She appeared to be heedless of all of them.
She was holding a little boy in her arms. He was beautiful. His skin was a light golden copper, his eyes were green, and his hair was rich and thick and curly, a darker shade of gold. He was well dressed in little denim overalls and had sneakers on his feet. He’d been crying, Danni thought, but Natasha was crooning to him, and that seemed to please him.
“Natasha, do you know him?” Father Ryan asked.
“No, I’ve never seen him. We have to call the cops. His parents must be somewhere going crazy.”
“Did he tell you anything? His name, maybe his address?” Danni asked, walking over and smiling at the little boy.
“Hi, I’m Danni. This is Natasha and Father Ryan. What’s your name?” she asked him.
“Gram,” he said.
“He said his name is Gram,” Danni murmured.
“No, I don’t think so,” Natasha said.
The toddler was shaking his head. “Gram fall down,” he said.
“He fell down?” Father Ryan murmured.
“Oh, come on, John!” Natasha said. “He isn’t Gram. Gram has to be his grandmother. She was probably watching him and fell down. She’s probably hurt somewhere.”
Danni already had her phone out. She could have called 911, but she dialed Larue instead.
Even as she was trying to explain the situation to Larue, she heard a startled yelp from inside La Porte Rouge. Turning, she saw that Jessica was staring at them all, stricken.
For a moment she appeared to be frozen in time and place. Then she let out another strangled scream and came racing toward them.
“Mama!” the toddler cried, his little arms reaching out.
Larue, still on the phone with Danni, heard the noise and asked, “What’s going on?”
“Um, we’ve found the mother,” Danni said.
And yet she knew there was something more going on.
Jessica sounded hysterical as she shouldered past Max, grasped her child and asked, “What...where did he come from? How did he get here? He was with my mother. What’s happened to my mother?” Still clutching her son, she took off running.
“Larue, please get to Jessica’s house. I don’t know the address, but someone at the club can get it for you. I’ll see you there,” Danni said. “And send an ambulance!”
She was already running as she hung up. It was the only way to keep up with Jessica.
*
Once he heard Jessica scream, Quinn knew that Danni had been wrong. Everything was not fine.
He did something he’d never done before in his life. He leaped off the stage midsong, leaving his guitar behind, and ran out to the street.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Turns out that was Jessica’s kid,” Max said.
“Kid? What are you talking about?” Quinn said. “And where the hell is Danni?”
“Sorry,” Max said. “That Jeziah guy showed up with some kid he found wandering the neighborhood. Asked me to hold him for a minute while he ran in to get Natasha. Turns out it was Jessica’s kid. She went nuts when she saw him, yelled something about her mother and started running. Danni took off after her, and the others followed her.”
“Which way?”
“Toward Jessica’s house,” Max told him.
“Which is where?” Quinn demanded.
Max told him the address, and Quinn started running himself, dodging the groups of tourists and locals walking—and stumbling—along the street. He turned off Bourbon as soon as he could and increased his pace.
As he rounded the corner near Esplanade, he heard a heart-wrenching scream.
He reached Jessica’s house in time to see the door wide open and Jessica on her knees just inside, Father Ryan, Natasha and Jez at her side. Natasha was holding a toddler, who was sobbing and looking scared. As Quinn drew closer he saw Jessica try to calm her son, but then she began to sob herself.
His breath stopped. Where was Danni?
A moment later he started breathing again when he saw Danni kneeling on the floor beside the limp body of a woman. Older, blonde, still slim and beautiful, eyes closed, forehead bloody...dead? Danni, he realized, was searching for a pulse.
She looked up at Quinn. “She’s alive!”
Quinn could hear sirens drawing closer even as he pulled out his phone to make sure an ambulance was on the way. Within a matter of minutes Larue arrived, followed by the emergency medical personnel.
Danni left her position by the woman—who had to be Jessica’s mother, he realized—so the professionals could work on her. Danni shot him a quick smile then put her arms around Jessica, comforting her, assuring her that her mother was alive. Natasha still had the boy. Seeing things under control, Quinn stepped back, surveying the house, noticing that nothing seemed to have been disturbed. It looked as if someone had decked Jessica’s mother then left, which made no sense at all.