Chapter 4
Chapter Four
I did a quick search and located a Kim Barnes at a duplex on the outskirts of downtown and we were off.
The duplexes were in a short row on a cul-de-sac, ten of them in total, spanning both sides of the road.
They were all the same but with different paint colors on the siding.
The landscaping was vibrant in some but lacking in most. I wondered how many were rentals, because small bayou towns took gardening almost as seriously as religion.
Kim’s unit was in the middle of the cul-de-sac and painted a cheery yellow.
The landscaping was sparse, and I heard Gertie sniff as we walked up the sidewalk and saw her staring at a patch of weeds in the corner of a flower bed that contained a few skinny bushes and spanned the front of the house, framing the doorway.
Since Gertie was the only person Kim knew, we let her knock and stood back, hoping she was home.
After a second knock, we were about to give up when I saw a blind lifted up at the corner inside and shortly after, the door slowly opened and a woman peered out.
I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting, but this wasn’t it.
Early twenties. Five foot six. A hundred thirty pounds—thin but not in shape thin. So pale she looked like she’d never seen sunlight. Limp red hair and brown eyes—bloodshot from crying—gave her a bedraggled appearance. I couldn’t fathom any area where she might be a threat.
“Kim? Are you all right?” Gertie asked. “Mildred told us you’d come home, and I wanted to check on you and drop off a casserole. It’s not on the retreat-approved diet plan, I’m afraid, but I know cooking probably isn’t high on your priority list right now.”
Kim nodded and sniffed and gave Ida Belle and I curious looks.
“These are my friends Ida Belle and Fortune,” Gertie said. “We just came from Mildred’s house, paying our respects. Can we come in for a minute?”
She nodded, stepped back, and waved us into a small living room with fluffy white leather furniture.
“I’m sorry. I’ve completely forgotten my manners.
My mother would be appalled if she was still around to appall.
I’ve just been so spaced out. I went home with Mildred to help but I’m pretty sure I was more of a hindrance. I just can’t get myself together.”
I looked around the room, then over at Ida Belle, who raised one eyebrow.
I would never claim to be an HGTV goddess of any sort, but it didn’t take an interior designer to know that the contents of this one room were probably worth more than the entire duplex.
It was like walking through a portal into a different universe.
“You had a horrible shock,” Gertie said reassuringly. “No one expects you to be firing on all cylinders.”
She gave Gertie a curious look. “But you seem fine. You even brought me a home-baked casserole.”
“Honey, I’m a bit older than you.”
Ida Belle coughed, and Gertie shot her a dirty look.
“I keep casseroles in my freezer for these occasions,” she explained. “Then I just have to thaw them out and deliver.”
Kim stared. “You have an inventory of casseroles in your freezer in case you find dead people? I should have never moved here.”
“No,” Gertie rushed to explain. “Although that happens more than one might think. It’s just when you live in a small place you know everyone, and as you age, they start to drift off, so you have to pay respects more often. And paying respects means bringing food.”
“Oh. Yeah, I guess so,” Kim said, but she still didn’t look convinced.
“How long have you lived here?” I asked.
“Since March. I’ve lived in New Orleans all my life right off the French Quarter.
The house had been in the family for generations, and it was expected that I’d go on living there and pass it on to my kids, I guess.
But when I first attended one of those yoga retreats, I loved the peace of the bayous and thought I’d be happier outside of the city.
But I may have been mistaken. Twenty-three years in New Orleans and I’ve never once seen a dead body except at a funeral, much less someone who—”
Her voice cracked and she covered her mouth with her hand.
Gertie, who’d sat next to her on the couch, rubbed her shoulder. “It’s okay. Most people go through life never seeing such things. I don’t think we’re meant to unless it’s in our line of professional work, but when it happens, we just have to sort it out in our mind and move on.”
She gave us a look that was slightly desperate and completely frazzled.
“How do you do that? I’ve tried everything already.
Helping Mildred made me feel worse…just seeing that lost look of disbelief on her face last night.
I had whiskey hoping it would knock me out but all I did was cry.
I looked everywhere for my sleeping pills but must have left them at the retreat—not that they were working well anyway, but my stupid doctor won’t give me Ambien anymore.
So I sneaked out back and smoked a joint. I prayed, and I’m not even religious!”
She shot us a guilty look. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell people.”
“About praying?” Ida Belle asked.
“No. Well, maybe that too, but about the joint. I don’t want to add getting arrested on top of everything else I’ve got going on.”
“Did you meet Eleanor at a retreat?” I asked, because I couldn’t see any other way that the two women would have come into contact.
She shook her head. “Zion put us together. Eleanor was opening her retreat, and he said she could use the help getting started. And that way I could see if I liked it and might be interested in opening my own retreat someday.”
And now it all made sense.
“Zion is such a nice, attractive young man,” Gertie said. “Are you two involved?”
A flash of fear crossed her face, but she quickly rushed to denial.
“Oh no! I’ve just been talking to him about being in business and all.”
Her mouth might be saying no, but the blush and uncomfortable look gave her away. If she wasn’t romantically involved with Zion, she wanted to be.
Gertie nodded. “Well, I suppose there’s still time for all that, with you two being young folk.
I’d swear if I didn’t know any better that Eleanor was sweet on him.
I don’t know what to think about that given that he was a good ten years younger than her, but then with her losing her husband recently, I’m sure it was just loneliness taking hold. ”
I watched Kim closely as Gertie rambled on in her seemingly woolly-headed old lady way. She had forced her expression as close to blank as she could, but I saw the flex of her jaw and how her hands clenched the pillow next to her.
She was a goner, all right.
Kim twisted the hem of her shirt. “Do you think that’s why Eleanor… I mean, her husband passing and all? And her mother too, right?”
“I’m afraid no one really knows but Eleanor,” Gertie said. “She didn’t leave a note, so we can only speculate. Did you talk to her yesterday after class?”
“No. She came in long enough to grab her keys, then hurried back out. I never saw her again after that. I mean until…”
“Right. So you stayed in the main building with Mildred.”
“Yeah. I mean, Mildred was locked in her office, banging away on her keyboard. She said something about tax estimates and looked kinda peeved before she closed herself in. I guess it’s hard.”
“It’s definitely not fun,” I said. “Something you’ll have to figure out when you open your own place, I suppose. So you were in your office then?”
“No. I don’t have my own office. I was in the dining area dealing with the fruit. Then the blender stopped working and I called Eleanor, but she wouldn’t answer so I started walking to her cabin. I really hate walking in all that humidity, especially in the middle of the day.”
“It was definitely a hot one,” Gertie agreed. “That class wiped me out.”
“I can imagine,” Kim said. “I was so grateful when you offered to go get Eleanor for me, and I thought we’d just be behind schedule a bit but no big deal. Then everything just went upside down.”
She teared up. “I still can’t believe she’s gone, you know? It doesn’t seem real.”
I nodded. But it was definitely real.
We’d barely gotten the doors on the SUV closed before Gertie exploded.
“That man is a menace! He’s after that girl for her money. Her couch cost more than Ida Belle’s boat.”
“I’m sure money is at the top of the list,” I said. “She is a lot younger than Eleanor too.”
“But so plain,” Gertie said. “Of course, that just makes her the perfect target for men like Zion. Young, rich, naive, and probably doesn’t have men lined up to date her. She might as well be holding a neon sign over her head that says Easy Pickings.”
Ida Belle nodded. “She definitely didn’t strike me as having any street smarts.”
“No,” I agreed. “I wonder if she knew what Eleanor and Zion had going on. All of what they had going on, I mean.”
“She’s a woman,” Gertie said. “If she didn’t see it then it was only because she didn’t want to.”
“He could have been telling her that Eleanor had a crush on him and he was trying to be kind to her given the recent death of her husband,” Ida Belle said. “They all have the same stories.”
Gertie shook her head, still clearly angry. “Especially when they’ve got a target in their sight and that girl’s furnishings practically screamed wealth.”
“I agree,” I said. “And reading between the lines, her mother is gone and she might have sold the family home, which was probably worth a pretty penny if it was in the French Quarter and held in the family for generations.”
“Do a search,” Ida Belle said.
I whipped out my phone and did a quick search on Kim Barnes. It didn’t take long to find exactly what we were looking for.
“Only child of Beverly and Maynard Barnes sells landmark home for 2.5 million,” I said.
Ida Belle shook her head. “He’ll take that girl to the cleaners.”
“Maybe Eleanor’s death will put the brakes on that,” I said.