The Whispering Room (17 page)

I
t was midafternoon when Evangeline made the trek out to Pearl River in East Tammany Parish to visit Kathy Mallet, Nathan's widow. The air cooled as she drove across the lake, and a light wind rolled whitecaps across the green surface of the water.

The two-story brick house was in one of the newer subdivisions along Highway 41. It looked much like all the other houses in the neighborhood, but a pair of wicker rockers and a hanging basket of impatiens on the tiny front porch gave it a homey touch that was in keeping with Evangeline's memory of Kathy Mallet—an attractive, unpretentious woman who taught second grade.

She pulled to the curb behind two squad cars and got out with the pecan pie she'd bought on her way over. Several cops milled about in the front yard and on the porch, and they nodded as Evangeline walked
up to the front door. A couple of them spoke, but most seemed to go out of their way to avoid eye contact with her, and she wondered if word had already spread about her meeting the night before with Nathan.

Kathy's mother opened the door and as she led Evangeline through the crowded foyer and living room into the kitchen, Evangeline told her who she was.

The woman turned in surprise. “You're Detective Theroux? Kathy wondered if you'd be dropping by.”

Evangeline glanced around all the strange faces, but didn't spot Kathy. “Is she here?”

“She's in her bedroom. If you have a minute, I'll go back and tell her you're here.”

“Of course.”

While she was gone, Evangeline made small talk with one of Kathy's neighbors. Yes, she'd known Nathan. Yes, it was certainly tragic. The consensus seemed to be that, whatever his faults, Nathan had been a good guy.

When the mother came back, she asked if Evangeline would mind going back to Kathy's bedroom. “She's not up to facing all these people right now, but she really wants to see you.”

She pointed to a closed door at the end of a narrow hallway. Evangeline knocked once, didn't get an answer, then knocked again.

“Come in.”

Kathy was standing at the window, looking out on the backyard. She turned at the sound of the door, and Evangeline could tell the woman had been crying.

“I'm so glad you came,” she said and crossed the room to give Evangeline a quick hug. “I was hoping you would.”

“How are you holding up?”

“I'm fine. I have to be, don't I? There are so many things to take care of. The arrangements. All the phone calls.” She paused and drew a breath. “But I don't have to tell you about all that. You've been through it, too.”

“Yes.”

She took Evangeline's hand and squeezed it. Her reaction surprised Evangeline. The woman was acting as if they were old friends, but in truth, Evangeline barely knew her. They'd met and talked a few times at parties, but that was about it. Now Kathy seemed to feel some sort of closeness or kinship with Evangeline, but perhaps that was only natural, considering their husbands had worked so closely together and now they were both dead.

Shot three times—once in the face, twice in the chest.

Still clutching her hand, Kathy pulled her down to sit on the edge of the bed. She turned, her dark eyes searching Evangeline's face. “I need to ask you something. And I hope you won't take any offense.”

“What is it?”

The woman's face darkened. “All those times you called here looking for Nathan…why did you want to talk to him so badly?”

“I explained all that. I just wanted to ask him some questions about Johnny.”

“But you didn't think Nathan had anything to do with the shooting, did you?”

“No, of course not. But they worked a lot of cases together that last year. I thought he might know if Johnny was working on something dangerous.”

“But why now? Johnny's been dead almost a year. Why did you wait so long to get in touch with Nathan?”

“I didn't. I've been trying to talk to him since Johnny's funeral. He would never return any of my phone calls. And I had a lot on mind. Like you said, there was a lot to take care of. The baby came and I went on maternity leave. Time passed in a daze for me. When I came back to work, it hit me again that something wasn't right about that shooting. So I started asking questions.”

Kathy still clutched Evangeline's hand, and now she squeezed her fingers reflexively. “Don't you find it strange that right after you started asking those questions, someone killed Nathan?”

Evangeline stared at her for a moment. “Are you saying you think my asking questions is what got Nathan killed?”

“It seems too much of a coincidence to believe anything else. I'm not blaming you,” she said quickly. “Please don't think that. I'd want answers, too. I
do
want answers. That's why I wanted to see you today. We're in the same boat now. I think our husbands were killed because of something they knew.”

“What?”

Kathy bit her lip. “I don't know. But I want to help you find out if I can.”

Evangeline hesitated. What if her questions about Johnny's shooting really had gotten Nathan killed? The last thing she wanted was to drag his widow into danger.

“There's something I need to tell you,” she said. “I saw Nathan last night at the cemetery.”

Kathy's head snapped up. “Last night? When?”

“It was early evening. Around seven-thirty or eight. I went out there to see him.”

“How did you know he'd be there?”

Too late, Evangeline remembered the reason Nathan had gone to Mount Olive—to visit his first wife's tomb.

“I know why he was there,” Kathy said softly. “I know all about his visits to Teri's grave. I'm just surprised…” She broke off, her gaze dropping to her hands. “I'm a little surprised that he went out there before coming here.”

Evangeline didn't know what to say to that. “I'm sorry. We only spoke briefly.”

“Was he able to tell you anything about Johnny?”

“Yes.” Evangeline's gaze fell away. “He told me Johnny had gone to that parking garage to see a woman.”

“Do you believe that?”

Evangeline shrugged. “I don't want to believe. But I just don't know anymore.”

Kathy got up and walked back over to the window. “Since we talked last week, I've been thinking a lot about what happened. Things went south in my marriage right after Johnny's shooting. Nathan started acting really strange. I thought at first he was just upset about Johnny's death. But after a while, I realized it was more than that. He was scared of something.”

“Do you have any idea what it was?”

“No, but I overheard something one night that scared me, too. Nathan was on the phone in the living room. He thought I was taking a bath, but I picked up the extension in here not realizing he'd already answered. I heard a man tell him that he needed to keep his head and not do anything stupid. As long as they stayed cool, they were home free.”

“Do you know who this man was?”

“I couldn't place the voice. It sounded like he was on a cell phone, and wherever he was, the signal was really weak. The call kept breaking up. But right
after that phone call is when Nathan decided to go stay with his uncle in New Iberia.”

“What reason did he give you?”

“He didn't. He just walked out. Which wasn't like Nathan. He had problems and plenty of them. But he wasn't a cruel man.”

“Do you think he may have come back last night to see the person who called him that night?”

“Maybe.” Kathy turned from the window, her face pale and drawn. “But there may have been another reason he came back.” She went over to the closet, slid back the door and rummaged through the boxes stacked on the floor. Pulling out a large manila envelope, she came back to the bed. “I found this one day when I was cleaning out the attic. I'm sure Nathan never expected that I would come across it.”

“What is it?”

She undid the fastener, then upended the contents on the bed. Several wads of hundred-dollar bills tumbled out, along with a passport and a snapshot of someplace tropical.

“There's twenty-five thousand dollars here,” she said. “We've never even had that much in our savings account at any given time. Where did he get so much cash? And take a look at this.”

She handed Evangeline the passport. The booklet contained Nathan's photograph, but it had been issued to someone named Todd Jamison.

“It looks like Nathan was preparing for a time when he might have to leave the country quickly,” Evangeline said.

“That's what I thought, too,” Kathy said. “But I can't figure out why he didn't take it with him when he moved to New Iberia.”

“Maybe he thought it would be safer here.” Evangeline picked up the photograph. “What's this?”

“It was in the envelope with the money and the passport.”

Evangeline scrutinized the snapshot. It looked as if it had been taken from a boat off the shore of some tropical island. The focus was a crowded marketplace filled with tourists in loud shirts and Bermuda shorts. Between the lens of the camera and land was an expanse of azure sky and turquoise water.

“Looks like someplace in the Caribbean,” Evangeline said.

“Maybe that's where he was planning on going with the money and the new identity,” Kathy said with a quiver in her voice.

There was something about the photograph that bothered Evangeline, though she had no idea why. Maybe it was the idea that Nathan's plans for a quick getaway might have had something to do with Johnny's shooting, and now she would never know the whole truth about that night.

She held up the photograph. “Would you mind if I borrow this for a little while? I'd like to see if I can figure out where it was taken.”

Kathy shrugged. “That's why I showed you all this stuff. I thought you'd want to know. Like I said, we're in the same boat now. If Johnny and Nathan were shot because of something they knew…then you and I could be in danger, too, I suppose.”

 

After Evangeline left Kathy's house, she called Mitchell to find out if there'd been a break in Nathan's case. Then, as an afterthought, she called her mother to ask about the mobile in J.D.'s room.

“I've ordered a lot of stuff lately,” Lynette said with a sigh. “But no mobile. Do you remember the store it came from?”

“No, not offhand. I may still have the box at home if Jessie hasn't thrown it away.”

“I bought the baby a few things from Dillard's,” Lynette said. “Maybe they got the order mixed up.”

“This didn't come from Dillard's. And anyway, it doesn't matter.” Evangeline didn't want to worry her mother. She had enough on her mind. “I was just wondering who I need to thank.”

“Check with your dad. Although that doesn't sound like something he'd do.” Lynette's voice was surprisingly devoid of the bitter edge that Evangeline had grown accustomed to lately.

“Are you okay, Mom?”

“I'm fine,” she said. “I've decided to have another go at spring cleaning. There's a lot of junk I want to get rid of around here. I've been thinking about doing some painting, too. How do you think the living room would look in chartreuse? They use it a lot on HGTV. Your father would hate it, of course, but his opinion isn't something I have to worry about anymore, is it?”

“Mom…”

“I'm fine, Evangeline.”

“Okay. Look, I have to go. I'll call you later.”

So she was no closer to solving the mystery of the origami cranes.

As Evangeline ended the call with her mother, she thought about the scarred man at the cemetery. Given her suspicion that he'd dropped the bird on the pathway for her to find, she was starting to get a little freaked out.

She thought about J.D. and Jessie all alone in the house. They were perfectly safe. Jessie was very good about keeping the doors locked. Evangeline knew she was letting her imagination get the better of her, but she called home just to check anyway. When she didn't get an answer on the landline, she called Jessie's cell.

“Hey, it's me. Everything okay there? I just called the house and didn't get an answer.”

“We're sitting out on the porch,” Jessie said.
“Sorry. I didn't hear the phone. Is everything okay with you? You sound a little worried.”

“I'm just checking in. I'll be home in a little while.”

“That's odd,” Jessie murmured.

“What is?”

“The car that just went by…the driver keeps circling the block. That's the third time I've seen him. I wonder if he's lost.”

“Why kind of car is it?”

“Some old Cadillac. Looks about a hundred years old.”

“It's probably nothing, but why don't you go ahead and take the baby inside. Make sure all the doors are locked,” Evangeline said. “Watch out the window and if you see the car again, try to get a license plate number. I'm heading home right now to check things out. I'll be there in a few minutes.”