The Whispering Room

Thirty

When Evangeline came to, she was lying in water.

The smell of dead fish and stagnant water clogged her nostrils, and as she struggled to open her eyes, she thought she must still be in the swamp.

Her hand lifted to the throb at the side of her head and gingerly she probed the goose egg she found there. As everything slowly came back to her, fresh panic bloomed in her chest.

She wasn’t in the swamp. She was in a room, like a cellar. Several inches of smelly water covered the floor where she lay, and to her left, she could see daylight. As she turned her head to the window, she saw something swim by her face.

Choking back a scream, she tried to remain motionless, but she couldn’t stop trembling and her heart was pounding so violently, she thought it must surely be sending out vibrations in the water.

As she watched, the snake glided around and came back toward her. The head was up out of the water, and in the light from the window, she could see the gleam of its eyes. Could even make out the vertical pupils.

And then she saw another. And another.

They were everywhere.

Evangeline lay paralyzed as a black body slithered over her legs. Another touched her bare arm. She closed her eyes and tried not to scream.

When she dared look again, she counted at least a half-dozen diamond-shaped heads swimming in the water.

Ever so carefully, she turned her head away from the window. She could see a set of steps leading up to a door. Between her and the stairs, Thibodaux lay facedown in the water.

His body was still now, and Evangeline knew that he was dead. She’d read somewhere that death by snakebite was more often the result of heart failure than from the venom.

Evangeline could believe it. Her heart even now pounded so hard she was afraid her chest might explode.

Her head throbbed, too, and she thought of her mother, lying helpless on her own living room floor. She thought of J.D., missing from his crib, and an image of his little face materialized behind her closed eyelids. His sweet, innocent smile. The eyes that looked so much like Johnny’s. How could she ever have doubted her love for that baby? Her need to find him and protect him was like a raging wildfire inside her chest.

She had to find a way out. She couldn’t allow herself to remain frozen by terror. Her son needed her. She was all he had left.

And he was all she had left.

Hold on, J.D. I’m coming, baby.

Evangeline lay very still and tried to work out a plan. Would it be better to spring quickly to her feet or take the slow approach?

She had no idea. She wasn’t even sure she could move quickly, given her injury and the numbness in her arms and legs. She flexed her muscles to try and warm them up.

Bracing herself, she counted to three, then leaped to her feet, jumped over the sheriff’s body and let panic hurl her up the steps.

Too terrified to think about what might wait for her beyond the door, she seized the knob and twisted, then threw her shoulder against it. When that didn’t work, she tried to kick it open, but the lock held and she turned to frantically scan her surroundings as she stood shivering at the top of the steps.

She was trapped.

The only other way out was the window, and even if she could wade through the water without getting bit, the opening was too high for her to reach.

Her gaze lit on the body at the bottom of the steps. She needed to search through Thibodaux’s pockets, see if she could find something with which she could jimmy the door.

But that meant going back into the water.

That meant wading through all those sinewy bodies.

Slowly, she went down the stairs, put one foot into the foul-smelling water and then the other, telling herself the snakes were as afraid of her as she was them. Not moccasins, though. They were very territorial. How many times had she heard stories of how they would turn and come at you if they felt threatened?

She first checked for his weapon, but he wasn’t wearing a holster. Made sense, since he wasn’t in uniform. Evangeline searched through the pocket nearest her, then reached across his body and slipped her hand into the water. Something cold touched her wrist and she waited a beat, then slid her hand in farther.

Nothing.

Fighting off another wave of terror and frustration, Evangeline started to turn back to the stairs. Then a memory came floating up through that black fog of fear. What was it Thibodaux had told her that first day in his office when she’d noticed the ankle holster on his desk? “Even off duty, I don’t ever go out into the swamp unarmed.”

Carefully, easing herself through the water, she reached under his pant leg, terrified that a snake might come slithering out. Instead, she felt the soft nylon of his holster, and a moment later, she had the small .38 special in her hand.

Eyeing the water around her, she turned and sprinted toward the steps. At the top, she stood back from the door and fired three shots into the lock, splintering the wood enough so that she could kick open the door. It took her several tries, but finally she was through.

Gripping the gun, she walked through the cabin and out the front door. The sheriff’s SUV and her car had been brought here from the Lemay house.

Evangeline ran down the steps and checked inside each vehicle, praying the keys would be inside.

They weren’t.

Helplessly, she surveyed her surroundings. There was nothing but woods and swamp all around her. She had no idea where she was, and for a moment, succumbed to the panic and terror clawing at her lungs. Where was she? Where was J.D.?

She couldn’t bear to think about what might have already happened. What she had let happen.

But it was important not to dwell on that. She had to blot out the images racing through her head. Her baby at the mercy of a madwoman…

Please, please let me find him. Please let him be okay.

A path at the edge of the yard led back into the woods. Into a trap for all Evangeline knew, but what other choice did she have?

As she hurried through the trees, mosquitoes swarmed her face and nettles tore at her skin. By the time the path ended, the flesh on her arms was raw and bleeding and she was hopelessly lost.

She bent down, hands on knees, gulping air as her breath came in sobs.

Then, through the maddening drone of the mosquitoes came the distant tinkle of a wind chime.

A wind chime!

She’d heard it the day before through the broken upstairs window of the Lemay house.

She was close.

No more than a hundred yards away, if that.

All she had to do was follow the sound.

Ten minutes later, she was back in the clearing. Another two minutes had her crossing the yard toward the house.

A woman opened the screen door and came out on the porch to meet her. It was the same woman she’d seen in J.D.’s nursery. Rebecca Lemay.

She was dressed much the way she had been that night—long skirt, tennis shoes and shapeless sweater, which she pulled tightly around her even though the day was scorching hot.

Evangeline lifted the gun. “Where is he? Where’s my baby?”

“You don’t need to worry. He’s safe now.”

Evangeline’s heart dropped to her stomach as terror clawed at her heart. She started to run. “Where is he?” she screamed. Her finger pressed against the trigger. The rage that mushroomed inside her was hard to control. “Tell me where he is or I swear to God, I’ll kill you.”

“Evangeline, no!”

Lena Saunders—Ruth—was suddenly running across the yard toward her. Evangeline had no idea where she’d been hiding. She came forward now with her arms outstretched. “Please don’t hurt her.”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone.” Evangeline kept the gun leveled on Rebecca. “I just want my baby back. Tell me where he is.”

“I told you,” Rebecca said. “He’s safe.”

“Where is he, damn you!”

“Evangeline…” Lena came slowly toward her. “Please…just put the gun down before someone gets hurt.”

“She took him,” Rebecca said, pointing down the steps toward her sister.

Evangeline swung the gun toward Lena. “Stop right there. I’ll kill you both if I have to.”

Lena’s blue eyes widened in alarm. “Evangeline, listen to me. Rebecca’s sick. She needs help.” She turned to her sister. “Please, just tell us where you put the baby.”

Rebecca took a step back. “No.”

“We just want to help you,” Lena said.

“You’ll send me away again.”

“I never sent you away. It wasn’t my fault what happened. It wasn’t your fault, either. You didn’t know any better. You just wanted to help Mama, didn’t you?”

“You were her helper,” Rebecca said. “You were her favorite.”

“I was the oldest. She depended on me. You can depend on me, too. I’ll get you help. Whatever you need. All you have to do is tell me what you did with the baby.”

At that moment, Evangeline heard J.D.’s cry. It was coming from somewhere inside the house.

She and Lena moved at the same time. Before she reached the steps, something hit her hard between her shoulder blades. The force of the blow catapulted her forward and she fell with a hard thud to the ground. The gun flew from her hand as she lay dazed and shocked in the dirt. With an effort, she lifted her head and glanced behind her, saw the man with the scarred face standing over her. He had a club in one hand and a burlap sack in the other.

“I’ve got her,” he said and laughed.

Evangeline lunged for the gun, grabbed it, but he was just as quick. Straddling her, he rolled her over and tried to pin her left arm to her side while he grappled for the gun in her right hand.

A shot went wild and she heard one of the sisters scream. She couldn’t worry about that now, though.

She had to get free. She had to find J.D. No matter what, she had to find her son and save him from these lunatics.

She fought viciously. With her free hand, she raked her nails across the tender skin of his scar. She clawed at his eyes, dug her knee into his groin. Nothing seemed to faze him.

One hand was at her throat, squeezing, squeezing while his other hand pried loose the gun in her hand. He flung it aside and then, his fingers tightening around her neck, he reached for the burlap bag.

As he upended it, a black, ropey body tumbled to the ground. As quick as lightning, his hand flicked out and he snatched the snake behind the head. He brought it close to Evangeline’s face, and when he poked the snout with his club, the mouth widened, revealing the cottony interior and the long, razorlike fangs.

The swampy stench of the snake filled her nostrils as a cold, black terror dropped over her. Was this what he had in store for J.D.?

Adrenaline surged through her veins as her hand scrabbled across the dirt, searching for the gun. Her fingers closed around a stick, and when he lifted the snake high over his head, mumbling words she could not understand, Evangeline reared up and drove the makeshift weapon into his eye with all the strength she could muster.

He screamed and dropped the snake.

The thick body fell hard against Evangeline’s chest, then sprang forward in a blur. The fangs sunk into the man’s neck and hung for the longest time as he fell backward to the ground, writhing in pain.

Evangeline grabbed the club and scrambled to her feet. Flinging the snake aside, the man, on hands and knees now, tried to get up, too, but Evangeline was ruthless now. She swung the club and connected with his temple, then the back of his neck. He fell face forward into the dirt and did not move again.

Dropping the club, Evangeline turned. Rebecca lay on the ground at the foot of the porch steps, blood gushing from a wound in her chest. Her sister was on her knees beside her.

“She’s been hit,” Lena said on a sob. She lifted Rebecca’s slim body in her arms and rocked her back and forth. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.” She looked up with shimmering eyes. “I never meant for this to happen.”

“I know.”

“She’s my baby sister. I’m supposed to take care of her, but I couldn’t help her. I couldn’t save her.”

Evangeline turned from the weeping woman and bolted up the steps. As she stepped inside the house, J.D.’s cries seemed to surround her and she knew where he was.

She opened the door to the whispering room, where she herself had once lay hidden.

A ray of sunshine fell on J.D., and for a moment, Evangeline’s breath caught in her throat as the light haloed his hair. The dark history of the house whispered through the silent rooms as she bent and gently picked him up, cradling him to her heart.

“It’s okay. Shush. It’s okay. I’m here now.”

Something in her voice must have reassured him because he calmed almost instantly. His little fist tangled in his mother’s hair and he held on for dear life.

“I’m here,” she whispered over and over. “I’m finally here.”

Outside, the woman who called herself Lena was still on her knees beside Rebecca, her face buried in her sister’s hair. There was nothing Evangeline could do for either of them now.

As she started down the steps, the weeping woman looked up. There wasn’t a tear in her eyes or on her face.

“I can’t let you leave here,” she said.

Evangeline’s heart began to pound as she clung to J.D. There wasn’t a trace of Lena Saunders on her face. She was Ruth now.

“Give me the baby, Evangeline. You know I have to do this. It’s the only way.”

“It was you.” Evangeline’s gaze went to Rebecca’s still form on the ground. “She was telling the truth. It’s always been you. You’re the one who visits Mary Alice at Pinehurst. You pretended to be Rebecca to give yourself cover. Everyone knows she’s been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years. She wouldn’t be held responsible for her actions, but you would be. You—Lena Saunders—could face the death penalty for what you’ve done.”

“Give me the baby, Evangeline.”

“You were very clever, too. Oh, so concerned about your sister. You left all those cranes for me to find, the snakeskin in my house.You laid the ground-work, had it all planned out.” Evangeline glanced down at the scarred man’s prone body. “You even found someone to share in your delusions, didn’t you? Someone who didn’t mind doing your dirty work.”

“Give the baby to me!”

“Go to hell.”

“It’s the only way to save him. Let me do what I was meant to do.”

“Murder children?”

“You don’t understand. I’m guided by His hand. Just as our mother was. Rebecca wanted to be, but she was too weak. You’re strong like me, Evangeline. You’re my only sister now. My blood is your blood. Our father’s blood is his blood.” She nodded toward J.D. “You have to let me save him.”

“You’ll have to kill me first.”

Ruth’s blue eyes darkened. “Think what Johnny would have wanted.”

“Don’t you dare even speak his name,” Evangeline said furiously. “You used his memory to get to me. You never even met him, did you?”

“What does it matter? All that matters is this child. You know what he’ll grow up to be. Do you really want that for him? Think about it, Evangeline. How much do you love your son? Johnny’s son. How far are you willing to go to protect him, to save his immortal soul from eternal damnation?”

“I’ll go as far as I have to,” Evangeline said, backing across the porch. “Even if it means killing you.”

“You can’t run away from who we are. You told me that once, remember? You said Ruth was still inside me somewhere. Her story is my story. Her truth is my truth. And you were right, I am Ruth Lemay. And you’re my sister. The DNA, the blood… it’s a part of us. And now it’s a part of your son.”

Evangeline kept backing away from her. Ruth was still standing at the foot of the steps when the bullet caught her in the back. The punch drove her forward and she dropped to her knees, her gaze locking with Evangeline’s.

The gun slipped from Rebecca Lemay’s fingers as her sister’s body fell across hers.

Her hand cradling J.D.’s head, Evangeline stumbled down the steps. As she started across the yard, a car emerged from the trees and slammed to a halt. A man got out and ran toward her. It was Nash.

A squad car came out of the woods behind him. And then another. Evangeline paid no one any mind, even when someone called her name. She kept walking until the distance between her and Nash had vanished.

He stood looking down at her for the longest moment, and then his arms came around her and J.D. and he held them both close.