Serendipity (Bayou Magic 3)

“Temper much?” Cash asks.

“I’ve never seen a man more filled with rage,” Mama says with a sigh. “When we met, he was not like that. He was quick to smile, always made me laugh, and was kind. He didn’t love that I was part of the coven. But I wasn’t willing to give that up, and he said he could live with it. But right after Brielle was born, things started to change. He was just angry all the time. Horrible. He would say the meanest things.”

“You’re remembering more,” I say, shocked at how much she knows. I know she’s been doing so much better, but there are moments I’m surprised by the difference in her.

“Much more. At least from before the possession. I admit, having a grumpy husband, I was moody, as well. It’s exhausting, always walking on eggshells.

“Brielle couldn’t have been six months old when he came home one night, soaked to the skin because of a big storm. That was the night he told me he had killed Andy. I was shocked. I knew he had been in a bad mood, but I had no idea he was homicidal. It terrified me. And then, the next day, he just…changed. Suddenly, he was the same happy man I married, and things calmed down for a while. I had two more babies and thought maybe things would be different.

“But then Daphne was about a year old or so, and it got horrible again. He was just so mean. So awful. And I only wanted to keep you girls safe. I didn’t want him to hurt you. He’d tell me he was fixin’ to hit me. Slap me around. Teach me a lesson.

“And he did. Way too often.”

I reach over and take her hand, giving it a squeeze. “I’m so sorry, Mama.”

“It wasn’t your fault. It was his. Things start to get fuzzy after that. Whatever lurked in that house started to play with my mind, too. And then I wasn’t myself for a long, long time.”

“So, Adam said he killed Andy,” Cash says, “but we don’t have any proof of that. You never confirmed it?”

“I—no. I didn’t. He never came around no more.” Mama frowns. “Do you think maybe he lied to me?”

“Were Adam and Andy twins?” Lucien asks.

“Yes, I think so. I didn’t know Adam’s family all that well. His parents both died when he was a boy, and his grandmama raised him and his brother. She died before we got married. He didn’t have much other family to speak of.”

“So, maybe I wasn’t seeing Daddy,” I say, thinking it over. “But his brother.”

“Did he look younger or older in your mind?” Miss Sophia asks.

“I guess he was older,” I reply as I think it over. “More wrinkles and some gray hair. But the same eyes.”

Cash taps on his computer. “Andy Landry, lives in Baton Rouge. I have an address. I’m calling the local authorities and will head up that way.”

“Clearly, we’re all coming with you.”

“I’m not,” Mama says, shaking her head.

“Ruth and I will stay here,” Miss Sophia says. “Oliver and Annabelle are due home soon. We’ll fill them in. Please, keep us posted.”

“We will.”

“It can’t be this easy,” Jackson whispers to me as we hurry to his car. We’ll follow behind the others filing into Cash’s car.

“Maybe it can. We could use a leg up on this jerk.”

Jack shakes his head. “I don’t buy it.”

* * *

“Nothing,” Cash says as he walks over to us. We all stood on the sidewalk, waiting as Cash joined the local authorities to look through the little rundown house. “There’s nothing in there. Looks like Andy hasn’t been home in a while. Horace isn’t using this place as his fucking torture lair.”

“He could be literally anywhere,” I say as my stomach falls. “How will we find him? How will we find those women? Goddess only knows what he’s doing to them right now.”

“I think it’s time for a little blood magic,” Millie says, looking right at Jackson. “We know someone who can help with that.”

“No. No way,” Jack says, shaking his head emphatically. “We’re not getting them involved. They’ve been through enough.”

And then, as he speaks, his expression goes lax, and his eyes cloud over.

“He’s having a premonition,” I say softly, linking my hand with his and letting him know he’s not alone.

“Can you see what he does?” Brielle asks. “When you touch him?”

“No. We’re not linked that way. But he can feel me.”

Brielle keeps looking down the street, frowning, and then away.

“What is it?” I ask her.

“There are four.” She closes her eyes. “And their deaths were awful.”

Cash pulls her against him, not caring at all that the cops currently leaving the house and getting into their vehicles give him funny looks.

“They think I’m crazy,” he says with a sigh. “And, honestly, I don’t care. If it meant possibly finding those girls here, it was worth it.”