Page 9 of Carnival
Aria bites the inside of her cheek. “Something here isn’t adding up, and I can’t quite place my finger on it. But rest assured, by the fifth night of the carnival, I’ll figure it out.’’
“Okay?”
“Do you know why no one from your paternal or maternal side took you in and left you at the adoption agency?”
“No, people at the agency never told me. And I don’t think Noelle and Hudson know, either. Why?”
“I’m just thinking… why would a young child from New Orleans be sent to a New York agency? There are few in Louisiana.’’
“All I know is that before my parents died, they moved to New York.’’
“They died in a car crash, right?”
I nod. “A drunk truck driver hit them.’’
“And where were you at the time?”
“I don’t know. I was four. Why are we suddenly jumping from the carnival to my parents death?”
That seems to shake Aria from her train of thoughts, and she forces a smile on. “No reason. Just thought I’d ask.’’
I narrow my eyes. “Uh-huh. You do realize I know you like the back of my palm, right?”
“It’s stupid.’’
“I can guarantee that it is,’’ I snort, “but let me hear it.’’
“The murders started on the first night you came to New Orleans for the carnival. And they haven’t stopped since.’’
“Are you saying you think I’m somehow connected to this? That my arrival here started it?”
Aria shakes her head. “Not exactly. From what I know about your biological parents through Noelle, they were wealthy as fuck. Your father, I mean. Generational wealth— his entire family was in oil industry.’’
“Okay, and?”
“And… they died. As in, generational wealth suddenly gone, dead. And you were left the sole heiress to it all, and the murders start the moment you come back to New Orleans?”
“You’re grasping for straws here. Firstly, I’m not inheriting anything. I didn’t even know any of this until now.’’
“Maybe not because of the way they died, but had they lived, you would’ve gotten it.’’
“Probably? How would I know?”
“See, when I asked Hudson and Noelle about your biological parents, they were very vague,’’ she shifts in her seat. “Not in the ‘we’re hiding something’ way, more in the ‘we don’t know much’ way.’’
“Yeah, I know. I did ask them a few times, but they didn’t have a solid answer.’’
“But, you see, back then, when they failed to give me answers about your biological parents, I took it upon myself to look it up. And… nothing.’’
“What do you mean, nothing?”
“I mean absolutely nothing. No mention of the car crash anywhere, and no trace of your parents. Almost as if their information was wiped clean. Does that seem familiar?”
Chills run down my spine, and a sense of terror washes over me. Goosebumps tug on my skin, and I wrap a blanket around me, suddenly feeling all too observant of my surroundings. The eerie feeling lingers in the air, and I struggle to let the information sink in.
“You think that my parents may have been the earlier victims of this?”
Aria slowly nods.
