Chapter 27

C arter fussed over Josie, who miraculously woke after Carter took my place, cradling Josie’s head on her lap. The redcap, already smeared in cheddar puff residue, frantically snacked until Aretha arrived on the scene. Aretha declared the patient dehydrated and anemic and prescribed plenty of fluids, supplements, and bed rest. All of which Carter wrote in ink on the back of her hand in bold print.

The highlight of the day—no, the week —had to be Carter’s insistence on carrying Josie out of the forest.

Delicate, Josie was not. She was tall and gangly and muscled from her labors. But Carter persisted.

Kierce tolerated my snickering behind their backs as Josie swooned in her savior’s arms for ten minutes.

Then he lifted me over his shoulder, gripping my thighs against his chest, and plowed ahead of them.

“Quit stealing my thunder,” Josie called out to Kierce. “Let me savor my princess moment.”

“You heard her.” I pounded on his back. “Put me down.”

“You have your princess moment,” Carter puffed. “Frankie’s having a potato sack moment.”

“Hey, Kierce.” Josie kicked her feet with delight. “Is that true? Is Frankie your sack?”

“I haven’t been with a man since dinosaurs roamed the earth,” Carter said, sighing, “but even I know that’s not?—”

“Dinosaurs?” Josie squealed loud enough to make my ears ring. “You saw dinosaurs ?”

“That was sarcasm.” Carter rolled her eyes. “I’m not that old.”

Aretha was gone by the time we reached our vehicles, and Carter had left her truck idling with the lightbar flashing to deter anyone driving by from thinking oh, free truck . That was where she took Josie. I was trying to watch how she planned on getting Josie in the truck when it was so very tall and Carter was so very not, but Kierce turned, cutting off my view.

“Hey.” I wiggled against him. “It was just getting interesting.”

As I slid down the front of his sweat-slick torso, I decided things were much more interesting here.

“What the hell?” Carter yelped. “You’ve got more arms than an octopus.”

“Maybe you were right.” I leaned against the wagon while the blood rushed out of my head. “There are some things we aren’t meant to see.”

“I’ll drive.” He opened the passenger side door and helped me in. “Just…fasten your seat belt.”

With those words of confidence ringing in my ears, I strapped in and wished I was the praying kind.

Two hours after leaving the burial ground, Kierce guided the wagon into The Body Shop parking lot.

Josie and Carter were sitting on the tailgate of her truck, eating a pizza and drinking beer.

The process of parking took about five minutes.

Roll, roll, brake . Roll, roll, brake. Roll, roll, brake.

Never had riding in the wagon made me queasy—I wasn’t prone to carsickness—but I was about to toss my cookies. Even the smell of pizza when I stepped out had my stomach churning. I had to keep upwind of it to avoid making a mess.

Kierce emerged with sweat slicking back his hair and misting every inch of exposed skin. I didn’t miss the tremor in his fingers when he shut his door or when he dropped the wagon’s keys into my hand.

“I have lemon-lime soda.” Josie held up the green bottle. “Y’all look like you could both use a swig.”

Nothing worked as well as ginger ale at easing upset stomachs, but I was desperate.

“I’ll take you up on that offer.” I held my breath, snagged the bottle, then retreated to a safe distance. I cracked it open, took a long drink I hoped didn’t come back up, then passed it to Kierce. “Try this.”

“I’ve never tasted soda.” He turned the plastic bottle this way and that. “It’s lemon-lime flavored?”

“Mostly it tastes like burning tongue to me, but it can help settle your stomach.”

“Burning…tongue?” Kierce thrust it back at me. “I’ll pass.”

“That’s not the taste.” Josie snorted. “It’s…well…the sensation.”

Carter bit into a slice of pepperoni pizza with cheddar puffs layered on top. “Y’all aren’t selling it.”

“When we were little,” I explained to Kierce, “we dreamed of affording soda like normal kids.”

“We drank what was popular,” Josie agreed. “I don’t think we ever stopped to consider if we liked it.”

The ability to pull out a debit card and pay for cans, bottles, cases of sodas was a milestone achievement for the children we had been, but the shine had worn thin. We didn’t drink it often these days, but there was always some in one of our fridges. To prove it wasn’t a luxury. To make it a pantry staple.

“I texted the Ezells to let them know to meet us here,” Kierce said. “Have they arrived yet?”

We had given them all the grace we could spare, but it was time to officially reclaim this repo.

“Listen to you.” Josie patted his shoulder. “Using technical terms like text correctly in a sentence.”

About to chastise her, I snapped my mouth shut when he smiled like he enjoyed her teasing.

And that was what it was—teasing. Not the taunting jabs she exchanged with Harrow. There was no malice or unkindness. She was gentler with Kierce. Still sharp—that was Josie for you—but careful not to wound him as he gained his footing among us Marys.

“That reminds me.” Carter licked her fingers clean. “Your loaner’s kid helped us sort out Tate and Kim.”

From the sound of things, Keshawn was earnest in her desire to make amends. “I’m almost scared to ask, but do go on.”

“Kim, a longtime Grandview Women’s Club member, had been wait-listed for the commune. But she got on scene, put two and two together, and decided to let herself in through the back door. She knew Tate was in a bad spot too, so Kim explained how to get in and left Tate to follow on her own.” Carter sighed. “The problem was Kim didn’t know the location of the commune, she figured it was in the woods near the bones, and Anunit killed her before she got anywhere close.”

“Poor Kim.”

“Meanwhile, Tate decided she didn’t want to go into hiding. She faked her disappearance, waited on her husband to come looking for her, like she knew he would, and she killed him. Kim gave her a bone as an entry key, and Tate failed to return it. The following night, after she killed her husband, she met Anunit.”

Anunit would have held us accountable for the bones if they hadn’t been in the pit before Josie sealed the area with her weeping willows. “You must have returned those to Kierce while I was out.”

“She did,” he confirmed it. “I placed them back where they belong.”

“Thank God,” I exhaled, grateful to be ticking off the boxes to close out this case.

“Your loaner is back there.” Carter hooked a thumb over her shoulder. “They’ve had time for goodbyes.”

The edge in her voice told me she wasn’t thrilled with their behavior either, but I considered us even.

“In that case, I’ll get to it.” I left Kierce and the others behind, winding around the shop until I located the Ezells. They stood side by side, their arms around each other, Keshawn with her head resting on her mother’s much lower shoulder. “Hello, ladies.”

The pair of them turned and met me with smiles, honest ones, and I found my lips curving too. “Ready?”

“Yes,” Keshawn beat her mother to answering, which earned her a chuckle from Tameka.

“Then let’s get started.” I gestured toward the garage. “After you, ladies.”

A half hour later, Camero was safe in her display case, ready for me to prime for the next loaner.

Armed with Vi’s contact information, and my offer, Keshawn stepped into a Swyft and set out for home. After the past several days, she had a lot to think about before deciding if New Orleans was right for her.

With the loaner sorted, and my stomach settled, I was ready for my share of the pizza when I rejoined the others.

“Are you expecting more company?” Josie hopped down from Carter’s tailgate, gaze fixed up the road. “There’s a truck pulling onto Downing Street.” That was our street. “It just turned on its blinker.”

“Hey.” Carter’s gaze sharpened. “I know that old beater.” She set her slice back in the box. “Josie, maybe you ought to head in.”

There was only one person who would cause that phrase to pop out of her mouth.

“Is that Harrow?” Josie cracked her knuckles. “What does he want?”

“Looks like we’re about to find out.” I folded my arms across my chest. “Let’s see what this is about.”

Sure enough, the truck pulled into the lot, and Harrow stepped out with his hands lifted in the air like he was being held at gunpoint.

“I apologize for arriving unannounced.” He jerked his chin toward the truck. “Matty’s in there.”

“Matty?” Josie marched toward him. “What are you doing with him?”

“Jo.” Carter caught her around the stomach and tugged her back. “Let him talk.”

Jo? Carter had given her a nickname? That sounded serious.

But it wasn’t as important as getting to the bottom of this.

“Captain Tilly called me about thirty minutes ago. An officer had pulled over someone in a Chrysler Pacifica who was asking for me. She asked if I knew Matty, I said yes, and she explained he had been pulled over for drunk driving.”

“Matty would never do that in a million years.”

“I explained to her that he was diabetic, and his blood sugar was low.” He slanted his face away from me, as if afraid to see how I was taking the news. “The symptoms of hypoglycemia and drunkenness are similar.” He shrugged. “Since I vouched for him, she released him into my custody without filing charges.”

“Thanks.” I rushed over to check on him. “I appreciate you bringing him home.”

I wrenched open the door to find Matty lolling on the seat, his eyes open but unseeing.

“We need Aretha.” I glanced over my shoulder at Josie. “Let’s get him up to his bed.”

Harrow moved in to help me carry him, but Josie broke free of Carter and bumped him aside. Raising his hands again, he backed away and allowed Josie and me to lift Matty out. I hooked my hands under his arms, and she hitched a leg to either side of her hips. He sagged between us, but we were old pros at this.

“I’ll get the door.” Kierce jogged ahead of us. “Do you need anything else?”

“Just Aretha,” I panted out. “Carter?—”

But Carter was already behind the wheel of her truck, and she spun out to fetch the med witch as we climbed to his apartment.

“She forgot to close the tailgate.” Josie sounded numb. “All that pizza gone to waste.”

She didn’t care about the pizza. She cared about Matty. But if she focused on him, his limp and still form, she would allow our greatest fear to seize her. That he was gone. That he had slipped away from us. That the vague and distant tomorrow we kept putting off thinking about was actually today , and we had missed it. His final moments, and we had been elsewhere when we should have been with him.

On the landing, we hustled Matty inside and arranged him on the bed.

Drawing up my courage, I faced the gnawing dread within me and placed my palm on his forehead.

Cold energy swirled through his body, reaching out to meet my warmth.

For a split second, I almost felt relief, but then comprehension crashed down around me.

His soul was…gone.

Gone.

But someone—or some thing —was slithering around inside him.

“Matty...” I stared at our brother’s twitching body. “He’s…” I swallowed hard. “He’s not in there.”

As tremors clenched him in teeth-clicking spasms, the blood leached from her cheeks. “Then who is?”

“I don’t know.” I brushed the hair off his clammy forehead. “But I’m going to find out.”