Chapter 1
Mommy?”
“Hmm?”
“Mommy?”
“Hmm?”
“There’s a man in the yard.”
“What’s that?”
The four-year-old came to stand at the corner of the kitchen table and gazed yearningly at the frosting her mother was applying to the top of the cupcake. “Can I have some, Mommy?”
“May I have some. When I’m done, you can lick the bowl.”
“You made chocolate.”
“Because chocolate is your favorite, and you’re my favorite girl,” she said, giving the child a wink. “And,” she added, drawing out the word, “I’ve got sprinkles to add as soon as I’m finished with the icing.”
Emily beamed, then her face puckered with concern. “He’s sick.”
“Who’s sick?”
“The man.”
“What man?”
“In the yard.”
Emily’s statements finally penetrated that innate mom-screen that filtered out unimportant chatter. “There’s really a man outside?” Honor placed the iced cupcake on the platter, returned the spatula to the bowl of frosting, and absently wiped her hands on a dishtowel as she stepped around the child.
“He’s lying down because he’s sick.”
Emily trailed her mother as she made her way from kitchen to living room. Honor looked through the front window, turning her head from one side to the other, but all she saw was the lawn of St. Augustine grass sloping gradually down to the dock.
Beyond the dock’s weathered wood planks the waters of the bayou moved indolently, a dragonfly skimming the surface and causing an occasional ripple. The stray cat, who refused to take Honor seriously when she told him that this was not his home, was stalking unseen prey in her bed of brightly colored zinnias.
“Em, there’s not—”
“By the bush with the white flowers,” Emily said stubbornly. “I saw him through the window in my room.”
Honor went to the door, unlocked it, slid the bolt, stepped out onto the porch, and looked in the direction of the rose of Sharon shrub.