Page 34 of The House on Prytania
Jolene rubbed her hands over her arms. “What do you think it means?”
“Either Charles is here just to keep an eye on Beau”—I paused—“or there’s still unfinished business that needs to be taken care of before he can move on.”
“But Sunny’s back,” Jaxson said. “And we know who was responsible. I can’t imagine that he’s wanting Beau to seek justice at this point. Not when it would put him and Mimi in danger.”
“That’s pretty much what I thought. Which is why I’m agreeing to have dinner with Michael, and also why I need Bernie’s help. I’m in way over my head here.”
Jolene put her arms around me and squeezed. “Don’t forget you’ve got us. And I think we make a great team.” She stepped back. “We should get going. I’m so hungry I could eat my own hand. But first I’m going to grab a heavier sweater. I’ve got chill bumps all over my arms.”
Jaxson picked up the clientele book. “I’ll go ahead and take this now. If it’s okay with you, I’ll go through it before I bring it over for Bernie—assuming he’ll agree to help. Which I’m pretty sure he will. I’ve never known someone to hate retirement as much as he does.”
I glanced over at Jolene’s half-open door to make sure she wasn’t eavesdropping again. “There’s something else I wanted to ask you about.”
“Sure.”
“Have you given Carly the ring yet?”
He didn’t drop his gaze. “Not yet. She’s been traveling a lot, so I haven’t been able to pin her down. But soon.”
I nodded. “All right. But I need to let you know that if you hurt Jolene, I will hunt you down along with all three hundred or so of her closest friends and extended family members. You understand?”
I had to admire his ability to hold my gaze. “I do. I have no plans to do anything that would hurt her.”
“Yeah, well, planning isn’t usually a part of the equation when it comes to matters of the heart. Maybe you need to think of Jolene as a fine bottle of bourbon, and you’re an alcoholic trying to stay sober.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Good,” I said just as Jolene reappeared wearing a fluffy pale pink cardigan and another layer of hair spray.
“Keep what in mind?”
Jaxson’s eyes met mine again for a moment before he said, “That Pascal’s Manale can pack up a bread pudding to bring back for Nola.”
“And maybe some turtle soup, too.” She leaned down to give Mardi a kiss on his nose and a quick scratch behind his ears. “You be good for Mommy, all right? And make sure she shares some of her pizza with you.”
“Don’t worry about us—we’ll be fine. Just enjoy your dinner.”
I opened the door at the top of the stairs to let them through. We said our good-byes and I waited until I heard the door close at the bottom. Then I headed back to Jolene’s laptop and typed in her password, MARDI, before opening up the video. I sat down in one of the dining chairs and watched again and again as the dark shadow roiled from one side of the closet to the other. Even looking at it on video made my insides clench with terror. I’d never felt that when I’d been in the house with Charles and his pipe smoke. Or even whenthe ghost of Jeanne Broussard had pushed me down the stairs. This appeared to be a new entity entirely, its dark aura exuding evil. But if it wasn’t Charles or Jeanne, who was it? And why had it chosen now to make its presence known?
I shut the laptop, then drummed my fingers on top. There were only two people I could ask about it, and only one of them lived in New Orleans. I picked up my phone and texted Beau.Can you talk now?
While I waited for him to respond, I opened a food delivery app and ordered pizza, then switched back to my text screen and stared at it for what seemed like five minutes. I was about to close the screen when a bubble appeared with moving dots as Beau texted his response:No.
I stared at my phone for a full minute before turning off the screen and then slowly walking down the stairs to wait for my pizza. Sitting in the halo of the front door light on the outside steps, I tried to force my brain to think about work, about why moths never learned the truth about lightbulbs, about learning to drive, and about Mardi’s first Halloween with us. Anything except what Beau might be doing right now, and the unnamed presence in my house.
CHAPTER 12
I pedaled quickly down Dauphine after work the following day, hoping to catch Jorge and Thibaut while they were still at my house, not only so that we could check their progress on their spreadsheets, but also because I didn’t want to be alone in the house after watching the video of the thing in the upstairs hallway.
I got off my bike in front of the house and searched for Jorge’s and Thibaut’s trucks parked along the street. I looked up and down both curbs of the street, and then again just in case I’d missed them. The guys usually left early on Thursdays to attend a Bible study at Jorge’s church, but I’d hoped they’d still be there when I finally got away from the office and made my way to the Marigny. The number of people in the city had swelled due to the upcoming Halloween festivities, including the Krewe of Boo parade scheduled for the following day, a whole week before the actual holiday.
Ernest and Bob across the street had already festooned their coffin-planted trees with webs, enormous spiders, and twinkling skull lights. I might have found it cute if I didn’t have my own Halloween décor living upstairs in my closet.
I stared up at my house and took a fortifying breath, rememberingwhat Grandmother Sarah had said.The house chose you.In theory, I still believed it. But all I had to do was recall what I’d seen in the video and my doubts would return. My phone buzzed as I dragged my bike up the porch steps, then gingerly leaned it against the house. I was never sure which was sturdier, so I treated both bike and house like elderly aunts with brittle bones.
I eagerly checked my screen, hoping the text was from Beau. I hadn’t heard from him after our brief text exchange the previous night, and I wasn’t sure if I should be annoyed or worried. Instead, I saw a text from Jolene that showed a Bitmoji of a red-haired woman with an hourglass tapping her foot.
After checking the time, I quickly texted back.Date not for 2 more hrs
