The Whispering Room

Evangeline scrutinized the snapshot. It looked as if it had been taken from a boat off the shore of some tropical island. The focus was a crowded marketplace filled with tourists in loud shirts and Bermuda shorts. Between the lens of the camera and land was an expanse of azure sky and turquoise water.

“Looks like someplace in the Caribbean,” Evangeline said.

“Maybe that’s where he was planning on going with the money and the new identity,” Kathy said with a quiver in her voice.

There was something about the photograph that bothered Evangeline, though she had no idea why. Maybe it was the idea that Nathan’s plans for a quick getaway might have had something to do with Johnny’s shooting, and now she would never know the whole truth about that night.

She held up the photograph. “Would you mind if I borrow this for a little while? I’d like to see if I can figure out where it was taken.”

Kathy shrugged. “That’s why I showed you all this stuff. I thought you’d want to know. Like I said, we’re in the same boat now. If Johnny and Nathan were shot because of something they knew…then you and I could be in danger, too, I suppose.”

After Evangeline left Kathy’s house, she called Mitchell to find out if there’d been a break in Nathan’s case. Then, as an afterthought, she called her mother to ask about the mobile in J.D.’s room.

“I’ve ordered a lot of stuff lately,” Lynette said with a sigh. “But no mobile. Do you remember the store it came from?”

“No, not offhand. I may still have the box at home if Jessie hasn’t thrown it away.”

“I bought the baby a few things from Dillard’s,” Lynette said. “Maybe they got the order mixed up.”

“This didn’t come from Dillard’s. And anyway, it doesn’t matter.” Evangeline didn’t want to worry her mother. She had enough on her mind. “I was just wondering who I need to thank.”

“Check with your dad. Although that doesn’t sound like something he’d do.” Lynette’s voice was surprisingly devoid of the bitter edge that Evangeline had grown accustomed to lately.

“Are you okay, Mom?”

“I’m fine,” she said. “I’ve decided to have another go at spring cleaning. There’s a lot of junk I want to get rid of around here. I’ve been thinking about doing some painting, too. How do you think the living room would look in chartreuse? They use it a lot on HGTV. Your father would hate it, of course, but his opinion isn’t something I have to worry about anymore, is it?”

“Mom…”

“I’m fine, Evangeline.”

“Okay. Look, I have to go. I’ll call you later.”

So she was no closer to solving the mystery of the origami cranes.

As Evangeline ended the call with her mother, she thought about the scarred man at the cemetery. Given her suspicion that he’d dropped the bird on the pathway for her to find, she was starting to get a little freaked out.

She thought about J.D. and Jessie all alone in the house. They were perfectly safe. Jessie was very good about keeping the doors locked. Evangeline knew she was letting her imagination get the better of her, but she called home just to check anyway. When she didn’t get an answer on the landline, she called Jessie’s cell.

“Hey, it’s me. Everything okay there? I just called the house and didn’t get an answer.”

“We’re sitting out on the porch,” Jessie said. “Sorry. I didn’t hear the phone. Is everything okay with you? You sound a little worried.”

“I’m just checking in. I’ll be home in a little while.”

“That’s odd,” Jessie murmured.

“What is?”

“The car that just went by…the driver keeps circling the block. That’s the third time I’ve seen him. I wonder if he’s lost.”

“Why kind of car is it?”

“Some old Cadillac. Looks about a hundred years old.”

“It’s probably nothing, but why don’t you go ahead and take the baby inside. Make sure all the doors are locked,” Evangeline said. “Watch out the window and if you see the car again, try to get a license plate number. I’m heading home right now to check things out. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

But by the time she arrived, the car was long gone. After checking in with Jessie, Evangeline spent several minutes driving around the neighborhood. She even stopped and asked a couple of neighbors if they’d noticed the car, but, of course, no one had.

She was still overreacting, Evangeline decided later as she sat out on the front porch with her gun. The house was locked up tight and the baby monitor beside her was so sensitive, she could hear J.D.’s soft breathing from his crib.

Still, she was uneasy. A strange car in the neighborhood was only one of a number of things preying on her mind tonight.

Sometime after she’d met with Nathan Mallet at the cemetery, he’d turned up dead. Shot three times. Once in the face and twice in the chest. Just like Johnny.

And on the day before her meeting with Lena Saunders, Evangeline had learned that Paul Courtland had suspected he was being followed by a strange blond woman a few days before he went missing.