The House on Prytania (Royal Street #2)(50)
Author: Karen White
I let out a relieved breath as I moved to stand beside my sister. “That was Sunny’s when she was a little girl.” I felt Sam join me. “It plays ‘The Blue Danube.’ ”
“I know,” Sarah said, her voice almost normal. “She told me.”
“Sunny told you?” I asked.
Sarah shook her head. “No. The woman in the water.”
“Adele,” I said.
“Adele? Beau’s mother?” Sam asked.
Sarah nodded. “I think she drowned. It’s why she sounds like she’s talking underwater.”
Sam blinked a few times before turning to me. “Does that mean . . . ?”
“She’s like Melanie,” I said. “And Beau. Except she’s not in denial about it. Just trying to find a way to live with it.”
“Wow. I didn’t know. That could be very . . . helpful,” Sam said. “What else did she say?”
Sarah smoothed her hand over the closed top of the box. “I can’t understand her very well when she talks to me, but she wanted to show me this, so I followed her up here.”
“Is she still here?” Sam asked. I could hear the hopefulness in her voice.
“No. She left. As soon as I picked up the box. Like she’d already said what she needed to say.”
I took the box, unlatching the top before twisting the small knob on the bottom. The little ballerina with her net skirt twirled as the creaking old music wheel spun inside, nearly obliterating the soft strains of Johann Strauss’s famous waltz.
“She didn’t show you anything else?” Sam asked.
“No. Just this. And then she . . . went away.”
I looked around the room at the assortment of objects resting on the deep windowsills, and I suppressed a shudder at the cluster of Frozen Charlotte dolls. It was almost as if Beau had placed them there for the sole purpose of tormenting me.
The music stopped and I gave the box a gentle shake, and it appeared to be as solid as it had been the last time I’d held it. I put it back on a windowsill, noticing a scattering of hairbrushes and children’s toys in the space next to it. Turning to Sam, I asked, “Why are these here? I thought Mimi’s collection had all been sent to the shop on Royal Street.”
“It was. But sometimes Beau brings so-called psychics here for interviews, and he uses various objects to test them.”
“I see,” I said, although I didn’t. It seemed to me that Beau wasted more time denying his abilities than using them for good. But that was an easy thing for me to say. The spirits that haunted me weren’t the dead kind.
“We should get back,” Sam said. “Before Beau notices we’re gone and finds us up here. He considers this his inner sanctum and doesn’t allow just anybody in here.” She began herding us toward the stairs before I could point out that Sarah and I were hardly “just anybody.”
Sarah walked in front of us. Sam stopped me at the landing and waited until my sister had disappeared into the parlor before speaking to me. “Let me know if you need help convincing her to spend her last day of fall break with the Sabatiers.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s our secret weapon. I have no idea if there are any lingering spirits at their beach house, but if there are, they might have something to tell Sarah.”
“She might not want to go if I tell her we’re using her as bait.”
“Just don’t tell her.”
I sent Sam a withering glare. “You don’t have sisters, do you?”
She shook her head.
“I figured. I once found a snake in my bed because I ate all the Kit Kat bars from Sarah’s Halloween candy. I didn’t even eat processed sugar back then, but I couldn’t resist. I thought she’d blame it on Melanie, but I wasn’t smart enough to hide the empty wrappers.”
“A snake? But she looks so sweet.”
“Yes, well, looks can be deceiving. It was a harmless garter snake, and she’d had JJ do it for her, but still. I don’t want to make her mad.”
“Well, then. You should ask her. Just don’t let her say no.”
“Right. That would be as effective as me telling you to stop biting your fingernails.”
“Funny,” she said. “Just keep me posted, okay? I’m really excited about this new development. This might be a lot easier than I’d hoped.”
Sam waltzed down the rest of the stairs humming “The Blue Danube.” I followed slowly behind her, feeling on the back of my neck a sting from the portrait’s eyes following me as I entered the parlor. Everyone had already stood, preparing to leave and saying their good-byes as the telltale scent of pipe tobacco followed them to the door.
CHAPTER 19
When Jolene and Cooper had dropped off my family at the Hotel Peter & Paul the night before, I’d handed them each an itinerary for the following day. It had been met with various facial expressions and exclamations, but Melanie had immediately shushed them and told me how proud she was.
“I made the fonts pretty and designed the borders,” Jolene said as she pointed out the red beans, Mardi Gras beads, and crawfish dancing around the edges of the page. “But Nola did all the hard work of organizing and getting tickets.”
“Why is there a pair of red Dorothy shoes at the bottom? I thought Dorothy was from Kansas,” Sarah said.
“That’s right,” Jolene said. “But there’s always a spot for Dorothy’s shoes, don’t you think?” Before anybody had a chance to think, I hurriedly said good night to everyone, then climbed into Bubba.
When we opened the apartment door a muffled bark came from upstairs, causing Sarah to break into a run. She loved Porgy and Bess, but still missed General Lee and was thrilled that Mardi looked just like him. She said it felt a little bit like having him back and sent me daily texts to remind me to send photos of Mardi. This fueled Jolene’s creativity and inspired her to dress Mardi in a new outfit every day. Jolene and Sarah were delighted. Mardi and I barely tolerated it.
“Mardi!” she shouted, running up the steps.
“He’s in the bathroom,” I said. We’d had to resort to putting him there when we left, because otherwise he’d drag everything he could find to the front door, including his water bowl, which meant a massive shove was required to open the door, and then cleanup was necessary. In the bathroom, we left a soft bed, toys, comfy towels, and a water bowl to keep him contained yet happy.