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The storm reached Willowbank about an hour later, and the old house shook from the force of it. An’gel and Dickce, along with Benjy, Endora, and Peanut, sought refuge downstairs in a small interior room that served as a den. Once part of a larger space that had been divided in two to allow an extension of the kitchen on the outer side, it was cozy and furnished with overstuffed chairs and two small sofas. The sisters planned to ride out the storm there. They were too nervous to eat anything, but Estelle popped in at one point to tell them food was available in the dining room.

They did not see anyone else, though from Jackson they learned that Horace and Trey were in residence, along with Sondra and Tippy. Richmond Thurston had come back and then had been caught by the storm, and he would be staying the night as well.

Benjy huddled with Peanut and Endora on one sofa while the storm raged, with An’gel and Dickce sitting close together on the other. Conversation was ragged.

The fury of the weather seemed to have chosen Willowbank as its target, or so it seemed to An’gel. The system must have stalled in the area, because the wind and rain lashed the mansion for nearly two hours. Finally, though, the noise began to lessen, the house stopped shivering, and An’gel breathed more easily.

“Thank the Lord, I think it’s finally gone,” she said.

Dickce nodded weakly. “About time.”

“I’m going to check out front,” Benjy said. “If the rain really has slacked off, I’m going to let Peanut do his business.”

“Good idea,” An’gel said. “I’m actually hungry now. Let’s go see if there’s anything edible in the kitchen, Sister.” She got up and motioned for Dickce to join her.

“I’ll take Endora with me,” Dickce said. “I’m sure she doesn’t want to go out and get her paws wet.” She took the cat from Benjy, and Endora promptly climbed on Dickce’s shoulder.

They all trooped out into the hall. An’gel and Dickce made for the kitchen while Benjy headed to the front door. An’gel and Dickce found the kitchen deserted. An’gel opened the refrigerator door to survey the contents.

“There are some cold cuts here,” she said. “A bit of
leftover chicken. Guess we can make sandwiches, if there’s bread.”

Before Dickce could respond, they were both startled by the sudden entrance of Benjy and Peanut. Benjy’s face was pale.

“There’s a body on the ground in front of the house.” His voice quavered. “I think it’s Sondra.”

CHAPTER 14

D
ickce stared at Benjy, uncertain whether she had heard him correctly. “Sondra? Lying out there in the rain?”

Benjy nodded. “Yes, ma’am. It is her. Wearing a blue dress.”

Dickce felt a chill run down her spine. Sondra had threatened to wear a blue dress for her bridal gown. Was that the dress she had on?

“Did you check to see if she was alive?” An’gel spoke harshly.

“Yes, ma’am. I checked for a pulse, but there wasn’t any.” He grimaced. “She’s soaking wet. She must have been out there awhile during the storm.”

A sudden shriek ripped the air, startling them all. The screaming continued. Endora dug her claws into Dickce’s shoulders, then launched herself onto a nearby shelf. Peanut tried to worm his way under the sofa, but it was too low to
the floor to allow him. Dickce, An’gel, and Benjy hurried from the room, but Benjy paused long enough to shut the door to keep the animals securely inside. The screaming had begun to diminish in volume, and as they neared the front door, Dickce caught a glimpse of Estelle in the dim light on the verandah, hands over her eyes.

Dickce almost collided with Jackson, hurrying in the same direction, but she managed to swerve just in time. Jackson scuttled over to the wall near the front door and flipped several switches. Light flooded the dark night outside.

Dickce heard loud footsteps on the stairs before she stepped onto the verandah.

“What the hell is going on?” Horace Mims demanded. He pushed past Dickce and the others to stride out the door. He grabbed Estelle and shook her lightly. “What are you screaming about?”

“That.” Estelle pointed into the front yard, now brightly lit by floodlights set around the yard and on the front of the house.

“Oh my lord,” Horace muttered.

Trey pushed past his father and ran down the steps. He lost his balance and went stumbling onto his hands and knees on the wet lawn.

Dickce stared at the body, a huddled mass, that lay about twenty feet from the verandah, near the center of the yard. She closed her eyes for a moment and prayed that Sondra really wasn’t dead, that Benjy had been mistaken.

When she opened her eyes, she saw that Trey was on his feet again, moving more cautiously now. Within seconds he reached the body, and everyone heard his frantic orders to Sondra to wake up and get up off the ground.

There was no response.

By now Horace had reached his son, and he put a hand on the young man’s shoulder. Dickce moved to the railing to hear what was being said.

“I don’t think there’s anything you can do for her now, son,” Horace said.

Estelle turned to Dickce and An’gel, who had joined her sister at the railing.

“I tried to warn everyone, but nobody would listen to me.” Her expression alarmed Dickce. The woman looked almost triumphant.

“What do you mean?” An’gel demanded.

Estelle flung out her arm and pointed. “That out there. Sondra. Lying there dead, just like Melusine Devereux all those years ago. The mighty storm last night took Sondra up and threw her to the ground, the way it did Melusine. Sondra went out on the balcony to see the storm, and the wind took her.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Dickce snapped, and An’gel echoed her.

Estelle’s eyes narrowed. “If you think it’s so ridiculous, then why is Sondra lying out there dead in her bridal gown? Just like Melusine Devereux.”

Dickce realized that there was little point in trying to reason with the woman, she was so obviously convinced that she was right. Dickce admitted to herself that the circumstances of Sondra’s death appeared to be similar to those of Melusine Devereux, but that had to be nothing more than bizarre coincidence.

“I’ve called 911. The ambulance is on its way, along with the police.”

Dickce turned to see Richmond Thurston step onto the
verandah, cell phone in hand. He came to stand beside Dickce and An’gel and stared at Horace and Trey, still beside Sondra’s body. Horace was trying to pull his son away from the body, but Trey refused to go.

Dickce was struck by the young man’s devotion to Sondra. Perhaps he really had been in love with her. She sighed. Then another thought struck her.

What if his actions now were signs of remorse? According to what An’gel told her, he had made threats yesterday. What if he had argued with Sondra during the storm and thrown her out the window in a rage?

Dickce wanted to pull An’gel aside to talk to her about it, but an interruption put an end to her speculations.

“Whewe is Mommy?” a little voice inquired. “I’m hungwy. I want a dwink of water.”

The poor baby
, Dickce thought. She mustn’t be allowed to see her mother’s body out there on the lawn. She moved quickly to intercept Tippy, along with An’gel. Dickce moved in front of the child and bent her face toward Tippy’s. “Hi, Tippy. We haven’t met yet, but I’m your granny’s cousin Dickce, and this is my sister An’gel. Why don’t you come with us, and we’ll find you something to eat and a glass of water, okay?”

Tippy, still dressed in pajamas and dragging a stuffed bear by the ear, regarded the sisters with a frown.

“Okay,” she said after a moment. “I guess that would be okay. Mommy must be busy getting weady for de wedding tomowwow anyway.” She turned and headed for the kitchen.

Dickce and An’gel hurried along behind her, exchanging glances as they went.

Dickce breathed a bit more easily once they were in the kitchen. Tippy walked over to the table in the corner and climbed into one of the chairs. She settled the bear in the chair next to her.

“What would you like to eat, Tippy?” An’gel asked.

“I want ceweal,” she said. “And a banana and owange juice.”

Relieved that the child’s choices should be simple ones to fulfill, Dickce started hunting through the cabinets to find cereal and a bowl. An’gel went to the refrigerator and rooted around for milk and orange juice. In short order, they gave Tippy her cereal and orange juice, then Dickce found a banana and peeled it.

“Would you like me to cut it up for you, dear?” she asked.

Tippy nodded. “Yes, pwease.” She scooped cereal and milk into her mouth and chewed.

While Dickce cut up the banana, An’gel found a half-full pot of coffee, and she poured cups for herself and Dickce.

Dickce accepted her coffee with a quick smile. She pulled out a chair across from Tippy and sat. An’gel chose a seat at the end of the table, to Dickce’s left. They watched the child eat for a moment. Tippy seemed content as she continued to work her way through the bowl of cereal.

Dickce glanced at her watch and realized to her surprise that it was nearly nine o’clock. Why was the child out of bed at this hour? Surely she went to bed earlier than this. Perhaps, Dickce reflected, Estelle’s screaming woke her. She certainly didn’t appear to be affected by the storm that had passed over.

Dickce noticed that An’gel was fidgeting with her coffee. That meant An’gel was restless, and Dickce knew her
sister was anxious to go back to the scene at the front of the house. “Why don’t you go check on Benjy?” she suggested. “He might need help.”

An’gel stood quickly. “Good idea. You don’t mind staying here?”

“Not at all,” Dickce said. She loved small children, whereas An’gel felt uneasy around them. She was as curious as An’gel about what was going on out front, but she knew Tippy needed an adult with her and was content to watch her.

An’gel hurried out of the kitchen, and Dickce watched Tippy eat. The child finished her cereal and pushed the bowl away. She reached for the saucer with the pieces of banana and examined them carefully before she chose a piece to pop into her mouth.

“You haven’t introduced me to your friend.” Dickce nodded at the bear in the chair beside Tippy. “I’d like to say hello to him, but I don’t know his name.”

“He can’t tawk.” Tippy stared at her for a moment. “But if you want to say hewwo to him, his name is Wance.” She stuck another slice of fruit in her mouth and chewed.

Dickce was in a quandary. Was the bear’s name really
Wance
? With the child’s lisp, she wasn’t sure. Perhaps his name was Lance instead.

“Oh, is he named after your mommy’s friend Lance?” Dickce asked.

Tippy giggled. “Yes, Wance is siwwy wike my bear, and that’s why I named him Wance.” She regarded the bear with affection. “Siwwy bear.” She went back to eating her banana slices.

What a dear little thing she is
. Dickce’s heart ached at the thought of having to explain to the child that her mother
was gone and wouldn’t ever come back. She knew it was not her place to do it, but unless Jacqueline returned soon, she didn’t know who would.

Poor Jacqueline
. Dickce ached even more. She couldn’t imagine how the loss of a child, even one as difficult as Sondra, would affect a mother. She prayed again that Mireille would recover, but Sondra’s death might be too much for Mireille. Then Jacqueline would be doubly bereft.

Dickce mentally shook herself for dwelling on the tragedy.
I need to try to be cheerful for Tippy’s sake
. She gave the child a bright smile.

“I like silly bears especially,” she said, and Tippy rewarded her with a smile. “Has anyone ever told you the story of a very silly bear named Winnie the Pooh?”

Tippy nodded. “Gweat-gwanny telled me about him and Pigwet and Tigger. I wike Pigwet because he’s funny. We watched dem on TV, too.”

“I bet I know some stories about Winnie and Piglet and Tigger that no one else knows,” Dickce said, improvising. “When you finish your banana, how about we go to your room, and I’ll tell them to you?”

Tippy nodded. “Yes, pwease. I wuv stowies.” She stuffed the two remaining slices in her mouth and chewed rapidly. After she swallowed, she grabbed Lance’s ear and got out of her chair.

Dickce insisted on washing Tippy’s hands first. The right one was sticky from the banana. Tippy submitted patiently to the washing, and then they left the kitchen. Dickce prayed that she could get the child up the stairs without her seeing any of the activity that by now must be going on outside.
She’d heard the siren of the arriving ambulance not long after she and An’gel entered the kitchen.

To her relief, the front door was closed, and the hall was empty. Tippy scrambled up the stairs ahead of her, poor Lance bouncing on most of them, and Dickce did her best to keep up. Tippy reached the third floor when Dickce had barely made it to the second-floor landing. When she made it up the last flight, she spied Tippy coming out of a door to the right of the stairs.

Tippy had a finger to her lips, and Lance was no longer in evidence. “We has to be quiet,” she said in a loud whisper. “Wance is asweep in my woom.”

Dickce smiled. “Okay,” she whispered back.

Tippy turned and walked slowly into her room. Dickce followed, trying to be quiet, but her shoes squeaked on the polished wooden floorboards. When she stepped into the room after Tippy, she expected to see the bear tucked up in bed.

Instead, to her shock, she found Lance Perigord sound asleep on the floor at the foot of the bed.

CHAPTER 15

A
n’gel was glad to escape the kitchen. Small children made her nervous, but Dickce didn’t seem to mind them at all. An’gel’s curiosity wouldn’t let her rest until she knew what was happening in the front yard. On the way she said more prayers for Mireille. If her cousin survived to come out of the hospital, she might well collapse again when she learned of her granddaughter’s death.

She closed the door behind her when she stepped onto the verandah. There was no point in letting a lot of bugs in the house, and heaven only knew how many had already gotten in. Although, she reflected, the storm might have blown or washed most of them away.