The Dead Play On

by Heather Graham

  “Did he tell you anything? His name, maybe his address?” Danni asked, walking over and smiling at the little boy.

  “Hi, I’m Danni. This is Natasha and Father Ryan. What’s your name?” she asked him.

  “Gram,” he said.

  “He said his name is Gram,” Danni murmured.

  “No, I don’t think so,” Natasha said.

  The toddler was shaking his head. “Gram fall down,” he said.

  “He fell down?” Father Ryan murmured.

  “Oh, come on, John!” Natasha said. “He isn’t Gram. Gram has to be his grandmother. She was probably watching him and fell down. She’s probably hurt somewhere.”

  Danni already had her phone out. She could have called 911, but she dialed Larue instead.

  Even as she was trying to explain the situation to Larue, she heard a startled yelp from inside La Porte Rouge. Turning, she saw that Jessica was staring at them all, stricken.

  For a moment she appeared to be frozen in time and place. Then she let out another strangled scream and came racing toward them.

  “Mama!” the toddler cried, his little arms reaching out.

  Larue, still on the phone with Danni, heard the noise and asked, “What’s going on?”

  “Um, we’ve found the mother,” Danni said.

  And yet she knew there was something more going on.

  Jessica sounded hysterical as she shouldered past Max, grasped her child and asked, “What...where did he come from? How did he get here? He was with my mother. What’s happened to my mother?” Still clutching her son, she took off running.

  “Larue, please get to Jessica’s house. I don’t know the address, but someone at the club can get it for you. I’ll see you there,” Danni said. “And send an ambulance!”

  She was already running as she hung up. It was the only way to keep up with Jessica.

  * * *

  Once he heard Jessica scream, Quinn knew that Danni had been wrong. Everything was not fine.

  He did something he’d never done before in his life. He leaped off the stage midsong, leaving his guitar behind, and ran out to the street.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “Turns out that was Jessica’s kid,” Max said.

  “Kid? What are you talking about?” Quinn said. “And where the hell is Danni?”

  “Sorry,” Max said. “That Jeziah guy showed up with some kid he found wandering the neighborhood. Asked me to hold him for a minute while he ran in to get Natasha. Turns out it was Jessica’s kid. She went nuts when she saw him, yelled something about her mother and started running. Danni took off after her, and the others followed her.”

  “Which way?”

  “Toward Jessica’s house,” Max told him.

  “Which is where?” Quinn demanded.

  Max told him the address, and Quinn started running himself, dodging the groups of tourists and locals walking—and stumbling—along the street. He turned off Bourbon as soon as he could and increased his pace.

  As he rounded the corner near Esplanade, he heard a heart-wrenching scream.

  He reached Jessica’s house in time to see the door wide open and Jessica on her knees just inside, Father Ryan, Natasha and Jez at her side. Natasha was holding a toddler, who was sobbing and looking scared. As Quinn drew closer he saw Jessica try to calm her son, but then she began to sob herself.

  His breath stopped. Where was Danni?

  A moment later he started breathing again when he saw Danni kneeling on the floor beside the limp body of a woman. Older, blonde, still slim and beautiful, eyes closed, forehead bloody...dead? Danni, he realized, was searching for a pulse.

  She looked up at Quinn. “She’s alive!”

  Quinn could hear sirens drawing closer even as he pulled out his phone to make sure an ambulance was on the way. Within a matter of minutes Larue arrived, followed by the emergency medical personnel.

  Danni left her position by the woman—who had to be Jessica’s mother, he realized—so the professionals could work on her. Danni shot him a quick smile then put her arms around Jessica, comforting her, assuring her that her mother was alive. Natasha still had the boy. Seeing things under control, Quinn stepped back, surveying the house, noticing that nothing seemed to have been disturbed. It looked as if someone had decked Jessica’s mother then left, which made no sense at all.

  His phone started ringing. Tyler. Everyone at the bar was going crazy. Eric was getting ready to close up for the night, and screw the owner if he didn’t like it.

  “There’s nothing any of you can do here, so tell him to stay open,” Quinn said. “It looks like someone attacked Jessica’s mom, but she’s breathing, and the medical personnel are here. So are the cops. Just tell Eric to ask Sharon to stay on. Jessica won’t be back tonight.”

  He rang off and watched the scene unfold. Larue was trying to talk to Jessica, but she kept bursting into tears then hyperventilating. Danni was trying to help her and help Larue get through to her. She led Jessica to a couch and had her sit with her head between her legs, a paper bag ready for her to breathe into if necessary. One of the EMTs called out that they were ready for transport to the hospital. Jessica refused to let her mother go alone, but she also wouldn’t let go of Danni, so Larue was arranging for both of them to ride with Jessica’s mother.

  Jessica suddenly leaped to her feet. “Wait! What about Craig? What should I do? I need to go with my mother, but I can’t just leave him here.”

  “I’ve got him,” Natasha said. “No worries there, none at all.”

  “What if...what if whoever did this comes back?”

  “We’ll all go to Danni’s place, Jessica,” Quinn said. “Don’t worry. There will be lots of people there to protect Craig. He’ll be fine, believe me. You go with your mom. I’ll be at the hospital soon myself. Everyone will be all right. I promise.”

  “Thank you,” Jessica breathed then turned and raced after the med techs and her mother.

  Danni glanced quickly at Quinn. He nodded to her and was amazed at how easily they could read each other’s minds. He smiled as she followed Jessica.

  He intended to join her at the hospital as soon as he finished talking with Larue.

  “Not to be rude,” Larue told the others, “but find what you need for the kid, then get out of my already-compromised crime scene.”

  Quinn dialed Bo Ray quickly to let him know what was happening and that more company was on the way.

  Bo Ray asked him, “The kid walking?”

  Quinn wondered for a moment what the hell that had to do with anything, then gave up and asked.

  “I’ll get things out of the way he might get hurt on,” Bo Ray said.

  “That makes sense, thanks.” Quinn said goodbye to Bo Ray and immediately called Billie, who picked up right away. He explained about Jessica’s mother and said none of them would be back. “Make sure you tell everyone not to leave alone—not under any circumstances.”

  “I’ll get the word out, and I’ll make sure no one goes home alone,” Billie assured him.

  By the time Quinn got off the phone, Natasha had found what she needed for Craig, and they were getting ready to go. As they were starting out, Quinn caught Father Ryan by the arm. “I think you’re safe right now, but keep the house locked up tight, and keep Wolf inside with you.”

  “What about the band?” Natasha asked. “They’re still at the club.”

  Larue overheard her and said, “I’ll send an officer to keep an eye on things there.”

  After that it was just Quinn and the cops.

  “He left her alive,” Larue said. “Assuming this was the killer, why the hell would he have done that? And the kid...the kid was just wandering the streets?”

  “From what I’ve understood, Jez found him. N
atasha knows half the neighborhood, so he figured she might know who he was, and they could get him home before his parents went crazy. But then Jessica saw him...and here we are,” Quinn said. He walked to the door. “Here’s what I think. The killer knocked on the door. Jessica’s mom answered it. He burst in and slammed her across the room. She fell. And then...”

  “And then he stopped and left. I’m not sure he even came in,” Larue continued. “He turned around and left, and left the door open. Why?”

  “He saw the boy,” Quinn said.

  Larue shook his head. “With this guy’s disregard for human life, I’m amazed he didn’t just kill the woman and then the kid, too,” he said.

  “No,” Quinn said with a certainty he couldn’t explain. “Seeing the boy freaked him out.”

  “Why?” Larue asked. “If he knew Jessica, he knew she had a kid.”

  “He didn’t know whose child,” Quinn said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “The kid. He’s Arnie’s. We knew that Arnie was hooked on someone. We should have realized it before. Jessica’s son is Arnie’s son, too. The killer finally thought of looking around Jessica’s house—except that he didn’t know the boy was Arnie’s, either. Not until tonight. I don’t know how he figured it out, but he did. I’d stake my life on it.”

  Chapter 15

  DANNI DIDN’T HAVE to ask Jessica anything.

  Once they reached the hospital and were left to sit in the emergency waiting room together, Jessica began to talk, and once she started, she didn’t seem able to stop.

  “We should have been honest, from the beginning. We should have told everyone we were seeing each other again. But we’d both been through a lot, you know? We’d been in love before and it hadn’t ended well, so we both wanted to make sure things would last between us, you know? And what if it didn’t work out but we were still trying to work together at the club? It would have been so much worse if everyone knew we’d been seeing each other. It all started a long time ago, really. I was the one who started flirting first. I know you knew him, but I wonder if you ever really knew him, though. He was so kind, so sweet. He knew all along that he was going to enlist, though. We used to talk about it a lot. He didn’t believe the US should police the world, but he also didn’t believe that people have a right to attack us or anyone who has different beliefs. The first time he killed someone he was horrified. I mean, he was meant to be a musician, not a war machine. But he felt he owed this country. He wanted to do his duty. And he didn’t want us getting too serious and telling our parents until he got back, because what if he didn’t make it back? And then he did make it home, but things were different. He was different. So we took it slow—I took it slow, anyway. He was a lot more certain about how he felt—but things were going okay. He was getting to know Craig, and I was starting to hope we... And then he...he was...”

  She trailed off, clearly unwilling to talk about Arnie’s death.

  “Jessica, did anyone at La Porte Rouge know your child was Arnie’s child, too?” Danni asked.

  Jessica shook her head. “No,” she said softly. She looked at Danni, her eyes tear-filled. “No, we weren’t going to tell anyone until we were certain we were going to stay together. Even our families didn’t know. Well, I’m pretty sure my mom guessed...”

  She began to sob softly. Danni held her and patted her, soothing her as best she could. “So you never told your families?” she asked. “Not even when you were first seeing each other years ago?”

  “We were afraid.”

  “Why?”

  “Because of the race issue.”

  “In New Orleans?” Danni asked. “Jessica, half the people I know are some mix of white and black.”

  “It’s—it’s getting easier,” Jessica said. “But it’s still hard. Oh, everyone tells you it doesn’t matter to them what color someone is. But then you do it, you tell people, and they look at you funny, like they just figured out it kinda does bother them after all. I didn’t care as much as Arnie did, though. He was worried.”

  “His parents are the nicest people in the world.”

  Jessica nodded. “Yes, they’re wonderful,” she said in a whisper. “And we were talking about telling them. About introducing them to Craig. Craig was Arnie’s grandfather’s name, and Arnie admired him so much...” She stopped speaking and winced, and then tears welled in her eyes again. “Then Arnie died. And I wanted the world to know that it was a lie, that he wasn’t on drugs and that he would never have committed suicide. But if I said anything, then everyone would know, and, well...I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I was afraid. Afraid of being judged. Afraid no one would believe me about Arnie, anyway, so I wouldn’t have done any good at all.” She straightened, as if forcing herself to act braver than she really felt. “So I kept my son away from everyone associated with Arnie. I was so afraid for him, because what if the person who killed Arnie came after him? What about Craig, Danni? Is he in danger now? And my mom. Danni, I did this to my mom. Oh my God, she could be dying!”

  “Your mother is going to be okay,” Danni promised her, silently praying she was telling the truth. She pulled Jessica close again, looking over the younger woman’s shoulder.

  They were safe, at least for the moment. Larue had seen to it that two officers were on duty at the hospital. Right now one stood at the door to the ER, while the other sat nearby in the waiting room, watching over them. There was, of course, hospital security, as well.

  “It’s going to be okay,” Danni assured her. “Just think of what this will mean to Arnie’s family.”

  Jessica straightened and stared at her, frowning. “What do you mean?”

  “They have you now, and Arnie’s child. They’ll love you and your son.”

  Jessica looked at her doubtfully. “Are—are you sure?” she asked.

  “Of course! Jessica, he’s a beautiful boy. He’ll be a ray of hope for them. You can never trade a life for a life, but they’ll be so happy that Arnie left a legacy, his little boy.”

  “You—you don’t think they’ll see me as some lowlife who was just playing with their son?”

  “No!”

  This time Danni knew she was telling the truth. Earlier in the day, when they’d all run into one another at the cemetery, Amy had liked Jessica just fine.

  It was Sharon she hadn’t trusted.

  Why?

  Dr. Lassiter, part of the team taking care of Jessica’s mother, walked into the waiting room. He was a man of about fifty, his hair graying but his eyes kind.

  Jessica leaped to her feet. Danni stood, too. Jessica clung to her, waiting and watching with dread in her eyes as the doctor reached them.

  “Miss Tate, your mother is hanging in. She lost a lot of blood and suffered a serious concussion, but she’s stable now, and we’re hopeful that she’ll make a full recovery.”

  “Oh, thank you, thank you!” Jessica cried. She started to collapse, and Danni eased her back down into her chair.

  “When can she see her mother?” Danni asked.

  “The nurses are finishing now—give it about ten minutes,” the doctor said. “Someone will be out to let you know.” He sighed softly. “The police need to speak to her, too, of course, so don’t tire her out. That could be dangerous. So no long conversations. Just be there, okay?”

  Jessica nodded. “Yes, of course. I’ll just tell her I love her.” Tears were filling her eyes again.

  “Cry it all out now,” the doctor told her, “then be happy and confident when you see her.” He nodded to Danni. “We were all lucky today,” he added with a grim smile.

  As the doctor left, Danni saw Quinn and Larue arrive. Their timing couldn’t have been better. Quinn looked at her, and she smiled. It felt like her first real smile in hours.

  * * *

  It had all gone down
just as Quinn had imagined.

  The only thing he hadn’t nailed was the way the killer had dressed this time.

  As a robot.

  He and Larue let Jessica have a few minutes with her mother first, but when they did go in to speak with Victoria Tate, Quinn discovered he admired the woman very much.

  When Larue asked her if she was up for a few questions, she told them to please come in then told them how stupid she felt for answering the door to a robot, of all things, and how incredibly grateful she was that her grandson was fine.

  “When I think of what might have happened...” Her voice trailed off, and she looked at Jessica, who sat in a chair by her side, holding tightly to her hand.

  “Mom, it’s okay. Craig is fine.”

  “He’s at Danni’s house,” Quinn told her. “Protected by a half dozen people and a giant dog. Now,” he said gently, “tell us about the robot. Can you describe the costume?” He wondered if it was going to do any good even if she could. The killer would simply change costumes next time, anyway.

  “He was a robot,” Victoria said, not blinking as she looked at him. “Just a big robot.”

  “What kind of a robot?” Danni persisted gently. “Like a Lost in Space robot? Or one from Star Wars?”

  Victoria seemed to brighten. “Tall, thin and gold. Like the one from Star Wars,” she said.

  Quinn glanced over at Danni. A common costume, they both knew. Available at costume shops all around the city, parish and state.

  “Thank you, Victoria,” Quinn said.

  “I wish I could tell you more,” Victoria said.

  “You’ve been a tremendous help,” Quinn told her. They needed to get back to the house, he thought.

  A very crowded house at the moment.

  Glancing at his watch, he saw that four hours had passed since he’d gone running after Danni and the others from La Porte Rouge. The bars would be closing for the night; Billie and Tyler would be heading back to the house.

  He rose, looking at Larue and Danni.