1. One #2
Back then, my parents weren’t as wealthy as they were now.
In fact, they lived less than a mile from our current location, in an even larger house than those surrounding us now.
In the aftermath of Holly’s disappearance, my father had thrown himself into his work and made something of himself.
He pretended work was the most important thing to him.
I knew better. He still searched for Holly the same way I did.
Heck, I’d started my own detective agency because I was determined to find my sister. Years later, I was no closer to finding her. But I was closer to finding myself.
Being the youngest child in a family that has lost a sibling isn’t easy. The grace and trust my parents had showered on us before Holly disappeared were gone in an instant. They became overbearing, and I fought back.
They wanted me to go into the family business — my father owned and operated a bunch of restaurants and bars throughout the city — but that was not the life I wanted. I wanted to do bigger and better things.
“And look at me now,” I said more to myself than Lex. I let loose a shaky laugh.
“What?” he challenged as we continued to drop ghouls. We had gone through a third of them. Our plan was working. If one of them grew a brain and went in a different direction, however, we would have to come up with a different plan.
“I was just thinking about how I was going to change the world when I started the agency,” I admitted, happy that I could laugh at myself. “Look at us now.”
Lex gave me a sidelong look and almost lost an arm for his efforts when a ghoul managed to grab him.
Lex was strong enough to pivot and stab the creature with his free hand.
Then he gave it a vicious kick before looking back at me.
“You’re still going to change the world,” he said in a surprisingly somber voice. “Trust me.”
“What makes you say that?”
“You don’t know how to fail.”
It was a sweet sentiment until I realized where I recognized the words from. “Were you watching Armageddon again last night?”
“It’s the greatest flick in the world,” he said. “Bruce Willis is the man.”
“Unbelievable,” I muttered as I stabbed another ghoul between the eyes. “Why are they all in this area?” I asked, the obvious question bubbling to the surface. “I mean … why here?”
“Is that a rhetorical question, or do you really want an answer?”
“I really want an answer.”
“Well, because New Orleans is below sea level, no one can have basements,” he started, sounding like a history professor giving a lecture.
“The houses here have bigger crawl spaces than any of the cottages in the French Quarter. So, even though there might be more food out by us, the digs in this neighborhood are simply better.”
I wanted to roll my eyes, so very much, but his explanation had a ring of truth. “Huh.” I stabbed another one, and that’s when I noticed a handful of ghouls hanging near the rear of the pack. The few that were still on their feet appeared to have figured out their predicament.
“There it is,” Lex muttered. He’d come to the same conclusion.
“Yeah.” I bobbed my head. “We can’t let them get away.”
“We won’t.” Lex looked left and right, taking the ghouls that were still trying to collapse onto the porch into consideration. “Can you handle these guys?”
I nodded, already knowing what he was going to do.
He was moving almost before I registered it.
He put that athleticism he was always boasting about on display and leaped over the ghouls clamoring to get onto the porch.
I kept stabbing as he landed in the small yard beyond them and rolled.
He was back on his feet quickly, and the ghouls out near the road didn’t have a chance.
I doubled my efforts and slashed at the ghouls in front of me, not looking up again until they were all dead on the ground. When I did risk a glance, I found Lex admiring his handiwork near the intersection. Six vehicles idled in the street, their drivers staring at us.
“Well, crap,” I muttered as I met a blond woman’s gaze. She had the ultimate “Karen” haircut. I thought it should be called the Kate Gosselin haircut, but no one had called me to vote.
“It’s fine.” Lex waved off my worry as he shifted to smile at the blonde with the bad haircut. He let loose a lascivious wink. “I can still get us out of this.”
It was either a grand delusion or totally naive. Ultimately, it didn’t matter which. “We’re cooked. What are we supposed to do with these bodies?”
“I have an idea.” Lex’s smile was too mischievous to fill me with anything other than dread.
“Oh, see, this is going to be bad.”
“Hear me out.” Lex raised his hands in supplication. It was his go-to move when he thought I was about to turn shrill. “You can burn the bodies.”
“In front of witnesses?” I was definitely getting screechy.
“I have my jammer in my pocket. I can render all their cell phones useless.”
Lex was a gadgets guy. He liked fiddling with technology. He was the first person I knew with a VR headset and the new AI glasses.
“How sure are you that it will work?” I demanded.
“Sixty-eight percent?”
I rolled my eyes.
“What other option do we have?” he asked in his most reasonable voice.
Because I knew he was right — we really were in trouble — I nodded. I could burn the bodies relatively quickly. If that was caught on camera and uploaded to the internet, however, I would be screwed.
“I guess we have to try,” I said, resigned.
He beamed. “That’s the spirit.”
“It’s going to smell terrible.”
“There are worse things in life.”
I got to work. It was our only option.