Page 67 of The Lady on Esplanade
With a sigh, she carefully slid from the sofa so as not to disturb my ankle and left the room, each footfall heavier than the last.
“Almost makes me wish I’d had children,” Bernie said.
“You can borrow her anytime,” I said.“I’m sure my parents wouldn’t mind.They might even thank you.Or make it a permanent arrangement.”
“I heard that,” Sarah shouted from the back hallway.
Beau handed Bernie an old-fashioned glass with a double pour before fixing a glass for himself, then turned to the spot beside me on the sofa, recently vacated by Sarah, but Cooper had already taken it.With a look of irritation, Beau settled into the armchair next to Bernie.“Let’s fill Nola in.”
Bernie took a long drink from his glass and swallowed, then paused until the warmth of the liquid had left his throat.My mouth watered at the memory of the comfort that could be found in a bottleof bourbon, and I had to look away.My good foot tapped with impatience as I waited for my espresso, hoping I could at least pretend it offered even a fraction of what I needed.
I felt heaviness in the air between Beau and me.I wished he were sitting closer so I could touch his hand, offer comfort.His craving for human touch was a palpable thing, my body absorbing it as if I were living through my own dark days all over again.When the police had arrived to tell me that my mother was dead, I’d wished for someone to show me I wasn’t alone.But there’d been no one.My memories of that time in my life revolved around a feeling of loss I couldn’t fully comprehend.An abyss over which I hovered without any sense that someone was holding on so I wouldn’t fall.
As if reading my thoughts, Beau met my gaze and answered my unspoken question.“The coroner confirmed that my mom’s dental records match the teeth of the skeletonized remains found at Charity.”
“I’m so sorry.”It was such an inadequately stupid thing to say, but it summed up all my thoughts and feelings about finally having at least a partial explanation of what had happened to Adele Ryan.
Bernie shook the ice in his glass, prompting Cooper to refill it.“Fortunately for the investigation, Adele’s dentist was in Metairie Ridge, one of the highest points in the metro area, so none of their records were lost in the flooding.Which was extremely fortunate, since Adele had been seeing the same dentist since she moved to New Orleans, so all of her dental X-rays were kept in the same place.”
I nodded slowly, trying to think like my dad when he was attempting to glean enough information to write convincingly about a historical mystery despite spotty evidence and no known eyewitnesses.“Was there anything else they could find out?”
Beau opened his mouth as if to speak, but no words came out.
Bernie cleared his throat.“So, the, uh, remains have been subjected to the elements for some time, and in addition, it looks like until this last bit of rain we had she was stuck beneath a lot of buried heavy X-ray equipment.Possibly from surging water or…”
“Or put there deliberately to hold her down,” I said.
Bernie nodded.“Exactly.There aren’t any corresponding wounds on the skeletal remains to indicate crushing, but that doesn’t rule out entrapment or entanglement that might have prohibited movement.”
“So you’re saying the cause of death was drowning.”I recalled what Sarah had said after speaking with Adele, how it sounded as if she were talking underwater.And how I’d thought the same thing when I spoke with her over a dead landline.
“Not necessarily,” Beau said slowly.“They’re not even sure if where she was found was where she died.Considering the hospital was evacuated and abandoned just days after the storm, it would be the perfect spot to bury a body.Nobody around and lots of sludge and heavy equipment to hide remains where they might never be found.”
“Until Tulane decided to do a massive renovation project at the hospital complex,” Cooper said, leaning his elbows on his thighs.“Which means that your mother’s death might not have been an accident.”
“It was murder,” Bernie said.“Made to look like she was just another victim of the storm.And they might have gotten away with it except for the rain.And one other little thing.The hyoid bone.”
“The hyoid bone,” I repeated.“I know what that is.”My father was a chronicler of true crime who, despite Melanie’s protests, had never held back from sharing his more interesting discoveries.“It’s that U-shaped bone in the front of the neck.Something like a quarter of all homicides by strangulation result in a fractured hyoid.”
“Thirty-three percent, actually.”Uncle Bernie drained the remainder of his drink.“But no drowning victim I’ve ever heard of had a fractured hyoid.”
“So there’s a chance that it was an accident, right?Maybe she fell on something, or something hit her that broke the hyoid.”I wasn’t usually such a Pollyanna.Maybe it was the pain in my ankle, or maybe I didn’t want to witness any more grief.Learning that one’s mother had died should be enough.The probability that she’d been murdered was too much.
“True,” Bernie agreed.“Except for the wedding rings.They showed Mimi the rings, minus the diamond, and she verified that they were the same bands she gave Buddy for his bride.She let Beau have them for now, for safekeeping.”His gaze moved to Beau, his expression apologetic.“When I studied the prongs that held the diamond on the engagement ring, they appeared to have been methodically bent away from the stone.If the diamond had been dislodged accidentally, the prongs would appear much less uniform.”
“So you’re thinking it’s robbery?”I asked.“That’s good, right?Doesn’t that give you a better chance of finding those responsible?”
“It would,” Beau said.“Except the diamond is well-known.If it were sold, it would most likely be sold in private and not at auction.Or it could have been divided, since no one would be looking for smaller diamonds.It’s highly unlikely that we’ll ever know if robbery was the motive or if the diamond was stolen after my mother was already dead.”
Bernie cleared his throat.“There’s one more thing.Strangulation is an unusual way to kill someone during a robbery.We normally see it in a personal attack where the victim and assailant know each other.”
The room was silent as we mulled over the implications, until the front door opened and closed, announcing Felicity’s return.She stood in the doorway, her eyes narrowing as she took in the silent group.Turning to Beau, she said, “Did you tell Nola everything?”
“Pretty much,” he said, standing up so Felicity could take his chair.
Felicity gave him a dismissive wave and remained standing.“Does she know that my dad is being interrogated in prison to find out if he was involved with Adele’s murder?”Felicity stood with her arms crossed tightly, so that she appeared to be hugging herself.And she’d referred to her mother by her first name.
Cooper and I exchanged a glance, both of us recalling the awful scene in the Ryans’ dining room when her adoptive father had confessed to kidnapping Sunny when she was a baby, pretending she was hisdead daughter, and then hiring a young actress to masquerade as the real Sunny.It had been as jaw-dropping as it was heartbreaking.
