Unbreakable 2, The Mystery of Lilly (Cypress Grove Series) (15 page)

             
"I'm sorry, but I think that is the worst thing I have ever tasted." She laughs and I join her.  I've spent years watching Miss Finnegan cook.  She never measures anything, just a dash of this and a pinch of that.  It always tastes fabulous. 

             
"I say in celebration of my new house, we all go out to eat tonight," Emma says dumping the meat sauce down the garbage disposal.  "The mozzarella is good."  She laughs, dropping the pot in the sink and grabbing a slice of cheese.

             
"Thanks."  I laugh with her. 

             
"What is that horrible smell?" Lucy enters the kitchen with her nose scrunched up which makes both of us laugh even harder. 

             
"Text the boys and let them know they are taking us out for dinner," Emma says wiping a tear from her eye still laughing.  "Oh, we can go to that new seafood place in New Orleans."

             
"With a little detour to Bon Dieu's," I add throwing a lasagna noodle at Emma.

             
"Yeah, it's a date.  You guys can pick us up on the way.  Jimmy and I will be at
my
house," Emma says grabbing her purse to head out.

             
"You're leaving already? I thought we were going to search the cemetery." I state, shocked at her abrupt departure.

             
"Tomorrow, I promise.  Right now I've got to go and get ready. Plus I want to tell my mother the good news.  She's been feeling really guilty about the house thing." Her voice trails off as she leaves the house.

              A few hours later we are in the SUV on the way to pick up Emma and Jimmy with a quick stop at the bank first.  Jacob is driving, Luke is in the passenger seat, and Lucy and I are in the back. 

             
"What do you need at the bank? I have plenty of cash, babe," Luke says after I tell Jacob to stop there. 

             
"You'll see. I'll just be a minute," I tell them before I hop out.  I'm in and out in five minutes then we are off.  

              Walking with my hand in Luke's, we stroll down the French Quarter.  The restaurant we are going to eat at is on Bourbon Street.  It's not a long walk from Bon Dieu's. 

             
"I can't believe we are going here again," Jacob says behind us, his arm draped over Lucy's shoulders. 

             
"I'm excited, I've heard so much about it.  Now I get to see it in person," Lucy interjects making Jacob groan. 

             
"Oh great, you've turned my girl toward the dark side," Jacob growls, making us all laugh.   

             
As we reach Bon Dieu's, Luke puts his arm around my waist protectively, pulling me close.  We head straight to the back through the beaded curtain.

             
"I'm pretty sure I saw a movie once that had this same scene in it," Jimmy jokes right behind us.  "I believe the cops were investigating a murder."

             
"We might be," Emma adds very seriously.

             
"That's not funny."  Suddenly Jacob is stone cold serious. 

             
"Relax, Jacob." I turn to give him a reassuring smile, but I can see he's not going to be relaxing until we are out of here.  Walking down the dark corridor to the back of the store, I smell the familiar scent of the woman's clove cigarettes. 

             
Walking into the poorly lit room, the same large Haitian woman is behind her little counter perched on a stool studying an old looking book.  This is the same woman that told me the woman in the article we found was not my mother. She looks up noticing us and her face grows sullen.  She looks sad this time.  Last time when she saw me she was instantly on guard, and for lack of better words, pissed.

             
"Child, why do you enter my store again?"  She spurts in her heavy Haitian accent.  "Pwoblem," she says in Haitian, which I now know through all my studies that it means trouble.

             
I walk right up to the counter slipping from Luke's grip.  He grabs the back of my shirt trying to pull me to him again, but I keep going.  He steps up behind me as I put my purse on the counter.  "Trouble." I repeat her word in English.  "Why do you say that?" I ask looking into her eyes.  The whites of her eyes are yellow and deep wrinkles crinkle on her forehead as I confront her.

             
"Tragedy and trouble have plagued many since you first stepped in my store."  She squirms on her seat trying to intimidate me with her size.  It works for Luke because he takes a step closer putting a hand on my shoulder.  The woman seems amused by this.  "Your beau is frightened for you, he is a smart one." She chuckles, her laugh low and harsh.  She pulls out one of her long, brown clove cigarettes lighting it.

             
"I'm not scared." I reach into my purse pulling out the bank envelope. I withdraw one of the cashier's checks. "This is a check for $10,000.  It is yours if you tell me what this sentence says.  Reaching back into my purse I retrieve a piece of paper that has one of the sayings on it that I couldn't translate.  I hear gasps from behind me.  None of them knew what I had planned.  I ignore them, never leaving the woman's eyes.

             
The woman stares at the cashier's check then to me then to the piece of paper again. She grabs the check from my hand studying it closer.

             
"Why you can't let this go child?" She says stuffing the check in between her very large breasts.  "It says, 'An innocent, before it
'
s time.  To be replaced with another innocent.
'"  She translates the words now not looking at me.  "Now leave." She acts as though she just sold her soul to the devil.

             
"Not so fast." I pull out another $10,000 cashier's check. 

             
"Jesus, Lilly." I hear Jacob behind me.  Luke is not saying anything. He seems to be completely focused on keeping a safe distance between me and the woman.

             
"How did Jeanette Thibeau know my mother?" I ask her holding the check in front of her face. 

             
"YOU" the woman shouts, "we do not speak of troubled souls!"  She starts talking in tongues frantically.  I am not sure if it is my imagination, but I think the lights flicker.  Lighting a big bundle of what looks like straw and tiny sticks, she waves it in the air speaking words so fast I can't make out any of them.  Luke grabs my waist pulling me backward to press against his hard chest as he backs us away from the counter.  He's trying to pull me to the door. Jacob and Jimmy are already escorting the girls out.  Emma is fighting Jimmy, but he wins as I see her disappear down the hallway.

             
"Come on, Lilly, please, baby, let's go." Luke is pleading with me as I fight with him. 

             
"No, I need one more answer.  I am not leaving until I get it," I say firmly.  My purse is still on the counter. Fighting against Luke's grip, I think he is about to throw me over his shoulder when the woman speaks.

             
"Come child." She has her eyes closed as she speaks.  Suddenly, the intensity that was in the room is now calmer.  This must shock Luke enough that he lets loose on his grip for me to reach the counter again.  "Papa?" She says into the air.  It's as though she is actually speaking to an invisible person.  "No, Papa, this girl, you can't have this one."  She tells the air again.  She visibly shudders, as though she is freezing. 

             
"One more answer, then you must go. The spirits are not happy you are here," she says in a much softer tone.  It's as if she has had an epiphany or something. She is soft and gentle. Opening her eyes, they almost seem kind now.

             
"Who is the woman in the article?" She closes her eyes at my question, putting her head down I can barely make out the words.

             
"Practice," is all she says for a few seconds, "Mantha girl was practice, they covered it up. They covered it all up." I see a tear squeeze from her shut eye.  It's almost as if she is in a trance as she speaks. As fast as she changed into a kind woman, she changes back.  She looks up at me, her demeanor changes again to the angry woman we saw the first day we came here.  She rips the check from my hand.  "Now go!" She yells, pointing for the door.  "Don't come back, child, I saved you once I don't know if I can do it again!"  She shouts at us, making me stop for a second to stare in her eyes.  What I see is dead seriousness.  This woman is not kidding. She never wants to see me again.

             
Now I'm ready to go.  The transformation in this woman is rather terrifying.  If I was ready or not it didn't matter, because Luke has his arm around my waist and is lifting my feet just enough off the floor that I can't fight him as he carries me out of the store.

             
Putting me down when we are outside, he must think I am going to run back in, because he motions for Jacob to stand in front of the door.

             
"I'm not going back in," I assure Luke so he will relax.

             
"Flower, I don't care what you say. You are never setting foot in that room again." Luke orders.  I nod in agreement.  Whatever just happened in there is something I don't want to experience again.

             
"What did she say after we left?" Emma says shooting Jimmy some daggers, she's pissed she was taken out.

             
"Lilly asked about the girl in the article, she sai
d—
"
I stop Luke abruptly finishing his sentence.

              "A bunch of words we couldn't understand." I glance up at Luke who is giving me a look of confusion.  What he doesn't know is that the woman said the Mantha girl.  I don't know what it means quite yet, but I do know that Emma's housekeeper Maria's last name is Mantha.  This might explain why she is so defensive about the article.  I'm not sure, but right now is not the time I want to bring it up.

             
"Yea, more stuff we couldn't understand," Luke stutters.

             
"It was as if she was possessed or something," Lucy adds, "That has to be one of the weirdest things I've ever encountered." 

             
"You didn't see her after. She was calm, like she was someone else.  I don't know if it was all an act to scare us off or not.  If it was, that woman deserves an Oscar.  She was talking to someone she called Papa. Something about he could not have me," I tell them. We start moving down the street as we talk. 

             
"Papa Legba?"  Emma says with a shudder.  Who is this guy and why do people keep shuddering when they hear his name. 

             
"Who is he?"

             
"Folklore, but a lot who practice believe he is real.  He is said to be the intermediary between the invisibles and humanity," Emma says this like it is common knowledge. 

             
"Ummm. . . what?"

             
"He is like the wall between worlds, like a veil of sorts. Some believe for a sacrifice he will grant them wishes or whatever."  Emma is walking beside me while Jimmy is trying to put his arm around her.  She keeps pushing him away.   She's still mad at him for dragging her out of the store. 

             
"She also said she saved me once, but doesn't think she could do it again," I tell Emma, who I can already see the cogs in her brain going a mile a minute. 

             
"Maybe she thinks she saved you from Papa?" 

             
"What?"

             
"Hell I don't know, I'm just telling you what I have heard."  Emma starts walking faster in front of us trying to avoid Jimmy's grip.

             
"I can't believe you just paid $20,000 for that information," Jimmy says glancing at Luke. 

             
"What?  Don't look at me. I think it is pretty obvious that Lilly does what she wants," Luke says at Jimmy with a low chuckle.

             
"I wouldn't be scoffing about how I spend my money!" I yell at Jimmy who is ahead of us now with his arm around the waist of a still pissed Emma.  She moves away from him, but he doesn't give in. 

             
"Oh I'm not, just a comment. Thanks for the house by the way!" He says over his shoulder trying to get Emma to look at him as we walk toward Bourbon Street. 

Chapter 23

             
"So do you want to explain why you didn't want me telling them about what she said in there?"  Luke asks me later that night as we are lying in bed.  My head is resting on his chest, his hands rubbing my back as I tell him about Maria.