Taylor opened her eyes. “That is the incident that bothers you most. The reason you were in the area had something to do with your husband’s death.”

  She always assured me she didn’t keep up with crime news, local or national, because many times she worked with law enforcement and didn’t want the information to affect her readings. Besides that, the information given out for public consumption was that Celina’s body was discovered by fishermen who were never identified. If I hadn’t told her I discovered the body she might not have known. She definitely didn’t know about Rachel’s presence at the scene.

  “Did the man who took her backpack shoot her?” I prayed she would say no.

  “I couldn’t get a picture as to whether he shot her or not. I detected the presence of another person close by. Perhaps this was what startled the man.”

  “There’s another incident—”

  “Concerning the same foreign man,” she answered before I could finish. She closed her eyes again. “He fell ill from being in the swamp for days. He came to your workplace. He spoke to you.”

  “Only one word which didn’t make sense.”

  “I’m not picking up anything he said to you. If I had an item that belonged to him or even a photograph of him I might be able to tell you more.”

  “There’s no chance of me obtaining any of his possessions at this point in time.”

  “I feel there are several other problems troubling you…something closer to home,” she said, studying me with her gaze.

  I nodded. “My son has started acting out again like he did right after Jim’s death.” I thought a moment. “I do have a picture of him in my wallet.” I retrieved the photo of Matthew and handed it to her.

  She placed her index and middle fingers on his photo. Staring at the image, she said, “He’s hiding a valuable item in his room. An item he and a friend found by accident. He didn’t steal it. You need to find the item before the wrong people discover he has it. This object is somehow connected to the woman’s murder.”

  I shouldn’t have been shocked because she knew all this, but I was. Stunned might be a better word, but also terrified about the prospect of my son being in danger. Who were these wrong people? The idea that Matthew had property connected to Celina’s murder flooded me with chills.

  “You are troubled by a future event, but you have blocked this occasion from your mind because of a painful incident connected to it.”

  I frowned. “I guess I’ll discover what this feeling of impending doom is all about sooner or later.”

  “There is one other vibration I picked up from you concerning a man who seems to have a connection to the foreign man,” Taylor said. “He will appear to have a romantic interest in you, but I feel he’s not honest about his feelings.”

  Twenty

  Anxiety and panic made my drive home a grueling trip, mentally and physically. By the time I arrived, my hands ached from gripping the steering wheel so tightly. I sorted through everything Taylor had said, including the painful future event and the man who appeared to have a romantic interest in me. Josh? I would worry about him later. Right now the most pressing item was my son.

  My first thought was to rush inside and confront Matthew about his hidden item. Then I took a few deep breaths and recalled Danny’s advice. Find an excuse to go make a search.

  What could be a better excuse than to put away his freshly laundered clothes? Then if Taylor’s prediction turned out to be wrong—which I didn’t believe possible—I wouldn’t look like an over protective mother and make our relationship worse.

  I walked inside and forced a big smile. “I’m back.”

  Both kids and their sitter looked up from a book she had been reading. I wondered why she was reading to them. They both could read well. Caroline’s statement explained the reason. The sitter wanted to make sure the books were returned to the library in one piece.

  “Tina checked out some books from the library. This one is a real good story about unicorns.”

  Matthew grunted. “Unicorns are for sissy girls. They’re not real anyway.”

  “But Matthew,” Tina said. “You like robots. Technically they aren’t real.”

  “Yeah, but they’re more for boys, and robots and drones are here now. Unicorns won’t ever be.”

  I tried to recall any conversation like this one between Steven and me at the same age. He and I always seemed to be on the same page about our likes and dislikes until we were at least ten. At that age, Steven didn’t want me hanging around him and his pals. They wanted to do boy things which they couldn’t do with a girl tagging along. Mostly, I stayed home and made up stories I hoped to turn into a book. Of course I had a few girlfriends, along with my cousin Melanie, who would join me for an occasional sleepover at our home or theirs.

  “I checked these books out of the library a few days ago,” Tina explained to me. “I sat for the Doiron kids night before last. They loved the stories. I thought maybe Matthew and Caroline might also enjoy them.

  I paid Tina extra money. She always was the best of all the sitters. After she left, I went into the kitchen to fix lunch for me and the twins. It was all I could do to restrain myself. Finally, I couldn’t stand it any longer. This is ridiculous. I should have trusted my own intuition in the first place. I’m the parent and if he has an item in his room that might lead to dangerous consequences, I have to act. Tough tootsies if he gets mad at me.

  “Matthew,” I said with amazing calm. “There’s a matter I need to discuss with you privately in your room.”

  He frowned. “Are you going to yell at me again about not obeying your rules?”

  “That all depends on you.”

  Once in his room, I closed the door and sat on the side of his bed. I patted the spot next to me. “Come sit with me.”

  He looked confused and with a lot of caution sat on the bed.

  I cleared my throat. “I have to ask you a question. It’s very important that you tell me the truth. If I’m wrong about what I’m going to ask, I apologize.”

  “Okay,” he said slowly. “I didn’t do anything wrong except not follow your rules.”

  “We’re past your disobedience. There’s something else.” I eyed him with a stern expression. “Are you hiding anything in your room?”

  His eyes widened. “No…”

  “Tell the truth, Matthew.”

  He lowered his head. “Reed told me that the other day he rode his bike over where we went and he saw this man throw something shiny into the swamp. He wanted to see what it was then but he had to be home soon so he left. And he didn’t want the man to know he’d seen him. We rode over there and started looking around. That’s when we found the gun.”

  My heart skipped a beat. “Gun! Where is it?”

  “It’s in the drawer where I keep my jeans.”

  I rose as calmly as I could manage and went to the drawer he indicated. I didn’t see a weapon at first. “Where?”

  “I stuck it in those torn jeans you said you wanted to throw in the trash,” Matthew explained.

  Careful not to touch the gun, I unwrapped the denim bundle. Most likely the gunman’s prints and any DNA had been washed off by rain and from sitting in swamp water for days. But Matthew and Reed had both handled the weapon.

  A chrome-plated revolver with a black grip lay inside the jeans. Having been in dirty swamp water and wet from the rain, moisture from the gun had soaked the denim. The whole drawer smelled to high heaven.

  My visual inspection indicated the weapon wasn’t loaded, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I left it in situ. “Go in the family room and sit. Don’t move.”

  I followed him down the hall and grabbed my cell phone from the lamp table next to my security blanket chair. I punched in Rachel’s number. As soon as she answered I spoke. “Is Danny there?”

  “Yes, he’s right here.”

  “Tell him to come over now and you too. The item Matthew hid in his room was a gun.” I disconnected before she could respond.

  I checked out the twins’ reaction. Caroline looked worried and confused about what had happened. Matthew stared at me with a frightened expression.

  Minutes later Rachel and Danny walked in to the house. Rachel went over to Matthew and sat in a nearby chair. She spoke to the twins in a low voice, words I couldn’t hear. She appeared to be consoling them.

  “What’s going on,” Danny asked. “Rachel said Matthew found a gun.”

  I led him to Matthew’s room. “It’s in the open drawer.”

  He studied the revolver for a short moment. “A three-fifty-seven,” he said, turning to me. “This could be the weapon that killed Celina.”

  I hoped Alex’s DNA wasn’t anywhere on there.

  Danny pulled his cell phone from his pocket and keyed in a number. “Brad, you need to get over to Susan’s house. We may have the murder weapon… No, it’s not what you think.”

  I could imagine what Brad thought about the idea of the murder weapon ending up at my house. For all I knew he probably figured I went snooping around and kept evidence from him.

  “Listen,” Danny continued on the phone. “Is Ronnie Hart on duty?…Good, he needs to be in on this…I’ll explain when y’all get here.”

  The thirty minutes it took for Brad and Ronnie to arrive may as well have been three hours.

  Brad glared at me as soon as he walked into my house. “What have you been up to now?”

  “I haven’t been up to anything,” I snapped. “Matthew and Reed discovered the gun yesterday when they went bike riding.” I glanced at Ronnie. His jaw muscle tightened. “Matthew had it hidden in his bedroom.”

  Danny motioned to the men and led them to the gun. I didn’t follow them. Instead I walked over and sat next to Matthew on the sofa.

  “Mom, is the sheriff going to arrest me?” His lip quivered.

  “No, but you can expect a lecture. I don’t understand why you and Reed didn’t tell his dad or even Mr. Danny. Your father told you and Caroline about this. I was sitting right there when he said, ‘If you ever find a gun on the ground or hidden in the bushes, tell an adult and leave it where you found it. The police will handle it.’ I’m sure Reed’s dad gave him and the other kids the same instructions.” I glanced at him. “Where did you hide the gun before you put it in your jeans drawer?”

  “Under my shirt behind my back.”

  “What were you going to do with the gun?”

  “I don’t know. We thought it would be awesome to have a gun like Reed’s dad…and mine.”

  “Honey, your dad was an adult and in law enforcement as is Mr. Ronnie. They are allowed to carry guns.”

  Ronnie strode out of Matthew’s room talking on his cell, his voice concise. “Brad is coming over there to speak to Reed…Yes, without me…I’m going to talk to Matthew…Because we decided it would be better for me not to interview my own son. I’ll talk to Reed later.”

  I assumed he was speaking to his wife, Renee. He was not happy. I tried to imagine how Jim would have handled this situation. I couldn’t remember him ever raising his voice while correcting either one of the twins. No doubt he would be angry, but his handling of the situation would have been better than mine. I wondered about Matthew’s actions. Would he have even attempted such a thing if Jim were still with us?

  Twenty-one

  I was relieved that Brad wouldn’t be interviewing Matthew. Ronnie would be more understanding, since he does have children of his own. My reasoning also included the fact that Brad seems to have it out for me so he might transfer his dislike for me to my son.

  “Is it okay for Caroline to stay or should she go to another room?”

  “If she wants to stay, it’s fine.” Ronnie smiled at her. “It’s up to you.”

  “I can tell that Matthew doesn’t want me to stay,” she said. “That’s why I am.”

  Ronnie appeared to force back a laugh. I covered my mouth with my hand.

  “Okay, then let me get some answers from you, Mr. Matthew,” he said. “Now it’s important for you to tell me everything. Understand?”

  Matthew nodded.

  “Why did you go bike riding way out there to that particular place?”

  “Reed told me he saw a man throw something shiny into the swamp, but he couldn’t stay to go check it out. So we went back there to look around.”

  “So y’all found the gun, then what?”

  “We decided to keep it. Reed said it would be safer at my house so I took the gun home with me.”

  “Why did he think the gun would be safer here rather than at his house?”

  I suspected Ronnie knew the answer already.

  “He said you or his mom might find it.”

  “But not your mom?”

  Matthew made a quick glance at me. “Mom doesn’t usually go through my private stuff.”

  His statement reflected either an indication of his approval of me as a parent, or afforded me the distinction of being a parent who doesn’t keep a close eye on her children…or both.

  “Anyway it wasn’t loaded,” Matthew mumbled.

  A brief frown flitted across Ronnie’s brow. “This gun wasn’t loaded, but that’s not always the case. I can’t count the number of times there’s been kids playing with a gun they thought wasn’t loaded and it turned out there was one bullet in there. In all those times somebody got hurt or killed."

  Matthew’s eyes widened.

  “Do you understand why we’re upset about you and Reed handling this gun?” He paused for emphasis and met Matthew’s gaze. “Whether it’s loaded or not?”

  He hung his head. “Yes, sir. Only grownups are allowed to use guns. Kids can get hurt.”

  “That’s always a good reason for someone your age not to fool around with any kind of weapon.”

  “I’m sorry. I won’t do anything like that again.”

  “Good,” Ronnie said, extending his hand. “Shake on it?”

  Matthew shook his hand. I could almost hear a sigh of relief coming from him. I suspected he still worried about being arrested.

  “One more thing. Do you remember where y’all found the gun? Could you take us there?”

  “Yes, sir, I can take you over there.”

  “Okay, you and I will go pick up Reed and Sheriff Theriot so you boys can take us to the place.” He glanced at me. “If that’s alright with you.”

  “Of course, maybe there’ll be some other evidence y’all can use.” I hope any new evidence doesn’t point to Alex.

  “It would be great if we did.” Ronnie added in a low voice, “But I doubt there’s too much of a chance for us to find any more evidence.”

  “Miracles do happen.”

  He eyed me with suspicion. “Are you praying for a miracle to prove Alex Narcisse is guilty, or that he didn’t have anything to do with Celina’s murder?”

  “The latter,” I admitted.

  “I heard you made arrangements for him to have an attorney.”

  “News travels fast around here.” I couldn’t tell whether he approved or not. “I asked my sister-in-law to represent him. In my opinion, he’s being railroaded.”

  Ronnie didn’t respond for a long moment and then said in a low voice that was pretty close to a whisper, “Brad does have a serious case of tunnel vision.” He gave a small grimace.

  I’m sure he regretted his emphatic statement.

  Twenty-two

  Thursday, July 30

  Everything is back to somewhat normal status today. The gun had been removed from my home and neither twin seemed worse for wear after yesterday’s uproar over the weapon.

  Ronnie didn’t have to worry about me repeating his statement. I didn’t plan on telling Brad, that’s for sure. I wasn’t going to repeat his words to anyone, not even Rachel.

  I wondered about Reed’s description of the man he saw tossing the gun into the swamp. Was he black, white, or Hispanic? Who was he? Another question came to mind. Did he have any connection to Gallagher Salvage operations?

  All those questions raced through my head, plus the subject of Alex’s emeraude. Either he had emeralds on his person and the stones weren’t mentioned by the sheriff’s office, or he didn’t have the gems on him. Could he have hidden them somewhere in the swamp? Maybe he didn’t ever have them, but someone he knew did. More questions and not any answers.

  I went into the kitchen to take stock of the groceries on hand and discovered I was out of quite a few items. Grocery shopping looked like my job for this morning. The store might be crowded because some people like to get a head start on Thursday for their weekend get-togethers.

  The twins balked at accompanying me to the store, but I managed to get them into the car. Minutes later we were on our way.

  I drove past a little strip mall housing a convenience store, a barber shop, and Marie’s Diner, an eatery which hardly anyone seemed to frequent. How they were still in business I’ll never know.

  I did a double take. I could have sworn I saw Brad entering the diner. A black truck was parked outside. Of course quite a few people around here have black pick-ups.

  Granted Brad did have the right to eat wherever he chose, but this area had recently become rundown, and the crime rate in this part of town was on the rise. His presence here seemed strange. I suppose he could be talking to an informant.

  Who knows? I may be mistaken about who I saw. We passed by so quickly. I shook off further thoughts and concentrated on to the job at hand.

  Turning into the parking lot of Four Brothers’ Market, I lucked up and spotted a place close to the entrance. As the name implied, the market was owned by four brothers, this store being one of three locations in Allemand Parish. I was determined to go in, buy what I needed and get out quickly.

  I achieved my goal. An hour later we left the store with only essentials except for a package of popsicles which was the kids’ reward for not bugging me for everything sweet in the store.

  On the way back home, I drove past the strip mall again, hoping to verify my sighting of Brad. The black pick-up was no longer parked outside the diner. Guess I’ll never know why he was there, or who he met with earlier. Or if the man I saw really was Brad.