Page 27 of The Unseen

She found no reference to the death of Francois Villard or any mention of his disappearance. Since his body was never found, she figured that made sense. He could have just ridden off to live somewhere else.

After an hour and a half of searching, she put away the last of the microfiche and walked over to where Lucas’s dark head was bent over his laptop. She hated to disturb him, but Charlotte Villard had returned her call and agreed to see them this afternoon.

Lucas glanced up. His gaze took in her stretch jeans and the sleeveless mint-green sweater that hugged her breasts.

The gold in his eyes began to glow with what she had come to recognize as desire.

Her pulse quickened as her thoughts went to Lucas’s magnificent bare chest as he had worked in the sun, and the hours she had spent with him in bed.

Her cheeks warmed. Lust was new to her. She hoped he wouldn’t notice.

“Finished already?” he asked, his expression back to normal.

She smiled. “Time flies when you’re having fun.”

He chuckled. “Find anything new?”

“Not exactly. In a way, the fact the newspapers never reported Francois’s death is information in itself. People must have believed he just rode off and went on with his life someplace else.”

“Which supports the theory that he fought with either his father or his brother—which would have been a motive for his departure.”

“Unfortunately, from what we’ve learned, that doesn’t appear to be what happened.”

“No.”

“The good news is, Charlotte Villard returned my call. She’s willing to talk to us this afternoon.” Nicole pulled her cell phone out and checked the time. “We’ve got about fifteen minutes to get there.”

He closed his laptop. “Let’s go.”

Ten minutes later, the Jeep pulled up in front of a white-trimmed, wood-framed light blue house, with a big wraparound porch. It was one of the historic properties in the area.

When they knocked on the front door, Charlotte Villard pulled it open.

She smiled. “Nicole, it’s so good to see you.

” Charlotte’s hair was completely white and so fine her pale pink scalp showed through.

Her face was badly wrinkled, but her shoulders remained straight, her strength apparent, along with the family pride.

“It’s good to see you, too, Charlotte.” Nicole leaned over and hugged her. “This is my friend Lucas Devereaux. He owns the Baton Rouge Youth Centers.”

Charlotte’s gaze met Lucas’s, ran over his handsome face and broad-shouldered, lean, muscled build, and a smile of approval touched her lips. “It’s nice to meet you. Please come in.”

Nicole walked into the entry, Lucas behind her, and Charlotte closed the front door. “I’ve made us some tea,” the old woman said.

“That sounds wonderful.” Nicole followed her into a living room that held decades of memories. Hooked rugs over polished hardwood floors, a room filled with family heirlooms and precious knickknacks handed down through generations.

Nicole sat down on a burgundy sofa and Lucas took a seat beside her.

The aroma of fresh-cut flowers filled the room as Charlotte poured tea from a gold-rimmed blue porcelain teapot into matching cups and saucers.

She offered sugar and cream from a silver serving set, but both of them declined.

Charlotte passed the cups and saucers around and settled herself in a chair across from them.

Nicole took a sip of her tea. “Delicious.”

Charlotte’s lined mouth curved into a smile. “It’s jasmine. My favorite.”

Nicole returned the smile. “Mine too.”

Charlotte sipped her tea. “After you called, I started thinking about my family. Phillipe and Christian are both living in Baton Rouge, not that far away, but I don’t see either of them very often.”

Nicole made no reply. She wasn’t surprised the Villard men had no time for an old woman who couldn’t do anything to benefit their social status or business interests.

“On the phone, you mentioned you were concerned with the original owners of Belle Reve,” Charlotte continued.

“Of course, I wasn’t alive back in the days when Pierre Villard founded the family shipping empire, but I remember my grandmother talking about him and his wife.

It was a love match, quite a story at a time when arranged marriages were the standard. ”

“I understand Pierre built the house as a gift for Therese-Louise.”

“According to my grandmother, he loved her very much. She said Therese-Louise went against her parents’ wishes to marry him.”

Charlotte shook her head. “Sadly, they were killed in a tragic accident not long after the marriage of their younger son, Jules. I remember my grandmother said the Villard family was cursed. Grandmother was a Fontaine before she wed. She said her husband told her that at some point in the glory days, the older Villard son had vanished without a trace. Trouble had followed the family ever since.”

“You believe the Villards are cursed?” Lucas asked.

“Not really. My life has been blessed. Alain Villard was a wonderful husband. We raised three children, who now have children and grandchildren of their own. But Alain and I never lived at Belle Reve, so perhaps that is the difference.”

“Anything’s possible,” Lucas said, and Nicole knew he believed exactly that.

Charlotte rose from her chair and walked over to the antique sideboard against the wall. “Alain’s grandmother gave him a book that had been handed down through the Villard side of the family for generations. I know the library has a copy, but I wasn’t sure if you had seen it.”

“Winnie Bonner found it for me. I read it while I was there, but the library copy is in very bad condition. Water damaged a lot of the pages. They’re either illegible or missing. It was difficult to follow some of what happened.”

“Then perhaps this will help.” Charlotte opened one of the paned-glass doors on the front of the sideboard and pulled out a small red leather volume.

She crossed the room and handed the book to Nicole. She recognized the title: BELLE REVE: The Tragic History of a Beautiful Dream.

The same book, but in extremely fine condition.

“Thank you, Charlotte. I know how much this must mean to you and your family.”

“Yes, it does mean a lot.”

“I’m hoping this will fill in the blanks in the story.”

Beside her, Lucas shifted forward on the sofa. “I’m looking forward to a chance to read the book myself,” he said. “I promise you, Ms. Charlotte, we’ll take very good care of it.”

“Thank you. It truly is a family treasure. Sad as the tale may be.”

Nicole set her cup and saucer down on the coffee table. She held the book gently as she rose from the sofa. “This is so kind of you, Charlotte.”

“Let me know if you discover something interesting I might have missed,” the old woman said.

Nicole smiled. “I will, I promise. I’ll bring it back as soon as we’re finished.”

Charlotte escorted them to the front door. “It was good to see you, my dear.” She turned. “Nice to meet you, Lucas.”

“You as well, Ms. Charlotte. Thanks again.”

They left the house and returned to Belle Reve to change clothes and join Remy for supper. As they turned down the lane toward the house, the flashing red lights of a fire truck parked in the driveway sent a shot of fear down Nicole’s spine.

“Lucas.” She gripped his arm.

He turned off the engine. “Let’s go see what’s going on.”

A pair of firemen, one tall and thick-chested, the other shorter and dark-skinned, walked out the front door as Lucas and Nicole hurried toward them. Both men wore full turnout gear: yellow striped bunker pants and coats, helmets, and high rubber boots.

Lucas stopped the closest man, the taller of the two. His name tag read Burrows . “Ms. Belmond lives here.” Lucas tipped his head toward Nicole. “What’s going on?”

“My aunt is ailing,” Nicole added anxiously. “Is she all right?”

“Your aunt is fine.”

Nicole breathed a sigh of relief.

“An electrical problem shorted out the wiring and started a small fire in the laundry room.”

“You got everything under control?” Lucas asked.

The shorter man, named Jackson, nodded. “There wasn’t much damage. We were just heading back to the station.”

“We appreciate your help,” Lucas said.

“You’re going to need an electrician,” Burrows said. “Once the repairs are made, the city will probably require an inspection to be sure the residence is safe.”

“In a house this age, it could get expensive,” Jackson added.

Nicole’s shoulders slumped.

“The important thing is no one was hurt,” Lucas reminded her. “Thanks again,” he said to the firemen as he took Nicole’s hand and started forward. “Let’s go check on your aunt.”

Rachel sat in the front parlor with Sean, whose face was still slightly flushed from the adrenaline rush. Rachel looked a little shaken, but resigned.

Nicole hurried toward her and took hold of her aunt’s hands. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. The electrical box must have sparked, then caught fire. I smelled hot wiring, and it led me to the laundry room. The fire had just gotten started. If it hadn’t jumped to the curtains, I would have been able to put it out myself.”

“I heard the fire trucks and came running over,” Sean said. “Those guys were great. They had everything under control in only a few minutes.”

Nicole squeezed one of her aunt’s fine-boned hands. “I’m so glad you weren’t injured.”

“They got here very quickly. I was never in any real danger.”

“Maybe not,” Nicole said, “but according to the firemen, you’ll probably need to have the city inspect the electrical system after it’s repaired. If they decide to make us upgrade, it won’t be cheap.”

Rachel sighed. “Nothing that’s happened lately has been cheap.”

“We’ll get it done,” Nicole promised. “The plumbers didn’t take as long as we thought. We’ll get this handled, too. Until the repairs are made, maybe you should stay in the carriage house.” She flicked Lucas a glance and he nodded. Rachel’s safety came first.

“I asked if it was safe to stay in the house,” Rachel said.

“The firemen said there was only one panel affected and they shut that one down. The rest should be okay, but we’ll need to get someone out here to get the laundry room working again.

As far as staying with you, I’d rather not. You know how much I like my privacy.”

“I know, but maybe in this case—”

“Honestly, I think it’s fine. Besides, you and Lucas will be right next door.”

“Or Sean or Josh,” Lucas added.

Rachel smiled. “Yes, that handsome friend of yours arrived at the same time as the fire truck. He went back outside after the firemen took charge.”

“Josh is a good man,” Lucas said.

Now that the excitement was over, Sean wandered back to his studio. When Lucas and Nicole left the house, they found Josh standing guard outside.

“Looks like we had a little emergency,” Lucas said to him.

“By the time I realized there was a problem, Rachel had everything under control. She’d already called the fire department. The fire truck was here in minutes. I went back outside as soon as they arrived. I figured if it was any kind of a setup, I’d be more useful keeping watch out here.”

Lucas nodded. “Good call. Sounds like it was just an old-house problem.” But in truth, he was starting to wonder.

The electrical fire was small, had happened midday, and was easily handled.

If it had been sabotage, it wasn’t meant to hurt anyone, though there was always a chance that could have happened.

Mostly, it was the cost of repair that was the problem.

Each incident drained more of Nicole and Rachel’s money. He could help them financially—if they would allow it—but if the situation continued to worsen, sooner or later, they would be forced to sell.

His jaw tightened. Fairly easy to guess who would benefit most from the sale.

Lucas tamped down his suspicions and filed the information away. He needed to get ready for his dinner meeting with Remy. At the moment, Sean’s troubles took precedent over everything else.