Page 63 of The Lady on Esplanade
“I’ve asked Camille to stay with you while I go to my appointment with the coroner.Uncle Bernie has agreed to meet us there.”
“Uncle Bernie?”I said.Bernie was actually Jaxson’s uncle, but a friend of the Ryans, and also a retired New Orleans police detective.He’d been a huge help in discovering the real identity of the Sunny imposter.
“Yes,” Mimi said.“Jaxson reached out to him after Jolene told him about the discovery at Charity.He made a few phone calls on my behalf, to speed things along, and arranged for a private meeting with the coroner.”
“Speaking of which,” Beau said, “we need to get going.”
Felicity handed her game controller to me and the other one back to Sarah.“Here—you can take my place and finish beating Sarah.”
“Thanks,” I said, fairly sure that her motivation was to keep it away from Henry, confirming my suspicion that we were going to be friends.
As soon as they left, I handed the controller to Sarah.“Can you put this thing on pause?I don’t think I can concentrate, and I’d hate to make Felicity lose.”
Henry left shortly afterward, with a mumbled comment that he was headed to the store to fix whatever mess Camille had probably left for him to deal with.Camille’s smile didn’t fade as she turned to me.“Can I get you a sandwich or something?Mimi said you need to have food in your stomach before you take your pills, and it’s about time for your next dose.”
“Yes, I’d appreciate that.Thank you.And anything you want to make is fine with me.”
“I’ll help,” Jolene announced as she followed Camille toward the kitchen.“And she really will eat anything you put in front of her.I think she has a hollow leg, because she has the appetite of a linebacker but the figure of a movie star.”
The sound of the women laughing faded as they moved toward the back of the house.
Sarah stood and unplugged the controllers from the game console before wrapping them together with the cords and stuffing them under the sofa.
“Is that necessary?”I asked.
She gave me the look of disappointment that Melanie would give me when I kicked my shoes under my bed or hung up a coat facing the wrong way.“Seriously?Don’t you think Henry’s kinda old to be hogging the game controllers?”
“Yes, but it’s not my house, so I’m not making the rules.And you should be calling him Mr.LeBlanc.”
“I tried, but he kept telling me to call him Henry, and I gave in so he’d stop talking.He’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer, on top of being irritating.I mean, he thinks Elvis faked his death, and he keeps using the word ‘irregardless.’Oh, and his favorite TV show isBeavis and Butt-Head.”She lifted a corner of the sofa cushion, under which a collection of empty candy wrappers had been assembled.“These are all his, by the way.”
She let the cushion fall, then plopped down on the sofa, jostling my leg and making me wince.“Sorry.I keep forgetting you’ve got a broken ankle.”She gently patted the bandaged appendage.“And he talks way too much.He kept asking Felicity if she could talk to dead people—probably because he knows that Beau can—and if she ever communicated with her mom and dad.It was obvious he was upsetting her, but he kept at it until I asked Felicity what brand tamponsshe used for heavy-flow days and if she had menstrual cramps.That shut him up right away.”
“Very smart.Just out of curiosity, though, what did Felicity say about seeing dead people?”
“She said she didn’t.And I believe her.Because usually when there is more than one of us, we’re like a lighthouse beacon to restless spirits—like when Beau is in the same room with me.”She held up her hand and plucked at the rubber band.“Which is why I came prepared.This distracts me and breaks the connection.More subtle than when Mom starts singing ABBA songs, and works the same way.”
She jumped up and lifted the cushion again to gather the wrappers.
“Ouch!”
“Sorry—I keep forgetting.I have to use the bathroom, and I thought I’d dispose of these before Mimi finds them.I think Henry and Camille are starting to wear on her nerves.”
I grinned at her repetition of something Melanie said often about all three of her children and dogs.“Sure.I’ll be here when you get back.”I closed my eyes, trying to relax despite the throbbing in my foot, and I had just started to drift into a restless sleep when Sarah returned.
“Why do you think Mimi put this in the bathroom?”
I knew before I opened my eyes that she’d be holding Miss Pussycat.“I don’t think she put it there.It just keeps…appearing.”
“Ew.”Sarah dropped the doll onto one of the side chairs.“Do you mean…?”
“Yes.Someone from beyond is trying to send us a message, but we don’t know who or why.”
“Where did it come from?”
“An old house on Esplanade Avenue.Actually, it’s the first project for Beau’s murder-house-flip idea.I’m helping with the renovation, and Cooper wants to buy it.”
She plopped down on the sofa again, dislodging my injured footfrom the pillow it was resting on.“Sorry,” she said again.“Do you want me to go find out who?”
