“Some people would argue that you’re the heart of this town,” Nikki said.
“Me?” She looked pleased. “I do what I can, but no. Charles was our heart and soul. Just look at all the lives he touched. Did you know he’s the reason I came to Belle Pointe?”
“I didn’t know.” Nikki resisted the urge to glance at the time on her phone. “Perhaps you can tell me about it someday.”
Lila blithely ignored her cue. “I was living down in Baton Rouge at the time. Only in my twenties, but already a widow. My mother had died a few years earlier and my father had passed when I was small. I was alone in the world, desperate and destitute, not knowing where my next meal would come from, much less how to pay my rent.”
“I’ve been there,” Nikki murmured. Except for the widowed part.
“And just look where you are now.” Lila beamed. “My salvation came by way of a letter. I’ve always said my trip to the mailbox that day was divine intervention.”
Nikki found her interest piqued despite her impatience. “The letter was from Dr. Nance?”
“It was. I didn’t know him at the time, only that he was my aunt Mary’s physician. She’d taken ill and had asked him to write to me on her behalf. The letter caught me by surprise. Mary was my mother’s sister, but I’d only ever met her once that I could remember. She and my mother had had a falling-out years earlier.”
“That’s a shame.”
“Yes. My mother didn’t like to talk about it, so I never knew the details. Anyway, my aunt needed someone to look after her, and seeing as how I was her only living relative, she wondered if I would be willing to come to Belle Pointe and move in with her. My circumstances being what they were, the invitation seemed too good to be true. But after Charles and I spoke on the phone, I accepted her offer. He could be quite convincing when he wanted to be. Charming, too. And, oh, so dashing back in those days.” She looked momentarily flustered and laughed at herself. “I’m afraid I had a bit of a crush on him. Everyone did. He was the most handsome and charismatic man I ever knew.”
“I never thought of him as a heartthrob,” Nikki said.
“Oh, my dear child, you’ve no idea. Audrey was a very lucky lady. But to make a long story short, a week after we spoke on the phone, I arrived by bus with little more than the clothes on my back.”
“It must have been stressful moving in with someone you didn’t know,” Nikki said.
“Stressful is hardly the word. Even though Charles had warned me about my aunt’s illness, I was shocked by her condition. A stroke had left her bedridden. She could barely speak or even feed herself without assistance. The responsibility of caring for her seemed overwhelming at first. I often thought about slipping away in the middle of the night, but she needed me. I was all she had, and after a time, I came to love her as if she were my own mother. When she died, I was no longer destitute thanks to her generosity, but once again desperately alone. Then a few weeks later, Mrs. Jensen fell and broke her hip. And Mrs. Witherspoon came down with pneumonia. The point is, there was always someone who needed me. I came to Belle Pointe for my aunt, but the whole town became my family.” She reached across the counter and placed her hand on Nikki’s. “We can be your family, too, if you’ll let us.”
Nikki appreciated the gesture. She did. But allowing someone into her life and into her heart wasn’t so easy. Everyone she’d ever cared about had left her. She murmured her appreciation as she slipped her hand away. “Thank you. You’ve been very kind.”
“It’s the least I can do. I was always sorry I couldn’t do more for your poor grandmother.” Lila rose. “I’ll be on my way now. I’ve taken up too much of your time as it is. Thank you for indulging a chatty old woman. You call me if you need anything. I mean that sincerely.”
“I will.” Nikki ushered her out the door.
“And please let me know about the autopsy.” She looked suddenly aghast as she stood on the porch steps gazing up at Nikki. “Goodness, that sounded macabre. I just think it would give us all some closure if we knew for certain what happened out there on that lake.”
Nikki nodded without comment. She stood on the porch and watched Lila Wilkes’s taillights disappear around the corner. As the sound of the car engine faded, the neighborhood fell quiet. Clouds covered the moon so that only the streetlamps kept the gloom at bay. With the gathering darkness, apprehension once again descended.
Nikki scanned the nightscape, unable to shake the notion that someone was out there in the shadows watching her house, watching her, but why?
Chapter Five
Adam cut the engine and drifted through the tangle of water lilies toward the bank. This was the first time he’d taken his grandmother’s twelve-foot johnboat out on the water since hauling it down from storage. After making sure the aluminum hull was still sound, he’d purchased a small outboard motor for tooling around the lake. The horsepower wouldn’t win any races, but he didn’t plan on needing much speed. At the moment, he was much more concerned about stealth.
All day long, he’d worked outside so that he could keep an eye on Dr. Nance’s cabin. Two of Tom Brannon’s officers had come out early that morning to search the property and the surrounding woods. After they left, Adam had been sorely tempted to take the boat across the lake right then and there, but he’d told himself to wait for darkness. The last thing he needed was to be caught in broad daylight breaking and entering a
