The Reunion: The Secret of Cypriere Bayou

by Jana DeLeon

  Some of the broken branches could be attributed to the storms that had swept through the area lately, but the depressions in the ground cover were the result of being trod upon. The ground cover was too dense to make out an actual footprint, but the size of the indentations was too large for any of the creatures that would normally roam the woods, except maybe bear. And if a bear had passed this way, Tyler would see far more damage to the branches.

  He followed the depressions and the broken branches about twenty yards into the swamp before turning around. Someone could have traversed the swamp from any number of locations surrounding the house, and may have walked hundreds of yards or even miles to throw someone off the track. Likely, the tracks would come out on one of the many dirt paths that led through the swamp, easily reachable by an ATV. As most everyone in Calais owned or had access to an ATV, that didn’t narrow the suspect pool even a bit.

  Turning back, he tried to track the depressions toward the house, but they seemed to end about twenty feet from the patio, which made no sense. Tyler could understand if a stalker had a viewpoint to simply observe the comings and goings of the house in order to plan a strike. The military often watched from one vantage point but attacked from another. But from this vantage point, all he could see was the corner of the house and a bit of the patio. No window or door offered a view inside, except for the small pane of glass on the exterior door off the laundry room. But he couldn’t see in that pane from his current position.

  Deciding he wasn’t going to figure it out standing there, he made a mental note to keep an eye on this location and continued back to the patio. The stone patio didn’t leave any opportunity for tracks, so he checked the windows and scanned the nearby brush, but the only tracks he saw were his own from when he’d hauled away brush earlier that day.

  As he made his way down the patio toward the kitchen, he heard the high-pitched voices of the three sisters. The excitement was clear in their tone, and Tyler was happy that Joelle’s reunion with her sisters seemed to be going so well. He’d had no doubt that would be the case, but he understood why Joelle was nervous. It was a whole lot to absorb, especially some twenty-five years later and after living so long as an adult with no family to speak of.

  He had a key to the patio door that led into the kitchen, but didn’t want to startle them by letting himself in, so he rapped on the glass panes and waved when they whirled around. Joelle hurried to the door to let him in while her sisters stood there, clearly waiting for an introduction.

  “Guys,” Joelle said, “this is William’s son, Tyler—my personal bodyguard.”

  They both smiled and the taller one walked over to extend her hand. “I should have known,” she said. “You look just like your father. I’m Alaina.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Tyler said. “You look like the pictures I’ve seen of your mother.”

  Alaina beamed and Tyler understood why his old friend Carter had gotten himself tied down. Alaina LeBeau was gorgeous and, according to his father, brilliant. And from limited exposure, he’d already gathered she had personality to boot. Triple threat. Carter had made a good choice.

  “You must be Danae,” he said and extended his hand to the youngest of Ophelia’s daughters. Danae was shorter and curvier than Alaina, and looked like a combination of Alaina and Joelle. Perhaps she’d taken after both parents, while Joelle looked more like their father. Not that it mattered. Apparently any combination of those genes produced good-looking women.

  Danae shook his hand and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you. William talks so much about you. We’re thrilled that you’ll be checking up on Joelle. We worry about all of this, and it’s too much for Carter to handle alone.”

  “Oh, he’s not checking up,” Joelle said. “He’s living here, going with me when I leave the house. For all I know, he might be sitting guard outside the bathroom when I shower.”

  A flash of Joelle standing naked and wet under a shower stream bolted through his mind, and he felt his chest constrict. Instantly, he forced the image from his mind. The last thing he needed was to imagine Joelle—or any other woman—naked and vulnerable.

  “I don’t think it will come to that,” he said. “Well, if you ladies are okay in here, I’m going to start installing a security alarm on the front door.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Alaina said.

  Danae waved a hand over the counter, which was loaded with food. “Do you want to eat? We brought a feast with us.”

  “Not right now, but I will take you up on that later if you don’t mind.”

  “It’s ready when you are,” Danae said.

  “Thank you for installing an alarm,” Joelle said. “I know we’ll all feel better sleeping here tonight.”

  Tyler gave them a nod and walked out of the kitchen.

  “Stand outside the bathroom?” Alaina said. “I’d totally let him stand next to the shower and hold my towel.”

  They all laughed, then he heard Danae say, “You’re awful. Entirely correct, but awful.”

  He smiled as he went to the entry to retrieve his equipment. Even the strongest man’s ego couldn’t ignore such compliments from beautiful women. He’d almost slowed for a moment, wondering if Joelle was going to comment, but decided it was information he didn’t need.

  Alaina and Danae were safe to admire. They were both attached to good men, but Joelle was risky. Granted, for all he knew, she could have a man back in Jackson, but he doubted it. She had a nervousness about her that seemed like a lack of recent socializing.

  Maybe it’s just me.

  The thought crossed his mind and he frowned. True, he wasn’t the most pleasant of people to be around, and he could have been a lot nicer when they’d met. He probably owed her an apology for his boorish behavior, but he wasn’t likely to offer one. Less said, soonest mended was pretty much his motto.

  He grabbed the box and removed the alarm. What he needed to do was focus on the job. Because he knew from firsthand experience what happened when he got sidetracked.

  That was something he never intended to do again.

  * * *

  HE WATCHED THE house from the safety of the swamp. The women occupied the kitchen, clinking champagne glasses and eating hors d’oeuvres. They thought they had it all, but they were wrong. If it was the last thing he ever did, he was going to get what was coming to him. What he was due.

  The man was somewhat of a concern. He had that posture that screamed military and a bulge at his waist that spelled concealed weapon. Right now, he could see the man, installing a security alarm on the front door.

  What a waste of time.

  Chapter Six

  Joelle trailed up the enormous circular staircase with her sisters, studying every inch of the house, looking for something recognizable. When they reached the landing, she stopped short at the painting of her mother, directly in front of her. She took a hesitant step forward and touched the painting with her fingertips.

  “This was here before,” she said.

  “You remember,” Alaina said. “I didn’t at first, but when Danae and I came across the picture tucked in one of the downstairs rooms, it came back to me. The painting hung here for as long as I can remember. The hook was still in the wall. So we dusted it off and put it back where it belongs.”

  Joelle looked over at Alaina. “You look so much like her. I remember being jealous of you, even at such a young age. Mother was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen and I wanted to look like her, too.”

  Alaina smiled. “You were always wearing her shoes. You’d find the highest set of heels in her closet and come shuffling down the hall. Mom was always afraid you’d fall and hurt yourself.”

  Joelle laughed. “She had a pair of shiny red ones that were my favorite.”

  Joelle turned back to the painting. “I remember this necklace.” S
he ran a finger over the diamond necklace that circled her mother’s neck. It had been her mother’s prize piece and was always kept under lock and key.

  “I wonder what happened to it,” Joelle said.

  Alaina shook her head. “I imagine Purcell sold it. Danae and I have poked into every area of the house. We’ve found some pretty things—some of them nice quality—but nothing of high value.”

  “But what about the art in the entry? Some of it looked valuable.”

  Alaina nodded. “I thought so, too, but upon closer examination, they appear to be reproductions. Good reproductions, but not near the value of the real thing. My guess is Purcell cleaned out anything that would bring him a fistful of cash.”

  “You’re probably right.” Joelle looked over at Danae, who wore a pensive look.

  “Are you all right?” Joelle asked Danae.

  “I’m fine,” Danae assured her, but Joelle could tell something was bothering her.

  “Danae doesn’t remember,” Alaina said quietly.

  “Oh!” Joelle’s heart went out to her sister, who had been no more than a toddler when she was sent away.

  “We’re staying in our old bedroom,” Alaina said. “It’s the only room big enough for three beds and I didn’t want us split up—not in this house. Danae...” Alaina looked over at Danae and bit her lower lip.

  “I haven’t gone in that room yet,” Danae finished. “If I go in our room and don’t remember anything, then I’m afraid I never will.”

  Joelle reached out and took Danae’s hand in hers. “Then Alaina and I will remember for you.”

  Alaina took Danae’s other hand in hers and nodded. “Absolutely.”

  Danae sniffed and smiled. “You guys are the best.”

  “We know,” Alaina joked. “Now, let’s go see that room.”

  They walked down the hall, hand in hand, until they reached the doorway. Alaina stepped inside first, then Joelle followed. A flood of recognition washed over her. The furniture was different, but the wallpaper was the same dusty-rose pattern that she remembered. In the corner sat the old wooden school desks that she’d spent hours at, coloring and learning her alphabet and numbers.

  She looked back at Danae, who still lingered just outside the doorway. “It’s okay,” she said.

  Her younger sister took a deep breath, then closed her eyes and stepped inside the room. Joelle and Alaina each moved to her side and waited as she slowly let out the breath and opened her eyes. She scanned the room and Joelle could tell that nothing was clicking. Her heart broke for her little sister, who wanted so badly to remember.

  Danae stepped away from them and walked over to the desks. She lifted the top of the first desk and pulled out a pink plastic comb. Suddenly, she spun around, her eyes wide with excitement.

  “Mom used to comb our hair with this.” A single tear fell down her cheek. “It’s faint—almost like I dreamed it—but I remember. I remember.”

  Joelle’s heart was practically bursting with happiness for her little sister. On the surface, it didn’t seem like a lot, but Joelle understood how monumental it was for Danae. She stepped over beside her and ran one hand over the scarred desktop.

  “I wonder how many hours we spent at these desks,” Joelle said to Alaina.

  “Hundreds,” Alaina replied. “Thousands, maybe.”

  A memory, so vivid it seemed like a movie running through her mind, came to Joelle in a flash. She squatted down and reached underneath the seat. She didn’t expect to find anything but an empty cubbyhole, and when her fingers brushed against soft velvet, she gasped.

  “What?” Alaina asked. Her eyes widened. “No. It’s still there?”

  Danae stared down at the purple bag in Joelle’s hands. “That’s a Crown Royal bag. Were you two child alkies?”

  Joelle laughed. “No, but we loved purple and we begged for the bag. Mom said no for so long, which I totally get now, but it made no sense then.”

  “We harassed her,” Alaina agreed. “Open it.”

  Joelle pulled the drawstring on the bag and turned it over. Gray rocks tumbled out onto her palm.

  “Rocks?” Danae raised her eyebrows.

  “Joelle loved to play in the dirt in the driveway,” Alaina said, her eyes bright with the memory. “We built roads and forts and fences for our plastic ponies.”

  “Purcell hated it,” Joelle said. “He thought little girls should sit silently and be pretty, not play in dirt, and especially not track it inside.”

  “But Mom didn’t care, and let us do it anyway,” Alaina said. “One time Joelle got sick—I don’t remember with what—and she had to stay in bed. It was beautiful weather and she was so mad that she couldn’t go outside with me. Mom and I went outside and picked up rocks. She told me to hide them in my pockets so that Purcell wouldn’t see. Then we hurried upstairs and she pulled out the purple bag to put the rocks in for Joelle.”

  “She told us to keep the bag and the rocks hidden so we wouldn’t get in trouble for having either of them,” Joelle said. “We played with them all day, and then I hid them in the cubbyhole. I’d completely forgotten.”

  “You were well enough to go outside the next day,” Alaina said. “So it was business as usual.”

  Danae smiled. “I know I’ll never remember things like the two of you, but I’m so glad you’re here to tell me about them. The way you describe things, I can picture them in my mind.”

  Alaina sniffed. “It seems so strange to me, that I had almost no memory of this place when I first returned, but the longer I’m in Calais, the more I remember. I don’t know why I’d forgotten so much.”

  Joelle glanced at Alaina, who gazed around the room. She wondered, too, why Alaina had no memories before. Being two years older, Alaina should have more memories than Joelle, not fewer. If Joelle had to guess, something had caused Alaina to shut her childhood off—to compartmentalize it and file it away where she didn’t access it. In Joelle’s line of work, she saw a lot of that, but usually only following a great trauma.

  Joelle couldn’t help but wonder if Alaina would ever remember the thing or things that prevented her from clear recall.

  Alaina reached for Danae’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “I promise I’ll share everything with you. More of the past returns to me every day.”

  Joelle froze for a moment, then recovered. Certainly, she wanted to share with her sisters, but she wasn’t ready to share everything. Not yet. Not until she knew more about her mother and Purcell, and not until she had a better idea why Alaina couldn’t remember more.

  Joelle stepped over toward the closet and ran her fingers across three holes in the wall, remembering what William had told her about Alaina’s attacker.

  “Bullet holes,” Alaina answered her unspoken question.

  Joelle spun around. “Are you okay to stay in here?”

  Alaina nodded. “It’s our room...our house. I want us to reclaim everything. This seemed like the best place to start.”

  “Then I say we haul the champagne up here and christen it.”

  Alaina smiled. “Sounds like a plan.”

  They hurried back down to the kitchen to refill their glasses. As Alaina poured, Joelle’s cell phone buzzed. She frowned as she reached for her purse and pulled out the phone. She had a text message, but not from a number she recognized. She punched the button to read the text and gasped.

  Give me what’s mine.

  Her fingers tightened on the phone so hard they hurt. It couldn’t be.

  “What’s wrong?” Danae asked.

  “It’s nothing,” Joelle said, not about to let Victor Brant spoil their night.

  Danae glanced over at Alaina, who raised her eyebrows. Clearly, neither of her sisters believed her for a moment.

  “You may as well give up trying to keep t
hings from us,” Alaina said. “Danae is as street-smart as they come, and I’ve made witnesses cry in the courtroom. You’re not going to get anything past either of us.”

  “You shouldn’t even try,” Danae said. “You’re our sister. Your problems are our problems.”

  Joelle looked at both their faces and sighed. If they were anywhere near as stubborn as she was, they weren’t going to let this go. She may as well tell them and get it over with.

  “There was an incident before I left Jackson,” Joelle said, then told them about Brant and his threats.

  “Why haven’t the police picked him up?” Alaina asked.

  “Because I can’t prove it was him, but I know it was, if that makes any sense.”

  Danae nodded. “Makes perfect sense. So do you think this Brant is capable of destroying more than a car?”

  “No one can ever be certain, but if I had to guess, then I’d say yes. That’s why I agreed to come right away. I talked it over with my boss and the Jackson police, and everyone felt my leaving town would give him time to cool off.”

  “Does he know where you are?”

  “No. Only my boss and the Jackson police know. I didn’t tell anyone else.” She frowned. “This is a new phone. Only my boss, the police, you two and William have the number. How did he get it so quickly?”

  “I assume it’s unlisted?” Alaina asked.

  “Yeah. In my line of work, that’s the norm.”

  “Carter will be by here soon,” Alaina said. “You need to tell him about this...about everything.”

  “He’s bluffing,” Joelle argued. “He doesn’t even know where I am. How could he come after me?”

  “He got your phone number,” Alaina said. “If he could get that, he could get the rest.”