Page 10 of The Lady on Esplanade
I snatched the doll from Beau so he and Cooper would stop puffing up their feathers, or showing their rumps, or whatever was the human male equivalent to an animal dominance dance.“Is it worth anything?”
Beau shrugged.“Could be.You should ask Mimi, who’s the real expert.I only know what Mimi’s told me when she’s sent me to auctions to bid on them.This one looks to be in pretty good condition, though, which will always put it in a pricier bracket.Where did it come from?”
I pointed at the armoire, the mirrored cabinet yawning open.“It was in there, behind the locked door—except there wasn’t a key inside it.”
“Where’d you find the key?”Cooper asked.
I opened and closed my mouth several times, trying to find thebest way to answer the question.“I heard small feet running on the wooden floors, and when I went to investigate I stepped on the key.”
“It must have fallen from the top of the doorframe ledge,” Beau said.“It’s a common place for hiding a key.”
“Right,” I said.“And denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.Look, Cooper isn’t a stranger to things that go bump in the night.He knows Melanie—remember?And if he’s seriously considering buying this house, we need full disclosure of any…problems the house might have.”
Our attention was drawn to a steadydrip, dripfrom a corner of the room where a growing puddle had begun to spread on the uneven floor, accentuating the warping of the wood.Puckered plaster surrounded by yellowed and peeling paint ringed a hole in the ceiling through which rain entered the house unfettered.
“Exactly.”Beau walked over to the corner and peered up at the ceiling.“Obviously a new roof and fixing the floors will be part of the renovation—which, incidentally, we haven’t yet started—so if you’re squeamish about old houses that need a lot of work, this isn’t the house for you.”
“Nola?Are you there?Do I need to call nine-one-one?”Jolene’s voice came from my phone where I’d dropped it outside the doorway.I rushed to pick it up and turned on the speaker.“Sorry—I, uh, left my phone in another room.Beau and Cooper are here, so I’ve got to go.We can finish our conversation later, okay?”
“Sure.But did you hear the last thing I said?”
My mind tried to rewind to the moments before the doll fell at my feet.I gingerly touched the sore spot on my forehead, where a lump had begun to form.“About the Mustang?”
“No.About the story on the news this morning.It’s been a real gully washer for the last week, so it’s not totally unexpected, but a construction worker at the old Charity Hospital site found a human bone stuck in mud near the back entrance.He thought it might be from a nearby cemetery, since every once in a while some of the residentsfloat out of their resting places during heavy rains, but the cemetery director said it didn’t come from him, so—”
“Jolene,” I interrupted, “is there anything important I need to know right away, or can this wait?”
“Sorry.It can wait.I just thought you’d find it interesting.”
“Later, all right?”
“Fine.Last thing—if you need to borrow my rain boots, they’re in the back of my closet, on the left side.”
I looked down at my feet, warmly ensconced in Jolene’s yellow boots.“Okay.Thank you.I think I will.”
“Say hey to Cooper and Beau for me, all right?”
“I will.I’ve got to go n—”
“And if you don’t think it will be too awkward with the two of them fighting over you, there’s a great little place for lunch right down the street from where you are right now—Café Degas.It’s Wednesday, which means they’re open, so you’re in luck.Did you know that Degas lived with an uncle and his family for a few months in a house on Esplanade?He—”
“See you tonight, Jolene.”I ended the call, then turned back to where the two men stood in front of the armoire, pretending they hadn’t heard Jolene talking about them.
Cooper was holding the perfume bottle I’d apparently dropped before fleeing; he had pulled off the stopper so he could wave its scent in the air between him and Beau.“I definitely recognize this perfume.I remember buying it for my grandmother every Christmas when Gwynn’s had the gift sets.”
“Yeah.And the lady of this house liked it a lot, too.”I walked past Cooper with the doll, then shoved it back onto its little shelf and closed the door.“Why don’t you put the bottle back inside as a special gift for whoever buys the armoire?”
Beau strode over to the armoire and removed the doll.“It’s just a doll, Nola.No need to be creeped out about it.I need to bring this to Mimi so she can decide what she wants to do with it.”
“I didn’t say I was creeped out.”
His eyes softened.“You didn’t need to.”
I felt Cooper shift on his feet as a small electric jolt shot through me.Glancing back to the leaking ceiling, I said, “Yeah, well, maybe we should be a little creeped out.This room could have been the murdered woman’s, and this doll was locked inside the armoire without a key to open it.Sounds creepy to me.”
Cooper faced Beau.“Why don’t you go take your doll to your grandmother while Nola shows me the rest of the house and tells me the renovation plans?It was nice seeing you again.”
“Actually, I stopped by to talk with Nola.We need to go over our reno specs, and Jolene mentioned that Nola wouldn’t be doing fieldwork today because of the weather, so I figured this would be a good time.I thought maybe we could grab lunch and talk while we ate.”
