by Sharon Sala
“What did you see?” Brendan asked.
Sahara pointed toward the doorway at the front of the house.
“There was a woman standing in the doorway crying, and Leopold was yelling at her, cursing her, telling her to never come here again.”
“Did you recognize her?”
“No, but when she turned to walk away, I saw her belly. She was very pregnant.”
“Bingo,” Brendan said softly. “Way to go.”
She shivered, still locked into the memory.
“Leopold was so mad, and I was so scared. I knew that was something I shouldn’t have seen.”
“After the woman left, did he see you on the stairs?” Brendan asked.
She didn’t answer.
He reached for her hands.
“Sahara…look at me.” He saw the horror on her face as she raised her head. “He did see you, didn’t he? What did he say to you?”
She was reeling from how he’d said her name—Sahara—all soft and coaxing.
“Uh…he said… He said that he would hurt Mama if I told anyone. I had nightmares for weeks that something would happen to her, and then gradually I forgot about it. I think it was you talking about other children that made me remember it.”
He cupped the back of her neck and then pulled her toward him.
Sahara leaned her forehead against his chest, taking comfort in the warmth of his hand.
“I hate this place,” she muttered, and then put her hands on his chest and pushed out of his grasp. “I’m not going to freak out on you. I’m okay.”
They walked the rest of the way down in silence, and nothing more was said until they reached the kitchen. By then it was obvious to Brendan that she’d slipped into an act.
“Morning, Mama. Morning, Lucy! Something sure smells good in here.”
Billie smiled. “Good morning, darling. I hope you brought your appetite.”
Sahara laughed. “I brought someone with an appetite. Brendan already told me he’s hungry, and I could be convinced to eat, as well.”
“Sit, both of you,” Billie said. “Fried eggs, cheese grits and bacon.”
“And a stack of hot buttered toast to go with,” Lucy added.
“All this great cooking could get addictive,” Brendan said, and then seated Sahara before sitting at the end of the table nearest her.
Moments later Billie brought plates to the table while Lucy brought the coffeepot to fill the cups.
“Something’s different around here,” Brendan said. “Oh…the flowers are gone!”
“They’re all outside,” Billie said. “I wanted them out of my kitchen. Lucy helped.”
“Good,” Sahara said, and shuddered again, thinking of the snake.
They were all seated and eating while listening to Billie outline her day. Even though one of her employers was dead and the other missing, until someone told her differently, she had her chores to attend.
“I’ll be shopping for groceries, stopping by a bakery for croissants and stopping at Sam Wing’s to pick up the dry cleaning. If there’s anything you need, just let me know before I leave,” she said.
“Sahara, if you don’t need me for anything specific, I’d be happy to go along and help Billie,” Lucy offered.
“That’s a great idea,” Sahara said.
Billie smiled at Lucy. “I always appreciate a second set of hands. That’s so kind of you.”
Brendan got up to refill his coffee cup. “Anyone else want a refill?” he asked.
“No, thanks,” Sahara said, as the other two women shook their heads.
He poured the coffee, and then instead of returning to the table, he leaned against the counter, his arms folded across his chest.
“Billie, I need to ask you something.”
She turned around.
“Ask away.”
“Did you ever hear gossip about any of Leopold’s other women being pregnant?”
“There was no gossip about Leopold one way or the other,” Billie said. “I know there were other women, but I’m sure after whatever transpired between them, he paid them to disappear. He protected Katarina at all costs. Why?”
“We don’t know where Leopold is, his wife is dead, and someone wants Sahara gone, too. There’s a decent inheritance at stake in this.”
He took a sip of his coffee as his gaze slid to Sahara. She was watching him with an intensity that was slightly unnerving. And then he noticed Lucy was watching Sahara just as intently.
He took his coffee to the kitchen windows to look out. The sun was bright, the sky filled with towering clouds that appeared to be building.
“Yesterday it looked like rain, and then it didn’t happen, but I think it’s going to hit today,” he said.
Billie jumped up and ran to the window.
“Oh, I think you’re right. I’d better get this kitchen cleaned up so we can go run the errands before the storm arrives.”
“I’ll help,” Lucy said.
Sahara didn’t say anything as she began stacking plates and taking condiments to the refrigerator. When she finished, she walked up behind Billie and hugged her.
“I love you, Mama. I still can’t believe you’re here, but I am so happy you are.”
Billie dried her hands and patted Sahara’s cheek. “We’ll get this all sorted out soon enough. Until then, rest assured you will never be without me again.”
Sahara’s joy surged. To know she was no longer alone in the world was huge.
“Hurry home before the rains,” she said.
“Don’t worry. With Lucy along to help, it won’t take nearly as long.”
Sahara kissed Billie on the cheek and then turned around to look for Brendan. He was waiting for her to make a move.
“Are you ready to check out that office?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Then let’s do this.”
Eleven
Sahara led the way through the winding hallways of the ground floor to a small room tucked away between a ballroom and a utility closet.
“This is it,” she said, as she opened the door, but Brendan stopped her on the threshold.
“Wait,” he said. “Don’t turn on the lights.”
“Why not? Is something wrong?”
“I thought I saw something. I want to see this in natural light first,” he said, pointing toward the mullioned windows and the sunshine coming through the leaded panes. Then he squatted at the doorway and began scanning the floor.
Curious, she dropped to her knees beside him and rocked back on her heels.
“What are you looking at?” she whispered.
He put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her toward him, then pointed down.
“What do you see?” he asked.
She was so distracted by his arm around her shoulders that she couldn’t think what he meant.
“I see the floor and a little dust, which would freak Billie out. They used to hire weekly cleaners. Maybe the cleaners aren’t being watched as carefully as before,” she said.
“Look again, Sahara…at the wood.”
And then she noticed what he meant. She crawled into the room a few feet to touch the flooring where he pointed.
“It looks like a path worn on the floor, and it even feels different.”
“There’s another that goes straight to the bookcase. It’s the first thing I saw when you opened the door. Leopold Travis walked these two paths so many times that he’s worn off enough of the finish that it’s visible.”
He stood up and offered her a hand. She took it without thinking, curious as to where this was going.
“Now we go in…with lights.”
She flipped on the switch and glanced toward the desk, imagining Leopold sitting behind it, glaring at them for intruding into his private lair.
“Yes, well, we’re here because you’re not, so save it,” Sahara muttered.
Brendan turned. “Were you talking to me?”
“No, sorry. Ju
st thinking out loud,” she said, then realized Brendan was already following the first path all the way past the desk to the corner of the room.
“This is strange,” he said. “There’s nothing here. No table, no liquor cabinet. No reason to wear a path to this spot. What used to be here?”
“Nothing that I can remember. But I wasn’t allowed in here, so I only ever caught stolen glimpses inside.”
He stood there a moment and then took a couple of steps back and looked down. There was a shorter piece of hardwood that finished out the corner. He squatted again, and when he pushed down against the plank, he felt it give.
“This piece is loose,” he said, pulling a Swiss army knife from his pocket. He opened the blade and within seconds pried up the plank.
“Oh my God,” Sahara said. “There’s a hole. Is anything in it?”
“Not anymore,” he said, and slid the plank back in place, then stood up and looked back across the room while Sahara moved to the desk and started going through drawers.
She went through all of them without finding anything of note and was about to quit when she thought to check the underside of the drawers, and started over.
It wasn’t until she got to the second drawer on the left side of the desk that she felt what she thought was a leather-bound book.
“There’s something underneath this drawer,” she said.
Brendan quickly helped her pull it out, then removed what looked like a journal that was taped to the bottom. The leather covering was old and cracked. The lined pages were yellowed with age, and each line had a single notation. The notations were similar. Each consisted of a letter of the alphabet, a date and then numbers.
“This is weird,” she said, leaning closer to read over his arm as he gave the pages a quick glance.
“It’s in code. There needs to be another book somewhere with names that correspond with the alphabet letter.”
“What would they mean?” she asked.
“Who knows…but it’s something he didn’t want to advertise or he wouldn’t have gone to these lengths to hide it.”
Sahara frowned. “Why does anyone keep a record of something they didn’t want known?”
“Oddly enough, for the same reason that serial killers often take a souvenir from each victim. Looking at them, handling them, gives these people a high, like reliving the murder all over again. In this instance, if this had to do with Leopold’s indiscretions, it could be one way to relive his conquests…or possible reminders of payoffs he gave them to make them go away.”
She sighed. “What about the other path on the floor? The one that leads toward the bookcase?”
“We just need to look at what’s there,” he said. “So, since they go all the way to the ceiling and I am an ungainly six foot five, how about I search the top five shelves and you do the bottom five. Maybe we’ll get lucky again.”
“You’re not ungainly,” Sahara said, eyeing his very fine physique.
He grinned. “That’s what Mom used to say about me when I was a teenager. I just kept getting taller and taller. It kept my younger brothers in clothes for years, wearing my hand-me-downs because I outgrew the stuff before I wore it out.”
“Is your dad tall?” Sahara asked.
“We all are,” he said, then eyed her. “You’re tall. Is Leopold tall?”
She nodded, then added, “So were Billie’s parents. Her mother was from Jamaica. Her father was a merchant marine.”
Brendan sat down on the side of the desk and let her talk. They had all day to search, but talking was good medicine for her. Everyone needed to be reminded of their roots from time to time.
“I suspect there’s a story in that love affair.”
She nodded, then pushed a pen set and a day calendar aside and scooted up onto the desk beside him.
“Oh yes. They were utterly devoted to each other and died together in a car wreck when Billie was seventeen.”
Brendan frowned. “Which helps explain how Leopold managed to seduce her. Grieving young girl alone in the world, and probably wooed her with gifts until she gave in. It’s not until conquests become a burden that they get dumped.”
“I was the burden, and you cannot know how many times I wished we had been dumped.”
Brendan gave her a quick hug.
“Look at it this way, honey. In the end, your success is the best revenge.”
Sahara glanced up at him with a smile on her face, only to realize there were only inches between his mouth and hers. Breath caught in the back of her throat. She saw his nostrils flare slightly and knew he was feeling something, but what?
Brendan saw her eyes widen. Her lips parted. He wanted to kiss her. It would be a mistake, but he wanted it just the same.
It was his cell phone ringing that finally broke the tension. He looked away as he answered.
“McQueen.”
“This is Harold Warner. I wonder if I might speak to Sahara.”
“Sure. Just a minute,” Brendan said, and put the phone in her hands. “It’s Harold.”
She grimaced. “I should have called,” she whispered, then answered. “Hello.”
“You didn’t call me,” he said.
“I was in shock?”
Harold sighed. “Are you trying out excuses, or are you not sure why you neglected to tell me what’s happening over there?”
“A snake crawled out of a vase of flowers and was aiming for my neck when Brendan shot it. It was terrifying, and I pretty much lost my mind. I will not apologize for that. Where’s my phone? If I had my phone, I might think more about using it.”
Harold was horrified. “Oh my God. I didn’t know details. I’m sorry, honey. I’m so sorry. As for your phone, I put Adam in charge. I haven’t heard yet whether he found it or not.”
“Okay. Sorry I snapped at you.”
“It doesn’t matter. As long as you’re safe…that’s all that matters. Are you satisfied with Brendan?”
She shivered. “Yes.”
“Good, good. I sent a text to Detective Shaw suggesting he send the video to McQueen’s email, so tell him to be looking for it. Is there anything I can do for you?”
“No, I don’t need anything more than I already have. I’ll try to do better about staying in touch, even if I don’t have my phone, okay?”
He chuckled. “That would be appreciated. Goodbye, dear. Take care.”
“I will. Bye, Harold.”
She handed the phone back to Brendan. “He said to tell you he sent a text to Detective Shaw about sending the security footage, so you need to be watching for it.”
Brendan nodded.
She got up and headed to the bookcase, then stood there a moment, thinking of Leopold and where he would most likely hide the key to decoding the ledger.
“I’m going to start on the bottom shelf. You start on the top one. The Leopold I remember would never have put anything secret within arm’s reach.”
Brendan regretted that their moment was over, but got up without comment to do as she suggested. Soon the books were being pulled out of order and every page was searched.
After a while, a rumble of distant thunder sounded.
It was finally going to rain.
*
Adam had just come on duty when the workers repairing the elevator entered The Magnolia. He knew the crew boss by name and hailed him as they came toward him.
“Hey, Russell, we had a request from Miss Travis to see if we could recover her purse and cell phone. She says she lost them in the hallway between the elevator and the penthouse right after the bomb went off. Everything became so dusty and smoky she couldn’t find anything, and then, as you know, she was rescued from the roof with no chance to take anything with her. Will you be anywhere in that area today that you could look for it?”
The crew boss nodded. “She’s sure having a rough time now, isn’t she? I’d be happy to check that out for her,” he said.
“Thanks. If you do find them, bring them to me. I ha
ve orders to mail them straight to her.”
“I’ll go there first thing,” Russell said. “It’ll take me a bit to climb the ladder inside the shaft, but if the items are there, I’ll bring them right back.”
“Much appreciated,” Adam said.
*
It was just after 9:00 a.m. as Bubba headed out of New Orleans. It looked like rain later today, and he wanted this trip over with and to be back in the city before that happened. He had an address and directions to where Harley Fish lived. They knew each other only because they’d gone to school together, but he could never claim they’d been friends, and he was nervous about how Harley would receive him. With the wad of cash he had in his pocket, he was hoping the reception would at least be cordial.
It wasn’t until he left the main highway and began following directions that took him deeper and deeper into bayou country that he began to feel anxious. These roads were narrow as hell. One wrong turn and he’d be nose down in water with the gators.
Just when he thought he’d gotten himself lost, he saw a green mailbox with the name Fish on the side and took the turn up a narrow one-lane road.
*
Harley Fish was at the back of his cabin gutting a big-mouth bass when he heard the sound of a car coming toward his house. Harley didn’t entertain visitors, so he dropped the knife, grabbed his rifle and slipped into the trees surrounding the clearing, wiping his bloody hands on his pants as he ran until he found a good hiding spot. He had a perfect line of sight to his front porch when the car pulled up to his cabin and parked.
The first sense of relief was that it wasn’t the law, and then his relief was replaced by surprise.
“What de hell dat man be wantin’ wit me?” he muttered.
Then the man honked his horn as he got out.
Harley walked out of the trees.
Bubba saw movement from the corner of his eye and turned to see Harley coming toward him. The fact that he was carrying a rifle loosely across his belly made him shiver, guessing that same rifle had probably been aimed at him from the woods.
