Page 61 of The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street
“No one,” I said, accepting a glass and taking a gulp. I felt Jayne’s gaze and recalled that her breakup with Thomas had been due, in part, to his insistence that she shouldn’t go public with her abilities. Doing a ghost cleansing in a public hotel lobby wasn’t a good way to keep our light under a bushel, I was fairly certain. I glanced back to where the flapper had been and saw only the beautiful lobby, filled with warmly bundled holiday shoppers eager for a fun evening in Charleston.
“Rebecca,” Jayne said in answer to Thomas’s question, raising her own glass to her lips.
“If she were here, I would definitely want to send her on her way,” I said, taking another sip, which I almost spit back into my glass when our cousin appeared as if conjured, looming behind Jayne in a pink fur coat and matching pink Uggs.
“I didn’t expect to see you here,” I managed to say after I choked down my wine. “Seeing as how you need to get up so early tomorrow for the wreath-making workshop. I know how you like your ten hours of beauty sleep.”
“True,” she said. “I like it but don’t need it, thankfully. No worries—I’ll be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tomorrow morning at eight sharp.” She gave a little salute while I furtively glanced around for any sign of Marc.
“Hello again,” Thomas said to Rebecca. “I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of seeing you since we met at Cannon Green, at your husband’s book-launch party.” He gave a show of scanning the crowd. “Speaking of which, is Marc here?”
I wondered if he was trying to give us a head start to find Jack, my parents, and our tickets before making a beeline out the back door.
“Sadly, no. He was supposed to be, but he’s at Melanie’s house trying to calm down Harvey Beckner. Seems they’re experiencing a lot of equipment failure and they can’t get anything done. Harvey thinks it has something to do with inferior Southern infrastructure.”
“I hope he said that out loud so anyone listening could hear,” I said.
“Interesting.” Jayne’s face was expressionless. “What did Marc tell him?”
Rebecca shrugged. “I’m not sure. He’s been having issues with the battery on his phone—it keeps dying right after it’s charged. I could hear that Rich person in the background shouting at Harvey to keep his equipment off the newly repaired dining room floors, and then it cut out.”
Jayne and I shared a glance. “So, Rebecca,” I said. “Don’t you think this is a sign that Marc’s not meant to be filming in my house?”
“Oh, I don’t think he really cares about filming....” She stopped talking, her eyes widening as she realized whom she was speaking to and what she’d just said.
“So what does he care about?” I asked, stepping closer to her so that I could almost feel the pink fur tickle my nose.
“It’s nothing—I didn’t mean to say that. Of course he wants to—”
“Rebecca.” I cut her off. “If all the stuff you say about family being the most important thing to you is true, then you need to tell us what Marc is up to.”
Her bright blue eyes filled with moisture. “But Marc is my family,too. And I love him. He’s kind and gentle, and not anything like the monster you think he is. He’s my husband.”
Bile rose in my throat but I swallowed it down. “Well, the fact that you actually married him is your fault. And now his actions are partly your responsibility. Marc is trying to ruin my life—destroy my husband’s career and steal my house. I think it’s clear where your loyalty needs to lie.”
She began tugging on the fingers of her pink knit gloves in a nervous gesture.
“If he’s doing anything illegal,” Thomas said gently, “then you could be an accessory to a crime and punished accordingly. I don’t know if you watch television, butOrange Is the New Blackis something you should be watching to prepare yourself for women’s prison. Where wearing pink isn’t an option. And I don’t think orange is your color.”
Her eyes widened as her skin blanched. “You don’t need to threaten me.”
“I’m not threatening you. I’m just giving you a heads-up.” Thomas crossed his arms as the three of us stared at Rebecca, waiting for her to break.
She tucked her chin like a turtle taking a defensive stance. “It’s not illegal to take something that once belonged to you, is it?”
“Like what?” I narrowed my eyes at her.
She looked around discreetly before leaning closer and whispering, “A piece of paper.”
“What kind of paper?” I asked, growing impatient. Behind her shoulder I spotted my parents and Jack crossing the lobby, and I was fairly sure Rebecca wouldn’t be as forthcoming in Jack’s presence.
“Something he’d thrown in the trash at the plantation. But when he went to get it, everything was gone.”
“You mean the papers from the historical archives that he stole and then threw away?”
She drew her shoulders back defensively. “I don’t know anything about that, but I’m sure Marc wouldn’t have stolen anything from thearchives. Maybe it was an accident and when he went to return them he saw that they were gone.”
We all stared her down with the same dubious expression. “They were found in a garbage can, Rebecca.” I glanced behind my cousin to see that Jack and my parents had been stopped by a middle-aged couple and were chatting. I looked back at Rebecca. “Can you be more specific about the paper he’s looking for? Maybe I know where he can find it.”
