The Whispering Room

“We went to the park this afternoon. We had a good time, didn’t we, J.D.? There was a squirrel that kept trying to steal my sandwich. It was pretty hysterical. Oh…I almost forgot.” She pointed toward the dining room. “A package came while we were out. I put it on the table.”

“Thanks.”

Jessie swung her backpack over one shoulder. “So I’ll see you guys on Wednesday, then.”

“How’re you getting home?” Evangeline asked as she walked Jessie to the door. “I didn’t see your car out front.”

“Yeah, my mom came by and got it this afternoon. Hers is in the shop.”

“Do you need a lift?”

“It’s not that far. I don’t mind walking.”

Evangeline glanced out the window. “It’s getting pretty late.”

Jessie laughed. “It’s not that late. It’s still daylight out.”

“And this is still New Orleans.”

“Hey, you’re a cop. You should know you can’t believe everything you hear on the news about the crime rate here.”

Evangeline didn’t point out that there was plenty of crime that didn’t even get reported, let alone make the evening news.

Jessie cocked her head. “You okay? You seem a little stressed.”

“I’m just tired. And I guess I am being a little too soccer momish. Sorry.”

Jessie grinned. “It’s nice to have someone worry about me once in a while.”

Even though she lived only a few blocks over, Evangeline didn’t know that much about Jessie’s home life. She had the impression, though, that things between Jessie and her mother had been tense lately.

She also had a feeling it had something to do with a boyfriend, but Evangeline wasn’t about to pry. She remembered all too well how hurt and angry she’d been by her father’s disapproval of Johnny.

Besides, whatever the problems in her personal life, Jessie was a conscientious and caring sitter, and J.D. loved her. That was really all that mattered to Evangeline.

Jessie came over to drop a kiss on the top of the baby’s head before she left, and he grabbed the necklace that dangled from her throat. It reminded Evangeline of the medallion that Sonny Betts wore. “Be a good boy for Mama, J.D. Let her get some rest tonight, okay?”

“That’d be a nice change.”

“You ever want me to come over and stay while you take a nap or something, just call. I could always use the extra cash.”

“I may take you up on that.”

Evangeline carried the baby out to the porch and watched as Jessie ran down the steps. She waited until the girl was out of sight before she turned to go back inside.

Despite the baby clutter all over the place and J.D. fussing in her arms, the house seemed empty and quiet as she closed the door.

An image of Meredith Courtland came to her suddenly, and Evangeline wondered if the woman felt all alone tonight in that great big house of hers. She had everything that money could buy, but her wealth wouldn’t inoculate her from loneliness. It wouldn’t spare her the despair that would set in as soon as she lay down to sleep.

Evangeline walked across the room to the windows that looked out on the tiny backyard. As she stared out at the deepening shadows, J.D. dropped his little head to her shoulder and gave a deep, troubled sigh.

“It’s all right,” she whispered. “I’m here.”

But even as she held her son close, Evangeline’s mind refused to shut down. Snippets of the day’s conversations kept rolling around inside her head.

I don’t want to end up like that dead cop.

There’s not one shred of evidence linking Johnny to Paul Courtland or Sonny Betts. Not one shred.

You’re grasping at straws, Evie.

Maybe she was. Maybe the reason she clung so hard to her obsession was because when she finally let it go, she would have to let Johnny slip away, too.

And Evangeline wasn’t ready to say goodbye. She wasn’t sure she ever would be.

After the baby was fed and bathed, Evangeline put him in his swing while she examined the box Jessie had left on the table.

The package had been sent via UPS by a local company she’d never heard of and the return address was a post office box rather than a physical address.

Being a cop and naturally cautious to boot, a strange package would normally have given her pause, but her mother had recently developed a mean shopping addiction, which, Evangeline suspected, was in retaliation for her father’s perceived neglect.

In the past few months, Lynette Jennings had entered the world of home shopping networks with a vengeance—cubic zirconia jewelry being her favorite indulgence—and lately she’d also discovered the Internet.

To conceal her expensive obsession, she’d started having some of the packages shipped to Evangeline’s house. Although Evangeline had long ago concluded that if her father were home as rarely as her mother let on, he probably wouldn’t even notice all the deliveries anyway.

But that little contradiction didn’t seem to faze her mother, who seemed to get a perverse pleasure from thinking that she could still pull the wool over her husband’s eyes.