"My name is Melinda Gordon." "I'm married." "I live in a small town, and I own an antique shop." "I might be just like you." "Except that from the time I was a little girl," "I knew that I could talk to the dead." "It's all right, honey." "Earthbound spirits, my grandmother called them." "They're stuck here because they have unfinished business with the living." "And they come to me for help." "In order to tell you my story, I have to tell you theirs." " I am frozen." " I think it's gonna snow." " How did we buy all this in one trip?" " Teamwork." "I don't even remember what we bought." "Oh, I just hope you don't remember what we spent." "That I'm gonna remember for the rest of my life." "Oh, my gosh." "I'm just glad that it's over." "Oh, actually, it's not." "The groceries are in the back." " I knew that." " You want my help?" " No, but I could use a drink." " Oh, something hot?" "Not for the cold." "For the bills." "Right." "It's raining outside." "Can you believe this?" "Is this a mosquito?" "This time of year?" "Wow." "All right, global warming has come to Grandview at 9:53 p.m." "You okay?" "I just feel hot all of a sudden." "I'm gonna go change." "Yeah, that's a mosquito." "Can you see us?" "All I did was walk into our room, and all of a sudden," "I was in the middle of a jungle with vines and yellow flowers." "It was raining, and there were bugs crawling all over my feet." " I mean, it was awful." " Maybe it was something you ate." "We were at the same restaurant." "Yes, but I did not have the spicy egg roll." "Yeah." "It was not the egg roll, and I know a ghost when I see one." " Or a ghost's hand when I see one." " All right." "Have a little ice cream, it'll cool you down." "What I want to know is how a ghost from the jungle made it into our house." "The closest I've been to a jungle is the Central Park Zoo, and I was 10." "Maybe you brought him back from the mall." "Well, it doesn't matter now that he knows where I live." "I just hope he's done with me for the night." "Yeah, me, too." "Man, it's coming down." "Jim." " Morning!" " Good morning!" "Hey, I think I struck gold, but I'm gonna need some help carrying everything in, okay?" "Okay." "I have a friend who just bought a house out of probate, about a month ago, and apparently, there was a little old lady who lived in it her whole life, so she got everything in the house as well." "And I guess there was a whole bunch of great stuff in the attic, and she knew we worked together, and she wanted to know if we were interested in consigning any of it, so I brought a few things down." "This stuff is in amazingly good shape." " I don't know what it is, but I like it." " It's a sextant." "No kidding." "That's what they call that?" "I don't kid about sextants." "Hey, I love this." "See, that is definitely you." "You look great in that!" "Don't I have to be a tap dancer to wear this?" "Oh!" "This is beautiful." "This is definitely me." "She's mine." "Take it off!" "Something wrong?" "I thought I saw a spider on it." " Oh, God!" "Really?" "Was it big?" " Big one." "Oh, well, okay." "No more old hats for me." "You know what?" "I have a quick errand to run." " You good here?" " Yeah, sure." "I just want to get this dry-cleaned before we put it on display." "Oh, God!" "I hate spiders." "Damn it!" "Oh, damn it!" "Damn it!" "How long have you been standing there?" "You know what?" "It doesn't matter." "I don't have time." "I have a meeting in 15 minutes, and I can't find my keys, so make it snappy." "I did not leave my keys there." "Okay." "Well, I've only got 15 minutes, so..." "No." "I didn't leave my keys in the door." "I never leave my keys in the door." " This is really strange." " But everyone loses their keys." "I'm not everyone, and I don't leave my keys in the door." "That's what I'm trying to explain to you." "This is..." "This..." " Is that a cake?" " No." "Recognize this?" "Oh, my God." " Oh, my God." " What?" "It's a hat." "It's a nice one, too." "I'd say 1940?" "How much do you want for it?" " That's not why I brought it." " As if I didn't know." " No!" " What are we afraid of?" " I think it might be Romano's." " Who's Romano?" " The cult leader." "The one that you..." " Oh, yeah." "Him." "You really thought it belonged to him, huh?" "You brought this to me, so..." "So I could tell you if it meant anything terrible?" "Well, aside from messing up my hair and giving me headaches," " hats don't really mean much..." " What's this?" "Careful!" "Don't knock that over." "Congratulations, Melinda." "You just saved a life." " Excuse me?" " It's a manikin." "It's used to treat sickness by a shaman, medicine man, witch doctor, whatever you want to call it." "It's placed near a patient and an incantation is given by Mr. Hocus Pocus." "If this wooden figure is to remain upright during said incantation, then the patient will live, they'll recover, but if during said incantation this were to fall down, that would mean impending death or severe drunkenness." " I think I've seen this." " Really?" "Where?" "A museum, I think." "Where'd you get it?" "That was given to me by a member of the Machiguenga tribe, which I almost died getting it, and that's a different story." "Look, I have really got to go." "I thought you said that I had 15 minutes." " You're on Payne time, baby." " Professor Payne!" "I was three weeks in Peru." "I was documenting native cultural traditions for my beloved university." "Religious, tribal symbols, belief systems, et cetera." "I came across this practice called kanaimà." "It's the mutilation and killing of enemies and then the consumption of a rather awful concoction." "Smells terrible, and it's made up of putrefied human remains, which I accidentally almost ingested." "At least, I think it was accidental." "I prefer to think that they were trying to assassinate me." "It makes for a much more compelling story." "Excuse me." " Can I just ask you..." " No." "You know what?" "This I should really do by myself." "Are you okay?" "Are you okay?" "And then I turn around, and I am back in the forest again, and this manikin falls right on top of me." " A mannequin." " And not one of those James Perse kind of mannequins in the window at Neiman Marcus." "I'm talking about the kind of manikin that witch doctors use to treat sick people." "Did the ghost tell you that?" "No, Professor Payne." "Anyway, all I know is that if it falls over, someone will die." "Seems like somebody already did." "No, not the ghost." "Somebody's going to die." "Hey." "You know what I can't figure?" "How is it that the ghost of someone who died in the jungle ends up in Grandview?" "I mean, the jungle's not exactly down the block." "You know, maybe it was Payne." "He said he was in Peru." "Peru has jungle." "Yeah, and he does have the carving in his office." "Maybe it's attached to Payne, huh?" "I mean, is that where you saw the ghost, in Payne's office?" "No, down the hall near the men's restroom." "The ghost is haunting the men's restroom?" "That's disgusting." "No, Payne was in the restroom, and the ghost was behind me." "Either the ghost followed you, or it was on campus." "You know, maybe he was a student." "Whatever happened to him, it was really unpleasant." "I mean, every time he tries to talk, it's just all this blood, just running out of his mouth and..." " Hey." " Oh." "Sorry." "Hey!" "This is where I was." "Look!" " Definitely not Grandview." " No, that is the plant." "That's the thing that the ghost was holding that cut my hand." " Uña de Gato." " Yeah." "Cat's claw." "It's from the rain forest in South America." ""Being studied as a medicinal treatment for dengue fever," ""yellow fever, and Ebola."" "Wow!" "Those are really the big ones." "You know what?" "If he caught one of these, that explains the blood in the mouth." "They can cause internal haemorrhaging." "Hey!" "Listen to this. "Dr. Penn Grogan, one of the experts" ""on tropical medicinal plant research, brought back these specimens" ""from the Rockland University research expedition last summer."" "Bingo." "You know, why do I have a really sinking feeling" "I know where you're gonna be tomorrow morning?" "And the liani is a semi-domesticated plant found in the western Amazon basin." "Scientific name, Banisteriopsis caapi malpighiaceae, known locally in Quichua as ayahuasca or vine of the soul." "This name is given to the plant by the indigenous people because of its effectiveness in healing wounds." "We harvested several samples in the Urubamba river drainage." "In this same area, we took samples of kemishitsa, a very powerful hallucinogenic." "The plant research we're doing will help find treatments, and hopefully cures for some of humanity's most virulent diseases," "Marburg, Lassa fever, Ebola, yellow fever, dengue fever, and the diseases..." "The haemorrhagic fevers that..." "I'm sorry." "I don't know what's wrong." "We'll have to continue this another time." "I'm sorry." "Dr. Grogan, please, I need to talk to you." "Not right now, please." " It will only take a few minutes." " Not right now, please." "Are you okay?" "You surprise me." "I saw you in that lecture, and I thought to myself," ""What interest could she possibly have in medicinal jungle plants?"" "I like flowers." "Really?" "Anything in particular?" "Uña de Gato." "What about you?" "What flowers do you like?" "I don't." "I was there for Dr. Grogan." "She's a friend." "Is she okay?" "Well, she's going through some personal issues right now, getting a lot of pressure from the university." "It's very difficult being the top in one's field, as I very well know." "I thought you said this was about flowers." "I just want to know if someone died on that expedition." "Martin Schaer was one of our premier research scientists." "Great writer." "He wrote a brilliant book." "I have it here somewhere." "Let me tell you something." "This guy had it all." "He had the charisma, the brains, the smarts." "Great writer, brilliant professor." "I know what you're thinking." ""Hey, that sounds a lot like Professor Rick Payne."" "But seriously, he was truly one of the greats." "That's Marty right there." "He was a heck of a racquetball player, too." "He beat me almost every week, and I'm not easy to beat at racquetball." "I'm good at racquetball." "Even had a couple species of jungle plants named after him." " Did you know that?" " You knew him well?" "Oh, yeah." "Whenever he'd go on one of his expeditions, he would always come back with something for my collection, as you can see." "He died on this expedition, and not..." "Not in a good way." "Dr. Grogan was on that same expedition." "Made her famous." "She got all the accolades and awards, all the kudos they could throw at her." "A lot of people think she didn't deserve it." "It was actually Martin Schaer who was the driving force behind that expedition, and she was taking advantage of his death because he was her mentor, but either way you look at it, he's dead, she's not." "She looks great in a pair of shorts, and she's got brains and talent, and when you look like she does and you can go into the jungle and hang out with guys that sharpen their teeth with files," "you're gonna get a lot of attention." "And whenever I see Dr. Grogan, I think to myself," ""Wow." "Has she got a body or what?"" "Do you have to be this crass, or can't you help it?" "I can help it." "I usually do it as a defense mechanism so I don't get too emotionally attached to humanity." "You have to be a different person with your wife." "With her, I don't have to be so charming." "Where's that book?" "Cat's Claw." "It was right here." "Cat's Claw was the name of it." " Do you see it?" " Maybe somebody borrowed it." "No, if they borrowed it, I would know." "It's my book." "I would know if it was borrowed." " Can I buy a copy?" " Yeah, at the university bookstore." " Sorry." " Okay." "Wait." "Why are so you so interested in this all of a sudden?" "What's going on?" "Do you think Grogan had something to do with Marty's death?" " I don't know yet." " Well, why were you at the lecture?" " What were you gonna ask Grogan?" " I need to read the book first." "You're talking in circles." "You know, I know you're not being straight with me, right?" " How would I know that?" " You're doing it again!" "You don't think I know a circle-talker when I meet one?" "I don't think you'd find my ideas very interesting." "Hey, don't prejudge." "Just because I'm rude, snide, and sarcastic doesn't mean I don't have a sensitive side." "If you do see something strange, call me." "Son of a bitch." "Where were you?" "Damn it!" "All right." "Come on!" "You cannot believe the things this guy has done." "I mean, the places he's been just looking for plants." "Get this." "He was held for 10 days by drug dealers in the rain forest of Venezuela." "The guy's Indiana Jones." "You know?" "He's the guy every guy wants to be." "And he's dead." "Well, yeah, except for that part." "He got his PhD when he was 22, then he spent the next 13 years teaching at the university and going on expeditions for months at a time looking for cures to disease." "He was leading a university-sponsored research expedition in a remote section of the Peruvian jungle, Yomuibato?" "And that's where he died." "Sad." " He had a real passion for what he did." " Yeah." "Anyway, I think he's got an issue with Dr. Grogan." "Ever since she got back from the expedition, she's been getting the credit for all their discoveries." "Hey, does Grogan know that she's with ghost?" "Well, I think she knows that something's wrong." "I just don't think she knows it's him." "I guess somebody's got to tell her." "Who?" "You?" "No, this is me going to work, although I could call her, and say, "Dr. Grogan, you know you've got a ghost attached to you,"" "and then hang up real quick." "That's a great idea." "Maybe I'll try that." " Love you." " I love you, too." " I'll try not to wake you up." " Please do." "I like to know you're back." "Okay, Martin." "Honey!" "I'm home!" "Who is it?" "You saw me!" "You saw me!" "There's no denying you saw me!" "Now open up!" "We need to talk!" " Hi." " You've been drinking." " Statement or question?" " What do you want?" "What do I want?" "Good." "I'll tell you what I want." "I want to know..." "I want to know what it is that you do." "You shouldn't be doing this." "The world is filled with people doing things they shouldn't be doing." "Having sex with other people's wives, cheating on their taxes, running red lights..." "Iraq." "What's your deal, lady?" "What is going on?" "You come to me with this Romano character and his hat, and then you start drawing me pictures." "Not very good pictures, I might add, and the next thing you know, things are going bump in the night, and I'm not a "bump in the night" type of guy." "I don't get it." "You draw me symbols, numbers, music..." "How long have you lived here?" "Almost two years." "That's good." "That was a test." "You passed." "Get the easy question out of the way before I ask the hard one." "Good for you." "I guess your husband's not home, because if he was," "I'd probably be pulling his fist out of my face right about now." "You might get to do that at a later date." "Well, that's the really good thing about being too drunk, because you have a false sense of invulnerability." "Yeah, well, eventually, it wears off." "So let's get started." "This isn't about a book you guys are writing." "You're not writing a book, Melinda Gordon." "You're not writing a book." "You've got something inside of you." "Something special inside of you." "That store that you got down there, that's not what you're about." "No." "That's a front for what's inside of you." "And I don't know, you could say it is or not true, and it won't matter to me, because I know it's true." "Okay, well, if you know it's true, then why don't you go home?" "Because I don't even know what I know anymore." " That doesn't make any sense." " I know." "That's why I'm here, trying to make sense of something." "I'm trying to make sense of anything." "Why are you interested in jungle plants?" "No, forget that." "I don't care about jungle plants, and I don't think you care about jungle plants, either." "Suddenly you want to know about my kanaimà manikin, and how does Dr. Grogan figure into all this?" "You know, I really don't want to talk to you when you're like this." "I may be drunk, Melinda Gordon, but at least" "I'm telling the truth." "I'm gonna cut to the chase, okay?" "I'm just gonna come right out and say it." "I don't think there's enough give and take between you and I in this relationship." "I think we'd better cut it off before it gets too serious." "Yeah." "I said it." "Besides, whatever it is you're doing," "I'm sure it's probably just smoke and mirrors." "Next, you'll just pull a rabbit out of your hat." "Full circle." "Back to the hat." "I never really looked good in hats." "But with your hat, there's a very interesting question, and that's whether or not will the rabbit be dead or alive?" "I should call you a cab." "Now, that's a good idea!" "Call the professor a cab." "Too bad I won't be in it." "I will see you again, never." "Damn it!" "Damn it!" "What is wrong with you?" "I can't find my keys." "You got my keys!" "You took them when you grabbed my arm!" "You took my keys." "Now give them back." "Please go to Grogan now." " Are you all right?" " What the hell just happened?" "Where does Dr. Grogan live?" " What?" " Do you know where she lives?" "Why are we going to Dr. Grogan's house?" "We'll find out when we get there." "If you think something's wrong, tell me." "You told me." "Look at the blood." "I should get to a hospital, I think." "It's not yours." "Why does that not make me feel one bit better?" "Maybe she's not home." "Something's going on in this house." "Are you serious?" "She's inside." "Break down the door." " Do you want me to do it?" " Yes!" " Fine." " No, no, no, no, no, no!" "I'll do it." "Come on." "I'll do it." "Back up, please." " I killed him." " Oh, my God." "I killed him." "I killed Martin." "I killed him." "I killed him!" "I killed him!" "Call 911!" "It's okay." "We just tried to keep her walking until you got here." "Well, you did the right thing." "Did Payne have something to do with this?" "Or her?" "No." "It was an anonymous tip." "Fill me in later." "Hey, I could really use a ride home." "Your car's at my house." "Well, it's not going anywhere." "No keys." " That was an interesting evening, huh?" " Yeah." "So..." "Look, if I ask, will you tell me?" "How I knew?" "Among other things I can't blame on my overindulgence in alcohol, yes." "I just wish I knew what your reaction was gonna be." "It'll probably be a high level of incredulity, but I'll try to keep it within reason." "If I'm gonna say it, I'm gonna need you to promise, because it's not something I want everyone to know." "I won't tell anyone." "Do you want the cross-my-heart routine?" "You got it." "No." "A simple promise will be good." "I promise you, Melinda, whatever you tell me in this car doesn't leave this car, ever." "I can speak to and see..." " Is this fill in the blank?" " The dead." "You don't mean the Grateful, do you?" "That's how I knew that Dr. Grogan was in trouble." "Martin Schaer." "He used you to tell me to get to her." "It's his spirit that you felt." "That's why you had blood in your mouth." "Because he did when he died." "Now you know." "Happy?" "I don't know if "happy" is the right word." "Does this happen a lot?" "It's not something I want to go into right now." "Look, you can believe me or not, and if you can find another way to explain what happened tonight, it's okay with me." "I wish you could hear the argument" "I'm having with myself in my head right now." " Is that why you came to my house?" " Yes." " Was it necessary to be drunk?" " Yes, because" "I didn't decide to come to your house until after I had started drinking." "I want to go home now." "No." "Not again." "This is where I found it." "I had to be part of a ceremony with the Machiguenga." "A ritual, so that they would take me to a place they considered sacred." "I wanted to find the plant that they told me about." "Uña de Gato, the cat's claw." "The Machiguenga were very protective." "They'd only take two of us." "Where have you been?" "With my new best friends, the Machiguenga." " Can those guys party or what?" " Will they take us?" " Yes, but just two." " Is that a good idea?" "It's their jungle, their rules." "I'd go by myself if that's what they..." "Okay, okay." "So you and who?" "Gee, I wonder." "What have you been drinking?" "I'm really not sure." "You don't know what you drank?" "It was a Machiguenga ceremonial concoction." "I had to drink it to seal the deal." "I have no idea what was in it, but I'm positive it wouldn't get FDA approval." "It tasted just, you know, like pine tar and a little hint of bat urine." " Oh, that's nice." "That's romantic." " Actually, it was." "I had..." "I had the most incredible visions, all of them involving you." "And they swore to me that it would increase sexual..." " Okay, okay." "Okay, fine." "Fine." " I'm just saying..." "So when do we go?" "Three hours." "And apparently it's quite a hike." " Is that okay with you?" " Yeah." "You're a little hot." "Do you feel okay?" "Oh, yeah." "If I'm hot, it's just because I'm here with you." " I'm telling you, those visions..." " Hey, I'm not kidding." " I think you've got a fever." " What?" "Oh, I mean, come on." "A little temperature?" "That's not gonna keep me from going there, especially after drinking what I had to drink to make it happen." "If the Machiguenga think that I'm a wimp, it's gonna blow the whole deal." "Come on." "We go." "We're going." "We go, no matter what." "Here." "I'll take two aspirin, and I'll call in the morning." "All right?" "If I can find a phone that works in the Yomuibato." "Call." "Sorry!" " How's Dr. Grogan?" " We got her there just in time." "They pumped her stomach immediately, but they still don't know what she took." "You saved her life, you know." "You know, people get awards from the mayor for doing that sort of thing." "I'd have to share mine with a ghost." "He told me." "Tell me, what was Payne doing there?" " I told him." " Wow." "I think my ghosts are starting to invade his life." " Did he say that?" " No, not exactly." "But he knows that things are happening, and I couldn't come up with a rational explanation, so..." "I run out of lies sometimes." "Hey, they're not lies." "I mean, whatever you think, they're not lies." "He probably didn't believe me anyway." " Now you're here, I can sleep." " That's right." "Well..." "Melinda Gordon?" "Wow." "I mean, yeah." "Sorry to just show up like this." "Rick came to see me in the hospital." "Sorry." "Professor Payne." "He..." "He told me how you found me." " He did?" " Yeah." "He said you saved my life." "Yeah." "Do you want to come in?" "Rick said he was with you..." "That you knew I was in trouble?" "And he said you knew things about Martin Schaer." "He said he couldn't tell me what you knew, just..." "I had to ask you." " Did you know Martin?" " I know him, yes." " You were with him when he died." " It was my fault." "I knew he was sick." "I should have kept him from going." " Do you think you could have?" " No." "You don't understand." "I left him." "I left him." "The guide's moving too fast." "I can't see where he went." "Marty, I see some." "It's right here." "We found it." "Marty, are you okay?" "Marty..." "Okay." "Marty." "Come on." " You know you can't stop here." " Hold on." "Wait." "Wait." "No." "No, we're going back." "Okay." "Penn, it's okay." "I'm okay." "It's okay." "I just..." "We have to go back." " This is the only time we can do this." " No." "No, we have to go back." "Will you hold..." "I want you to go." "Go back the way we came." "I'll wait here." "Hey." "I love you." " I love you." " I'll be here when you get back." "Okay." "I'll go back." "I'll bring help." "I promise." "I went back to camp as fast as I could, but he wasn't where I'd left him when we got back." "We looked for him for two days." "We were supposed to get married when we got back." "When I got back, I..." "I was so empty inside, all I could do was work." "I couldn't stop to think." "If I did, I would think of him, and..." "And then I was getting all the credit for things that we did together." "I couldn't have done any of it without him." "And the university insisted it was okay." "The more famous the professor, the more grant money for the university." "He was sick for three days before you left him." "How do you know that?" "I've seen Martin." "His spirit." "He's here with us right now." "I don't believe you." "I didn't want to believe I was sick." "There was so much work we had to do, and there wasn't enough time to do it." "He didn't want to say anything about being sick because there was so much work you had to do." "And now she blames herself for what happened, but there's nothing that could have saved me." "It was dengue fever." "Mosquitoes carry it." "He knows that you blame yourself, but he was already dying." "He had dengue fever." "I tried to make it back on my own, but I wasn't thinking right, and I got lost." "I couldn't find her." "When I finally couldn't walk anymore, I just..." "I laid down to die." "But I thought that no matter what happened," "I would always love her." "He was thinking of you when he died." "He knew that he would always love you." "I'm so lost without you." "Everywhere I go, everywhere I look," "I can feel you, us." "You showed me everything." "And now I don't want to be here without you." "Please don't leave me." "We were meant to be together." "We were meant to show each other the things we did, to teach each other, and now it's meant to be different." "But nothing can take it away." "We'll both bring all of it with us wherever we go next." "I'll tell her." "Tell her to keep working." "But tell her she's got to keep living, too, because one's no good without the other." "It's gonna be hard for him." " Who?" " Rick Payne." "It's gonna be hard for him to stay so cynical now." "He'll find a way." "What is it?" "What's happening?" "He's crossed over." "He's gone." "That's a good thing, right?" "Yeah, it's a good thing." "Come on." "Let's take a walk, and we can talk some more." " I had to come back and get my car." " Find your keys?" "Martin crossed over." "He told me..." "Hold on." "I need a moment to keep my knee-jerk cynical reaction from ignoring all other possibilities." "Okay." "Martin told you..." "That he was worried about you." "He doesn't know how you're going to be able to stay so cynical now." " I'll find a way." " Exactly." "Hey." "I think I might have been partially inebriated the other night." "Partially." "Partially, which I probably owe you an apology for, which will come in the very near future." "No rush."