Page 108 of The Lady on Esplanade
“Mom?”I murmured, nearly delirious with the struggle to stay awake.
“Nola.”The word sounded inside my ear, radiating warmth on my cheek.I smelled the briny aroma of sea creatures and river mud, something I’d come to recognize as Adele’s signature scent.A tear rolled down my cheek.I wasn’t alone.
A patter of small footsteps descended the stairs, brushing by us and leaving a cold breeze in its wake.
“Is anyone up there?”Camille called again.
I would have laughed if I’d been able.The dark presence was all around us, pressing on my chest and making it hard to breathe.Assuming my puzzle-solving skills remained intact, Camille had nothing to fear from him.In her quest to hide her own sins, she was about to inadvertently destroy all the evidence of the crime Mark had committed.I was the dangerous one, the single person who could expose the shameful secret he’d been hiding for over a decade.If anything, he’d want to help Camille.
“Mom?”I said again, wondering if, in my delirium, I had imagined my mother’s voice.
“Your mama’s dead, Nola.But you’ll be joining her soon enough and can catch up.”
I waited for Bonnie’s voice again, even if it had been only in my head.The silence felt like a physical blow.
My phone began to vibrate on the floor.With my last thread of energy, I turned my head, then lifted the phone to face me.An unflattering picture of Beau—which I’d taken while we were installing the bathroom fixtures in the upstairs of my un-air-conditioned cottage—stared back at me.If I’d had the energy, I would have cried with relief.With all the strength I had left, I swiped my finger across the screen to unlock it, then selected the one character that was guaranteed to let him know that something was horribly, terribly wrong.
CHAPTER 33
A jarring blow to my head, along with excruciating pain from my ankle, woke me up.I opened my eyes to see a blurry Camille dragging me toward the stairs.The cloying stench of putrefying flesh gagged me as the heavy air crushed my chest.My head hit the first stair tread as she tugged on my legs, beginning to drag me up the stairs one by one.I felt absurdly grateful for the overdose of pain meds Camille had dumped in my soup.
Her face hovered over mine.“I’m so sorry to wake you.”She smiled warmly.“Go back to sleep.I’ve got a nice bourbon waiting for you.”
That one word sent a familiar craving through me, the shame of it stinging my eyes.She grinned down at me as if I’d given her the right answer.
Camille dragged me up another step before dropping me again.Thud.She let go with one hand long enough to swipe her forehead.“Don’t worry.I’ll make sure you’re good and numb before you accidentally fall down the stairs.Your family and friends will be disappointed to know that you lost your battle with the bottle, but at least you won’t feel any pain.”
I ran my tongue over my parched lips and tried to turn my head to hide my humiliation.Camille spoke with her soft Southern voice so that anyone not paying attention might have thought she was discussing the proper place settings for an afternoon tea.“It’s your one weakness, you know.I had to do a lot of thinking before I figured out how to take care of you.Just like with Adele.Except her weakness was her children.”
Sticky fingers brushed my cheek again as the scent of Youth-Dew permeated the rot, not softening the stench but at least reminding me that I wasn’t alone.Sybil was here, protecting little Patrick and keeping Mark at bay.For now.And Bonnie was here, too.Somewhere.
There were so many bits and pieces of questions spinning in my head, but one circled on repeat.I reached out and grabbed it.“Why?”
She dragged me up another step, then dropped me, my head and legs thumping in sync.“Because your mama never taught you to mind your own business.Even before you found Adele’s stones, I knew you were trouble.You wouldn’t give us Adele’s rings.”
Adele.She’d been warning Beau of danger for years—for as long as he’d been ignoring her.We’d thought she’d returned to help Beau find his lost sister.Until we’d discovered that Adele’s death hadn’t been accidental.If I somehow managed to survive this, I would make sure he knew it was all his fault.
Thump.My head hit another step, offering me momentary alertness.My ankle was now numb from the pain, something for which I might have been grateful in different circumstances.I needed more time.I needed Beau to understand my text.With a sinking feeling, I realized that even if he did, he would have no idea how to find me.
“You’re a lot heavier than you look,” she gasped.
I was too weak to feel insulted.
“I have no idea how I’m going to get you up so I can give you a proper shove.But, as dear Adele used to say, where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
Those had been Adele’s words.It was like she was there, speakingdirectly to me.Where there’s a will, there’s a way.It was trite and overused, but right then I needed desperately to believe it.A reel of memories flashed behind my closed eyelids.Memories of Beau and me, of all the times we’d finished each other’s sentences and how we’d known each other’s thoughts before we said them out loud.There had always been an unseen—and largely unwelcome—connection between us.I forced my eyes open and stared at the room, at the bed and nightstand, imprinting it in my brain while I thought about Beau.I might have dismissed such woo-woo practices only yesterday, but right now it was all I had.I only needed more time.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
Camille whipped her head around to see where the voice had come from.“Adele?”
It seemed to have come from everywhere—the ceiling, the floor, the walls—blanketing me with love and warmth.I tilted my head, listening.There were two voices now.Both female.They seemed to be chanting, the words familiar to me, yet undistinguishable.The rhythm reminded me of Melanie and Aunt Jayne when they joined psychic forces, their chorus as powerful as it was memorable.We are stronger together.I felt hands on my head, protecting it from the hardwood floor, while another set held me down, slowing Camille’s progress.
“Mom?”I wasn’t even sure if I’d spoken, but I felt a reassuring touch on my cheek to let me know she’d heard.
Camille managed to wrestle my limp body over the last step before collapsing onto the floor next to me.
A wave of sleepiness washed through me.I forced my head up, let it bump back down on the floor.“Why…Adele?”My words slurred and sloshed against each other.
