Rebecca waved a hand in the air. “Honey, we got shootings to deal with. And drug O.D.s. Bones just aren’t anything to get excited about.”
“But…people have disappeared here!”
“Yeah. Lots of them. We’ll never get the final toll.”
Kendall was silent for a moment. If not for the fact that Jenny Trent was missing and she herself had had that strange experience with that tarot card, wouldn’t she still believe the same?
“Rebecca, are you telling me that Abel isn’t going to do anything about those bones Aidan Flynn found?”
“I didn’t say that. I just said that he was shelving them until he finished with more important things.” Rebecca stared at her curiously. “What’s the matter with you, girl?”
Kendall shook her head. She honestly didn’t know the answer to that question.
“Doc Abel seems to dislike the lot of them, though I haven’t even seen the youngest one yet, but I saw the middle brother last night.”
“Last night?”
Rebecca nodded. “I was at that place you like, the Hideaway, ’til all hours. Why do you think I look like something the cat dragged in this morning?” she asked.
“You look fine to me,” Kendall said.
“Girlfriend, you are one fat liar. Anyway, they’re saying there might be some big Halloween bash out at the plantation, can you imagine that?”
Kendall didn’t have to form an answer, because Ady came out of the inner office just then, followed by Dr. Ling.
They both stood. Dr. Ling greeted them cordially, then said, “I’ve set Miss Ady up to have a biopsy. There’s a tiny speck on her lungs.”
“Oh, dear Lord!” Rebecca said, a hand over her heart.
“Now, now, I don’t want you all getting excited. Miss Ady and I have talked this out, and she understands everything. I think we’ll be nipping this right in the bud, and Miss Ady is going to be just fine. I’m proud of her for coming in. Most patients wait until they’re really sick before doing anything, and that’s when we’re in trouble.”
Rebecca had an arm around her mother. “You feeling okay, Mama?” she asked.
“Right as rain—now that I’ve seen Dr. Ling.”
Kendall smiled. It was true. MissAdy really liked Dr. Ling.
“I can take Mama on home,” Rebecca told Kendall after they said their goodbyes to the doctor.
“You sure?” Kendall asked, smiling at Miss Ady. “I don’t mind.”
“No, you’ve been a godsend already, girl,” Rebecca told her.
Ady took Kendall’s hands and stood on tiptoe to plant a kiss on her cheek. “You got the sight, and you know that, Kendall,” she whispered. “Most of us, we just play at it. But you’ve got it, the real gift. The sight.” She drew away, still holding Kendall’s hands. She winked and nodded, as if they shared a sacred and secret knowledge.
Kendall should have felt good, but instead she just felt cold. She was sorry to be right about Miss Ady, and she was terrified she might be right about others, too.
As she drove back to the French Quarter, she thought about Ann, and wondered if she would ever know if the girl had sailed away safely.
Jenny Trent had disappeared.
And the only other time she’d seen Death smile…
Had been with one of her closest friends. SheilaAnderson.
Aidan was hunched over the front lawn, not touching the little dolls as he stared at them. He had an empty feeling in the pit of his stomach because of what Jeremy had just told him. Jeremy had seen dolls just like them before.
At Kendall’s shop.
“I thought I should get you out here before calling the cops,” Zach said.
Aidan stood, looking at the house. Workmen were everywhere, and two electricians’ vans and one from a plumbing company were parked nearby. A truck from Southern Plaster and Molding was just pulling up the drive.
“You think maybe some crazy electrician did this?” Jeremy asked, only half joking.
“No, this is someone local, someone who really is crazy,” Aidan told him. “What fool thinks he can scare away the three of us with voodoo dolls?”
“Maybe a fool who wants to get his hands on this place. It’s worth a lot of money, you know? The thing is, the house is actually in good shape, structurally,” Zach said. Aidan stared at him. “Seriously. I have the engineer’s report. The repairs are mostly superficial. Some work on the columns, updating the electric and plumbing. The place needs a lot of paint, some new woodwork. But the contractor has everyone moving already. We’re in good shape. Maybe someone out there was hoping that the house would be in total decay and we’d just take a hike and leave it for him. But it’s not—and we’re not.”
“We’re not calling the cops, either,” Aidan said.
“I guess they would just think we were being pains in the ass,” Zach agreed.
“They’re just voodoo dolls,” Jeremy acknowledged.
“Pretty grisly voodoo dolls, though, don’t you think?” Zach asked.