would know how to sever the tie between them. “Ivy? I know it’s wonderful to be able to talk to us, but you have to leave Julie now. Okay?”
I heard a bicycle slide to a stop on the gravel outside and then clatter to the cement as an older, dark-haired girl entered the room. “Julie! Why did you race away from me like that and why are you in a bar?” She stuttered to a stop when she saw her sister in the arms of a woman she didn’t know. Spotting me, she turned a confused face my way. “Celia? What’s happening?”
“Beverly, we need to talk. Let’s go outside for a second.” I got to my feet, dusted off my pants, and put an arm around her shoulders. She trusted me but turned back more than once to watch her sister hugging the drunk woman.
“Okay, but Mom will get mad if we aren’t home soon. I don’t know why Julie ran off like that. I nearly lost her in the traffic. She’s never done anything like that before.”
Traffic? I closed my eyes, feeling my heart drop. That was just what Ivy used to do and it used to drive me nuts. I guided Beverly out into the bright sunlight. When I stepped outside, the spell over the other patrons apparently broke and all but the bartender stampeded out of the bar and scattered. Beverly and I sat down on the stoop in what was left of the shade. “We’ve got a problem. If you were any other kid, I wouldn’t tell you this, but I think you can handle it. There’s a spirit possessing your sister right now. It’s my dead sister, Ivy.”
“Ivy? She’s mentioned that name before. She told me just last week that she and Ivy made cookies with Mom, but later when I asked Mom about Julie’s new friend, she didn’t know what I was talking about.”
I closed my eyes. If this wasn’t the first time, that was even worse. Ivy used to love baking when Gran came over to the house. I had no idea Ivy had the ability to do something like that. “Have you ever heard of overshadowing?”
She nodded. “Sure. That’s when a ghost takes control…” Her eyes went wide. “You don’t mean that Ivy wants to stay inside my sister? Won’t that erase Julie eventually?”
“It could. I think we need to talk to your parents about this.”
“But what about Julie? We can’t just leave her like that.” She looked back inside the darkened bar fearfully. I shared the fear, but I didn’t know what I could do about it at this precise moment.
“Beverly, this is the first time Ivy has hugged her real mother since she died.”
Her face grew troubled and I saw something close to anger in her eyes. “So to make your sister happy, you’re going to sacrifice mine? That’s not … Celia, you can’t do that.”
“No,” I said very strongly. “That’s not what I mean. But if I go in there and order her to leave, she might get stubborn and stay just to spite me. And my mother has been distraught for so long I’m afraid she’d break out of jail again and come and steal her.”
Now she went still. “Oh. That’s … well, that’s not so good.”
I sighed. “And the guards aren’t going to wait much longer. I’m going to have to think of something.”
But the something came to me instead. From Ivy.
“Celia? Mommy? I think I … I think Julie needs … needs—”
I leapt to my feet and ran into the bar. Julie was sitting on the floor while my mother struggled against Natura, who now held her away from the child she believed was her daughter. “Ivy? Baby? What’s wrong? Let me go, damn you! My baby needs me!”
I knelt beside her. “What’s wrong, Julie? Or Ivy, or whoever you are.”
“Celie, I think something’s wrong with Julie. She hurts … here.” She held up the sleeve of her T-shirt to reveal a dark purple bruise that I remembered well. “It hurts really bad.”
Shit.
I looked at my mother and she looked at me with sudden panic. “Help her.”
Trying to keep the fear from my voice, I looked into my sister’s eyes. “Ivy, you have to leave now. Julie’s going to have to go to the doctor to have that bruise fixed. You don’t like the doctor, do you?”
She made a face. “No. But … I’m having fun. Can’t I stay?”
I shook my head. “Afraid not, honey.” I thought of something that might work. “Mom has to go back to the island. Isn’t that what you came to tell me? That she’d left?”
Her head nodded. “Uh-huh. But you didn’t understand. I couldn’t tell you so I went to see Julie and she said she’d help.”
I touched her shoulder but then moved my hand where I wasn’t touching where the bruise was. It was spreading, as I watched. Oh, crap. She’d kissed Mom. Only on the cheek, but I’d need to talk to Baker before they left so they could all get vaccinated before they went back to the island. “And that’s my fault. I’ll be more careful to listen to you in the future. But now you have to go back with Mom and keep her safe. And Julie has to go to the doctor. Okay? So why don’t you leave now and you can ride in the car with Mom.”
Officer Natura gave me a look that said she didn’t like that idea. But it wasn’t her choice.
Ivy nodded sadly and then Julie gave a shudder and collapsed. I grabbed her before her head hit the floor and lightly tapped her cheek with my palm while I spoke softly. “Julie? Time to wake up, sweetie.”
Her eyelids fluttered and she shook her head weakly. “What? Where?” She looked around, confused at her surroundings. I mean, who wouldn’t be? She looked from my face to Beverly’s. “Celia? Bev? What’s happening?”
The simplest explanation was the truth. “You helped Ivy come give me a message. Thank you.”
The entity that was Ivy hovered near the ceiling, torn between staying near Julie and near her … our … mother. I helped Julie to her feet and then went over to Baker while Beverly took Julie to sit on a chair near the doorway of the bar. I whispered fast, trying not to sound as frantic as I felt. “You need to get my mother to a hospital. Quickly. Do not take her to the island.”
Baker looked at me with alarm and likewise spoke quietly. “We have medical facilities that are the equal of anything here.”
I shook my head and hissed, “It’s not that. Julie has a very serious illness. I just got over it myself. It’s transmitted by saliva and she kissed my mom. Natura might have been exposed also.” I took a pen and the list of bar addresses from my purse. I’d memorized Dr. Gaetano’s number and scribbled it onto the back of the list. “Call Dr. Thomas Gaetano. Tell him I found another case of M. necrose. Have him meet you at whatever hospital you wind up at.” I handed the note to her and put a hand firmly on her arm. “This is serious. You need to get the shot, too. Don’t go back to the island until you do. I’ll make it an order if I have to. You’ll infect the entire island.”
The two guards looked at each other and Natura went pale. She nearly let go of Mom, then shook herself and held her ground. Baker nodded. “What hospital? Should we follow you?”
Crap. That’s right. They didn’t even know the area, much less how to get to the emergency room. “Yeah. You keep my mom in your car and follow me. I’ll take the kids. I’ve already had a dose of the antibiotic. Might as well limit the exposure.”
Baker apparently agreed, because they pulled my mom toward their econobox. A regular cop would consider her digging in her heels to be resisting arrest. But Natura simply kept pulling and eventually they got her in the backseat.
I looked around, suddenly aware of just what a mess the bar was in. “You’ll probably want a check to cover this, huh?” I sighed. It would be a big check.
The chuckle that rose from him was both sad and resigned. “Happens once a week at least. Besides, it was that blonde witch that started it. You just got caught in the middle. Don’t worry about it. Take care of the kids.”
There was one more thing I had to do before I dealt with the girls. Rizzoli needed to know that the witch hadn’t left town. That, in fact, she’d been right here, just minutes ago. I dialed his number with trembling fingers, but didn’t get him. I had to satisfy myself with leaving a voice mail.
I sat down with the girls, explaining that I wanted a doctor to look at Julie’s arm. “How long has it been hurting?”
She touched the bruise and winced. “Not long. I noticed it a day or two ago, but it didn’t start hurting until this morning. Now it feels like—”
“Someone’s stabbing knives in it?”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “Do you know what it is?”
It was my turn to nod. “Uh-huh. They’ll have to give you a shot. Is that okay?”
Julie shrugged. “I used to get shots all the time. I had allergies when I was little.”
“Okay, hop in the sedan in the alley. I’ll call your mom to come pick you up.” They moved to obey and then I suddenly remembered why I had Rizzoli’s car. Man, I really was distracted. “Wait a second. Hang on.”
I held my arm over the doorway so they couldn’t leave the safety of the bar, then poked my head out the door and pointed the remote in my pocket at the car. Whew. Four green lights. “Okay, get in. Don’t worry about your bikes, we’ll take them with us.” Finally, Rizzoli’s monster sedan would come in handy. I was going to bet both bikes would fit right in the trunk.