The Whispering Room

It caught her just above the knee and when she tried to fight it off, the fangs sunk into her hand. For the longest moment, the serpent hung suspended, and then with a scream, Lynette flung it away. The snake thudded against the wall and slithered into a corner to hide.

Evangeline saw the flashing lights of the squad cars the moment she turned on her mother’s street.

Her heart started to pound in terror.

Oh, God.

Something was wrong. She could believe that Mitchell would call out the cavalry, but this many cops could only mean one thing.

Evangeline parked in the street and tore through the yard, nearly colliding with one of the officers. He caught her by the shoulders. “Whoa, wait a minute, miss. You can’t go in there. This is a crime scene.”

Crime scene?

“I’m Detective Evangeline Theroux,” she screamed. “This is my mother’s house. My baby’s inside.”

The officer exchanged a glance with his partner. “Your baby’s inside?”

She didn’t answer. She tore herself loose from his grasp and lunged for the door.

Just beyond the foyer, her mother lay convulsing on the floor. A uniformed officer knelt beside her, and he looked up when Evangeline burst into the room. “Where are the EMTs?” he asked angrily.

Evangeline was on her knees beside him in a flash. “How bad?”

“She’s been snakebit,” he said. “I think she’s going into anaphylactic shock.”

Evangeline bent over her mother. “Mom, can you hear me?”

No response.

“Mom, what happened? Where’s J.D.?” she asked desperately.

Lynette’s mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.

Evangeline got up and raced down the hallway to the small bedroom where her mother kept a crib. It was empty.

Panic hammered her chest as she stumbled from one room to the next, checking every corner, every closet, even though she already knew the awful truth.

Her son was gone.

Twenty-Nine

Evangeline was already on the phone by the time she reached her car. She called Nash first, then Mitchell, then Vaughn. By the time she hit Highway 90, she was on the phone with Sheriff Thibodaux in Torrence.

“I sent a deputy out there earlier to have a look around,” he said. “Everything was all clear. I’m just about to leave on a little trip, but I’ll swing by there before I take off. I see anything suspicious, I’ll give you call.”

Evangeline pressed the accelerator to the floor, but she was still a good forty-five minutes away. And the clock was ticking.

She had no idea what she would find at the Lemay house once she got there. Rebecca? Ruth?

Her sisters.

Her own flesh and blood.

And one of them wanted to kill her son.

It hit Evangeline then just how far she was willing to go to protect J.D. from their madness. One sister was innocent, the other guilty, but in order to save her son, she would kill them both if she had to.

Cell phone clutched in her hand, she sailed along sugarcane fields and through tunnels of willow trees with the sun at her back. Every now and then when the road curved, she could see sunlight dancing on the bayou and the graceful prance of herons through the swamp grass. It was a paradise of water lilies, buttercups and wild roses. Of gilded wings and rippling water. And into this paradise, evil came with blond hair and blue eyes.

What would she do if J.D. wasn’t at the house?

He could be anywhere. The swamp offered a million places to hide. She wouldn’t have a clue where to start looking.

But Nash would. This is what the FBI did best, he’d told her.

She wanted desperately to believe that, but with each passing moment…

Don’t. Don’t!

Her son would be fine. She would find him in time, and by nightfall he would be safely back in his own bed. Evangeline would stand guard over him night and day if she had to. She would never again let him out of her sight. He was so tiny and innocent….

She blinked away hot tears as her knuckles whitened on the steering wheel. She would find him. She would.

The phone rang and she pressed it to her ear. “Yes.”

“This is Nash. Listen, I’ve got some news for you.”

Her heart bolted to her throat. “J.D.?”

“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get your hopes up. This is about Rebecca Lemay’s accomplice. We got a match on the prints you lifted from your car. They belong to a former psychiatric patient named Ellis Cooper. This guy sounds like a real nutcase. You be careful down there.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ve already notified the sheriff in Torrence. He’ll provide backup if I need it.”

“Evangeline?”

“Yeah?”

“Hang in there. We’re going to find him.”

Her eyes burned with tears, but she had no time for emotion. No time for a breakdown. She had to find J.D. Nothing else mattered.

“I can’t lose him,” she whispered.

“I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“I know, but he’s so little. So helpless…” She trailed off. “He’s all I’ve got.”

And at that moment, the revelation of how much she loved her son humbled and staggered her. And shamed her because she hadn’t realized it before.