The Whispering Room

“Yeah, but we didn’t work every case together.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and stood looking out over the street. “You really shouldn’t have come looking for me,” he said softly. “I’m not going to be able to help you.”

“Because you can’t or you won’t?”

“You need to just go on home to your baby.”

His tone deepened Evangeline’s disquiet. “That almost sounds like a threat, Nathan.”

He shrugged. “You don’t need to be afraid of me.”

“Is there someone else I should be afraid of?”

He paused. “Can’t you just leave it alone? Johnny’s gone. Nothing I can say will bring him back.”

“I know that. But I still want to talk to you. Can we sit in your car for a few minutes? I don’t like standing out here in the open like this. I feel too exposed.”

He gave her a strange look, but he unlocked his car and they both climbed in. The interior smelled of reefer.

Nathan’s head dropped to the back of the seat as he ran a hand across his eyes. “I don’t know what you think I can tell you. I wasn’t with Johnny that night.”

“But you must have some idea of what he was doing in that parking garage. Why did he go there?”

He stared straight ahead. “I don’t know.”

“I don’t believe you.”

It was getting dark fast, but there was still enough ambient light coming through the windshield that Evangeline could see the harsh angles of Nathan’s face when he turned toward her. She could even see the regret in his eyes as he stared at her for the longest moment.

Then he shook his head. “You don’t want to ask me any more questions about that night, Evangeline.”

Her heart skipped a beat at the look on his face.

“I have to know,” she whispered. “What was Johnny doing in that parking garage?”

He drew a long breath and released it. “He went there to see a woman.”

Fourteen

To humor Lynette, Don spent several minutes driving around the neighborhood, looking for the old Cadillac Eldorado she’d spotted earlier, but apparently the car was long gone and so were the two snakes that had been on the patio.

Lynette had watched them slither away just before Don got home, but to his credit, he’d grabbed an old machete from the garage that he used for hacking down bamboo and went outside to tramp around in the yard and flower beds.

While he was out there, he decided the grass needed cutting, so he hauled out the lawn mower and got to work.

Lynette stood at the kitchen window and watched him make pass after pass through the grass. The light was almost gone, but he didn’t let up until the whole backyard was trimmed. Somewhere along the way, he’d discarded his shirt, and Lynette was surprised by the flutter of awareness in the pit of her stomach.

How long had it been since she’d noticed how attractive her husband still was? How long since she’d paid him a real compliment?

Despair settled around her heart. She was still so mad at him she could spit, but her anger did nothing to fill the hole left by his indifference.

Lynette wanted to turn away from the window, pretend that nothing was wrong. Pretend their lives would go on just as they always had. But she had the strangest notion that if she looked away, or even blinked, she might never see him again.

Mistakenly, she’d believed that the glue of a forty-year marriage was strong enough to bind them together forever. But while she’d remained rooted to the past, entrenched in their settled ways, Don had moved on. And she’d let it happen without lifting a finger to stop it.

Lynette’s eyes burned dryly as she watched him wheel the lawn mower toward the back gate. She didn’t take her eyes off him until he’d disappeared on the other side of the fence, and then finally she turned back to the stove.

He came inside a few minutes later and she heard him go into the bathroom to get cleaned up. She wondered if he would even notice the scrubbed tile in the shower, the stack of clean towels in the linen closet, the cake of fresh soap in the porcelain dish. Had he ever noticed any of those things, or did he just take her labors for granted?

When he came back into the kitchen, he was dressed in pressed khakis and a pullover shirt in the color of blue that Lynette had always loved on him.

His hair still damp from the shower, he stood in the doorway and propped one hand against the frame. “Something smells good.”

She glanced over her shoulder as she continued to work. “It’s nothing special. Just gumbo and cornbread. Peach pie for dessert.”

“Your gumbo’s always special,” he said.

Lynette turned in surprise and she felt a catch in her chest as their gazes met briefly. But when he saw her hopeful smile, he glanced away.

She tried not to let it bother her as she bustled around the kitchen, cleaning the counters and loading the dishwasher.

“I should get back to the office,” he finally said. “I’ve still got work to do tonight.”

Lynette tried to mask her disappointment as she shrugged. “That’s too bad. Evangeline will be here to pick up the baby soon. I was hoping we could all have dinner together tonight. It’s been a while since you’ve seen her, hasn’t it?”