“What the fuck?” Rock jumped up.
“Mawmawwas killed a few days ago.” Her voice hitched. “She was strangled. The killer used his bare hands.”
Madame Vincennes is dead—killed? This is some crazy shit. How the hell does this involve me?“I’m sorry ‘bout that, but I still don’t know why the hell you wanted to meet with me. Did Madame send me the mojo bag?”
Tessa nodded.
“And you sent me the second note, the one saying my dad didn’t kill mymaman.”
She nodded again. “Mawmawasked me to send it because her handwriting was too shaky.” She looked at the windows, then lowered her voice. “She saw who killed your ma, and it wasn’t your pa. She swore it was two men, but she only really saw one. She got a good look at him, and he saw her. She ran as fast as she could hoping he didn’t recognize her, but everyone in the parish knewher.”
Is this for fuckin’ real? Pa is innocent?“Why was she in our neighborhood that night?”
“She had to perform a healing for your neighbors a few doors down. Their daughter was very ill with the fever. After she finished, she began to walk home and came to your house. She felt an evil presence surrounding it. At least that’s how she told it to me. Anyway, she went up to it and was going to make sure your parents were okay. She always liked your ma. When she got up to the porch, she heard loud voices, moaning, and a gut-wrenching cry. She ran in and that’s when she saw a tall man with a knife stabbing your ma. Your pa was on the floor, crying and jabbering. The man looked at her, and she told me he had the devil in him. He was pure evil. When she told me that, it gave me the chills. I’m getting them again just telling you.”
“Why didn’t she call the police? Why did she let mymamanbe gutted like a pig?”
“Don’t blameher. Your ma was already gone when she got there. Her eyes were flat. The next day the tall man found mymawmaw, and he threatened to kill her children and their children. He told her she must never talk. And she didn’t for years, but it always ate at her.”
Rock sat there in silence, trying to make sense of the information he’d just been given. If his dad hadn’t killed his mother, who did? Who was this tall man Madame had seen that night? He’d have to find him and tear him apart with his bare hands. “Did your grandma get paid to keep her mouth shut?”
She nodded then added hastily, “It wasn’t like you think. She had to help the family. We were born poor, and she did her best to help all of us out as best she could. She had a bad dream a couple months ago and you were in it. She saw an evil force trying to swallow you up whole, and your ma was there trying to protect you but she wasn’t strong enough. Anyway, it scared the daylights outtaMawmawand she felt that it was your ma telling her to give you some protection and to tell you the truth about your pa. It killed her that you hated your pa for something he didn’t do.” She pursed her lips. “And now she got killed for telling you.”
Rock’s gaze locked with hers. “How’d the killer find out she told?”
Tessa shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s like evil always knows when something is comin’ to destroy it. I met with you tonight to tell you the truth. That’s what she would have wanted me to do. I’m also telling you to be careful. The evilness that destroyed your ma wants you.”
Silence fell between them, the spitting of the wick in the kerosene lamp the only sound in the small house. After a long while, Rock stood up. “Thanks for telling me. I’m sorry Madame had to die, but I promise you I’ll find the fuckin’ sonofabitch who killed her and my ma. Where do you live?”
“Not so far from here.”
“I’ll walk you home.”
“Thanks for the offer but I drove. I parked a few blocks away.”
“I’ll walk you to your car, then. I want to make sure you weren’t followed.”
She extinguished the kerosene lamp and darkness engulfed the house. They walked quietly to her car and he watched her drive away until he couldn’t see her anymore. Then he went back to his sister’s car and headed home.
***
Rock slipped throughthe back door and went downstairs. He didn’t want Isa asking him a lot of questions, and he had to be sure the information Tessa had given him was true before he told his siblings. His gut told him it was.Why would anyone want to kill an old lady who didn’t have anything but concoctions of herbs, bones, and oils?He quietly went into the bedroom and stripped down to his boxers. Watching Clotille’s body as it moved up and down with her steady breathing, he pulled back the covers and slid in next to her. She stirred slightly and he flung his arm over her waist, pressing close to her. Vanilla mixed with sandalwood wisped around him and he kissed the top of her head. She craned her neck and smiled, her eyes sleep-filled.
“I’m glad you’re back. How’d it go?” she asked in a soft voice.
“Fuckin’ intense.” He squeezed her gently.
“I tried to wait up for you but I fell asleep.”
“That’s okay,chérie. I’m fuckin’ tired.”
She pushed back into him, not leaving any space between their bodies. “I love being in your arms.”
“And I love holding you,chérie.”
He held her until she fell back asleep. For a long time, Rock stared at the surrounding darkness as he attempted to make sense of what the hell was going on. A couple months ago, life had been so much simpler. Now it was all kinds of complicated.
Simpler is way the fuck better.
