Marie Bartek & The SIPS Team - Books 1-3

Chapter 1

Marie could still picture Billy Cooper"s tear-stained face as she waited for Champ to drift slowly off to sleep. She tried to explain to him this was a routine surgery. But Billy just couldn"t understand what surgery had to do with Champ not making babies anymore. Marie smiled and stroked the Irish Setter as she began to shave and disinfect the area where the incision would take place.

Just before making the cut, Marie spotted a shadow of a little boy out of the corner of her eye. He looked to be six years of age and was staring back at her. She immediately closed her eyes tightly and tried to push the spirit out of her head. When she opened her eyes, the little boy was gone.

She whispered softly to Champ, “Sorry about that interruption, boy. Let me continue what I was doing and get you back with Billy. The less time we spend in here, the better for him and his anxiety.”

After the surgery, Billy and his mother, Jane, carefully helped Marie load Champ into the back of their SUV. Billy was thrilled to see Champ wag his tail a little.

Marie reminded Billy, “Now remember to follow my list of instructions for Champ. He"ll be a bit sleepy today, but that"s normal. I wouldn"t feed him anything until later this evening. You call me if anything changes, but I know he"ll be fine.”

Billy smiled and started to read the instructions. “I"m going to memorize all of these so I can make sure Champ gets better. Thanks, Dr. Bartek. You"re the best veterinarian ever.”

Marie waved and watched them drive off. She had almost forgotten about the spirit she saw in the operating room. She decided as soon as she finished the rest of her appointments, she would give her best friend, Gale Winters, a call and continue their conversation about the possibility of organizing a paranormal group. It had been almost eighteen years since her last encounter with a spirit. It was time she got to the bottom of why her ability was coming back.

At the end of her day, Marie strolled lost in thought to Gale"s place. As she continued past Poe"s Tavern, she loved the fact that she could walk to anywhere in town. Living on the beach made it convenient. It was also great to have Gale living only three houses up the beach from her place. She remembered the first time she met Gale when she moved to Sullivan"s Island, SC. Loving antiques, Marie had stopped into Gale"s shop and immediately fell in love with the antiques and Gale. They became fast friends.

It amused Marie how carefree and casual Gale lived. She wasn"t afraid to speak her mind and put you in your place if needed. She was the complete opposite of Marie. Gale was a few inches taller with hair so black it reminded Marie of Carbon. Her eyes were just as dark, and she had olive-colored skin. She could wear shorts any time of the year and always looked as if she just came out of the sun. Marie envied Gale"s tall, thin body but still felt comfortable with her own physique. She was confident she could give Gale a little competition in the good looks department. After all, some men had told her how they loved her long, blonde hair and green eyes. Not to mention the fact she had a lean swimmer"s body. Swimming was a true passion of hers and the reason why she left the cold winters of Rhode Island to move to Sullivan"s Island.

Marie turned the corner in the alley and spotted the Closed sign on Gale"s shop. The pansies and petunias were overflowing out of the window boxes, and their colors popped in contrast to the pale aqua paint on the house. It was a quaint cottage with a bright red door and a haphazardly hung screen door.

ClosedGale was taking the kettle off the burner when Marie peeked through the screen door. “Come on in, I"m in the kitchen,” she said when she heard the knock.

Marie let the screen door slam shut behind her and headed back toward an amazing aroma of cinnamon. She entered the kitchen and spotted the culprit. “Oh Gale, you know I"m on a diet. Why did you make these amazing cinnamon scones and t*****e me?”

Gale smiled and poured the tea. “Because we"re both on diets, and I love company when I fall off the wagon.”

Marie laughed and bit into a scone. “Oh man, this is heaven. It"s exactly what I needed after my day at the clinic.”

Gale grabbed a scone and sniffed it before taking a bite. “Yes, you were extremely vague on the phone. I can only assume you had another, shall we say, occurrence? It’s the third one this month. Why do you think it"s happening so frequently now?”

Marie sat down and blew on her tea before taking a sip. “I don"t know. But I"m so glad I"ve had you as a confidant. You know, I"ve been living here for about seven years, and I still can"t figure out why this ability of mine has decided to creep back into my life. I thought I had banished it back in Rhode Island.”

Gale studied Marie"s face as she slid back into her chair and propped her feet on the small stool. “That"s right. You told me the last time this happened was when you were about twelve. You said your parents used to look at you as if you were nuts.”

Marie sighed. “Yeah. They never yelled or scolded me about it, but I hated the way they looked at me. Plus, our neighbors started to gossip about it and then questioned my family"s religious beliefs. It also didn"t help that my brothers used to tease me. I just think they were jealous.”

Gale reached over for another scone but decided against it. “Wasn"t there a little boy you confided in? Who was that again?”

“Oh yeah, Davy McGee. He was a little weird.” Marie took the last bite of her scone and pictured Davy in her mind. “Did I ever tell you about his mother committing suicide?”

Gale winced. “No, you didn"t. How sad.”

“Yeah, it was. He kept badgering me to talk to his mom’s spirit. He wanted me to find out why she did it. The thing is, everyone in town knew his dad used to beat on his mom. I think Davy was the only one who didn"t know.”

Gale poured another cup of tea. “Were you able to communicate with his mom?”

Marie got quiet and swirled her spoon around the teacup. “Yeah, I did. She told me she couldn"t take the a***e anymore, so she hung herself. Davy went ballistic. He said I was a jerk and a hoax. He never spoke to me after that. That was probably around the time I started to squelch my ability. I figured if that was how people were going to react, I didn"t want to see and talk to spirits anymore.”

Gale replied, “I don"t blame you. I wonder what the catalyst is for your ability resurfacing. So, on that subject, when do you want to begin organizing a paranormal group? We"ve been talking about it for so long, I think it"s time we take some action. I think we have enough people interested.”

Marie nodded. “I agree. Who do we have on the list again?”

Gale picked up the paper, along with another scone. “Well, there"s Mimi and Jim Rawlings. Mimi closes the pharmacy at six, and I think Jim can find someone to fill in for him at the mini-mart for an evening. Mr. gorgeous Tim Haines should be able to work out a free evening, being the Fire Chief and all. Myra Cummings is retired, so that won"t be a problem unless she has a reading. And Harry Connor works during the day so he would be available in the evenings as well.”

“Harry Connor? Oh, that"s right, he"s the school counselor and demonologist.” Marie finished her tea and stood up to stretch her back. “How did he get into that anyway? In fact, I forgot why everyone was so interested in helping us organize this group, besides the obvious with Myra.”

Gale began taking the dishes over to the sink. “Well, I think just about everyone has had some kind of experience with the afterlife. Mimi and Jim saw an apparition when they were first married, when Mimi was pregnant with Amanda. I think Tim"s just curious and intrigued. He claims he hears voices in the fire station at night. And Harry, well Harry said his second cousin twice removed was possessed, which is why he became a demonologist.”

Marie leaned against the counter. “Well, I"d say it"s quite an interesting group. Why don"t you call Tim and Mimi and Jim to set up a group meeting? I"ll call Myra and Harry. We can make it for six o"clock at my place Saturday night and meet above my garage.”

Gale smiled. “Sounds like a plan to me. Oh, by the way, should we add Chief Miller to the list?”

Marie almost dropped her teacup. “Cory Miller? Why on earth would you ask that?”

Gale laughed and said, “Because I think you have a crush on him.”

“Very funny. I do not. Besides, he"s made it quite clear that he"s a skeptic.”

“How do you know that?” Gale dumped the tea leaves into the garbage.

Marie sat back down and sighed. “Because Myra told me she"s had conversations with him about doing a reading on him and he politely declined.”

Gale began rinsing off the dishes. “Yeah, but that doesn"t mean we can"t help change his mind. Many people don"t believe in ghosts until they"ve experienced something unexplainable. After all, that"s how I was. I became a believer after I saw my mother at the foot of my bed the day after she died. Nobody else in the family saw her. So, there you go.”

Marie smiled. “Yeah, I guess you"re right. Cory is kind of cute, isn"t he? I mean tall, dark, and handsome always seems to work.”

Gale laughed and picked up her cell phone. “I"ll start making my calls now. Why don"t you get my phone book and make your calls? Let"s shoot for this Saturday.”

Marie opened the phone book and looked up the numbers for Myra and Harry. They were able to reach everyone and organize a meeting. She felt a flutter in her stomach as she began to realize this was actually going to develop. Or was the flutter coming from thinking about Cory? Every time she thought of an opportunity to get to know him a little better, she backed off because she knew her so-called ability would probably scare him.

She pushed Cory out of her mind just as she did with the little boy spirit from this morning. Those were two issues to be worked out at a later date. Right now, she wanted to concentrate on developing this paranormal group and get a handle on why she is able to see and hear spirits again.