Out of Body

“What does he mean, Eric?” Bolivar said. He seemed completely awake again. “What things?”

Eric winced. His attention kept returning to Pipes. “Nothing, Grandfather. Gray sounds a bit old-fashioned.” He laughed. “Women aren’t sheltered the way they used to be.”

“The way they should be,” Bolivar snapped. “What’s wrong? Something’s dangerous, isn’t it? You’re hiding it from me. Is Sidney in danger? We should have stopped her from going to that club.”

“No,” Sidney said quickly. “There’s nothing wrong with me. But men are always old-fashioned about the women in their own families. I understand that.”

“You’re not in her family,” Bolivar said, pointing at Gray.

Sidney’s expression showed she had already realized her mistake. “Of course not. I was talking about you, Grandfather.”

Pipes got up and approached Sidney. The two locked gazes and Sidney nodded.

Without warning, Gray felt heat building inside him. And hairs rose at the back of his neck. He glanced around, but nothing was different. Pipes had gone back to shifting her weight rhythmically.

Eric went to the two women and draped an arm over Pipes’s shoulders. “You two run along and get your practice done.” He looked down on Pipes with unshuttered absorption.

Taking her into this house hadn’t been a complete act of charity as far as Sidney’s brother was concerned.

“I’d love to listen,” Eric said quietly, his nostrils flaring.

“No,” Sidney said promptly. “We’ll call you, Gray.” She whirled toward the door and all but ran from the room with Pipes behind her.

For an instant Gray was disoriented. For the first time ever, at least since he’d been an eight-year-old expecting to die at a man’s hand, his vision faded until he barely saw the scene around him. Darkness filled his mind and in that darkness, Marley ran, arms outstretched. She sobbed. He wanted to sit down, but didn’t dare draw that kind of attention.

Marley needed him. His lungs tightened and felt on fire.

Ten more minutes had gone by, Gray saw from a mantel clock. He managed a man-to-man chuckle. “Women. Unpredictable,” he said. “I’m sorry for interrupting your day.”

“We’re glad you did, aren’t we, Grandfather?” Eric said.

The older man snuffled some more, but didn’t comment.

“He’s tired,” Eric said as if the older man wasn’t there. “The men in this family don’t have an easy time of it.”

Gray made a polite noise and took a couple of steps toward the hall.

“Look,” Eric said. “We worry about Sidney being out in the Quarter at night. We do our best to protect her. It’s a bad idea for her to be singing in clubs, but we’re afraid she’ll…Sidney’s not stable. She’s had episodes in the past when we tried to stop her doing what she wanted. Not her fault. The weakness is there.”

There wasn’t a sensible answer that Gray could think of.

“Our mother’s the same,” Eric said. He raised his eyes to indicate upper regions of the house. “Very hard on my father. He’s devoted to Mother. Spends most of the time with her. She won’t even come down for a meal anymore and she never goes out.”

“Sad,” Gray said. Why would this man tell him all this?

Eric Fournier was staring at Gray.

“I should go,” Gray said.

“Please take this the way it’s meant,” Eric said. “I love my sister very much. Growing up we were like twins. But she isn’t the same.”

“Why are you telling me this?” There was no way to avoid asking the question.

“Because you think you want to interview her for an article. You said so and she obviously knows about it. It’s a bad idea and I’m asking you to drop it.”

Gray wavered between his need to leave, now, and letting Eric Fournier talk as much as he would. The chance that the man would say something really useful made it almost impossible to stay objective.

“I wouldn’t be so worried if those other women weren’t gone,” Eric said. He glanced at Gray sharply. “I don’t think there’s anyone in the city who isn’t worried about what’s going on. Unless it’s Sidney. One of those women was her partner, but Sidney won’t discuss any of it. I don’t get it. It’s frustrating.”

“It must be.” Gray hoped he sounded polite but casual.

“Look.” Eric walked him to the front door. “To be honest, my father and grandfather aren’t well. I don’t want them worried more than they already are.”

“Mmm.”

“It doesn’t matter what I say, does it?” Eric said. “You’re onto a story. It’s getting better all the time—from your point of view—and you’re going to write it.”

“Something like that.”

“Do me one favor if you can. Remember that Sidney has too much imagination. She lives in her own world most of the time. She makes things up about herself and everyone around her. If she says something outrageous, ignore it.”

Curiosity overcame Gray’s hurry for an instant. “For instance?”

“Anything.” There was frustration and desperation in that one word. “One of the ways she tries to put herself in the center of attention is to make wild confessions to things she had nothing to do with. Just use your discretion, will you, please?”

Eric opened the front door. In the sharp light from outside there was no missing the signs of strain in the man’s face.

“I always do.” Gray raised a hand, hesitated, then put firm pressure on Eric’s upper arm. “I’m not anyone you have to worry about. Thanks for letting me take up your time.”

The door closed behind him without any response from Eric Fournier.

Gray jogged down the steps and along a brick pathway beside the driveway. The wide gates still stood open.

He got outside and scanned the area ahead.

“Oh, Marley,” he muttered to himself. She’d gone. He imagined her pedaling the bike—too big for her and the typical no-brakes messenger variety—into the heavy French Quarter traffic.

He’d better call a cab, then call Nat.

He reached the tree where Marley had hidden herself and made the left turn along the tall hedge.

Marley sat on the sidewalk, her arms wrapped around her legs and displaying scratched-up knees to advantage.

The bike lay on the sidewalk and from Gray’s angle, the front wheel looked suspiciously bent. He noticed his borrowed baseball cap crumpled under the frame.

Marley’s head was bowed and her hair shone fiery red in the sunlight. Where it parted, the nape of her neck showed pale and vulnerable.

The pain that hit his gut, radiating through his pelvis to his groin, all but collapsed him. He saw her as if she were at the end of a tunnel through which a beam shone like a spotlight, making her the only figure on a blank canvas.

Slowly, bending slightly to guard the pain, he walked toward her.

She must have heard him. “Gray?” Marley looked up and her eyes glittered as if she’d been crying. She held her arms out to him. “I wrecked the bike and it’s almost time. I was coming in to get you.”

Gray didn’t laugh, although he knew she was being outrageously brave to even think of storming the Fournier house. “Never mind,” he said, sinking to kneel beside her. “Are you okay?”

She slid her hands around his neck and he couldn’t look away from her green eyes. He got lost in those eyes. “I’m not okay,” she said, sounding breathless. “It’s…Are you okay? There’s no…Are you in pain anywhere?” Her voice faded to nothing.

He nodded and pulled her hard against him. The next stab into his belly took his breath away, but he didn’t want it to stop.

“Oh, Gray. I never thought about this happening. I didn’t expect it. We’ll have to talk. No, we mustn’t talk. Leave me now. Don’t ask any questions, just go and forget about me.”