"In New York City's war on crime, the worst criminal offenders are pursued by the detectives of the Major Case Squad." "These are their stories." "Oh, my god." "Where did you get this?" "Well, I have my sources." "I should be able to ace that fellowship now." "I can't wait to show Kristy." "She doesn't get my thesis project." "I don't think your sister likes me." "Kristy's clinically depressed." "She doesn't like anybody." "Do you feel like that, like about me?" "Are you nuts?" "Jack, meeting you is like the single greatest thing that's happened in my entire academic life." "She's just a student." "She's not gonna do anything with it." " Hey, Jackie boy." " Jack, come and dance with us." "Later, girls." "How do you know those girls?" " Are they pros?" " No!" "(ÈæÀÎ ÈüÇÕ °¡¼öµé) Thanks to Dr. Dre and fat Joe, chicks dig big guys." " What, are you jealous?" " Just curious." "Come on, Jackie boy." "It's worse than last time." "Yeah." "You gotta get into it before something happens." "Robbie." "I gotta go." "Okay, I'll call you later." "Bye." "Hey, Teddy!" "Look at me!" "My count's way up!" " I'm back!" " All right." "What the hell are you doing?" "Oh, hey, Kristy." "I was just throwing something away." "Is Sarah home?" "You oughta know she has a class." "Creep." "You don't even know him." "I know he was in our trash." "And he gave you a very creepy book." "He was in our trash?" "What's funny about that?" "You wouldn't understand." "But it's very sweet." "He has a crush on me." "It's a sheet of ice." "I could have killed myself slipping on it." "Kristy?" "Sarah?" "Girls?" " It's Mr. Desilva." " It's freezing in here!" "Somebody drained the radiator." "What is it?" "Madre de dios." "Å©¸®½º ³ë½º (¸¶ÀÌÅ© ·Î°Ç Çü"ç æµ)" "¾Æ³ªº§¶ó ½Ã¿À¶ó (Ä³·Ñ¸° ¹è·º Çü"ç æµ)" "Á¦ÀÌ¹Ì ½¦¸®´ø (Á¦ÀÓ½º µðÅ²½º °æ°¨ æµ)" "ÄÚÆ®´Ï B. ¹ê½º (·Ð Ä"¹ö °Ë"ç æµ)" "Law  Order CI 5x18 The Healer" "ORIGINAL AIR DATE ON NBC: 2006/04/23" "Two sisters." "Younger one's a grad student at Hudson." "The other's a web designer." "Damndest thing you ever seen." "What's with the arctic chill?" "The windows were left open and the radiators were drained." "Pretty smart." "Cold keeps the stink down." "Takes longer to find the body." "The super saw the older one, Kristy, getting her mail Friday." "Condensation." " Cause of death, suffocation?" " That's EMS' guess." "It's like being buried alive in cellophane." "Place doesn't look like it's been touched." "All the action's in the other girl's room, Sarah's." "Now we're talking." " These girls have boyfriends?" " Super says no." "They were nice, quiet girls." "Well, they are now." "Another suffocation." "She has some kind of ash on her forehead, same as the other girl." "We got missing books, computer, desk that's been cleared out." "Whatever these girls were working on, someone was after it." "She was a grad student." "Maybe, she had an office over at the college." "Office of Sarah Jackson Department of Anthropology, Hudson College Tuesday, March 7" "Coping mechanisms." "('½½ÇÄÀ" ¹Þ¾ÆµéÀÌ´Â 5´Ü°è'¸¦ ¿ª¼³ÇÑ ¹Ì±¹ÀÇ ½É¸®ÇÐÀÚ) Kubler-Ross." "So her area of research is death?" "It's how people use magical thinking to deal with the uncertainties of death." "Magical thinking." "So, um, you can control events with your thoughts." "Or with ritualistic behavior." "It's like crossing yourself when you pass a hearse." "Yeah, she's got that one here along with getting your throat blessed so you don't choke on a fish bone." "That doesn't work?" "You ever see..." "Sarah talking to anyone?" "Or does she just get all her research from books?" "Well, she told me she'd met a very exciting source." "And he'd given her a copy of what she called "the book of secrets"." "On the phone, she was over the moon." "No wounds, no bruising." "No sign they struggled." "And they were alive when they were wrapped in plastic." "No struggle?" "What were they, drugged?" "No, there's nothing on the tox screen." "We'll do more tests." "There is ash on their foreheads." "Frankincense." "And almond oil on their lips." "(°¡Åç¸¯¿¡¼­ Á×¾î °¡´Â ÀÌ¿¡°Ô ÇÏ´Â ÀÇ½Ä) Some kind of last rites?" "A killer worried about their afterlife?" "He should worry about his own." "You contacted the parents?" "Yeah, they're flying in from Illinois this afternoon." "A couple of college professors." "Last talked to their daughters a week ago." "No boyfriends, no new people in their lives." "On Friday, the last day those girls were seen alive, they got three calls on their land line from a pay phone." "Somebody checking to see if they were home." "You getting anything off her notebook?" "Maybe a draft of a questionnaire." ""What do you imagine happens when you die?"" ""How do you think you might stop yourself from dying?"" "She got answers from a woman named Grace who believes" ""we all come back as birds"" ""and that she'll have a peaceful transition, because she feeds the birds."" "It could be that Sarah met her research source from passing around that questionnaire." "Sounds like the kind of questions you'd ask terminally ill patients." "Check with hospices, cancer clinics." "Find out where she conducted those interviews." "Her doctor said she let it go too long." "Well, they told my dad the exact same thing, and he's totally in remission now." "I know somebody..." "Robbie, can I talk to you?" "Hey, Jacky boy, don't I rate a kiss?" "If you know what's good for you, you'll forget you ever met me." "Sarah had a really nice way about her." "Our patients all seemed happy to talk to her." "Do you know which one she interviewed?" "You're welcome to ask around." "Hi. / Hi." "I just thought you should know you've got seeds falling out of your pocket." "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." "What you got in there?" "It's a parakeet." "I saw him in a pet shop on my way here." "And there was something so familiar about him." "Familiar?" "I think it's my late husband." "But he's a young bird, and he doesn't know how to talk yet." "So I don't know for sure." " Your name is Grace?" " Yes." "We know about you through Sarah Jackson." "She's gonna write about me." "Do you know if Sarah had any other friends here, a man, maybe her age, a little bit older?" "Ah, I supposed she was friendly with Mrs. Alexander's helper, Jack." "She spent a lot of time with Mrs. Alexander and Jack was always there." "Mrs. Alexander died a few days ago." "Mrs. Langley?" "The doctor's ready." "They want to see how I'm fighting the cancer." "Wish me luck." "Good luck." "Home of Elizabeth Alexander 44 Bedford Street Thursday, March 9" "Jack!" "I wasn't stealing." "I was just helping pack up the house for Mrs. Alexander's family." "Um, packing up, that's part of your duties as a licensed vocational nurse?" "It was one last thing I could do for Mrs. Alexander." "I wouldn't steal from the dead." "Your girlfriend Sarah was interested in rituals surrounding the dead." "I'm friends with lots of girls." "I'm like a chick magnet." "Sarah was special, though, wasn't she?" "Well, we know she was special because we found this... in your wallet." "She gave me that." "When a girl gives a guy a lock of her hair, it doesn't look like this." "This is, like, a tangled up bunch of hair that somebody found in a hair brush then threw it in the trash." "And that's where you found it." "Yes." "I know it's weird." "You know what's weird?" "That's weird." "And that's weird." "Somebody wrapped her and her sister up in plastic and suffocated them." "Oh, no." "Oh, yes." "You had a crush on Sarah so you tried to fit her into your life." "Maybe helping her with her research." "No." "Not at all." "How long do you think it's gonna take for someone to tell us they saw you there last Friday night when those two girls were killed?" "I wasn't there on Friday." "I went there on Sunday." "She wasn't at school." "She wasn't answering her phone." "Nobody was answering her buzzer." "I saw all her windows were open." "I don't wanna talk to you anymore." "Okay, let's take a break." "You must be hot in that Jacket." "Let me hang it up for you." "No." "I'm okay." "Come on." "You're practically sweating." "Come on, let me get this Jacket." "We'll hang it up outside for you." "Well, he's easy to rattle." "Killing those girls, no prints." "No fibers." "Still gives the impression of a guy with a lot to hide." "Well, he gave his address as Mrs. Alexander's house." "But there's no evidence of him living there." "If he's feeling anything, it's fear." "What the hell?" "Cocoons." "Remind you of anything?" "As an executor, I hired Jack Strong to make an inventory and help pack things up." "He knew where everything was." "God knows Mrs. Alexander's children didn't." "Well, how did Jack come to be working for Mrs. Alexander?" "He was referred by her visiting nurse, Lydia Wyatt." "Mrs. Alexander leave Jack any money in her will?" "No, she left it all to the children's cancer center at her hospital." "But one day sixth months ago she announced she was giving away 10% of everything she owned, in cash." "To who?" "She just said she wanted to dole it out as she saw fit, no questions asked." "Thank you, Mr. Krebs." "10%." "Sounds like she was tithing, maybe buying god's favor." "The lawyer confirmed Jack was being paid to pack up the house." "If we want Carver to hold him, we better come up with something." "Tell me those cocoons in his pocket are an endangered species." "No, they were sphinx moths." "A symbol of death in ancient Egypt." "Well, that'll mean a lot to a judge." "Look, even if this guy didn't kill those girls, at the very least, those cocoons mean he might know who did." "Okay, maybe his paperwork gets lost for a day." "One day." "Make the most of it." "One day." "You wanna spend it with nurse Lydia Wyatt?" "Home of Teddy Mercer 172 West 17th Street Monday, March 13" "Well, of course I'm acquainted with Jack Strong." "We had a patient in common, Mrs. Alexander." "Is he in trouble?" "We're holding him on suspicion of burglary." "And since you referred him..." "Let me settle my patient." "Wait here." "I'm still holding it." "Can I let go?" "I asked you to wait." "What is that, a seashell?" "I'm supposed to hold it like this." "He's making a fist so I can draw blood." "You can put it down now, Teddy." "He's a little out of it." "He just got back from chemo." "Now, about Jack..." "Uh, yeah, well, just... you know, some basic information like his address, for example." "Don't know." "But he had excellent references." "Where'd you meet him?" "He was working for one of my other patients." "He was very sensitive to her process." "You mean dying, that process?" "Death is a very personal experience, very intimate." "Do you know if Jack believed in the afterlife or rebirth?" "He never mentioned any spiritual beliefs of any kind." "Now, I need to finish with Teddy." "That seashell that Teddy was holding," "Sarah's got one like it in her notebook." "A spiral, symbol of eternal life." "Jack must have told Sarah about it." "And he probably got it from Lydia Wyatt." "That's three dots connected." "Four if you count Mrs. Alexander who died after giving away 10% of her net worth." "Think she had a little help into the hereafter?" "Lydia's resume." "Graduated from nursing school in 1993." "Since then she's worked in nine different states." "All that moving around, unusual for a nurse." "What do you say we get the ME to pull Mrs. Alexander out of the ground?" "I appreciate all you've done, Lydia." "But I'm not sick anymore." "I cured myself." "You always feel very enthusiastic, Teddy, remember?" "Robbie's all I need now." "You call me if you need me." "I won't." "I'm all well." "See?" "Mrs. Alexander's cancer had metastasized throughout her body." "There's no doubt that's what killed her." "Anything on the tox screen?" "The body had been pretty well embalmed." "I couldn't get any readings." "The last eight months of her life, it looks like her white blood cell count fluctuated pretty frequently." " Could be the chemo." " Thank you, doctor." "A natural death." "We exhumed her for nothing." "Now that Jack Strong's files have been miraculously located," "I'm letting him go." "You're making a mistake." "He knows who killed those girls." "Show me the evidence, and I'll reel him back in." "Until then." "I can't knock you for trying." "Mrs. Alexander started taking cash out of the bank in late July." "10, 20 grand a week." "And then she stops in late August." "Then look what happens." "September 12th, she gets her blood tested, and her white blood cell count is way down." "And here on September 14th, she takes 10 grand out of the bank." "And here on September 18th, another test and bang, her white blood count is back up." "She keeps taking money out every week until December." "Then the same thing happens." "She stops paying, she gets sicker." "And here again in February." "Once she starts paying again... she gets better." "Somebody's playing her health like a yo-yo to get money out of her." "Must be a trick you learn in nursing school." "I understand how you can make someone sick." "But make them healthy?" "And since Mrs. Alexander's autopsy didn't turn up anything other than the drugs used in her chemotherapy..." "Lydia Wyatt's working on another cancer patient right now." "You can guarantee she's not extorting him?" "What do you propose doing, searching this patient's home for secret potions?" "We saw the same shell in the patient's home." "Maybe it's part of Lydia's bag of tricks." "And maybe Jack was letting Sarah in on the tools of the extortion trade." "And that's what got her and her sister killed." "I'll get you a warrant." "Mr. Mercer, are you okay?" "Do you want us to call you a doctor?" "I got cancer." "There's nothing my idiot doctor can do about it." "Nothing in the bathroom that doesn't belong there." "Mr. Mercer, we have to ask you some questions about nurse Wyatt." "Have you ever given her any money aside from her salary?" "No, no money." "Has anybody given you any medication besides what's prescribed to you?" "No." "Now, stop pestering me." "Look, sir, there's no good way to put this, but since we last saw you, it's night and day, and we're concerned." "It's just... these son of a bitch tumors." "Yeah." "I haven't seen that seashell around that you were holding." "When was the last time you saw Lydia?" "I don't remember." "Well, who's taking care of you?" "My night nurse, Maria." "Now, please leave." "Who sits here?" "Maria." "Maria?" "Does Maria read magazines on industrial design, boating, and hockey?" "Come on, Mr. Mercer, you've got a male nurse taking care of you." "Is his name Jack Strong?" "Please leave." "I beg you." "Okay, Mr. Mercer, we'll leave you alone." "I can't make out the signature on this delivery receipt, but the LVN license number's totally legible." "Sugar Hill 302 West 151st Street Wednesday, March 15" "A lot of foot traffic." "What do you think, a bake sale?" "There he is." "Yup, that's him." "Robbie!" "Robbie Paulson." "Yeah." "Slow down." "I just wanna ask you a few questions about Teddy Mercer." "Uh, Teddy." "Sure, yeah." "I can't tell you too much 'cause of the whole doctor/patient thing." "But I can tell you he's a cranky old dog." "Yeah, well, we're worried he's taking non-prescribed medicines from his other nurse, Lydia Wyatt." "No, whatever she gives him, it's definitely prescribed." "I'm very careful about what he takes." "Hold on, hold on." "Stop, stop, stop." "If he was taking something else, would he tell you?" "Uh, yeah." "Yeah, I think so." "He's a talker." "Tells me about everything." "A lot of patients are like that towards the end," " they open up and tell you everything." " Well, you're pretty talkative yourself." "I bet you can cover a whole range of subjects, huh?" "I have a lot of interests, so I have trouble focusing on just one." "We noticed that." "I think I know why." "Yes, I have ADD." "I take medicine for it." "Actually, that's what I was doing right now, getting a refill on my ritalin." "Is there anything else?" "It must be tough for a young guy like you administering to the dying." "It's something I have to do." "I have no choice." " I have to go." " Go." "Go." "Hey, watch out!" "What's in that thing?" "Water." "It's just water." "He's not going home." "Maybe he was steering us away from there." "Now I'm really curious." " Who lives here?" " The healer." "Okay." "You wait outside?" "I'll be with you in a minute. / All right." "Welcome to my real job." "The other I do for the money." "Oh, so you don't charge for your services?" "People pay what they can." "The healing you practice, your religion, it's voodoo?" "Yes, I help believers negotiate with the spirits to fix their health problems." "You ever use any of those, uh... herbs or powders on Teddy or Mrs. Alexander?" "I give them the medicines prescribed by their doctors." "The medicines they trust." "Except for Teddy." "You gave him a seashell to hold." "What's that for, eternal life?" "It helps my patients remember that life doesn't end with death." "We just saw Teddy." "He doesn't look so good." "I'm sorry to hear that." "But I'm not on his case anymore." "He let me go." "And now he's failing." "If you're convinced, out of your own ignorance, that I'm a danger to my patients, go ahead and look around." "Oh, well, as long as you're offering, let's start with your nurse's bag." "It must defy your expectations, to find someone with a college degree doing this type of work." "It's actually easier becoming a nurse." "This knowledge is passed to you from the women in your family?" "My aunties who raised me." " Here you go." " Thank you." "You pass this knowledge onto anybody else?" "Maybe Jack?" "I would never share anything with that boy." "He's too immature." "What about Teddy's helper, Robbie Paulson?" "We just saw him outside." "Robbie does have a gift for healing." "He has a quick mind, a natural curiosity." "And he doesn't judge like some." "I have patients waiting." "Well, that's fine by us." "Here you go." "Uh, we're gonna take this." "And by the way, if there is any bad medicine on your used needles, we'll be back." "Be careful, detective." "You don't like to be sick." "Did she just threaten me?" "It's a warning." "This is a place of healing." "It won't tolerate your disrespect." "Look, I know I screwed up." " Can't you talk to her?" " No, Jack." "She thinks I've been bailing you out too long that it's made you weak." "Weak?" "I'm not weak." "I'll see you later." "Hey, hey, what's up?" "Lab didn't turn anything up on the used needles." "And the final tox report on Mrs. Alexander didn't show anything unusual either." "Well, maybe Lydia didn't need to give her patients drugs to manipulate their health." "So she, what?" ""transacted" with the spirits?" "Well, I think people facing death are very susceptible." "Lydia's smart, she knew how to play them." "With, uh, voodoo?" "She had to have something going on to have all those people coming to her door." "What's her rep in the neighborhood?" " People are afraid to talk about her." " It's unusual." "Believers of voodoo respect their chiefs and priestesses, they don't fear them, especially if they're a good healer." "Maybe her neighbors know something we don't." "Put the bloodhounds on her." "Every state she's worked in, every job she's had." "Hey, Barek, what's with you and the voodoo stuff?" "I respect it." "Same as any religion." "They have a supreme god and spirits that they can negotiate with." "It's like... my mother praying to the virgin Mary for a girl or my father praying to saint Joseph for a job." "I didn't say I believed in that either." "Yeah, but still, my mother had me." "And my father put three kids through school." "But voodoo?" "If white people believed in voodoo, it wouldn't have the stigma it has." "Logan." "Yeah." "Jack Strong, what about him?" "What?" "Witness said he staggered down the street for three blocks before keeling over." "Anybody talk to him?" "No, they just cleared out of his way." "Why, what was he doing?" "Zombie walking." "That's what the locals said." "Young guy, no heart attack, no wounds, no O.D." "You tell me." "Zombie?" "Get out of here." "Well, what can I tell you?" "Died of undetermined causes." "Looks like a poisoning, probably a neurotoxin." "Make sure you get a nice big fat close-up of his face and send it to Carver." "This guy was our best shot at a material witness." "Better off staying in jail." "Are you all right, detective?" "Yeah, I got a rash." " You mind if I look?" " Go ahead." "It might be impetigo." "You feel feverish." "You want, I could examine you." "Oh, yeah." "Well, maybe when I'm dead." "I got a cold, Rodgers." "Hey, didn't Lydia Wyatt work in Maryland?" "She was licensed there." "You know, this tattoo, it looks a lot like the mascot for Maryland state university." "Yeah, that's our boy." "Real chick magnet, huh?" "Now turn the page." "Robbie Paulson." "They had different majors, there are no classes in common, different dorms." "Get this, both dropped out after their sophomore year." "God." "You seen a doctor yet?" "Yeah, those jokers at the HMO." "They tossed a coin, heads was Lyme disease, tails was shingles." "Well, it started right after we saw Lydia." "She warned you." "Ooh, a spell." "Listen, what I don't believe won't hurt me." "Hey, this is kind of interesting." "Jack was hospitalized for three days during his sophomore year." "Same deal with Robbie a couple of months later." "Three days." "A 72-hour hold for observation?" "Suicide attempts." "Campus health clinic." "Maybe this is where they met." "Maybe this is where they all met." "Look at this." "Well, well, well." "Here's our great healer at work." "Back then she was known as Lydia Esparza." "Married name?" "Check out the faculty in the back." "I think there was a professor Esparza." "Daniel Esparza, cultural anthropology." "Office of Daniel Esparza Maryland State University Friday, March 17" "Lydia's creatures." "Nothing sexual." "Just lost kids who washed up in her clinic." "They followed her around like ducklings." "What's she doing these days?" "She has a healing practice in Harlem, and she does private nursing for wealthy patients." "A foot in both worlds." "That's Lydia." "It's what got her in trouble with the campus clinic." "Always recommending folk remedies to the students." "She said her aunts taught her?" "They were well-known healers." "But they didn't think Lydia had the gift." "It made her a little unhappy." "I think she got over it." "After her aunt died, Lydia took her book of recipes." "She told people that her aunt's powers had been passed down to her and started charging for cures." "What she was doing was dangerous." "I warned her." "Professor, you sound like you're afraid of her." "You lost about 20 pounds since these pictures." "Were you sick?" "I caught some bug traveling in India." "Is that around the time Lydia left?" "What'd she do to you?" "Who knows?" "They ran tests." "All I know is I had a rash." "I started sleeping 20 hours a day." "Then I couldn't wake up." "That's when Lydia left." "A rash." " That's how it started." " Yes." "Red blotches?" "Maybe a fever?" "Yes." "Why?" "It's a fluke." "Mike, you need to see a specialist." "I know just the person that you should see." "Home of Mama Louise Brooklyn, New York Tuesday, March 21" "Oh, yes, I see." "I recognize." "Yeah?" "Can you do something about it?" "I think so." "Did you touch anything in that woman's place?" "Just her nurse's bag." "Yeah, I touched it too." "Nothing happened." "What about that candle she dropped?" " I picked it up for her." " Oh, a gentleman." "That is how she tricked you." "It's not ground up toad stools, is it?" "It's calamine lotion." "She put poison ivy oil on the candle." "You have a very bad allergic reaction." "Your doctor will give you a pill for the fever and your tummy ache." "Poison ivy." "Mama, this woman might be responsible for three deaths." "People have said that this guy was zombie walking." "And we think these two girls were paralyzed with a drug." "Puffer fish liver." "Very bad poison." "She probably found it in the trash of those Japanese places where they eat raw fish." "Who is this woman?" "Lydia Wyatt in Sugar hill." "She calls herself a healer." "She's working off a book of recipes from her aunt." ""The book of secrets."" "She perpetrate this evil alone?" "No, there's a young guy." "She has no power of her own, just tricks." "She has to use his belief in her to control him." "So much for voodoo magic." "It's like any other religion, detective." "The magic is in the believer's faith." "The ME ran another tox screen on our three victims and came up with tetrodotoxin." "Puffer fish poison." "Puffer fish." "Curiouser and curiouser." "Well, that's not all." "On Sarah's hands, the ME found traces of herbs." "Calamus root, sida cordifolia, betel nut, guarana." "CSU found traces of it in her room and everywhere she touched." "The mixture was finely powdered to be absorbed through her skin." "What effect does it have?" "Well, it has high levels of ephedrine, enough to give you a buzz." "Jack gave Sarah a copy of Lydia's book." "Our guess... and don't fall off your chair, he laced it with that concoction like a love potion." "Probably figured that would turn him into a chick magnet." "Now we just have to turn Robbie into a witness against Lydia." "A true believer like Robbie, who's been enthralled with her for eight years?" "You know, Lydia's more a chemist than she is a magician." "Maybe she gave her thrall a little boost." "Robbie was very protective of that water bottle." "We get a warrant for that bottle, maybe we can bring Robbie along with it." "Uh, why are you taking that?" "That's just water." "Yeah, it's uh, is this just water too?" "What about that bag?" "You leave those alone." "I'm finally feeling great again." "I'm gonna kick this cancer in the ass." "I'm sorry." "The warrant's good for any non-traditional medicines and supplements." "No, I need them." "Look, just leave him alone." "He's an old man." "Hey, hey, you making a move on my partner?" "No. / I think he did." "Get your hands off of me." "You definitely need to be arrested, my friend." "Come on." "The water contained lithium carbonate in sufficient concentrations to induce a feeling of well-being." "She spiked his water with lithium?" "All she had to do was drive up to Saratoga." "Some of the natural springs there contain lithium carbonate." "What's more interesting is what she was giving to her cancer patients along with the water." " This herb is ground licorice root." " Yeah, and?" "Licorice has natural cortisone." "Boosts the white blood cell count." " It actually makes the patients better?" " No." "But a high white blood count is one marker of improved health." "And since the lithium is making them feel better, they convince themselves they are getting better... when they aren't." "And if they decide to stop paying Lydia, she takes away their water and herbs." "And they start feeling worse." "And when their white blood count drops, they think they're dying again." "A cruel scheme." "You think he'll talk about it?" "Well, he's been off the lithium for eight hours." "Okay, I was a pre-med biology major, but college just wasn't for me." "It's too confining." "Your friend Jack had trouble there too." " Here he is hiding in the back row." " Yeah." "Um, I'm really thirsty." "Do you think I could get my water bottle back?" "How long you been drinking that special water?" "Long time." "It's cleansing and refreshing." "You ever wonder, Robbie, you a man of science, what was in that water?" "Because we sure did." "And what's in it is lithium carbonate." "That's why it makes you feel different, Robbie." "No." "No, it's because of what Lydia puts of herself in it, her healing power." "Um..." "I have suicidal tendencies, and Lydia keeps me from killing myself." " Suicidal tendencies." " Yes." "Well, you made one attempt in college." "It was a new school, you had no friends, your ADD to cope with..." " you were overwhelmed." " Yeah." "Yeah, well, you may have outgrown that by now." "If Lydia hadn't have been doping you up all these years." "You don't understand her." "We understand what she does." "Our lab found tetrodotoxin in Jack and in Sarah and in her sister." "It's a poison made from puffer fish skin and liver." "Come on, you're a smart guy, Robbie." "It's cause and effect." "There's no healing power here." "These powders and herbs..." "No, no, no, no." "They are harmless." "Inert until Lydia transacts with the spirits that give them healing properties." "Well, then how do you explain what happened to Jack and the girls?" "How did she heal them?" "It was Jack's fault, all right?" "Jack was always using Lydia's secrets to get with girls." "The spirits were angry, and they punished him and his girlfriend." "The spirits, okay?" "Now, that's all I'm gonna say." "I'm really wanting my water now." "Our man of science sounds like a real whack job." "Not so crazy." "He hasn't said anything to incriminate himself, nor Ms. Wyatt." ""The magic is in the believer's faith."" "He believes that Lydia's herbs and powders are harmless until she imbues them with power." "Gotta wonder if she believes it too." "Don't worry about your potions back home." "Our hazmat team will take good care of them." "It's not what's in those jars you should be afraid of, detective." "Oh, I got your warning." "Is that all?" "The spirits are usually less forgiving." "Oh, you mean it could be worse, like what happened to the two sisters?" " I had nothing to do with that." " Your husband?" "He disrespected my work." "He had no faith in me." "The spirits paid him back." "Sit there, Robbie." "So, here we are." "The sorcerer and her apprentice." "Don't be so superior, detective." "On the contrary, we're impressed with the devotion you inspire in Robbie." "He says you kept him from killing himself." "I intervene with the spirits on his behalf." "They're the ones he owes his life to." "Owes his life?" "Well, I heard there was a great debt to be paid for that." "How do you do that?" "Oh, by helping the dying." "Is that what you meant by, um, you have no choice?" "Yes, yes." "I help their passage to the spirit world." "And I help Lydia with her healing mission." "And if you don't help her?" "If Robbie were to stop helping, that would mean he's stopped believing." "A spiritual death is the worst death of all." "I keep telling my partner that." "But I want him to see for himself what a voodoo healer can do." "We confiscated these from your healing place." "I'm not sure what all these are." " Those are medicinal herbs." " No, not according to Robbie." "He says they're not medicine until you make them medicine, right?" "Well, I explained to them about your work." "He told me these powders and herbs are harmless until you imbue them with your healing power." "Again, it's the spirits who do the work." "Yes, but you're the one with the power to talk to them." "So I would just like you to show my partner, you know, how you..." "Like a Las vegas magician?" "No, I'm sorry." "That's degrading to my work." "Yeah, well, spare us the magic tricks." "I happen to believe Robbie when he says that these powders are harmless until you do something to them." "And listening to my partner's wisecracks about voodoo..." "I'd like to shut him up once and for all." "I don't know what you're thinking about, but I wouldn't be doing that." "That stuff's poison." "Barek, wait." "Let her drink it." "You were about to let my partner drink this, so it must be harmless like Robbie said." "Here." "Show them." "Drink it." "I'll drink it." "No!" "This is poison." "It's poison, isn't it?" "Don't you see what they are doing?" " You told me..." " Now you know what she is, Robbie." "And we weren't lying about that water she was feeding you, either." "It's loaded with lithium?" "How could you give that to me?" "On top of the ritalin?" "How sick did you want me to be?" "Robbie, be careful." "Stop it." "Stop it." "Tell us what happened to the girls, Robbie." "Tell us what happened." "I can't protect you if you break our trust." "Robbie..." "She said... she said that Jack told her Sarah wanted to meet a real voodoo healer, so I went over there with Lydia." "She told me to wait while she went upstairs." "Then all of a sudden, she called me and told me to come up right away." "And when I got there, those girls were dead." "And what did she say happened?" "She said that we were too late." "That the spirits were angry." "And they killed them." "Then she said that we had to prepare them for their next life." "They weren't ready yet." "They weren't dead." "They were paralyzed with that puffer fish poison." "They suffocated in the plastic, Robbie." "You made me help you kill them, hmm?" "You made me a murderer?" "And Jack?" "You told me that the spirits took over his body." "But it was you, Lydia." "You killed them all?" "They were a threat to our work!" "Jack was devoted to you!" "He worshipped you!" "He was my only friend!" "Eight years we worked together, trying to find cancer patients, rich patients, so that Lydia could get money from them to pay for the healing mission." "So you helped her extort money." "No, no, no, it wasn't stealing." "Those people got better, they did." "No, that was just another one of her tricks, Robbie." "Come on." "Here's a little police magic." "Shazam." "You're under arrest." "I wouldn't be counting on Robbie, if I were you." "He's seen what happens to people who cross me." "I wonder what your aunties would think of you now." "They're all jealous of me." "I am more powerful than they ever were with their rosaries and their candle magic." "They're trying to destroy me right now." "Working through you and you." "And even you!" "But I won't be destroyed by them or by you!" "You think the last time was bad, detective?" "You just wait." "Well, fool me once, shame on you." "Fool me twice, you go to jail." "What's going to happen to me?" "You testify against Lydia." "And then you get your life back." "I can't believe that I..." "I was a biology major." "Faith trumps science." "Once again." "Nothing that a little calamine lotion can't fix."