"What's going on, dear?" asked Patricia.
She got up and stood next to her husband. He slipped an arm around her waist and studied me, the picture of a loving couple. I noted that she didn't have black ribbons coiling through her otherwise bright green aura. Green, the color of envy or distrust. In this situation, I didn't blame her.
"I'm not sure, honey," he said, and I believed him. I felt his confusion and hers, too.
I noted that the black ribbons that wound through his aura had picked up slightly. I looked over at Edwin. His ribbons were thicker, like mountaineering ropes, twisting through his aura.
Junior turned his attention to his niece, Tara. "I want to know what's going on, young lady, and I want to know now. Why did you bring a private investigator to the island?"
"And her assistant," Allison piped up.
Except no one was listening. All eyes turned to Tara, and as they did so, I noted something very, very curious. Her own black ribbons, which had been no thicker than a half inch, suddenly swelled - doubling, tripling their size. Now they veritably pulsated, swirling faster and faster around her.
Curiouser and curiouser.
I looked over at Edwin to compare his own dark aura...and was equally stunned to see that his once-thick ribbons had now shrunk to thinner ribbons...in fact, only small traces of black showed in him. He was shaking his head and blinking hard, as if coming out of a deep sleep.
All this happened while Tara Thurman stared at me. No, leered at me.
Menacingly.
What the hell? I thought.
Edwin continued rubbing his face and appeared by all indications, to be waking.
What the double hell?
What's wrong, Sam? thought Allison, picking up on my thoughts. She and I still had our ultra-secret line of communication open. What's going on?
I'll explain later, I thought. If I can.
Tara leaned forward on the elegant, camel-back sofa. She crossed her legs slowly and wiped some lint off her knee.
As she did so, one thing was certain...that damned creepy smile...the same one that seemed to be a permanent fixture on Edwin's face, was now obvious on her face. I'd seen it on her, too.
The same smile, I thought. It's body- hopping.
Body-what, Sam? What's going on?
Not now, I thought.
Tara continued wiping away at the speck. As she did so, she shuddered slightly, and I suspected I knew what was going on. It was getting used to her body.
"Tara?" prodded Junior impatiently.
"What the devil is going on here?"
Good choice of words, I thought.
After a moment, with the same too-big smile plastered to her otherwise pretty face, Tara finally looked up at him, then over at me.
"Yes, I hired Samantha Moon, private investigator extraordinaire," said Tara.
Except she didn't sound like Tara. Not really; at least not to my ears. The black ribbons that wound through her aura were thicker than ever, and pulsated like something radioactive.
"But why?" asked Junior. He didn't seem to notice the change in his niece. Nor did anyone else. No, not true. On second thought, Patricia was biting her lower lip and looking from Edwin - who was still blinking hard - to Tara, who was smiling psychotically.
She knows, I thought.
Knows what? asked Allison.
Later! "I hired her to investigate Grandpa George's death," said Tara.
"But why? Why would you do that?"
Tara was looking at me, but it wasn't Tara. It was the thing that had been in Edwin - and was now in her. "I wasn't thinking straight, uncle. I was...I was confused. I thought maybe a private investigator could help us...perhaps shed light on what happened."
Junior crossed the room and sat next to his brother's daughter. "Grandpa George drowned, Tari."
"I know...but why did he drown?"
Junior gazed at her, then turned and looked at his wife. She shrugged. He sighed. I sensed no deception coming from them. I sensed no concealing of truth. They were legitimately at a loss for answers.
Finally, Junior said, "We don't know why he drowned, honey, but the medical report assured us there was no foul play."
Tara nodded, although the plastered smile remained on her face. She reminded me of the Joker from Batman. She started nodding, and now tears appeared on her high cheekbones. Tears and that big, disturbing smile.
"I just wanted help. I just wanted answers." She pointed at me. "And she was so willing to help, so willing to - no, I shouldn't say it."
"So willing to take your money?"
finished Junior.
Tara looked at him, then at me, and nodded. Allison gasped next to me and made to stand up. I held her back. Junior turned and looked at me. "When the storm clears, you're on the next boat out of here."
"I don't think so," I said.
Something dark clouded over him. No, this wasn't a body-jumping dark entity. It was his own self-righteous anger. "You will leave, Samantha Moon, even if I have to make you."
"With all due respect, Mr. Thurman," I said. "I was hired to do a job, and I intend to finish it."
Someone in the room inhaled sharply.
Tara, peeking out from behind her uncle, smiled even broader. Junior strode over and stood before me, threateningly. I didn't get threatened by angry men, even back before my immortal days. I was still sitting on the loveseat next to Allison - even though, I was fairly certain, we weren't in love. Junior stood over six feet tall and was used to getting his way. His uncle, Cal, was lying dead just down the hallway. This wasn't a time for him to make a scene or to make things even worse than they were.
I telepathically reached out to him.
This was something I'd recently discovered I could do, something that, apparently, most vampires could do. For me, it was still new - and still something I wasn't comfortable doing.
Calm, I thought. All is okay. I'm just here to help. I'm not the enemy.
Junior blinked, and then unclenched his fists. He swayed slightly, looked at me confusedly, then turned and went back to his wife. He took her hand and she looked at him, also confused.
I stood, and so did Allison.
"I'm sorry for your loss," I said to the room in general. "Cal seemed like a good man. But I've also been hired to do a job - a job I intend to finish, one way or another. Each of you can expect a visit from me." I looked at Patricia Thurman, Junior's wife. "And I'll be seeing you first."
She blinked with the telepathic suggestion I'd also given her, and with that, Allison and I left the room.