I told her the whole story. The meeting with the guérisseur. The theft at our grandfather’s gallery. The healer’s disappearance. And then the standoff between Papy and Vincent.
“You’re not going to stop seeing Vincent, are you?” Georgia asked, alarmed.
“No,” I admitted. “I’m not. But I won’t be able to talk about him anymore in front of Papy and Mamie. And I will probably have to lie about what I’m doing when I’m out. Which makes me feel pretty low. But there’s no way I’m going to stop seeing him.”
Georgia thought for a moment. “So what are you going to do? I mean, you can’t just keep ducking Papy forever.”
I settled in at the end of her bed. “I’ve come up with a plan. It’s kind of lame, but . . .”
“Spill,” my sister said.
“I thought I would ask Jean-Baptiste to talk to Papy.”
“What! Why?” asked Georgia.
“Because Vincent told me JB’s part of this group of supersecret revenant-theme collectors that Papy sells to. So Papy might actually listen to him. There are a few outsiders who know what they are—like Jeanne, their housekeeper. So Jean-Baptiste must know how to explain it to humans he needs—in a way that convinces them to do business with him and keep things quiet.”
“Doing business with someone and convincing them to let their granddaughter date your undead faux-nephew are two very different things,” Georgia said, finally peeling off her boots and tights and getting comfortable on the bed.
“I know,” I mumbled, disheartened. “It’s a long shot. But what else can I do? In any case, with everything else going on, that’s hardly my priority.”
“What is the priority, then? And how do you plan on using me to help you achieve it?” Georgia asked, her eyes glittering with enthusiasm. My sister was good at the listening, but even better with the action.
“This is the deal, Georgia. First I have to find out who’s been talking to the numa about me. If Vincent and his kindred can take care of that problem, hopefully I’ll be off the hook with the numa. They didn’t seem to care about my killing Lucien, especially since I obviously didn’t do it alone. They used the term ‘old leader,’ so they must have a new leader now. Everyone seems to think so. And they were sent to find out what I learned from the guérisseur. So it’s not personal—they’re not going to hunt me down for the rest of my life.
“Besides—if Arthur is the one talking to the numa . . .” Georgia’s eyes bugged, and she looked at me like I had suddenly gone stark raving mad. I held up my hand in a “just wait” gesture. “If he’s the leak, then Vincent’s whole house is in danger. But when I told Vincent my reasons for suspecting Arthur, he wouldn’t even listen to me.”
“Well, that’s probably because you’re insane. Besides the fact that I think Arthur is deliciously dreamy—”
“And your taste has been so reliable in the past,” I cut in.
“Touché,” Georgia admitted. “But I know I’m right this time. I actually had coffee with him this afternoon.” She gave me her sly cat grin and pretended she was fanning herself from the memory of his hotness.
“What?” I exclaimed. “He asked you out?”
“Well, not exactly,” Georgia allowed. “I just kind of stumbled across him sitting at the Café Sainte-Lucie, and he asked me to sit with him. And since the evil munchkin wasn’t there to piss me off, I said yes.”
“This afternoon after school?” I asked.
“Uh-huh,” she said, eyeing me suspiciously.
“That’s when the standoff at Papy’s happened. Arthur was probably waiting for the numa to report back to him.”
Georgia’s mouth fell open. “Um, paranoid much? Earth to Kate: You’re losing your grip on reality. Arthur is a totally normal and very nice dead guy. I would be much more suspicious of Violette.”
I shook my head. “I trust Violette. If Arthur is behind it—wittingly or unwittingly—she must not know a thing about it. Otherwise she would have told me. We’ve gotten really close, Georgia. I know you don’t like her, but I do.”
She patted my arm, as if comforting an invalid. “I think the key word in what you just said was ‘unwittingly.’ If he does hang with fringe numa types, it’s possible he could have given something away. Although I just can’t see him buddying up with the evil ones. I seriously don’t think that Arthur would hurt a fly. He seems kind of anxiously reserved, but he’s such a nice guy I’m starting to suspect he’s actually too nice for me. He seemed genuinely upset about having offended you.”
“See! He was talking about me. And he’s probably just pretending to be remorseful to throw everyone off.”
“That’s enough, Kate. You’re on a one-way train to cuckoo-land.”
“I’m going to prove that he’s the one.”
“Okay. It’s a challenge. I’m going to prove that he’s not. Especially seeing that if you’re right and he’s evil, that will mean I’ll have to cancel my date with him for Saturday night.”
“Georgia!”