Page 50 of The Unseen

I T WAS ALMOST NOON, THE HEAT BUILDING ALONG WITH THE HUMIDITY . White clouds floated overhead, but last night’s storm was over. After the long, stressful night, they had slept late. Lucas had awakened with Nicole draped over his chest, one of his arms wrapped protectively around her.

As he lay beside her, wanting her as he always did, his mind replayed the events of last night. He kept seeing Nicole’s beautiful face as she looked a demon in the eye, terrified, yet standing her ground, determined to remain by his side, no matter the danger.

She was a true warrior, everything a man could want in a woman, everything Lucas had ever desired. He wanted to tell her, to say the words that had been in the back of his mind for weeks.

But he had to be sure. Was Nicole ready to trust that he would not fail her? That he would stand by her and the family she loved?

He had loved a woman once, had believed that she loved him in equal measure. Her betrayal had stolen something from him, left a hollow place inside. It had taken years for him to trust enough to love again. He prayed he was right in trusting Nicole.

Nicole climbed out of bed and headed straight for the shower. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee was almost enough to lure her into the kitchen, but she needed to check on her aunt. A shower would purge the faint remainder of the noxious odor left by the creature Lucas had faced last night.

She thought how magnificent he had been, staring into the face of what had truly been Satan himself. Calling on the power of God and the Archangel Michael to destroy the demon Simone.

Nicole’s heart swelled with a surge of love for him.

She had always protected herself from the kind of deep emotions she felt for Lucas, had fought against them from the first time she had seen him. Now it was too late.

By the time she stepped out of the shower, worry about her aunt also filled her mind. Nicole hurriedly dressed in khaki shorts and a sleeveless print blouse, which tied up in front, and breezed into the kitchen.

Lucas, in jeans and a black T-shirt, held out a cup of coffee, which Nicole accepted with a grateful smile.

“Thanks.” She took a sip and sighed as she walked behind him and lifted his T-shirt to assess the gash in his back. There was no new bleeding, thank God.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Pretty good, considering.”

“I don’t suppose you’re ready to go in for stitches.”

“I don’t suppose.”

She wasn’t surprised. Lucas was as tough as he was compassionate. “I need to go over and check on my aunt; then I’ll come back and change your bandage.”

He nodded. “I’ll go with you.”

It was still fairly early, but she didn’t want to wait any longer. Nicole thought of what the demon had been capable of doing. She thought of Francois and his feelings for Rachel.

Anything is possible. Lucas’s words rang in her head and her worry kicked up. She wished she could have gone to see her aunt last night, would have if the hour hadn’t been so late and Lucas hadn’t been injured.

Nicole took a last swallow of coffee and set her cup on the kitchen counter. Crossing the gravel lane, they made their way around to the back door of the house, and Nicole used her key to get inside.

“Aunt Rachel, it’s Nicole and Lucas!” she called out.

“I’ll take a look down here,” Lucas said when they got no response. “You go on up.”

Nicole hurriedly climbed the stairs and headed down the hall to Rachel’s bedroom. The door was closed. She rapped lightly, then turned the knob, found the door unlocked, and walked in.

Rachel lay in bed, her black hair unbound, a stark contrast against the snowy-white pillow. Her face was pale and her eyes red from crying.

Nicole hurried to her bedside. “What happened, Aunt Rachel? Are you all right?”

Tears rolled down Rachel’s cheeks. “Francois is gone.”

Nicole thought of the last time she had seen the two of them together and felt a tug in her heart. “Are you sure?”

Rachel sat up in bed, bracing her back against the headboard. Using her embroidered handkerchief, she sniffed back tears and wiped the wetness from her cheeks.

“Francois came to me last night. He told me I was the woman he had been searching for. He said that I was meant to be his.” She dabbed the handkerchief against her eyes.

“But he couldn’t stay.” She swallowed. “He said, now that I was safe, he had to leave.” Her words trailed off as fresh tears rolled down her cheeks.

“The hours we spent together last night were the best of my life.”

“Oh, Aunt Rachel.” Nicole sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled her aunt into her arms.

“I’ll always love him, Nicole. Always …”

Nicole thought of Lucas and the heartache she would feel if she lost him. She glanced up to see him standing in the open doorway. Rachel sat up as Lucas strode across the room to her bedside.

Lucas reached down and took hold of her icy hand. “I can see how much you’re hurting, Rachel.”

A faint sound came from her throat and fresh tears welled in her eyes.

“Sometimes the things that happen to us seem completely unfair. It feels as if the pain is unbearable. But God works in ways we can’t understand.

I don’t know what He has planned for you, but you have to trust that He knows best. Your Francois is in the place God intended.

He’s at peace, Rachel. You gave him that. Always remember that.”

Rachel swallowed back more tears. “Thank you, Lucas.”

He turned to Nicole. “If you need me, you know where I am.”

Nicole just nodded. She stayed with Rachel until she had wept the last of her tears, then left her sleeping, sure she’d gotten little if any rest last night.

Nicole had no more words of comfort. Rachel’s pain made her think of Lucas and the terrible pain she would suffer if she lost the man she loved.

Lucas left Nicole with her aunt and returned to the carriage house.

A faint headache throbbed behind his eyes and his back was sore, but no longer bleeding.

Nicole’s butterfly bandage was holding. Since he wasn’t going in for stitches, he’d have another scar, but it would be minor, just another marker along the path of life he had taken.

The coffee had been sitting a little too long, but he poured himself a cup and sat down at the kitchen table. It was getting late in the day, and he had to head to the youth center to pick up Sean for the weekend. But first he still had some business to attend.

Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, he hit Nate Silvers’s number.

“Lucas,” his friend answered, a little too cheerfully to suit Lucas’s mood.

“Sorry to take so long getting back to you. Something came up that needed to be dealt with.”

“Actually, your timing’s perfect,” Nate said.

“That so? What’s up?”

“I guess your lady friend told you she called me.”

“She did. She was afraid I’d be mad.”

“Were you?”

“It would take a lot more than a phone call to make me mad at her.”

He heard the chuckle in Nate’s voice. “So that’s the way the wind blows,” Nate said.

“With any luck, yes, it is. I look forward to introducing the two of you.”

“I look forward to meeting her.”

“So, what have you got?”

“I managed to get a look at Villard’s bank accounts. I found payments to his henchman, Jupp Mercer, the guy who’s been destroying Belle Reve.”

“How do we prove it?”

“I don’t think we’ll need to. There’s a chance Villard is connected in a major way to the auto theft at Casino Rouge Chateau.”

Adrenaline suddenly coursed through him. “What makes you think he was involved?”

“While I was digging, I stumbled across a couple of Villard’s offshore Cayman accounts. I noticed some fairly recent deposits and there was something about the dates that rang a bell.”

“Go on.”

“As you know, Villard owns an interest in the Golden Spike Casino. The gaming business attracts a criminal element, which means Villard would have the kind of connections it would take to pull off something like a million-dollar car heist.”

Exactly the way Remy had found Jupp Mercer.

“The theft was big news all over Louisiana,” Nate continued. “Turns out, the Cayman deposits were made just a few days after the thefts.”

Lucas nodded to himself. “Enough time to get the cars sold.”

“That was my thinking.”

Lucas’s jaw hardened. He thought of Sean and Nicole and what Villard had done to them; he had to clamp down on his temper.

“Nicole’s brother was blackmailed into stealing one of those cars,” he said. “More trouble for Nicole means more trouble for Belle Reve. The question is, how do we prove it?”

“I’m working on it. I just need a little more time.”

“Thanks, Nate. I owe you a big one.”

“You helped me, I’m helping you. For the moment, we’re even.” Nathan ended the call, and Lucas set his phone back down on the table. He rarely swore, but several foul words hovered on his tongue.

If Villard was connected to the car thefts, he was also connected to Ollie Martinez and Mickey Dugan, the men who had attacked Nicole.

A swear word slipped out. Last night had ended the ghostly problems that had been haunting Belle Reve. It was time to tackle Villard. When Phillipe had gone after Nicole and Sean, he had crossed the line. From now on, Villard was fair game.

One way or another, the man was going down.

Lucas drove Sean from Baton Rouge back to Belle Reve for the weekend.

Sean had handled the situation that was becoming clear to his friends.

Their coach, the owner of the school, was dating Sean’s sister.

Apparently, Sean had convinced them that Lucas’s intentions were entirely honorable—though Lucas wasn’t exactly sure what Nicole’s intentions were.

As he drove the Jeep toward Belle Reve, Lucas tackled the topic of the exorcism, and that Belle Reve was once again free of any spiritual entities.

“Wow,” Sean said. “That must have been something.”

“If you want to know what happened, ask your sister. I imagine you can convince her to tell you what it was like.”

Sean said nothing for a few more miles, digesting a subject few kids his age had to deal with. “So Francois is gone then, right?”

“That’s right. He remained on the earthly plane to find out the truth of what had happened to him. He and Rachel met, and he stayed to protect her. He was a good soul, so once she was safe, he went on to the place God had ordained for him.”

“What about his bones?” Sean asked as the Jeep rolled toward home. “They belong to Francois, right? We need to put them back in his grave.”

Leave it to a kid to cut to the basics. “You’re right. I should have thought of that. I think we’ve done enough research to convince the sheriff the bones belong to Francois. If he agrees, we can return them to his grave.”

“What about Aunt Rachel? She really liked Francois.”

“She’s sad that he’s gone. In time, she’ll feel better.”

Or maybe not, Lucas thought. Rachel and Francois were soul-mates. Most people didn’t believe in such things. Lucas did. He could see the pain Rachel suffered.

His smile slowly faded. He’d be back at work, but his problems would be far from over. He still had Villard to deal with.

And it was past time he found out where he stood with Nicole.