Page 79 of The Lady on Esplanade
“Anyway,” she said, sending me a scolding look, “anybody who’s read the news article about the rings will never suspect they’re here.And then, when Mimi has a sudden hankering to hold them and see what they can tell her, the rings are only a hop, skip, and jump away.”
“That makes sense,” Beau said, reaching down to scratch behind Mardi’s ears.He apparently knew better than to feed the dog from the table.“Let me check with Mimi, and if she agrees, I’ll bring them early in the morning.I’ll stay at Sam’s tonight to make sure everything’s safe, then drop the rings here first thing in the morning, before the funeral.”
“Are you sure they’ll be safe here?”Camille asked quietly.“They’re our only chance to find out what happened to Adele, and I don’t want them to disappear.Don’t you think they’d be safer back at the house?”
Beau reached for her hand and squeezed.“I know.And I understand—believe me.But Mimi was adamant about removing them from the house.She wants to find out what happened as much as we do, but reading objects takes a huge mental toll on her.She doesn’t want to jeopardize orchestrating the perfect funeral and good-bye for my mother.”
“Of course,” Camille said, looking down at her hands.“Mimialways knows best.We just have to be patient.The truth will out eventually.”
“ ‘Truth is like the sun.You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away.’ ” Jolene smiled.“The King said that.I have to say he was wrong about a lot of his fashion choices, but he sure was spot-on about that.”
“King Charles?”Beau asked.
“No.Elvis.”Jolene stood and began collecting dishes, motioning everyone to remain seated while she brought them to the kitchen and got dessert.Sarah joined Jolene, obviously on her best behavior so I wouldn’t have second thoughts about letting her stay here.As Jolene picked up my plate, she said, “Carly has asked me to go wedding-dress shopping with her as soon as I get back.Isn’t that exciting?”
I could think of a lot of words to describe wedding-dress shopping with Carly, but “exciting” wasn’t one of them.“Too bad I can’t go, too.”For the first time, I considered my broken ankle in a positive light.
“Maybe we can FaceTime,” Jolene suggested as she walked into the kitchen.
“Maybe,” I said, then turned to Jaxson.“Doesn’t Carly have other friends or bridesmaids who can go dress shopping with her?”
“She does, but half of them live out of town and the other half can’t make the appointments Carly has already scheduled.And she doesn’t want her mother there at all—because, Carly says, she’s too opinionated.We’re both really grateful that Jolene can do it.”
“I bet.”I turned awkwardly in my chair so I could point my finger at his chest.I was unfortunately too far away to jab it where I could leave a mark.Lowering my voice, I said, “Look, Jaxson, I trust you.And I trust Jolene.I even think that the two of you believe you can spend the holidays with her family without any funny business.”I waggled my eyebrows so he’d understand what I meant by “funny business,” because I wasn’t going to use the word “sex” in front of Sarah—not because she didn’t know what it was, but because shewould definitely tell Melanie, and then my sister would never be allowed to visit me again.
I leaned as close to Jaxson as I could.“But if Jolene sheds one tear on your behalf, or you lay a finger on a single strand of her red hair, I promise you will live to regret it.”
CHAPTER 24
Later that night I lay in bed, on my phone, flipping through the comments on the company’s latest YouTube video, which showed Thibaut and Jorge replacing the insulation in my attic.I couldn’t hop on my bike and go see my house, but this was the next best thing.I felt like a mother watching a nanny cam to check on her baby.The random comments about Mardi’s supposed owner had stopped being posted, or Jolene was very vigilant about deleting them before I saw them.Either way, they weren’t on public view.I’d have to ask if she would be checking the comments over Thanksgiving or if she’d want to delegate the task to me.I would be doing little besides sitting on the couch with my leg raised until my doctor’s appointment the following week.
I glanced at the time on my phone and confirmed that it was well past midnight.I’d been put to bed hours before by Jolene and Camille, the latter making sure I had my pain meds set out on my nightstand, along with a full glass of water.My ankle throbbed, but despite what Camille had said about pain management, I was, for reasons I chose not to share with her, reluctant to take a pill.
In case I needed anything, my bedroom door had been left open a crack, despite Sarah sleeping on an air mattress next to my bed while Mardi, the traitor, curled up against her side.I could hear Jolene moving around in her room, her humming accompanying the sounds of drawers opening and closing as she planned her wardrobe for the coming days and found miraculous ways to condense twenty outfits, plus accessories and makeup, into two suitcases.I made a mental note to ask her to make a video of her packing hacks for the YouTube channel.If we made sure Mardi was visible in the background, we’d get thousands of likes.Social media was a strange beast, but as long as it garnered more customers, Mardi and I were game.
“Nola?You’re not snoring, so you’re awake, right?”Sarah asked quietly from the floor.
“I don’t snore.”
“Yeah, you do.I’ve recorded it, if you want to hear it.”
“That’s not necessary.And if I do, it’s only because I’m on my back because I have to keep my leg propped up.Otherwise I don’t snore.Maybe it’s Mardi.I think he might need a C-PUP machine.”I laughed at my own joke.
“Uh-huh.”
“Is there anything you need?”
There was a brief pause, and then I felt Sarah gingerly sit on my bed.A soft woof soon followed, along with the warmth of dog fur next to me on my pillow.“Yeah.I wanted to talk to you.About…dead people.”
I lifted my head.“Any in the apartment I need to know about?”I asked with alarm.
“Dead people are everywhere.The ones here are just passing through, I think.They’re only here because they sense my presence, but if I ignore them, they mind their own business and go on their way.It’s like they were just hanging out and saw my light and had to come see what it was all about—sort of like how a shark can detect a drop of blood from a mile away.”
“That’s encouraging.”I pressed my head back into the pillow.“I don’t want you bothered by lost spirits.It was hard for Melanie when she was your age and didn’t have anyone to explain it to her.She doesn’t want you to go through what she did.”
“I brought the peacock pin just in case.”
“Good.”The pin had belonged to Melanie’s grandmother Sarah, and my sister used it for the same purpose that Beau used his rubber band.
