The Incident Under the Overpass

by Anne McClane

  Lacey picked herself up from the couch and paced the living room. She was disappointed in herself for being so self-absorbed and not asking more about Monica. Although it was a good bet that Jimmy wouldn’t have offered much more information, even under questioning.

  She grabbed the towel from the recliner, and was stopped by the book Jimmy had left on the chair. The quantum physics book Cecil had bought for her.

  Pay attention, she thought. Her encounter with Cecil at the Healing Center had been buried underneath everything that had occurred in the past twenty-four hours. She picked up the book and remembered the photocopied genealogy. She had stashed it in a drawer, intending to study it further when she had more time. She pulled it out and returned to the couch, letting the towel drop to the floor.

  31

  After a barrage of missed calls and text messages, Lacey finally pinned down Tonti. She had a thousand questions for her, the most prosaic being how to look after the house while she was away.

  Tonti would be at happy hour, Tuesday evening, at Mondo in Lakeview. Lacey expected a host of Tonti’s contemporaries, and planned to show up very late. Hopefully the herd would thin as the hours wore on.

  Lacey arrived at the well-appointed restaurant at 7:40. Tonti and one other woman remained at a table for six at the back. Lacey recognized the woman’s mandible, and suddenly heard the cicadas outside.

  “Fashionably late, child!” Tonti exclaimed. She maintained her regal seated posture while Dotty Trebuchet stood.

  “Look at you!” she exclaimed, and held out her arms to Lacey for a hug.

  “Hi, Miss Dotty,” Lacey replied. Her words and the half embrace felt awkward. “Miss Dotty” didn’t suit her.

  “You’re so fit! I didn’t notice when I saw you the last time,” Dotty Trebuchet said.

  Nice backhanded compliment, Lacey thought.

  “Isn’t she beautiful?” Tonti interjected. “She runs all the time, even did when Fox was around. Keeps her in fighting shape.”

  The mention of Fox caught Dotty Trebuchet off guard. It was a reaction Lacey recognized well. Bringing up the dead, especially amongst people who only knew them at arm’s distance, could cause them to lose their footing. Lacey secretly praised Tonti for doing it.

  Dotty Trebuchet recovered. “Oh, Matt’s not as active as he used to be, not since Jenny had the twins,” she said. “I can tell he regrets it, but he still looks good; he must have his father’s metabolism. Thank God he didn’t get mine!”

  Lacey imagined the beefy Matt Trebuchet she’d known in college as a bony insect. She stifled a laugh.

  Dotty Trebuchet looked at her Rolex. “I really do need to get going! I have to get to the north shore; I’m watching the twins tonight. I can’t wait until Matt moves back over here. He thought they’d try it—get more house for the money and all that—but they both hate it. They’re trying to get back over here before the twins start kindergarten; they want them to go to Newman.”

  Way more information than I need, Miss Dotty, Lacey thought. “Oh, okay,” Lacey said. “Well, it was nice seeing you.”

  “You, too! Keep up the running! It suits you!”

  Lacey glared at Tonti as Dotty Trebuchet walked through the door of the restaurant.

  Tonti smiled. “Oh, she’s a right Nigel, all right.”

  Lacey wasn’t sure what that meant, but it didn’t sound complimentary.

  “Have a seat, child.”

  “Should we maybe go to the bar?” Lacey asked. “They look kind of crowded in here; it looks like they could use the table.”

  “Relax, dear, they will not kick us out. We have this little gathering here about once a month. Half of the table are investors, so we get some consideration. Thank God you came; there’s only so long I can tolerate Dotty Trebuchet one on one.”

  Lacey laughed as she sat. “Why do you stay friends with her, then?”

  “I thought we covered this,” Tonti said.

  A server appeared, just in time to spare Lacey.

  “Robin, I’m afraid you’ll have to put up with me for just a little bit longer,” Tonti said to the server. “Could you be a dear and bring another bottle of the Duval-Leroy? And a glass for my niece here.”

  Lacey looked at the empty champagne flute in front of Tonti and thought of protesting, but didn’t have the energy.

  “Would you like to look at the menu?” Robin asked Lacey.

  Lacey looked at Tonti. “I am a bit peckish...”

  “Go ahead, child! I have nowhere to be.”

  “Yes, please, that would be great,” Lacey said.

  “There’s only one thing of Dotty Trebuchet’s that I’m a little envious of,” Tonti said.

  “What’s that?”

  “Grandbabies.”

  For the first time in a very long time, the subject of babies did not make Lacey’s chest tight. Instead, it served as the perfect segue to a topic that had been on her mind for three days.

  “Tonti,” Lacey said. “Did Birdie have children?” She already knew the answer, but wanted to hear Tonti’s recollection.

  Tonti looked thoughtful and held her tongue. Robin returned with a bottle, a fresh champagne flute, and a menu.

  “I’ll give you a few minutes to look it over,” she said as she popped the cork and filled both glasses.

  “Do y’all need anything else right now?” Robin asked.

  “No, you’re fantastic, darlin’,” Tonti responded. “Just come back in a bit to feed my precious baby here.”

  Tonti was unusually silent. Lacey regretted how she’d brought up the topic of Birdie. “I think I know why you’re asking that,” Tonti finally said.

  “You do?”

  “She didn’t,” Tonti said. “As I grew up, I came to think that might have been why she was so attached to us. We were the children she never had.”

  “Was she married?” Lacey asked. Lacey wasn’t as sure about that one. The genealogy was confusing at points.

  “Yes. I only ever saw her husband once—at her funeral. Mère almost didn’t let us go, but I think Papa insisted. He took Amelie, Uncle, and me. Camille refused to go. Big Fox wanted to go so badly, but Papa told him he was too young.”

  A slow change came over Tonti. She looked decades younger.

  “I vividly remember Papa talking to Birdie’s husband,” she continued. “I was afraid to go near him. He was seated in the front row of the church, and he looked so severe and so sad. He stayed seated while Papa talked to him, standing up. I saw later, as everyone filed out of the church, that he walked with a cane. It seemed like walking was a great labor to him.”

  Robin checked in. Lacey quickly glanced at the menu and ordered the Mondo burger.

  “Did you go to the cemetery?” Lacey asked after Robin departed.

  “No. Papa said burials should be for family. I wanted to say that we were her family, but Amelie knew what was about to come out of my mouth and she grabbed my hand and stopped me. Which I suppose was for the best. It wasn’t the place nor the time to trigger Papa’s temper.”

  Lacey took advantage of the pause in a pause in Tonti’s story. “Did you ever meet any of her relatives?”

  “No,” Tonti said. “I remember she talked about a brother; I think he lived somewhere out by Lafayette. But I don’t remember ever meeting him. I’m sure he must have been at the funeral, but I don’t remember. I was too young to think of things like that.”

  Lacey drew in a deep breath. “I think I’ve met Birdie’s nephew.”

  “How splendid!” Tonti said, unfazed. “How on earth did you come to make the connection to Birdie?”

  Lacey shook her head slowly. Tonti completely confounded her.

  “It’s sort of a long story,” Lacey said. “It began when he came to the office to pick up a donation of books, and he drafted me into some volunteer work…” Lacey decided to redirect. “Long story short, I ran into him again recently, and I didn’t know why at the time, but he gave me all this old paperwork, and from
it, it seems pretty clear that he’s Birdie’s nephew.”

  Tonti nodded.

  “You don’t think that’s a little coincidental?” Lacey asked.

  “I don’t believe in coincidences. God doesn’t believe in coincidences, child.”

  That was enough to hear to make Lacey keep going. “Do you remember how you said there’s something in me that’s like Birdie?”

  “Of course, child. Are you learning more about it?” Tonti asked Lacey like she might ask a college student about Plato’s Apology.

  Lacey chuckled. “You could say that. Do you also remember how I asked you about that healer lady down in Galliano?”

  Tonti narrowed her eyes. “I think so. But how do those types of charlatans have anything to do with Birdie? Or you, for that matter?”

  Lacey decided to skip over how she’d seen the word traiteur directly behind the name Roberta Henriette Meeks in the genealogy. Everything in the narrative about Roberta Meeks indicated that she was Birdie.

  “Nothing,” Lacey said. “Just the healing part. I think Birdie was a type of healer.”

  Tonti sipped her champagne silently. Lacey searched her face for any clue of affirmation, dissent, any acknowledgement whatsoever. She was tempted to divulge all the gory details of her burgeoning ability just to prompt an answer, or at least a reaction, out of Tonti.

  Robin returned with Lacey’s food, just in time to spare Lacey from the growing awkward silence.

  Lacey thanked Robin and stared at the plate.

  “Are you thinking you can absorb the food by osmosis?” Tonti asked.

  “No,” Lacey said, looking up. “But do you think this is all crazy? That Birdie was a healer…and that maybe I am too?”

  Tonti cracked the barest of smiles. She didn’t look like herself. “No, not crazy, child. Miraculous, maybe. Extraordinary, certainly.”

  Lacey picked up a French fry and traced the outline of her plate. “I can’t shake the feeling that you know more about this than you’re letting on,” Lacey mumbled.

  “Oh, child, that’s just nonsense.” Tonti’s normal persona returned. “I was too young to know anything about Birdie, other than how she treated me and what she meant to us. And your connection to her has always been nothing more than a feeling to me. Something soul-deep that I can’t really explain. I’m actually delighted that you’re proving my intuition right!”

  Something in Tonti’s tone broke the spell. Lacey thought about her desire for answers. What was more important, knowing the how, or knowing what to do with it? She exhaled. “So you’re satisfied with that?” she asked. “You don’t want to know the details?”

  “Child, I always want to know the details. But everything about you right now tells me you’re not ready to divulge them. You might not even know how. Don’t let me add to your stress, especially when you have other news you need to tell me.”

  “Other news?” Lacey asked.

  “That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” Tonti asked. “To tell me goodbye for a while?”

  Lacey had to stop herself from throwing her arms up into the air. “How did you know that already?” she asked.

  “Subtlety, child,” Tonti said. “Or lack thereof. I could hear it in your messages on the phone.”

  “Wow,” Lacey said. There’s definitely something to Tonti’s intuition, she thought. “Well, you’re right,” Lacey continued. “I’m going to California.”

  Tonti looked like the cat that swallowed the canary. “What will you be doing?” she asked.

  Lacey finally started eating. In between bites, she explained that she’d be working on a movie set. “I’m not sure how it’s all going to work yet, but I should only be gone for a few months. I need your advice on a few things.”

  “What are you going to do with that giant of a dog?”

  “Ambrose is coming with me,” Lacey said definitively.

  “They’ll let you do that?”

  Lacey wasn’t sure who “they” were, but she was certain of one thing—she needed Ambrose with her on this upcoming adventure.

  “I’ve still got to figure that one out, but yes, I’m planning on taking him with me. But what should I do about the house?” Lacey asked. “I don’t think I’ll be gone long enough to rent it out, and I don’t think I want to do that anyway. But I’ll need someone to check in on it occasionally. My parents are too far away.”

  “Consider it done,” Tonti said.

  “Oh no, Tonti, I didn’t mean to trouble you with it!” Lacey said. “I just figured you would know people—especially a gardener—who could keep the outside in shape.”

  “Yes, I do know people,” Tonti said. She refilled her glass. “So leave it to me to determine when they need to be called. You won’t mind if I have the occasional cocktail on your front porch, will you?”

  Lacey laughed. “Not at all. If you don’t mind being the target of Mr. Max’s spying.”

  “I look forward to it. You have a fabulous front porch. And there’s something I love about watching the trains. Makes me feel so connected. Time and distance and all that.”

  “But truly, Tonti, I don’t want to put you out with this.”

  “Child, relax. Your house is five minutes away, I have no regular schedule to keep, and it will make me feel like a million dollars to help you out this way.”

  “What about Brazil? Won’t you be gone for a while yourself?” Lacey asked, proud of herself for remembering.

  “That’s not until November, child, don’t fret,” Tonti said. “Where in California?”

  “San Luis Obispo,” Lacey said. “It’s somewhere between Los Angeles and San Francisco.”

  “I know it!” Tonti said.

  Lacey finished up her food while Tonti chattered about a trip she’d made up the Pacific Coast Highway when the boys were little. She tried to remember a specific detail about San Luis Obispo. “There’s something about butterflies,” she said. “I’ll have to look it up and tell you about it.”

  Lacey dabbed at her the corners of her mouth with a napkin and wondered if she could take her leave. She was about to say something about hating to eat and run when Tonti took another serious turn.

  “Lacey, back to Birdie,” she said. “I don’t know why she didn’t have children. I don’t know whether it was because she couldn’t, or just didn’t. And I’ll never know.”

  Lacey felt her breath catch in her throat.

  “But I can’t imagine that her gift was in any way connected to that,” Tonti said. “It breaks my heart that you and Fox never had children, but it would have broken my heart even worse to see those children lose their father. Sometimes the miracle is in what doesn’t happen.”

  Lacey’s eyes welled up. She glanced down at the three forlorn French fries left on her plate. From across the table, Tonti grabbed Lacey’s hand.

  “Oh, child. Don’t despair,” she said. “And don’t think of your gift in terms of what it might take from you. Pay attention, and see what it manifests instead.”

  Lacey looked up, a faint smile on her face. She thought of Eli.

  “You know,” Lacey said, “I have a friend who’s been telling me that a lot. To pay attention.”

  “Your friend is right. Your time in your chrysalis is over. It’s time to spread your wings and engage with the world around you.”

  Still thinking of Eli, Lacey asked, “You’re not hiding any distant Birdie relatives from me, are you?”

  Tonti smiled and shook her head. Lacey’s phone lit up. “Look, child, there’s the world wanting to engage with you,” Tonti said.

  Lacey looked at the number. The area code confirmed it was a call about the new job.

  “Tonti, I’m sorry, I really should take this.”

  “By all means, child.” Tonti watched Lacey step outside to the restaurant patio, and smiled. She downed the drink remaining in her glass and asked Robin the server to close out her tab.

  32

  A large container ship floated down the Mississ
ippi River. Lacey watched from the fifth- floor picture window at Carriere & Associates. She marveled at its fluid, even pace toward an inevitable destination. She didn’t once think of its origin.

  Twelve days from now, she would be in California. On July tenth, she would be far away from that ship, Trip’s office, every vestige of her former life. Twelve days didn’t feel like enough time to tie up all her loose ends—train Trip’s new employee, make arrangements for the house, pack—and yet it still felt like an eternity.

  Lacey’s replacement at Carriere & Associates, Katelyn, was going to Europe in July and would not start working for Trip until August. Trip wanted Lacey to return then, to train Katelyn. Lacey attempted to explain why that would be impossible, that she would be on a job thousands of miles away, but gave up when she saw that Trip wasn’t listening.

  Instead, Katelyn had agreed to come into the office for several days before she left for her vacation. She had been there yesterday, and was scheduled for a few more days upcoming. But today, Lacey was alone.

  Lacey liked Katelyn. She was competent, and excited about her imminent wedding, and nearly apoplectic about her trip to Europe. Lacey was confident she would learn the intricacies of working for Trip Carriere in short order. She thought of introducing Katelyn to Marva and Roland, but decided it was best to let them introduce themselves.

  Putzing around the office by herself, Lacey tried to stop smiling. She had no reason to feel so upbeat—she had a never-ending list of things to do before leaving town, she had no idea what her days in California would hold, and she was certain there was some major thing she would forget to take care of in New Orleans. She suspected the latter concern was related to Nathan, still ever-present in her thoughts. She did not want feel so happy, thinking about their night together, but couldn’t deter the feeling.

  Maybe my mutant powers have severed the tie between my heart and my head, she thought.

  Her mutant powers. She thought of the time between June ninth and July tenth. Between June ninth and today, for that matter. That was the true eternity. How altered she had become, in less than a month’s time. Was there more to come? The incident with Nathan—the first incident—had happened June tenth. Or, more precisely, the wee hours of June eleventh. But she now knew the significance of June ninth.