Page 30 of Landry

Ava nodded. “I’m okay, but Billy Ray isn’t.”

Landry pushed past them into the room to find the window he’d checked not long ago wide open and no one else in the room. He peered out the open window.

A dark shape dove into the shadows of the trees at the edge of the yard.

“Ava, who was in this room?” Camille demanded.

Her daughter wrapped her arms around Camille’s neck. “It was Billy Ray. Mama, he’s very sick, but when I called for you, he ran away.” She looked into her mother’s eyes. “Mama, is Billy Ray going to die?”

Chapter 6

Camille moved Ava to arm’s length. “Sweetie, how did the window get open?”

Fat tears rolled out of Ava’s eyes. “I had to let Billy Ray in. He was hungry, and he’s sick. I told him to stay, that you would help him. When I went to get you, he got scared, locked the door and said he was leaving and wouldn’t come back. I gave him Fuzzy to keep him company. When he left through the window, he fell.” Ava flung her arms around Camille’s neck. “Mama, is Billy Ray going to be all right?”

“I think the cracking sound we heard was the trellis breaking,” Landry said from where he leaned out the window. “I saw someone duck into the shadows, heading for the bayou.”

“Mama,” Ava leaned back and cupped her hands around Camille’s face. “We have to find him and bring him home.”

“Find him where, honey?” Camille drew Ava back to her and stroked the back of her hair.

“In the bayou.” Ava pushed back again. “Billy Ray lives in the bayou.”

“Honey, the bayou is a big place with lots of marshes, tributaries, twists and turns.” Camille tucked a lock of her daughter’s hair behind her ear. “How can we find him if we don’t know where to look?”

“He said he lives in an old gator fishing hut.” Ava shimmied out of Camille’s arms, sat on the floor, slid her feet into her tennis shoes and stood. “We have to go. Now. He needs us.”

All this time, Camille had convinced herself Billy Ray was an imaginary friend. Imaginary friends didn’t break trellises.

For the past few weeks, Ava had talked about having a friend who came through her window. She’d been telling the truth.

A shiver ran the length of Camille’s spine. What if this friend had had malicious intentions?

“Mama, please,” Ava begged. “We have to find Billy Ray.”

Camille looked over the top of Ava’s head to where Landry stood by the window.

“I think I see a boat moving through the water,” Landry said. “It’s not a motorboat. Possibly a pirogue. I can see the silhouette of someone using a paddle to propel it forward.”

Ava took her mother’s hand. “Come on. We have to hurry.”

Camille rose. “Can we catch up with him if we take the skiff?”

“Maybe.” Landry glanced back at her. “If the motor starts and we get down there in a hurry.”

Ava was halfway to the door, dragging her mother with her.

“You two should stay here. I can go,” Landry said, abandoning the window.

“Billy Ray only talks to me,” Ava said.

Camille let her daughter lead her by the hand as they left her bedroom, not convinced they should set off on a wild goose chase through the bayou in the dark. However, her daughter’s genuine concern was hard to ignore.

Landry followed Ava and Camille down the hall toward the kitchen. “Do you have life jackets?”

“Hanging on a hook on the back porch,” Camille said as she grabbed a flashlight from its charger mounted on the wall beside the refrigerator.

As they passed through the back door, Camille switched on the porch light, twisted the lock on the doorhandle and pulled it closed.

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