Veiled Eyes

by C. L. Bevill

  The vision vanished. Gabriel’s eyes became serious. Anna, you’ve already given me something I’ve never had before.

  •

  ‘Pope Urges Peace on Day of Lord’s Birth!’ read the headline. Gabriel’s eyes flickered to the headline on the bottom half of the page. ‘Manhunt Intensifies!’ His eyes went over the story and he thought, Shreveport. Oh, shit? Not him. Not now.

  He waited on Anna while she finished up on Herb Lemoine’s transmission. Parts had come in late the previous day and she hadn’t been able to finish the job. Although it was Christmas day she knew the older man didn’t have transportation to get to his son’s house. Herb had protested that his son would come pick him up but Anna could read in his thoughts that his daughter-in-law was soon going into labor. “April doesn’t know it,” said Herb confidently to Gabriel. “She’s going to have the Christmas baby, oui.”

  Gabriel said, “Anna knows you need the car.”

  Herb looked through the open bay doors at Anna, who was tightening up bolts on the bottom of the car. “The old mechanic, you remember John Fleur, he wouldn’t have worked on the Lord’s birthday for an old man.”

  The newspaper wavered in front of Gabriel’s face. The little headline popped out at him like it was taunting him. ‘Manhunt Intensifies!’ The Louisiana State Police were searching for a man who had allegedly killed at least twelve young women, and two young men, and the count was growing. His backyard was virtually a graveyard. Some forensics teams were spending their Christmas with bones and death. “Gracious God,” muttered Gabriel. He looked up at Herb Lemoine and murmured, “Yes, oui. She caught the part about the labor. She wanted to make sure you were able to see your third grandchild.”

  Herb beamed. “Yes, I like that gal. Don’t care what some of them no-accounts say about her. She’s got moxie like the best. Good heart makes all the difference.”

  “You want to know if it’s a girl or a boy?” Gabriel said because it suddenly came to him and he wondered if it was Anna who was feeling it or him, or a combination of them both. He was hoping that Anna wasn’t reading him back.

  Herb chuckled. “Doesn’t make a difference to me. I like the boys just as well as the girls and all them babies smell just alike to me.”

  “Seven pounds, seven ounces,” Gabriel said. He folded the newspaper. As soon as Anna was done, they were going to a Christmas dinner at Sebastien and Aurore’s home. Half the family was invited. The other half was going to other family events out of town. Tents had been raised to cover the Benoit’s large backyard and the party would go well into the evening.

  “What?” said Herb, still smiling at Anna. “And she’s so cute, too. A little button. Gonna make you a fine missus.”

  Gabriel rolled his eyes. “The baby’s going to weigh seven pounds and seven ounces. Your son is going to name the child after…lost that part.” He turned to look at Anna, who was peering up into the chassis of the car. “Anna’ll argue too much. She’s obstinate.”

  Herb shrugged. “Don’t want a marshmallow, Gabriel. That would be très terne. Boring. Life should be exciting, oui?”

  “Oui,” Gabriel agreed. He couldn’t prevent the glance down at the paper in his hand. There was a sudden urge to say a little prayer of thanksgiving because he had the oddest feeling that the other shoe was about to drop.

  What other shoe? came her thought. Then, Anna must have picked up on exactly what he was thinking. Dan Cullen? The psychopathic truck driver? He’s loose? How the hell did that happen?

  No more secrets, Gabriel groaned out loud. We couldn’t take you to the police, Anna. We couldn’t take the chance with a family member. Instead we took him. We left him there all tied up with the photographs in his lap. He made bail and then he vanished. He doesn’t know where you are. Tell me you understand why we did this.

  Her thoughts were turbulent and troubled. Gabriel sighed with relief as he realized that she did understand. And when Anna was done with Herb’s transmission she cleaned up and they went to the Christmas celebration. She was wearing the pearl necklace.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sunday, January 18th – Friday, January 23rd

  Gossiping on the Sabbath bodes ill for the gossiping monger and no good shall come of the venial sin.

  Anna fit into the family as if she were raised there. With her closer connection to Gabriel came general acceptance of her from most of the people in Unknown. More people brought their vehicles to her to repair or to tune up. More of them treated her like a member of the clan. The mysterious voice that had warned her had been conspicuously absent, leaving as if Meg’s absence had chased it away. However, there was still some grudging resentment from a few of the family members. The resentment was beginning to fade, and Anna felt something she had never had before. Trying to describe that feeling to Jane on the telephone was like trying to herd cats.

  “They treat me like I belong here,” she told Jane over the phone.

  Jane made a noise. “Maybe they really needed a mechanic.”

  “It’s not that small here. It’s only thirty miles to Shreveport,” Anna discounted her friend with a laugh. Pessimistic Jane.

  He’s unfaithful to her.

  What? thought Anna. Gabriel’s matter-of-fact statement came to her clearly, although he was out on the lake with a fishing group, far away and showing a man how to cast his lure underhanded.

  She’s worried about a man. A man with blonde hair and blue eyes. He’s got a scar on his chin. He’s cheating. Gabriel was plainly amused.

  “Jane,” said Anna. She took the phone in the small apartment and went to the balcony. She looked out over the lake and could see nothing but the lake itself. The blue sky above disappeared into the black surface. Cypress trees wandered across its façade, meandering goliaths at peace in their environment. Neither Gabriel nor the Belle-Mere were anywhere within sight. “Are you seeing someone right now?”

  Jane was silent for a moment. “His name is Garrett,” she said slowly. “Anna, you’re not going to have one of those freakishly weird premonitions or something?”

  “Oh, it’s not that,” Anna lied.

  Oh, you little liar, thought Gabriel amused. Liar, liar, pants on fire. Did you confess to the Father this morning, chère?

  “You sound a little preoccupied,” Anna added after a hesitation. “Like something’s on your mind. Or someone.”

  “It’s so funny how you know that. I saw him last night with a blonde,” Jane said flatly. “I was pissed. Mega-royally pissed off. Yesterday afternoon, he said he had another thing going on and so I went out with the staff to the French Quarter. They’re really gearing up for Mardi Gras here. Anyway, there he was, with Miss Double-D’s.”

  His personal trainer. Too bad.

  Whistling man, Anna was a little confused. How can you be getting this?

  Don’t know exactly. I’ve heard that some couple’s powers increase once they come together. It’s a little strange for me, too.

  Little strange, like holding a conversation in my head at the same time I’m talking on the phone with my friend. “Jane, honey,” Anna said. “Perhaps you should just confront him?”

  “Really?” Jane said agitated.

  “Did he kiss her?” How can I say it to her without giving something away?

  There was a burst of emotion in her head that told her implicitly that Gabriel really didn’t care. He was amused by Jane’s plight. He was even more amused that Anna was trying to keep her gifts a secret from her friend while at the same time she tried to help her. In fact, Anna could tell the moment he startled whistling while he put another lure on his client’s fishing rod and tuned her out.

  “No,” Jane’s voice was puzzled and angry. “He had his hand on her thigh.”

  “Well, then Jane,” Anna said. “Maybe you should just ask him. I don’t think he should be going out with his personal trainer at the same time as with you.”

  Jane was as silent as the grave and Anna nearly groaned as she realized what she�
��d said.

  Can she be any more dense?

  Shut up, Gabriel, and look who’s talking, Mr. Grabby Hands.

  Well, she deserves better. Even if she is an outsider.

  Thank you, whistling man. Go stick your head in a bucket.

  After Anna hung up she heard the buzzer from downstairs and went down to find a man waiting she hadn’t met before. Like many of the family he was tall with black-hair and gold eyes. But he seemed oddly familiar to her, as if she had met him before. In his thirties, he smiled at her and had a large toothy grin. “My truck, mamselle. She’s a real whore today. Don’t want to take any direction for no reason. Put gas in her and nothing. Pat her hood and nothing. You turn the ignition and she goes chung-chung-chung, like the battery’s dead, but the battery, I had it checked. Had to push it the last half block.” He flicked a thumb over his shoulder at the mid-nineties Chevy. Then he wiped some sweat away from his forehead.

  “Let’s take a look.”

  Ten minutes later Anna had eliminated the fuel pump as a problem and was looking at the battery connections. She cleaned the battery connections with a scrub brush and checked the ignition circuits down to the spark plugs. “You need a tune up,” she said to the man. “I think an alternator too.”

  “Alternator?” the man repeated doubtfully. Anna caught a worried thought about cost. It flitted through her mind like a bat intent on insects by a fluorescent light. Damn. Something expensive broke again!

  “Don’t worry. A hundred dollars for the part, I think. Maybe I can find a rebuilt one at cost. It won’t take me ten minutes to install it. But I’ll have to order it.”

  “So, what, a hundred fifty bucks?”

  “Yeah. About that. Definitely no more than that. Let me make sure it’s the alternator with the voltage meter.” Anna straightened up. “I can get it tomorrow. But the real cause is the battery connections. You’ve got to keep them clean. Clean them once a month at least.” She held up the little connection brush. “It costs three bucks for this and it’ll save you from having to replace the alternator for ten years if you keep it up. Plus the new alternator will have a limited lifetime warranty. As long as you keep the car you won’t have to worry about that part anymore.”

  “That sounds fair, mamselle.”

  The man followed her inside the garage and watched as Anna cleaned her hands with a rag. “Do I know you? Have we met before?” she said.

  “My name is Laurant Theriot,” he told her with a grimace. “You thought my maman was lost in the mine.”

  Laurant had been named after his father. It was little wonder because he looked like him as well. If his hair had been shaved close to his head then he would have been the living embodiment of his dead father’s photograph.

  Anna shrugged.

  Laurant shrugged too. “Maman, she plays the little tricks sometimes, although never one so cruel. She was not always treated fairly by the family. Not her fault that her mother was an outsider. No more than it was yours.”

  Anna put the rag down and crossed her arms over her chest. “Have you heard from her?”

  “Non.” His voice became flat. “But that’s not unusual for Maman. She leaves sometimes for weeks and then comes back as if she’d never gone.”

  Anna was suddenly curious. The moments that she had heard Meg in her mind Anna had been completely convinced that the older woman had been dying herself, struck by someone, stuck in sifting mud, left to die in the darkness. The warning came to her. Graveyard. Anna? Beware, Anna. Beware.

  Anna had been positive that it was real. If she concentrated she could feel the slick, gliding clasp of the sands pulling at her limbs, its grip inextricable and unyielding. It had been so compelling that she had gone into the mine itself, fighting her own personal demons to find Meg. And even now, despite what Anna said, Gabriel still didn’t believe she had been in the mine itself.

  The doors had been open, the padlocks missing or unlocked. Someone had wanted her to go in to that mine. Anna had thought about it. It could have been Meg herself. She said her husband had worked there for many years. Somehow Meg could have had keys to the padlocks. It would have been some trick.

  Laurant suddenly looked away from Anna. “I’m gonna go get Bill over to the drycleaners to give me a lift. You’ll let me know when you’ve got that part in. I’ll bring the cash in then.”

  “But I haven’t even checked the alternator yet,” she said, trailing off as she watched him walk away. Abruptly, Anna couldn’t decide if Laurant Theriot was trying to hide something or if there was something integrally wrong with him. She reached for the multimeter to confirm her suspicions. If she could phone the dealer in Shreveport before 3 p.m. about the alternator they could usually have the parts she needed the next day. Any other thoughts flew away from her.

  •

  At dinner with Gabriel and his parents, Anna took a moment to whisper to Gabriel, “I had that dream last night again.”

  “I know,” he whispered back sotto voce. “I had to shower twice to get that feeling of being covered with dirt off my flesh. Can’t you dream about something kinky instead?”

  “Funny, Gabriel.” Anna had woken herself up with the dream. The same dream she had for five nights running. She didn’t know what had spawned it but it was becoming most bothersome.

  “What dream?” asked Cecily, coming back into the dining room with a dish full of vegetables.

  Anna looked at Gabriel’s mother. She was almost as tall as her son, with her hair short and feathered back into a flattering cut. Her face was rounded with age, but she was no kindly grandmother type, but shrewd, possessing a dry wit that often caught Anna off guard.

  “Dreams go by contraries,” said Cecily, placing the steaming vegetables on the table with a flourish. “Jean! Come to supper, you old fool!”

  Gabriel folded his arms across his chest. “Maman believes that if you dream of something negative, then it is a good omen.”

  “Dreaming of a funeral,” said Cecily authoritatively, “means a wedding is coming.” She pursed her lips thoughtfully. “We need some butter. You didn’t dream of death, did you, chère?” she asked of Anna hopefully.

  “Does that mean the same thing as a funeral?” Anna said impishly.

  “No, my dear. Dreaming of death means a birth.” Cecily smiled smugly and went to get the butter and she said over her shoulder, “Although I’d prefer you’d dream of a funeral first.”

  Anna glanced at Gabriel curiously. “Then what does clawing one’s way out of the ground mean?” That was the dream she had. It hadn’t been like when she had made her way out of the mine. Instead it was as if she had been buried alive, but strangely there was no fear involved. She knew that if she worked hard enough she could make her way to the light. Her hands ripped at the soil above her, tearing away clumps of dirt and roots, trying to reach the light above. Something waited for her there, something that she desperately needed to know, or worse, something that she felt she had forgotten and needed to remember.

  Gabriel stared at Anna for a moment. His eyes went to the pearl necklace adorning her graceful neck. The dream disturbed him as well. He wasn’t one to read into hidden meanings or the superstitious nonsense that his mother was apt to spout. Surprisingly, down-to-earth Anna repeated such wife’s tales as gospel. “According to Maman it means the opposite. You will go down into the earth.”

  He discovered that he didn’t like that interpretation any better. It was too much like remembering what he’d felt like when he had believed that Anna was lost in the mine. Or what was worse was thinking that Anna would be buried in a grave.

  “This thing that happened today,” Anna said. “When I was speaking to Jane and you got this vision of her boyfriend, it was unusual for the family. Yes?”

  Gabriel looked over his shoulder into the kitchen and watched his mother rummaging in a cupboard for the right dish. His father, Jean, came in the back door and gave his wife a kiss on the cheek before reaching for the refrigerator door. “
Unusual. Not unheard of,” said Gabriel with a little wave at his father.

  “Pairs become stronger,” Anna mused. Jean Bergeron was an older version of his son. The same height and weight, from the back they could have been twins. From the front the father’s creased face and receding hairline showed the difference. It gave Anna an idea of how Gabriel would appear when he was his father’s age.

  “It doesn’t happen much.”

  “I didn’t see the boyfriend in Jane’s mind. I wasn’t really even thinking of Jane at the time. I was thinking about-”

  “Last night,” Gabriel finished for her; a satisfied smile flitted across his face. “I know. But today, as soon as she began to speak with you, it was like a sign appeared above her head in my mind. I could see her clearly and him, as well. She was worried about him. Tomorrow she won’t be. It must be very lonely not to have any family.”

  “It is.” Anna looked at Gabriel. She wasn’t lonely anymore. She was beginning to feel as though she would always be here in this place, close to the lake, close to the people who shared her roots. But her curiosity was piqued. “What other powers does the family have?”

  “Telepathy you know about,” Gabriel said, unfolding his arms. He reached around her shoulders and pulled her a little closer. “Clairvoyance, from personal experience. Case in point today. Jane and her erstwhile boyfriend. What was his name?”

  “Garrett.”

  Gabriel touched Anna’s nose with his index finger. “Once I heard them say one of the little girls down by the Atchafalaya basin had the power to move things with her mind. What do they call that?”

  “Telekinesis, I think,” said Anna, wrinkling her nose. “Couldn’t move nothing if I tried it. Well, unless I actually use my hands. What about psychometry?”

  “Psych-what?”

  “If you touch something you know where it’s been, who owned it, what its history is.”