Page 51 of The House on Prytania
“He’s nice.”
“I know. He saved my life when I was pushed over a stair railing in my house. He caught me. We thought that Beau had sent him into the light, but I guess he’s back. We can’t figure out why. Maybe you—”
“No,” she said, cutting me off. “He said only Beau can help. But Beau isn’t listening.”
As if hearing his name, Beau looked over at us and caught my gaze before quickly looking away just as the unmistakable scent of pipe smoke drifted through the room.
CHAPTER 18
Sam excused herself and left the room, and when she didn’t come back right away, I peered out into the foyer. She stood at the bottom of the stairs near the portrait of Charles Ryan and out of sight of the other occupants of the parlor. She caught me looking and eagerly motioned for me to join her.
“Any news?” She kept her voice low. “I expected to hear something from you after your dinner with Michael last night.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I got home late last night and I was with my family all day. The dinner was pretty uneventful. Except he asked me to spend next weekend with him and his aunt and uncle at their beach house in Pass Christian. He says they want to apologize to me for what happened, and then have me hear their side of the story. He wants me to act as a sort of ambassador to broker a truce with the Ryans.”
“You got to admit—he’s got balls. Or his family has him by the short hairs and he doesn’t know how to wiggle out of it. And you’ve definitely got to say yes to next weekend. Beau is already planning to talk with Jaxson about the best way to launch legal action, so he’s not waiting.”
“Don’t worry about Jaxson,” I said. “He already knows what’s going on, and he’s setting up a meeting with his uncle Bernie. I just need Mimi to keep Beau busy.”
“She is—she’s given him a list of about ten condemned properties to go see and evaluate, each with a detailed ten-page report that she came up with all on her own. Who knew Mimi could be so crafty? And at the end of the day, he’s got me to help him forget about anything else.” Sam raised her eyebrows and smiled suggestively, making me feel a bit sick in the stomach.
“Great,” I said with a forced smile. “Jolene’s already said yes, but I’m hoping to also bring Sarah with us. I need to make sure it’s okay with Melanie. Safety in numbers.”
As if conjured, Sarah and JJ emerged from the parlor together. “Where’s the bathroom?” JJ asked.
Sam pointed to the hallway leading off the foyer toward the back of the house. “Down there, and on your left—”
Before she finished, JJ had taken off in a sprint.
“JJ!” Sarah shouted. “Girls first! I’m telling Mom!”
“If you don’t want to wait for him—”
“Ew. I’m not using a bathroom right after him. I didn’t bring my gas mask.”
I resisted rolling my eyes. “As I was saying, you can use the bathroom upstairs,” I said. “Fourth door on the right.”
Sam gnawed on her thumbnail as we watched Sarah until she’d disappeared at the top of the stairs. “Make sure that Beau knows. So that he thinks you’re working to dig up information to share with him. Which, technically, you are. Except for the share-with-him part.”
“I’ll just shoot him a text when we’re on our way. Otherwise he’ll spend all week pestering me about it.”
“On the way where?” Jolene asked, passing JJ on her way to the parlor.
“To Michael’s beach house. But we’re not telling Beau yet, remember?”
With her fingers Jolene made a movement mimicking zipping up her lips and throwing away the key. “Got it.”
“Whose beach house?” Sunny asked, joining us in the foyer.
“The Sabatiers’,” I said. “Michael invited me to the family beach house next weekend.”
“Really?” she said, frowning. “That should be interesting. Awkward but interesting. I’d love to be a fly on the wall.”
I couldn’t help but wonder at her lack of enthusiasm. “Awkward or not, I’m hoping to gather some kind of incriminating evidence of their involvement in your abduction. That’s a good thing.”
“You should probably wear a wire,” Sam said, her face lit with excitement. “We could ask Jaxson if it’s legal to do that, but that could really be all we need—sort of a one and done. We just give the recording to Beau and he takes it to the police and we’re done!”
“Not really,” Sunny said. “Not to be Debbie Downer or anything, but apart from the dubious legality of it, do we even know how to get one and how it works? Besides, what if it gets discovered while she’s there? Then what? At worst, Nola could be in real danger. At best, all doors are shut and we have no way of getting inside their family circle again. I don’t think we should risk it.”
