What would they say right now? There was only one way of finding out.
As I’d done the night before, I sat with my legs crossed, hunkering over the board. My palms began to sweat. I rubbed them against my pajama bottoms, even blowing on my clammy palms. I sensed my hesitation was because I was fearful of facing the truth.
But I did so anyway before I lost my nerve.
“Spirits. I can already feel you. Is someone trying to kill me?”
My fingers were heavy this morning and already, I could feel dampness on the back of my neck. However, I wasn’t using any pressure when the planchette finally moved.
Y-E-S
“My brother?”
N-O
“Montgomery?” The single word was whispered.
Another hesitance. N-O
Relief flowed. One more question.
“Then who?”
When the board spelled out bad men, for a split second I almost screamed obscenities. The spirits were supposed to know. Weren’t they? Maybe that was the problem. They were uncertain who was hunting me and who’d make the final catch.
“Is this about Montgomery?”
With no hesitation: Y-E-S
For all the nights I’d longed to live in a fantasy, real life was far more adventurous. At least I had my answer and some confidence paying a visit to my brother was the right thing to do.
It was the only thing that would put the cracked pieces of my soul back together before they were lost in an oblivion of guilt. Before I walked from the room, I tilted my head to stare at the board one last time. Why did I have a terrible feeling another much longer conversation, or maybe I should call it a séance, should be held?
Montgomery
I shoved the laptop away and threw my head back, twisting my neck before rubbing my eyes. I’d been at the desk since returning to the house. Still trying to finish paperwork for Indulgence while waiting for my Capo to find out everything he could on Danny and my French flower.
The wait was arduous, especially because I loathed not having full control over a situation. If this were a typical day in New Orleans, I could spend the time waiting for a piece of information by combing the streets and talking to informants. I was a fish out of water while stuck here.
I’d gone as far with the research as I could with the company’s secure access to worldwide information. I’d also delved into the dark web but had assigned Gio to continue working with our computer experts on discovering every scrap of information.
What I had discovered had been through a connection in the Department of Health and Human Services. Since the children hadn’t been adopted, the information provided hadn’t been considered confidential. They’d entered foster care in Maryland, but they’d moved several times, including to Pittsburgh and New York.
By all accounts, the foster parents had been decent, but their records would never provide the absolute truth. I’d also found Danny’s arrest record. The kid had been lucky.
What nagged at my instincts was that both the arrest and guardianship had occurred in New York. Additional questions were occupying my mind.
They were both hiding details about their past. They’d come from a difficult situation. I could only imagine what my life would have been like had I lost my parents at such a young age.The deaths had shifted Fleur toward the light and the brother toward the dark.
It was understandable, but when the two collided, the explosive result was often not something either one could recover from.
With my eyes closed, my full concentration shifted to Fleur. She’d remained vigilant about her brother yet there’d been more of a question in her voice regarding his appearance. What could possibly be so urgent that he’d felt the need not only to track her down but also to break into her house?
Warning her of impending danger?
Yet another reason I needed every scrap of information on the man. Thankfully, just as my patience was about to wear out, my phone rang. My first thought, perhaps my hope was to see Fleur’s number, which I’d programmed into my phone while providing her with mine.
Seeing Gio’s number flash across the screen, I initially felt disappointment, chuckling as I answered the phone. “What did you find?”
