Nine Saint Gillian Street. New Orleans.

  Claire welcomed her students at nine a.m. and put the girls straight to work. “Come in, girls. We’re beginning preparations for Samhain today. There’s much decorating to do, and we have to go to the market for some pumpkins.”

  “I love this time of year,” said Diana. “It’s my favorite.”

  “As our year-end, it’s a big holiday indeed.” Claire pointed to the boxes in the hallway by the kitchen. “Luke brought the decorations up from the basement for us before he left for the forest.”

  “Did Misty make the decorations, Madam?” asked Michele.

  “She made many of them. Some we’ve had for years.”

  “Mother,” Misty hollered from the kitchen. “I need you.”

  Misty’s panicked tone had Claire sprinting down the hallway and into the kitchen. “What’s happening? Did you have pain?”

  Tears brimmed up in Misty’s green eyes as she held her side. “Yes.”

  Claire gathered her daughter and steered her out of the kitchen. “You should lie down in the sitting room. These hard wooden chairs are no good for you.”

  “I have new orders to be filled and packed. I should help Angelique.”

  “Girls,” called Claire, “we need to split into teams. “Michele and I will start putting up decorations while Charlotte and Diana help Angelique with the orders.”

  “Is the baby coming today?” asked Diana.

  “No, he can’t,” said Misty as she shuffled towards the door of the sitting room. “He has to wait three more days.”

  “What if he doesn’t want to wait?” asked Charlotte.

  Misty giggled. “Then, we’ll put a holding spell on him.”

  Louisiana Forest.

  Luke turned left onto the road that led to the south side of the forest, and Rowanne pointed. “That looks like Daddy’s car, Uncle Luke. Why would he be here?”

  “Only one reason I can think of. He’s here because Ben is here, plain and simple.”

  “Did he bring Ben here?”

  “I don’t know, Rowanne, but we’ll find out the true story when we find both of them.”

  “Yes, we will, and I bet I won’t like it. He tried to hurt Ben, Uncle Luke. I dreamed about it, and I felt it yesterday. The feeling was strong.”

  Luke nodded as he turned off the key. “The vibes I got from Sam yesterday were not the best. I was fairly sure he was lying to me, and I’m getting some now from Misty that are making me nervous. Let me touch base with her before we lose service.”

  “Uh-huh. You should.” Rowanne stood by the fence and lit up a Tijuana while Luke called.

  “Misty isn’t answering her cell.”

  “Talk to Claire,” said Rowanne.

  “Right.” Luke’s hand shook as he pressed Claire’s contact. “Misty isn’t answering. Is everything all right?”

  “We just made her comfortable in the sitting room. She had one pain, but it is likely braxton hicks. She’s fine, but I don’t think you should be away overnight.”

  “I won’t be, Claire. I’d already decided to drive back.”

  “I’ll keep you posted.”

  “Is Misty okay?” asked Rowanne.

  “She’s lying down. That tells me something. Misty never lies down in the morning.”

  “Let’s get going,” said Rowanne. “You’ll have to be out of the woods before dark to drive back home.”

  “I will.”

  Seventeen Saint Gillian Street. New Orleans.

  Fern spent the past two days following instructions on how to make a website. “How does this look, Mari? Do you like the picture at the top of the screen?”

  Marigold stood behind Fern and stared at the picture of the jars and bottles with the new rose brand labels on them. “Rose Remedies, I love it, Ferny. We look so professional.”

  “The site is up, so you better get the products made before the orders come pouring in. Take the car and the list and go shopping.”

  “Which one of these credit cards should I use?”

  “Veronica Holt. We haven’t used her card for anything yet. I’m keeping a list of what we’ve charged on each.”

  Marigold picked the card up and put it into her wallet. “Come on, Veronica. Let’s go shopping.”

  “Don’t come back until you find everything we need. We can’t leave out any of the ingredients. People will know.”

  “How will they know?” asked Marigold.

  “Umm… maybe they won’t know but try to get everything on the list. You may have to go to the Square and check all the vendors.”

  “Why can’t you help me?”

  “Because I can’t be in two places at once, Mari. I’m doing this, and it’s important. Go and get it done. Don’t have one of your lazy fits and quit before you have everything. I won’t let you in the house.”

  Marigold smiled. “You wouldn’t lock me out, Ferny.”

  “Yes, I would. You’re a slacker, Marigold Rose, and you never pull your weight.”

  Marigold sighed, picked up the keys to the Kia, said goodbye to the cats, and left.

  Louisiana Forest.

  Sam stared at the forest floor beneath his feet and tried to see the path he and Lynn had followed the last time they’d been here in this wilderness. It seemed to have disappeared or become overgrown in just a short time.

  Plodding ahead, he kept thinking he’d come to the hunting shack soon. He’d been walking for a couple of hours.

  As Sam sobered up and the bourbon hangover wore off, the throbbing in his arm became more evident and harder to ignore. He should have filled the prescription before coming.

  What was I thinking?

  He sat down on a log and held his head in his hands. Had he ever felt worse? And he wasn’t supposed to be over-exerting himself yet—doctor’s orders.

  Rustling in the leaves behind him, made Sam turn around. A big black bear was only five feet from him. The big beast opened its mouth and let out a growl, so loud it rumbled in his lungs. Sam jumped to his feet and ran.

  Not knowing or caring where he was going, Sam ran the best marathon of his life. Behind him, he could hear the pounding of the massive bear’s paws hitting the ground and gaining on him. The smell of the bear’s rancid hot breath getting closer and closer made Sam ignore the killer pain in his chest and keep going.

  He pushed a thick clump of bushes out of his way, stopped dead, and let out a holler. In front of him was a forty-foot drop into a lake. An ear-splitting growl at his back made the decision for him. Sam jumped.

  If his heart didn’t stop beating in the split second he went flying through the air, he might have a chance.

  Splash.

  The icy water rushed up around him and pulled him down. Down, down to the bottom of the lake.

  Holding his breath and kicking for all he was worth, Sam propelled his way upward. He hit the surface and sucked in the biggest gulp of oxygen he could manage while treading water with only his right arm.

  One quick look told him the shore was too far away. He’d never make it.

  I have to make it.

  Turning on his back, Sam stopped struggling and rested as he floated. When his heart settled down, and he could breathe again, he’d try to swim to the shore.

  Luke and Rowanne trudged into the forest. The first place they wanted to check was the hunting shack. Rowanne thought Ben might go there and wait, thinking she would come looking for him. Luke agreed. It made the most sense.

  “Where is it?” Rowanne stood on the spot where the hunting shack had been and did a three-sixty. “There’s the fire pit, but the building is gone.”

  “The wardens probably removed it after the bear incident. No buildings are allowed here, and they frown on squatters.”

  “Ben is a squatter?”

  “Not really. In my book, he’s part animal and has every right to live in the nature preserve.”

  “That’s true.”

  “Let’s rest here for a while and see if Ben comes our way,” said Luke. “He’s smart, and if he thinks you’re coming to find him, he’ll keep checking back here.”

  “Do you think so?” Rowanne’s eyes brimmed with tears. “What if Daddy hurt him, and right this minute, he’s burying Ben somewhere?”

  “Sam swore he didn’t hurt Ben.”

  “He was lying. I can always tell when he’s lying.”

  Jackson Square. New Orleans.

  Marigold trudged around the square from vendor to vendor trying to purchase everything on the long list of ingredients she and Fern had written down copying from Madam LeJeune’s labels. A couple of the vendors didn’t have some of the rarer ingredients and said the roots she needed could only be found in the bayou at certain times of the year.

  “How will I get them?” asked Marigold.

  “You won’t. They are impossible to get unless you know where to look and what you’re looking for.”

  “I have to have them,” said Marigold.

  “Why? What are you making?” asked an old woman with long silver hair.

  “My recipes are secret. I can’t tell you.”

  “There’s only one person I know who uses that root in her products. Are you trying to copy Madam LeJeune’s recipe?”

  “Of course not. I would never do that.” Marigold hurried away from the woman and crossed the square heading for the Kia. “I did the best I could, Ferny. Let’s see you do better.”

  A police cruiser drove by the Kia as Marigold unlocked it. Her hands began to shake as she was certain the officer slowed down and watched her. After he was out of sight, she started the engine and drove back to Saint Gillian Street.

  “I didn’t get everything, and Ferny will be so mad at me. Will she lock me outside?”

  Marigold blubbered as she drove.

  Louisiana Forest.

  It seemed like hours he’d been in the water. He’d made some progress, but he hadn’t reached the shore. Sam paddled with his right arm and, still wearing his waterlogged Italian loafers, kicked his feet frantically.

  The bandage had come off his stitches somewhere between hitting the water and swimming to shore. The icy water helped to numb the pain temporarily.

  That was the upside—if there was one.

  Within in few feet of the shore and confident he was going to make it, Sam gave a final push. He kicked his feet like mad and did the one-armed paddle pushing through the icy dark water into the tall weeds rimming the edge of the lake.

  When he reached the marshy shore, Sam barely had enough strength to fight his way through the reeds and cattails. But as soon as his feet touched the mucky bottom of the lake, he pulled himself out of the water.

  He scrambled up the slippery slope bit by bit, and when he reached the shorter grass growing around the edge, he flopped on his back and laid there. He wasn’t sure which he regretted more, that he’d tried to get rid of Ben or that he’d come here to get him back.

  Things would have been far simpler if he’d played the part of patient Dad and brought Rowanne slowly around to his way of thinking. He should have encouraged her to come home to Baton Rouge—bribed her with a car if necessary.

  He shouldn’t have threatened her.

  Ben was her first boyfriend. He should’ve accepted Ben, for the time being, and hoped the crush would wear off in time.

  Hindsight was a wonderful thing.

  Too late now. He might never get his daughter back.

  Soaking wet and shivering, Sam laid on his back, staring up at the sky and wondered where in this vast wilderness, Ben would hide.

  Luke and Rowanne searched all day in ever-expanding concentric circles from the clearing and found no sign of Ben. As the sun began to set in the west, Rowanne looked up at the sky. “You have to start back to the truck, Uncle Luke. I’ll go back to the clearing to sleep. Ben will come. I know he will.”

  “I hate to leave you alone here, Row. It seems so desolate without the little shack for shelter. Are you sure?”

  “I have my sleeping bag, food, and water. I’ll be fine.”

  Luke checked his cell for service, and there was none. “I hate not having contact with you. What if another bear comes?”

  “Ben said the bears don’t bother people unless people bother them.”

  Luke hugged her and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll be back in the morning to pick the two of you up.”

  Ben ran through the forest on all fours hunting and searching for food before the sun went down. Whenever he didn’t snag a rabbit or a squirrel, there was always the lake. Ducks were a plentiful backup. Bobbing on the water, they never saw him coming. He could catch one in the blink of an eye.

  Running down the hill at top speed and zig-zagging through the trees like he was born to do, Ben picked up a scent on the air. Human.

  Following his keen nose, Ben rounded the lake and saw a man lying on the shore. That’s when he picked up another scent. Blood.

  He crouched into stealth mode and crept closer and closer until he recognized the man. Sam. It was Rowanne’s mean father. Why was he in the forest lying next to the lake?

  Ben ran back to the opposite side of the lake, caught a Mallard, and ripped it’s head off. He carried it in his jaws close to where Sam was lying so he could watch him.

  Ben hid under an evergreen and ate his dinner.

  Sam had no clue how long he’d been lying on the grass at the edge of the lake. The throbbing in his arm woke him out of a groggy slumber, and he was startled to see daylight had given way to darkness.

  He couldn’t get up and move now. The night was so black in the forest it reminded him of a black hole. Common sense dictated that he stay where he was rather than stumbling around in the dark and getting into more danger.

  A flash of lightning forked across the ebony sky, and the rumble of thunder wasn’t far behind. Crashing and rolling overhead, the noise alone forecasted a bad storm. It was going to pour rain any minute, and the small measure of dryness he’d achieved while he slept would be gone.

  Sam had to get away from the open area around the lake and find some shelter under the trees. At least that would afford him a small amount of protection in a violent thunderstorm.

  He took a couple of deep breaths before sitting up to test his strength. Could he get to his feet and walk a short distance in the dark? His brain said no, but maybe his brain was wrong. He’d made a lot of terrible decisions in the past few days listening to that same brain.

  If a bear came while he was lying in the open, he wouldn’t have a prayer. Maybe he didn’t have a chance in hell anyway, but he had to try for a better spot.

  When did I become so stupid?

  Rowanne snuggled into her cozy sleeping bag underneath a massive evergreen with wide bottom boughs. The thunder and lightning promised that she might get wet, but she hoped the tree would protect her a little bit.

  She’d hung around the clearing all day searching, calling his name and waiting for Ben to come, and he didn’t show up. Where was he? What was he doing all this time?

  Her eyes filled with tears imagining the worst. “Daddy’s car is here because he’s trying to get rid of Ben. If Ben can’t come find me, that means Daddy must have killed him.”

  She cried herself to sleep.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Tuesday, October 29th.

  Nine Saint Gillian Street. New Orleans.

  Luke paced the floor in the kitchen. “I don’t like leaving you when Luke Junior might come at any moment.”

  Misty laughed and nixed that one. “Rowanne and Ben will likely be standing at the fence waiting for you to pick them up. You have to go, sweetheart. Puck, and I will be fine.”

  “Puck is a black disk that men whack around during a hockey game, not the name of my son,” Luke said. “I wish Row had phone service. This is one time when modern technology might help us out.”

  “Why don’t you stay here with Misty, and I’ll drive up and see if they’re waiting at the edge of the forest?” asked Claire.

  Luke shook his head. “Thanks, Claire, and I appreciate the offer, but I should go. If Ben is hurt, I’ll have to help Rowanne get him out of the woods, and it’s not a job for you.”

  “Go ahead, Lukey. I promise your son is not arriving until Samhain. He told me last night.”

  “You were awake most of the night. I heard you get up at least three times for the bathroom.”

  “The bathroom is my new home. Tonight, maybe I’ll curl up on the bath mat. Save me a lot of travel.”

  Angelique giggled as she stirred a batch of cornbread.

  Louisiana Forest.

  The rain stopped before dawn, and the forest dripped in the aftermath of the storm. An eerie mist rose from the lake and shrouded all the ibis and the herons in a gray blanket.

  Ben eyed the wading birds from where he was hidden and thought a big white bird would make a tasty breakfast. He picked out one a little farther away from the others.

  Before trying for the bird, Ben glanced over to where Sam thought he was hiding under the boughs of a tree. Rowanne’s mean father hadn’t moved yet, and maybe he wasn’t going to.

  Didn’t matter where Sam tried to go; Ben wouldn’t let him go back home and be mean to Rowanne. Sam was in the forest because he wanted to hurt Ben and take Rowanne away from him. That’s all Ben needed to know. He wouldn’t let it happen. He’d pick the perfect time.

  Rowanne is mine.

  Rowanne woke up, shivering and hungry. Her sleeping bag was damp, and if she had to stay another night, she’d have to dry it out in the sun before sleeping in it again.

  She sat up and reached into her backpack she’d been using as a pillow and pulled out one of the sandwiches she’d brought. “At least I have food for today. I’ve got to make the hike back to the fence to tell Uncle Luke that Ben hasn’t found me yet.”

  He will. He knows my scent, and he will come for me.

  As soon as she finished eating, she unzipped the sleeping bag and spread it out in the clearing in the sun. If Ben came while she was gone, he’d sit down and wait for her to come back.

 

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