Chapter 20
“I’ll let them in,” Jolene said, moving to the foyer, shattering the unholy silence that had settled over us.
More cold air entered the room as the group joined us, their faces somber and all eyes reddened. Cooper stood to help Mimi out of her coat before Jolene led her to a chair.
Mimi held up her hand. “I need to keep busy. Working in the kitchen is just what the doctor ordered, and I say it’s time for lunch. If you all will excuse me…” Her gaze fell on the creepy doll. She drew back as if struck, her nostrils flaring.
“What is that thing doing here?”
“Sarah found it in the bathroom,” I said. “We thought you might have put it there.”
“Absolutely not.” Her mismatched eyes blazed. Facing Beau, she said, “I thought I asked you to get rid of it.”
“I did,” he said through gritted teeth.
“I think it’s trying to tell us something,” Sarah suggested.
“Clearly.” Felicity snatched it from the chair. “And none of us want to listen.” She headed toward the front door. “I’m going to dump this in Beau’s truck so he can return it to where he found it. Maybe that’s all it wants.”
Mimi’s skin had turned the color of parchment. “Its message is contradictory. There’s something evil attached to it. But there’s…that’s not what keeps moving it. There’s another spirit. A benign one, I think. It’s unclear to me why it keeps showing up unexpectedly.”
I appreciated her judicious use of the word “unexpectedly.” I would have used something more specific, like “horrifyingly” or “hellishly.”
“Like they want us to pay attention,” Sarah said quietly. The only other sound in the room was that of Beau snapping his rubber band against his wrist.
Felicity paused on the threshold, holding the doll upside down by its foot as if awaiting instruction. It seemed apparent to me that whatever paranormal vibes were winging their way around the parlor, she was immune to them.
“But it’s not the evil part that wants us to notice it,” Sarah continued. “It’s…trying to hide, and the other entity, the gentle one, wants us to look.”
“Is it connected to Adele?” Cooper asked.
Sarah shook her head, her gaze settling on Beau, her eyes distant, their usual bright blue faded now to a soft gray. As if they no longer belonged to her. “No. But she wants us to pay attention.”
“Okay,” Beau said. “Can you ask her to be more specific?”
“No. But she says you can.” Her strange eyes shifted to Felicity. “And so can Sunny.”
“All right. That’s enough woo-woo for me,” Felicity said, heading toward the front door, holding out the doll at arm’s length so that it wouldn’t touch her.
“Sarah, I’m not sure what shows you’re allowed to watch at home, but I think your imagination is just a little too wild.
” To the rest of us, she said, “I’ll be right back.
” The lamps flickered as the door slammed behind her.
Without a word, Mimi turned in the direction of the kitchen. Neither Sarah nor I pointed out that we had already eaten; we knew she wouldn’t hear us.
Jolene motioned for Uncle Bernie to sit in one of the armchairs, then took his cane and carefully leaned it against one of the arms.
“Sorry about that, Sarah,” Beau said. “Felicity is under a lot of stress, and I don’t think she intended to be rude.” He walked toward the bar cart. “I know it’s early, but can I get anyone something to drink?”
“Bourbon on the rocks for me, please,” Bernie said. Nodding at me, he said, “Begging your pardon.”
“No need. It’s been a stressful morning. I think I’d like an espresso. The stronger the better.”
“I’ll go make that espresso,” Jolene said, grabbing the lunch tray to take it to the kitchen. “I think I’ll have one, too.”
“Make that three, please,” Cooper said. “I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. I thought I was too old for nightmares.”
“Why don’t you help Jolene?” I said to Sarah.
“But…”
“Now,” I said, sounding more like Melanie than I’d intended.
With a sigh, she carefully slid from the sofa so as not to disturb my ankle and left the room, each footfall heavier than the last.
“Almost makes me wish I’d had children,” Bernie said.
“You can borrow her anytime,” I said. “I’m sure my parents wouldn’t mind. They might even thank you. Or make it a permanent arrangement.”
“I heard that,” Sarah shouted from the back hallway.
Beau handed Bernie an old-fashioned glass with a double pour before fixing a glass for himself, then turned to the spot beside me on the sofa, recently vacated by Sarah, but Cooper had already taken it. With a look of irritation, Beau settled into the armchair next to Bernie. “Let’s fill Nola in.”
Bernie took a long drink from his glass and swallowed, then paused until the warmth of the liquid had left his throat.
My mouth watered at the memory of the comfort that could be found in a bottle of bourbon, and I had to look away.
My good foot tapped with impatience as I waited for my espresso, hoping I could at least pretend it offered even a fraction of what I needed.
I felt heaviness in the air between Beau and me.
I wished he were sitting closer so I could touch his hand, offer comfort.
His craving for human touch was a palpable thing, my body absorbing it as if I were living through my own dark days all over again.
When the police had arrived to tell me that my mother was dead, I’d wished for someone to show me I wasn’t alone.
But there’d been no one. My memories of that time in my life revolved around a feeling of loss I couldn’t fully comprehend.
An abyss over which I hovered without any sense that someone was holding on so I wouldn’t fall.
As if reading my thoughts, Beau met my gaze and answered my unspoken question. “The coroner confirmed that my mom’s dental records match the teeth of the skeletonized remains found at Charity.”
“I’m so sorry.” It was such an inadequately stupid thing to say, but it summed up all my thoughts and feelings about finally having at least a partial explanation of what had happened to Adele Ryan.
Bernie shook the ice in his glass, prompting Cooper to refill it.
“Fortunately for the investigation, Adele’s dentist was in Metairie Ridge, one of the highest points in the metro area, so none of their records were lost in the flooding.
Which was extremely fortunate, since Adele had been seeing the same dentist since she moved to New Orleans, so all of her dental X-rays were kept in the same place. ”
I nodded slowly, trying to think like my dad when he was attempting to glean enough information to write convincingly about a historical mystery despite spotty evidence and no known eyewitnesses. “Was there anything else they could find out?”
Beau opened his mouth as if to speak, but no words came out.
Bernie cleared his throat. “So, the, uh, remains have been subjected to the elements for some time, and in addition, it looks like until this last bit of rain we had she was stuck beneath a lot of buried heavy X-ray equipment. Possibly from surging water or…”
“Or put there deliberately to hold her down,” I said.
Bernie nodded. “Exactly. There aren’t any corresponding wounds on the skeletal remains to indicate crushing, but that doesn’t rule out entrapment or entanglement that might have prohibited movement.”
“So you’re saying the cause of death was drowning.” I recalled what Sarah had said after speaking with Adele, how it sounded as if she were talking underwater. And how I’d thought the same thing when I spoke with her over a dead landline.
“Not necessarily,” Beau said slowly. “They’re not even sure if where she was found was where she died.
Considering the hospital was evacuated and abandoned just days after the storm, it would be the perfect spot to bury a body.
Nobody around and lots of sludge and heavy equipment to hide remains where they might never be found. ”
“Until Tulane decided to do a massive renovation project at the hospital complex,” Cooper said, leaning his elbows on his thighs. “Which means that your mother’s death might not have been an accident.”
“It was murder,” Bernie said. “Made to look like she was just another victim of the storm. And they might have gotten away with it except for the rain. And one other little thing. The hyoid bone.”
“The hyoid bone,” I repeated. “I know what that is.” My father was a chronicler of true crime who, despite Melanie’s protests, had never held back from sharing his more interesting discoveries.
“It’s that U-shaped bone in the front of the neck.
Something like a quarter of all homicides by strangulation result in a fractured hyoid. ”
“Thirty-three percent, actually.” Uncle Bernie drained the remainder of his drink. “But no drowning victim I’ve ever heard of had a fractured hyoid.”
“So there’s a chance that it was an accident, right?
Maybe she fell on something, or something hit her that broke the hyoid.
” I wasn’t usually such a Pollyanna. Maybe it was the pain in my ankle, or maybe I didn’t want to witness any more grief.
Learning that one’s mother had died should be enough.
The probability that she’d been murdered was too much.
“True,” Bernie agreed. “Except for the wedding rings. They showed Mimi the rings, minus the diamond, and she verified that they were the same bands she gave Buddy for his bride. She let Beau have them for now, for safekeeping.” His gaze moved to Beau, his expression apologetic.
“When I studied the prongs that held the diamond on the engagement ring, they appeared to have been methodically bent away from the stone. If the diamond had been dislodged accidentally, the prongs would appear much less uniform.”
“So you’re thinking it’s robbery?” I asked. “That’s good, right? Doesn’t that give you a better chance of finding those responsible?”