Naturally they’d been delayed by several hours, and he thought they’d never be alone. Then the weather had turned on them, the rain deciding to fall in little stops and starts. Already the sun was determined to set, but Rubin was equally determined to have one night alone with Jonquille. So far, she hadn’t objected and asked to go back to the Fontenot house.
“Luther must have planned all along to conceal the still in the caves. He’s had plenty of time to do it over the years and find a place he could vent while he works on his whiskey,” Rubin explained, filling her in on the older man they’d all come to be fond of.
“Don’t you think it’s extraordinary that these experiments have been taking place since the beginning of the Vietnam War, Rubin? Most likely before?”
“I heard rumors from the time I was a little boy about him. All the pieces of the puzzles involving Luther fit now that I can put them together. He must have really had fun feeding the gossip. Even giving Edward Sawyer a bad time about being a spy for the government. Of course all that did was get me worried about him.”
“I think it worried Edward’s brother, Rory, as well,” Jonquille pointed out.
Rubin liked that she’d picked up on that detail. “You’re right. Rory was concerned for Luther. The old man had trudged through a blizzard to check on his mother. He wasn’t going to turn his back on him if he’d grown senile or had turned just plain ornery. The Sawyers are good people.”
“I think a lot of your friends are good people, Rubin.”
“The ones in my unit certainly are. I’m glad you like the house, Lightning Bug. I was hoping you’d like it enough to want to live here with me.” He kept pushing her for the commitment. Needing her to mean it.
Those silvery-blue eyes turned fully on him. So unusual. Rare. Unsettling and as beautiful as the storms she seemed to dance in.
“If I point out to you that I’ve said yes to you several times, Rubin, a preacher won’t suddenly leap out and marry us, will he?” Laughter lit the blue in those eyes of hers.
“Had I thought of that, it would happen,” he conceded.
“I would love to live in this house. It’s such a find. In my wildest dreams, I never thought I’d have you, and then a home like this one.” She walked over to the wall and put her hand on the wood. “How sad that the builder gave this up.”
“He had two brothers. They both had property on either side of him. One was single, and he built his home with the help of both brothers. The oldest brother was married and had a young daughter. The oldest brother and his wife were robbed and murdered on the way home from a night out in the French Quarter. The police found the two men who killed them, but they got off on a technicality. They walked out of the courthouse laughing.”
“Rubin, that’s horrible. Really horrible. This poor family seems as if they live under a curse.” Her hand went to her throat, and for one moment white-hot sparks of light danced around her midsection like fireworks, betraying her emotions. “If I could, I would track those murderers down and deliver a little real justice to them.”
He found himself laughing. “It’s a good thing Diego isn’t around to hear you say that. He’d never let either one of us hear the end of it. As it happens, someone did just that. It seems they found both men, several weeks later, dead. They liked to visit Bourbon Street in New Orleans, and apparently they were the victims of robbery and murder themselves. Many people thought it was a fitting end for them. The detectives have never found who killed them.”
“That really was a fitting way for them to die.” Jonquille frowned. “Were there other robberies? Like a series of them?”
“That’s the strange thing. No other robberies. Just those two. And not one single tiny bit of evidence. No camera on the street or business recorded anything. There wasn’t so much as a hair on the bodies or ground. No tread of a boot. No witness. Absolutely nothing. That just doesn’t happen, Jonquille. There’s always some little thing, even if the evidence doesn’t lead anywhere, but there was nothing.”
“How were they killed?”
“According to the police, they were executed military style. A knife to the base of the skull. They each died looking at the other one being executed.”
“The knife? Or knives?”
“Taken from the crime scene.”
“You think the brothers killed them, don’t you?” Jonquille guessed.
“If they killed Diego, I’d hunt them to the ends of the earth,” Rubin said. “They’d die knowing I killed them. And no one else would ever know I did it. So yes, that’s my guess. All three brothers served their country, but that doesn’t mean they were the ones that killed those men. They put the three properties up for sale, took their niece and moved away from here about a year after those men were killed. Said it was too hard on her with all the memories.”
Jonquille lifted her chin. “If someone killed Diego, I’d help you.”
He believed her. He held out his hand. “Let’s go see the rest of the house.”
“Did you buy the other two properties?” She took his hand.
Rubin had to smile. She knew him better than he’d thought she did. He wasn’t going to take chances that anyone was going to move close to him—or Diego. He also wasn’t going to let anyone ruin the craft the original builders had put into the homes. In his opinion, too many people modernized everything without first looking to see how to preserve the culture, history and beauty of what was already there.
“Diego bought one of the properties, and we went in together on the second one. We’re close to Trap and the Fontenots.” He brought her hand up to his mouth and nibbled on her knuckles.
“I didn’t meet Trap.”
“That was deliberate.” He gave her a faint grin. “Cayenne and he just had triplets, and they’re getting used to taking care of their babies. Trap also can be a bit of a difficult personality if you don’t know him, but he’s loyal, brilliant and you can’t ask for a better brother in arms. Trap has Asperger syndrome and he can’t always read everyone’s expressions.”
“I’ll be fine with your friends, Rubin,” Jonquille assured. “You have to remember, I haven’t been around people at all in years. I worked in the laboratories at night when no one was around. I went to the conferences, but sat up in the balconies where no one was. I’m a loner. I understand the principle.”
“I don’t want you to be a loner forever, Jonquille. You’ll have me, and you’re comfortable with Diego.”
“He’s low energy until he’s really angry.” She sent Rubin a small smile. “Neither one of you put off much energy. You don’t seem to have tempers, but then when you do get angry you go all out, super high octane. It’s crazy.”
“Ezekiel says we store it up.”
“Has he ever really seen you angry?”
He was leading her very carefully to the master bedroom. There was little furniture in the house. The kitchen had a table and chairs and cooking items. The master bedroom had a bed and two chairs and the master bath had towels and washcloths with toothbrushes and little else. He’d brought food, and both of them always carried a pack with their personal items in them. He really thought the most essential thing in the entire house was the bed, and quite frankly, he could do without that if necessary. He had Jonquille alone. That was the most necessary of all.