Ada leaned forward so she could get a better view. “I see it.”
“There used to be a drainpipe there, and one time Daddy came home early and caught someone trying to climb up to the second floor.”
“That’s scary,” Ada said. “Was he a robber?”
“You could say that,” Scarlet said. “My daddy shot him right in the back. And then he ripped the drainpipe out so no one could climb up there again. We had to have the whole house repainted. Mama and Daddy never really got along after that, and she died a couple of years later. No one ever knew what happened to her. They found her body in the marsh and that was that. I was the oldest, so it was up to me to take care of my two brothers.”
“You have brothers?” Ada asked.
“I used to,” Scarlet said. “One died of scarlet fever and the other died in the war.”
“That’s sad,” Ada said, biting her bottom lip. “So why’d you get shipped off if your daddy needed you to take care of your brothers?” she asked, a little too insightfully.
Scarlet sighed. She never thought she’d be spending her last days in the same house she’d been born in, but she’d made peace with her life over the last few years and it seemed fitting. And if, from time to time, moments of bitterness and memories of rejection snuck up on her as she roamed her childhood home, then she squashed them like bugs and moved on about her day. Besides, she’d made something of herself, and in hindsight, it had been the best thing for her. There weren’t a lot of chances back in those days to get out of Whiskey Bayou.
“I guess he shipped me off because I reminded him too much of my mama,” Scarlet finally said. “I was barely seventeen, and in those days, a lot of girls were already married and having babies. But I had an independent spirit, and I had good brains. That’s why you should go back to kindergarten. You’ve got good brains too.”
“I’ll consider it,” Ada said. “I feel better now that I’ve had cookies and had some time to reflect on it.”
“Emotions sometimes get the better of us,” Scarlet agreed. “We Holmes women are real passionate. If I’d have been a boy, Daddy would have brought me right into the family business. I’d have made a good man. You see, after prohibition ended, he partnered with James to open a legitimate business, but he also had other business interests. He loaned money to people when they had great ideas, and then he helped them get started and took part of their profits. He made even more money doing that than selling whiskey. I did all the books for him, and I could add numbers in my head faster than anybody.”
Scarlet didn’t bother to mention that she’d skimmed a little off the top for her trouble since Daddy never bothered to pay her. “I had already been working at the bank, so Daddy used me as a contact point for a lot of the businessmen coming and going out of Whiskey Bayou. I met some real characters. I even met a bank robber once.”
“That doesn’t sound like a good reason to boot you out to me,” Ada said.
Scarlet cleared her throat and felt the heat in her cheeks. “Well, there were extenuating circumstances. James Walker was a very handsome and charming man, and I guess I fancied myself in love with him. He was almost thirty years older than I was, but he was just like a movie star. Everyone does foolish things when they’re in love.”
“I know,” Ada said primly. “I watched The Bachelor with you the other night. Disgraceful. You didn’t act like those women, did you?”
“Not quite that bad,” Scarlet said. “But James wined and dined me in secret so my father wouldn’t find out.” Or his wife, she added silently. “But my father had a sixth sense about these things and he and James got into a horrible fight. By the time the dust had cleared, they’d split the business and I was on the next boat to France.”
“Were you scared?” Ada asked, worry in her eyes.
“A little bit,” Scarlet admitted. “But it was exciting too. I’ve always been of the mind that you can’t dwell on the bad things in life because that just keeps you tethered to the past. Know what I mean?”
“Not really,” Ada said, kicking her Mary Janes back and forth. “But I trust you.”
“That’s a relief,” Scarlet said.
“Did you get kicked out of Paris too?” Ada asked.
“No, they loved me in Paris. It’s a different culture. And they were not so uptight as the people in a small town tend to be. For me, it was a place to start over. Though the timing could have been better. I’d barely gotten off the boat before the Nazis occupied Marseille. That was a real humdinger. I’d hardly unpacked my bags before I had to kill a man.”
Ada gasped and sat up straight in the swing. “Is that true? Granny says you say that a lot. She says you like to embellish.”
“Granny is full of helpful information, isn’t she?” Scarlet asked. “But it’s true. In fact, I killed him with this very knife.”
Scarlet dug into the pocket of her sundress and pulled out a small sheath knife. Ada covered her mouth with her hands dramatically.
“This was my father’s,” Scarlet said. “It was the only thing he gave me when I left home.”
“Does it still have blood on it?” she asked.
“I cleaned it real good,” Scarlet assured her. “A little bleach takes care of a lot of evidence. Something to remember.”
Ada nodded. “Who’d you kill?”
“Well, that’s a little more complicated,” she said, pulling the knife from the worn leather sheath. The blade was old, but just as sharp and capable as it had been the day she’d
