Upon arriving she spread out her blanket and dropped the bottle of water and book on top of it. She settled in the middle of the mushrooms, glanced at her “tree friend” and closed her eyes. She had no idea what she was doing. Felicity spouted off about yoga and meditating whenever they chatted, enthusiastic about the merits of being in tune with one’s soul. Ivy always politely listened – okay, there may have been some eye rolling – and then discarded the information. Sitting still for an hour with only the company of her thoughts never sounded appealing. She was about to change that.
Ivy rested her palms on her knees and closed her eyes, zoning everything out. Then … she waited. If she thought the ghost would magically appear after five minutes of sitting in the fairy ring, she was about to be sadly disappointed. She was determined to make this work, though. She waited … and waited … and waited. Finally, just when she was about to give up, she heard something.
Finally!
JACK was almost out the front door of the Barker Creek Lodge when something occurred to him. He turned quickly, thankful that Don was standing behind the counter and not yet returning to his nap, and moved to the desk.
“You said Laura was saying things to women. What kinds of things?”
“She was just going on and on about how hot they were and how she wanted to spend a night with them,” Don replied. “If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought it was a dude saying it. It must be cool to be a lesbian. You can get away with saying stuff like that and not get punched in the face.”
“Yeah,” Jack said dryly, making a face. “And you have no idea where she goes every day? Has she ever mentioned Shadow Lake?”
“Not that I can recall. Is Shadow Lake important?”
“It’s very important,” Jack said. “So is what she’s after in Shadow Lake. Brian is staying upstairs until the state police get here. Is there anything else you can remember about Laura?”
“Is Laura that creepy woman who was staying at the end of the hall on the second floor?” the clerk asked.
Jack nodded.
“She didn’t say a lot, but she was weird,” the clerk said. “She talked to herself sometimes.”
“Did you hear anything she said?”
“Not really. Um … she once told herself to shut up. I only know she was talking to herself because there was no one else around.”
“So you think she’s hearing voices,” Jack mused. That would make sense. The Laura he knew was incapable of killing someone. If she had some break with reality, maybe the voices in her head were telling her to get revenge. “Thanks.”
“You know she was here a few minutes ago, right?” the clerk called to his back.
Jack swiveled back. “What?”
“After you guys went upstairs she showed up and went up there, too,” the clerk volunteered, nervous. “I thought she was going up there because you guys called her or something. She was only up there like thirty seconds before she came running back down and booked outside.”
“She knows,” Jack said. “She knows we’re onto her. There’s only one place left for her to go.”
Ivy!
“CAN you see me?”
Ivy nodded, mesmerized by the figure in front of her. It wasn’t solid by any stretch of the imagination, but she could finally make out features. She instantly knew who it was. “You’re Laura Simmons.”
“How do you know me?” The ghost seemed both relieved and confused.
“Well, we’ve been looking for you,” Ivy said, hoping she didn’t sound as panicked as she felt. “We thought you were here hurting people. Um … I’m a little confused … if you’re a ghost, why were you at my nursery yesterday? Were you a ghost then, too?”
Laura shook her head. “I’m not technically a ghost … although, well, I don’t think I am. Not yet anyway.”
“I’m new to all of this, so you’re going to have to bear with me,” Ivy said, tamping her nervous energy down. “If you’re not a ghost, what are you?”
“Lost.”
Ivy had so many questions jockeying for top billing in her head she had no idea where to start. “Let’s go about this in a rational way and start from the beginning, shall we?”
Laura nodded.
“What happened to you?” That seemed like a safe question.
“I’m not sure,” Laura answered. “My mind is muddy about what happened. I remember falling asleep on the couch. I was having an odd dream. My brother was in a car … he was on the phone and he was swearing up a storm … and the cops were chasing him.”
Ivy’s heart rolled. She had a feeling she knew where this story was going. She didn’t know how she knew, but she knew. She let Laura continue at her own pace.
“It was weird,” Laura said, her face contorting. “It was almost as if I was in his body and seeing things from his perspective. I panicked in the dream and careened over the edge of the expressway guardrail and then … there was some sort of explosion.
“I thought I would wake up on the couch, but when I did wake up I was in the kitchen,” she continued. “The funny thing is, even though I was awake, I was convinced I was still asleep. I could feel someone in my head with me, and when I tried to talk, I couldn’t make my mouth work. When I tried to walk, I couldn’t make my feet work.”
“Who was in your head with you?” Ivy already knew the answer.
“It was Marcus,” Laura said, confirming Ivy’s theory. “He was talking through my mouth. He was as confused as I was at first. He said that he knew he was
