Page 60 of The House on Prytania
I waited for him to fill in the blank.
“Amazing,” he finished. “At first glance it’s easy to think she’s purely decorative, especially after she opens her mouth. But I think beneath that red hair is the mind of a genius.”
“You’re not wrong. And I’m glad you said something nice. You had me worried there for a minute. Jolene is one of the most wonderful human beings I’ve ever known, and if you’d said something bad about her, I don’t think we could be friends.”
He raised his eyebrows at the word “friends.”
“Nola mentioned that you might want to look at our new property on Esplanade.” Beau’s voice boomed from behind my shoulder, cutting short my conversation with Cooper.
“Yes,” Cooper said. “I’d love to take a look. It’s incredible what putting in a lot of heart and soul can do for a home. Seeing what Nola’s done here is really inspiring.”
“Thank you,” I said, leading them inside the house. My phone buzzed, and I glanced down to see Michael’s name. I had only just unblocked his number, and seeing his name filled me with more conflicting emotions than I could list. I looked up to see Beau and Cooper watching me. I was fairly sure they’d both seen Michael’s name. “I’ll call him back,” I said, shoving my phone into my back pocket.
“Nola has quite the social life,” Beau said.
“Ignore him,” I said to Cooper. “I’ll explain more later.” I looked behind him and spotted Melanie and Sarah approaching the stairs. “I’ll let you two talk.” Without waiting for a response, I began walking toward the bottom of the staircase.
“I don’t think you want to go up there.” I leaned casually against the newel post from which I had painstakingly stripped fourteen coats of paint and varnish.
Melanie popped out an earbud, the tinny sound of a beat leaking out. “I don’t think we should go up there.”
Sarah rolled her eyes. “Good idea. I heard JJ say something about collecting a few flying roaches to breed with the ones from home.You might want to go find him before he ignites a biological disaster on a national level.”
With an alarmed expression, Melanie headed off in the direction of the kitchen, speaking to no one in particular. “Someone please remind me again why I had children.”
I turned back to the familiar sound of a rubber band being snapped against skin as Sarah looked toward the top of the stairs and the closed closet door. “Mom said you didn’t want her letting you know if she saw anything in your house.”
“Yes.”
Sarah frowned, her gaze focused on the closet door, her finger playing with the rubber bands.Snap snap snap.“Do you want me to tell you what I see?”
My automatic response of no tumbled to the tip of my tongue, but it sat there, suspended. Maybe asking my little sister for help wasn’t the same as relying on my parents. Maybe if I’d asked Melanie what she’d seen the first time she’d visited my house, a lot of turmoil could have been avoided. Not that I would ever admit it, at least out loud. My newfound sense of independence was still too fragile, liable to shatter from the slightest crack. I needed to at least give the impression that I was fine and doing everything on my own.
“All right,” I said. “But don’t tell Mom or Dad.”
She sent me a look that reminded me so much of Jack when I’d tell him that it was the other drivers on the road who were the problem that I laughed out loud, but I quickly sobered when Sarah returned her gaze to the top of the stairs and an almost imperceptible shudder rippled through her. “I see two men.” She tilted her head, a tentative smile playing at her lips. “One of them is smoking a pipe. He says you’ve met before.”
“That’s Beau’s grandfather Charles. Can you ask him why he’s still here?”
Sarah moved to the first step, then stopped, a deep frown forming on her face. “He says that you and Beau still need him.”
I’d expected that answer, but to have it spoken out loud hollowed out a small pit of fear in my stomach. “Can he tell you why?”
Her gaze shifted, traveling slowly across the upper hall as if following something I couldn’t see. “It’s the other man. He’s... evil.” She turned to look at me, her pupils dilated, her blue eyes almost black. “He says there’s unfinished business.” Another shudder went through her as her hand flew to the banister, then gripped it tightly. “He wants to hurt Beau. And you.”
I sucked in a breath. “I think it’s Antoine Broussard—the man who killed his own daughter in this house and got away with it. Can you ask him if I’m right?”
Sarah gave a violent shake of her head, her gaze returning to the top of the stairs. “No. He’s not the type of spirit I should interact with. Grandma Sarah calls spirits like him ‘soul stealers.’ ”
I remembered the feeling I had while locked in the closet, the bleak sense of dread and hopelessness and unending fear. A lot like Jeanne must have experienced when her father choked the life from her on the exact steps upon which we were currently standing.
Jolene approached with her tour group consisting of Jack, Jaxson, Cooper, Sam, and Sunny. Sunny’s blond ponytail now sported an oversized purple ribbon, tied with Jolene’s signature perfect bow. “If you think the kitchen is amazing, just wait until you see what they’ve done upstairs.” Jolene winked at me as they approached. “Pay special attention to the floor tile in the upstairs bathroom. I’ve never been to Italy—yet—but I don’t think those Romans could do a better mosaic.”
Sarah and I stepped back to allow them to pass, watching as each one rubbed their arms as they passed the closet door.
“Are they okay up there?” I asked.
“Charles is up there. As long as he’s there it’s okay. But I get the feeling that he doesn’t want to be here anymore, and that he’s only staying to protect you and Beau. That Antoine guy has got to go.”
