Ben reached for her hands again. “I know how this must sound, but I’m not worried about my father’s disappearance. Wherever he is, I feel he’s safe, and, yes, I think those three ladies took care of things. They’re never going to make it in the criminal world. Their eyes give them away even though they bluster and posture. So, let’s talk about my trip.
“I came up blank, Darby. I lost count of the people I talked to. I was shuffled from one department to another to another. I played that tape over and over. I hope I didn’t wear it out. At one point I even threatened legal action. I made one lady cry, and I’m sure not proud of that. She was a volunteer worker, and her daughter was a kidney recipient a few years ago. Working for the organization was the mother’s way of paying back for her daughter’s life.”
“Oh, Ben, I appreciate your staying in town to do all that to help me,” Darby said. “I can only imagine how difficult it was for you. I know you…What I mean is, I know you didn’t do it for yourself, you did it for me. I just want you to know I appreciate all your efforts.”
Ben nodded. “Right now I feel like I’m some kind of authority on the donor program. Just here in our state of Louisiana there are 952 people waiting for a kidney transplant and 47,622 in the United States. We have 162 people waiting for a liver transplant, 244 waiting for a heart. The list is virtually endless. I read case histories of some of the recipients. They’re just heartbreaking, especially the children. Damn, they haven’t even had a chance to live yet, and here they are dying for lack of a donor. I saw videos by the dozen of some recipients—digitally altered, you know, with that blue dot thing over their faces so no one will know who they are. I can’t fault the program for protecting both the donors and the recipients’ families. It’s beyond sad.”
Darby dipped a noodle into the hot mustard and popped it into her mouth. Her eyes started to water. She gulped at the small cup of tea, downing it all.
“I still want to know who has…I want to know the recipients of Russ’s organs.”
“They will not divulge names, Darby. I talked to the Match Maker himself. He’s the doctor that matches up the donors with the recipients. It’s somewhat like the lawyer-client privilege. We’renever going to know. Like you, that’s the part I can’t handle.”
“There has to be a way. I just want to know something about them. I want to see them. I want to say hello and good-bye even if it’s silently. I don’t want to invade their lives or even let them know I know who they are. I owe that to Russ. I do, Ben. I’m not going to be able to live with myself if I don’t know.”
“I said almost those same words to the Match Maker, and while he listened to me, viewed the tape, knew the setback it would cause to the program if we went public, he was adamant. He wouldn’t give me a clue. Like I said, I can’t fault him or the program.”
Darby squared her shoulders. “Then we’re going to have to go another route. I’ll call Claire when we get outside. She can get in touch with Russ’s computer hacker friends. Maybe they can hack into the donor record. If I go to jail, then I go to jail.”
“Then I’ll be there with you. Oh, here comes our dinner. Believe it or not, I haven’t eaten all day,” Ben said, and Darby watched as he ate with gusto. He cleaned his plate, then picked from hers.
Darby stared across the table at her dinner companion. She wondered what her future held in regard to Ben. She almost asked him but changed her mind. Time would tell. Suddenly, she felt like crying and wasn’t sure why.
“What’s wrong?” Ben asked, concern ringing in his voice.
Darby shook her head. “I cry when I’m happy. I cry when I’m sad. I’m both right now. Sad about Russ, happy that you came into my life, bewildered at the aunts’ behavior, sorry about your father, sick over the little girl in Scotland who isn’t going to live to see her tenth birthday. Emotionally, I have a very full plate.”
“Then we need to start clearing it off. Trust me when I tell you my father is all right. The aunts are in the mix, and they’re wise old ladies. They’re going to be fine, too. I can help you with your castle for the sick little girl in Scotland so that you get it done on time. I’m thinking her days will be happier with her dollhouse. Just show me what you want me to do. I was always fairly good at building and repairing things. That brings us front and center to Russell. You’re going to call Claire so those wheels will be put into motion. Everything’s going to work out, Darby. Between us, we can make it happen.”
Darby smiled, tears glistening in her eyes. “I knew I liked you for a reason.”
Ben’s chest puffed out. He felt like leaning across the table to kiss her. Instead, he said the words out loud. Darby laughed. He loved the sound. His thoughts traveled to the future and how the house they would live in someday would be full of laughter. He said that, too.
“Don’t we have to get married first for that to happen?” Darby teased.
“Yeah. Absolutely we have to get married. Four children, two girls, two boys. Is that okay with you? A dog, a cat, some goldfish, and maybe a bird. I’ll build the kids a tree house with electricity. Maybe running water from a hose. I can get a job here at one of the state parks. The big question is, where are we going to live?”
Darby was breathless when she said, “Where would you like to live, Ben?”
“In the house where my memories were the happiest. The first house on the shoe. If I could get my father to deed it to me, I’d use all my trust fund to restore it. Those houses came to my father from my mother’s side of the family. I was to get one, Russ was to get the other, and Mary…well, they never said what Mary was to get. That could certainly explain Mary’s attitude in regard to a lot of things. I’m not sure about this, but I think she was to get the house in Crowley that belonged to my great-grandparents. I’m resigned to the fact that it isn’t going to happen now because Bella is going to demolish it.”
“What about Russ’s house, the other one on the shoe?”
“She’s out for blood. She’ll take the wrecking ball to it, too. Can you see yourself living at the top of the shoe as opposed to having a room in Ducky’s house?”
“Oh, yes. Yes, Ben, I can. Do you remember as kids how we used to run from house to house begging for sweets, never telling what we got in the one before. I think we were constantly on sugar highs until the aunts got wise to us. It all sounds wonderful but like you said, it isn’t going to happen now.”
“We can still get married in the middle of the shoe. That’s where my mother and father got married. That’s always been a dream of mine. Russ said the same thing to me last year,” Ben added.
Darby’s eyes twinkled. “First you have to ask me to marry you!”
“I know that, but I’m not going to ask you in a Chinese restaurant, that’s for sure.”
“We just met again after so many years apart, Ben. How can you be so sure…”
“That I love you? I’ve always loved you. Seeing you here was the most natural thing in the world. It was like those years we were apart never happened. I know you felt what I felt. Admit it,” Ben teased lightly. He tossed her a fortune cookie, then opened his and laughed.
Darby started to giggle when she read hers. “Mine says ‘You will find true happiness with a tall dark-haired man.’ What does yours say?”
Ben was still laughing when he read his own. “Mine says ‘a dark-haired woman is your soul mate.’ ”
“You made that up! Let me see!”
“Nope. You have to trust me.”
“Okay,” Darby said agreeably. She waited until Ben reached up to take the check from the waitress. She snatched the small slip of paper. She read the fortune: “A dark-haired woman will be your soul mate.” She laughed as she scrambled out of the booth. Ben wrapped his arms around her. Nothing in the world had ever felt this good, Darby decided.
Twenty-three hours after Marcus Gunn disappeared, Trixie McGuire used her new phone card to call Dodo’s cell phone. “What are you hearing on your news stations, Dodo?” she aske
d.
“They’re just rehashing everything. No clues, no ransom demand. Mrs. Gunn isdemanding, that’s the word they’re using, demanding they widen the search, call in the FBI. The twenty-four-hour waiting period will be up in exactly fifty-eight minutes. That’s when they step in and take over. Ducky and Diddy think you should have Marcus call somebody to say he’s all right. I agree. He is all right, isn’t he, Trixie?”
“He’s just fine. He ate a nice breakfast, and I’m preparing lunch as we speak. Fred is showing Marcus all the dog kennels and telling him what we do. I can see a change hour by hour. He slept through the night. Flash stood guard. To tell you the truth, Dodo, he’s better than any of us have a right to expect. I’ll run the phone call by him and see what he says. I’ll call you back after lunch.”
Dodo clicked off the cell phone and repeated what Trixie had told her.
The three sisters were eyeballing one another when Willie appeared, a piece of paper between his teeth. He dropped it at Ducky’s feet. “Admit it, this is clever,” Ducky cackled. “Oh, the private detective called on the house line and wants me to call him back. Things might be looking up, ladies. I wonder if he found out anything.”
Diddy stared off into space, completely oblivious to the two squirrels Dodo had tamed and named Oliver and Olivia. They had come up on the porch for their afternoon treat of shelled pecans. They sat on the railing, the nuts clasped between their paws as they nibbled daintily. Dodo didn’t notice either, her thoughts someplace else. Ducky shrugged as she reached for Dodo’s cell phone and pressed in the numbers on the slip of paper that Willie had fetched.
Ducky identified herself to the private detective, then leaned back in the wicker chair to listen. She ended up agreeing to meet him at a seafood restaurant down by the river in an hour.
“Hey, wake up, you two. That was the private detective I hired in N’awlins. He’s here in town. He said he has some good news. I’m going to meet him in an hour. We can all go if you want. Actually, that might be a good idea. I would have invited him here, but there’s no need to raise red flags where Ben and Darby are concerned. Shake your booties, ladies, and let’s see what areal private dick can do.”
Seeing that the bowl was empty of the pecan delights, Oliver and Olivia waddled across the porch, tapped Dodo’s shoes, their version of thanks for the nuts, then scampered off. Any other time, their antics would have brought a smile to Dodo’s face. Not that day, though.
“We missed the noonday news,” Diddy grumbled as she got out of the wicker rocker.
“There’s nothing new, Diddy. Marcus hasn’t been found. Finding him would be the only new news.”
“Ben seems to be taking this all very well. He’s spending all his time with Darby. I don’t think he has any plans to go out to the house to talk to Bella.”
“Well, that’s where you’re wrong, Ducky. We have other things to worry about. The twenty-four hours are up, and the FBI is going to be taking over. Now,that’s something to worry about. You can’t lie to those guys. We need to take a trip,” Diddy sniffed. Neither Ducky nor Dodo responded to her ominous words.
“What do you think the detective found out?” Diddy asked.
“He didn’t say, just that it was good news. He said it was interesting. I suppose that could mean any number of things. Like maybe he found out where Bella came from. Or, maybe he found some relatives or friends that have loose lips. It could be anything. Whatever it is, it’s something he seems to think is important,” Ducky said.
Thirty-five minutes later the three women walked into a restaurant called the Barge in the old section of Baton Rouge. It was a seafood restaurant whose nautical decor was not unpleasing. Plus, the Barge had the best fried catfish in all of Louisiana. Ducky looked around for the private detective. When she didn’t see him, she motioned to a hard wooden bench near the entrance. “I guess we’re early,” Ducky said.
Brandon Lautril appeared ten minutes later. He carried a brown folder that he slapped against his long leg as he strode up the walkway leading to the entrance. Ducky’s eyes got big and round. He looked every bit as good as he did when she’d met him in New Orleans. She made the introductions. Lautril held the door while they walked inside single file.
Ducky’s heart soared when the detective smiled.
The detective got right to the point.
“Mrs. Gunn did work as a nurse’s aide at the Ochsner Medical Center for a year. Her background information was bogus. I guess the hospital didn’t check up on their employees back then. I went there to see if by chance there were any old employees still working there.
“I hit a streak of good luck when I went to the coffee shop manned by volunteers. One of them remembered Bella quite clearly. Thirty years ago this volunteer was a candy striper who continued with her volunteer work all these years. She said Bella always used to buy chewing gum and give the girls, meaning the candy stripers, a stick. For some reason she thought that was funny. She said Bella had a friend, a woman named Alice Avery, who was a nurse who is since retired. She said they would have lunch together in the coffee shop almost every day. She said she would do her best to find out the nurse’s address or phone number and call me.
“I had the feeling as I was asking around that people knew or knew of Bella but for some reason didn’t want to discuss her. It’s just a feeling I have, but I always pay attention to feelings like that. While it isn’t much, I would like to stay on the case to see what else I can dig up.”
The three women nodded in agreement.
“We’d like you to continue, Mr. Lautril.”
“Please, call me Brandon, Harriet.”
“Mr…. Brandon, something’s happened. Marcus disappeared yesterday. The news said he was having lunch outdoors. No one is sure if the nurse with him had a spell of some sort or if she just went to sleep. There is speculation that he was kidnapped. It’s also possible that he just up and walked away. Mrs. Gunn made an appeal on television for her husband’s safe return.”
Brandon looked from one to the other of the sisters, his eyes speculative. They returned his gaze without blinking. “Now, I find that very interesting. What do you think happened?”
The three women shrugged in unison. Ducky chose to speak. “Marcus’s son Ben came to Baton Rouge for his brother’s funeral. He’s staying with us.”
The detective looked at the three women, a speculative glint in his eye. “Mr. Gunn’s disappearance seems…rather convenient, given all the confusion that’s going on. Do you ladies see it that way?”
Ducky could feel her face growing warm. A sound that could have been a giggle escaped her lips. Dodo kicked her under the table. She sobered instantly. “I suppose you could look at it that way,” she said coolly just as she saw the waiter approaching with their food.
The crispy fried catfish platters arrived along with a huge salad bowl, another bowl of okra and corn, and a huge basket of golden corn bread, all served family-style.
“I hear my arteries snapping shut,” Brandon quipped.
“Thisis thelight version,” Diddy said as she slid a catfish filet onto her plate. She went light on the okra and corn and heavy on the corn bread. She bypassed the salad altogether.
The foursome ate while making small talk about the weather, the horrendous humidity, and life in Baton Rouge compared to life in New Orleans.
It was three o’clock when Brandon Lautril paid the check, promising to stay in touch.
The Lane sisters settled themselves on the veranda. They sat silently, their respective gazes going to the top of the shoe, where the whine of the machinery could be heard. Ducky proceeded to fan herself with an ornamental fan dangling from the swing. “We need to keep our eyes on those…hoodlums up there on that machinery. If they even go near the houses, we call the police and everyone in authority. I don’t object to them leveling the outbuildings because the next good wind that comes along will blow them down anyway. But Bella can’t be stupid enough to go ahead with demolishing the houses w
ithout a permit, can she?”
“Shemight be that stupid, but that man Tigger knows he can lose his contractor’s license if he removes even one board from either one of those houses. A provisional license is just that. That’s not to say he won’t try to pull a fast one. That’s why we’re sitting out here watching. He can see us watching him, so for now, I think everything is okay,” Diddy said.
“I hope Brandon can find out something crucial that will get that woman out of our lives once and for all. He struck me as being extremely competent, Ducky said with a sly smile. If there’s anything to find, he’ll find it. Our little window of time is dwindling at an alarming rate. I don’t like being the voice of doom and gloom but this whole mess is not looking good for us. I had such high hopes when Darby took Russell’s seat on the Preservation Board, but the other members have been brainwashed by Bella.”
“Stop it, Ducky! It’s not over till it’s over. Things can still turn around. My, God, theyhave to turn around. I cannot believethat woman got the best of us. If Brandon and Marcus don’t come through for us, we’re dead in the water,” Dodo said.
“You forgot about the FBI. The twenty-four hours are up. Bella will insist they look into her husband’s disappearance. Even if she didn’t insist, the police will have called them in,” Ducky said as she fanned herself furiously.
The sisters sat silently, each busy with her own thoughts. The clatter from the top of the shoe mixed with the loud rap music irritated them but there was nothing they could do about it.
Dodo finally broke the long silence.
“Now that the kids are gone, why don’t you call Trixie using the phone card. Ask if you can talk to Marcus yourself just to make sure he really is okay. You know you’ve been dying to speak with him,” Dodo teased. Diddy obediently trotted off.
On the front porch, Ducky looked at her sister. “We’re no match for the FBI, Dodo, I guess you know that. We must have been crazy to do what we did. We didn’t think it through. That’s what happens when you get old. You lose your edge,” Ducky said pitifully, wringing her hands in agitation.
Hey, Good Looking Page 19
