Page 45 of Stalked By Shadows
When Sky emerged from the bathroom, she looked like an ice queen. She had pulled up her hair, and even done something with her make-up that made her look magical. It was a perfect fit. I took pictures and sent them to Lukas, and Sky danced around the shop, not caring that she was overdressed for working the close shift.
The small smile on Micah’s face at seeing her so thrilled by the outfit made the entire afternoon worth it. Some of the tension in his shoulders eased. The trickle of customers who came in insisted on pictures with Sky, even texting friends to encourage them to stop by. It became a steady stream of people visiting to see Sky in full Queen mode, which increased sales as Micah and I restocked. It made for a busy early evening, and I felt pretty good about handling the register and answering questions. I hoped the tour would go as smoothly later.
Chapter 15
Lukas showed up briefly to bring us food. I was surprised by his arrival, but no one else was. Sky flounced around him in her dress and flirted shamelessly, while Lukas smiled and pretended his interest in her was professional. Either way I enjoyed the giant meal of banana fosters French Toast he’d brought me, with a huge side of that andouille sausage. Micah had some sort of bento box thing, and Sky a plate of beignets that she insisted on eating, but only after she pulled a T-shirt over her dress to protect it from powdered sugar.
“Did you know there was some Mary Voodoo or something in the cemetery too?” I asked him when he sat down in the back room with me while I ate. “Micah and I ran into Jared in the Square today. He seemed pretty distraught.”
“I can’t talk about the case with you. But we are exploring all angles.”
I stared at him for a minute, parsing the brother speak before I continued. “I didn’t see her. I don’t think Micah did either. Is she missing too?”
“No. She’s been questioned like you and Micah were. How about you focus on the job and Micah, and let me focus on the case?” Lukas stole a bite of toast from me.
“Jared said she took something from the grave. And he saw the darkness take Sarah from him.”
Lukas sighed. “Alex, stop.”
I frowned at him. He was the one who wanted me to stop pretending I didn’t see strange shit. Or was it something else?
“Whatever happened in that cemetery doesn’t need to be anything but a short memory for you. Okay?” Lukas said.
“But Jared and Sarah…”
“Are people you met.” He shook his head. “You and Micah are scary alike sometimes. You know that? Meeting people does not make you responsible for them. Not their actions or their fate. If they’d left the shop and gotten into a car accident, would you have felt responsible?”
“No. But I don’t feel responsible for them right now either. Just worried and trying to help,” I pointed out.
Lukas stared at me like he could see right through me.
“Okay, so I feel a little responsible. Plus Jared is a wreck and the cops are looking at him like he did something.”
“It’s standard procedure because most of the time it is the SO who has pulled some shit. It’s not even a one-off, Alex. Almost every case of domestic abuse that ends in murder is some guy claiming they’d never hurt so and so. Did Jared do something? We don’t know. The timeline is off, and we have them on video. We have Mary Lamont, self-proclaimed Voodoo Queen, leaving the cemetery before Jared came calling for help and the two of you ran up. We don’t have a body for Sarah, or any video indicating she left the cemetery. But you know what all that means?”
I shook my head.
“Of course you don’t. The police don’t either. But it’s our job to put the pieces together. Not yours.” He reached out and put his hand over mine. “How about you focus on healing instead of worrying about stuff you can’t do anything about?”
“Maybe if Micah and I talk to that Mary person? Maybe she’ll remember something else?”
“Maybe you’ll give yourself a heart attack from all this worry?”
“I’m fine,” I promised.
“Then focus on the job. Learn about the city. See if the pretty boy is someone you want to spend some time with. Let me deal with the trouble of New Orleans.”
“What if it’s paranormal?” I wondered. Lukas didn’t seem to be sensitive to it at all.
“What if it is? What would you do?” Lukas asked.
He was right. I didn’t know. Just because I could see something other people might not didn’t mean I had a way of proving it or even doing something about it.
“Exactly,” Lukas said, understanding my expression as only he really could. “Now relax. Learn about the city. And try to stay out of trouble. Yeah?”
I nodded, even if my brain was twirling a million miles a second with questions.
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