“Find anything interesting?” a voice suddenly rasped.

Carmela’s heart thudded in her chest and she physically jumped at least a foot. She reared up ramrod straight and whipped her head around to see who’d just spoken to her. Standing just outside her little pool of light was Jade Ella Hayward, staring at her with a curious glint in her eyes.

“Jade Ella,” gasped Carmela. She fought to keep her voice easy and conversational even though her heart was still thumping out of control. “You scared me half to death!”

Jade Ella stared pointedly at Carmela. In her crimson embroidered Chinese jacket, tight blue jeans, and beaded high-heeled boots, Jade Ella looked like she was ready to attend the MTV Music Awards. Maybe even vault onstage and belt out a number or two.

“What are you doing here?” Jade Ella finally asked. Not Hello, not How are you, just What are you doing here.

“I…” Carmela stuttered, then suddenly remembered she was still clutching a copy of the furniture delivery order she’d just signed.

“I signed for a delivery,” she stammered. “A truck pulled up something like ten minutes ago. Did you see the new furniture out back?”

Jade Ella nodded, but Carmela wasn’t sure whether Jade Ella was admitting to having seen the furniture, or if she was just encouraging Carmela to continue her explanation. “I was just going to stick this in a safe place where Billy or whoever could find it.” Carmela held the piece of paper up as evidence and gave a casual shrug. There, that sounds awfully reasonable, doesn’t it?

“How’d you get in?” asked Jade Ella.

“Billy gave me a set of keys. Just in case.”

Jade Ella took a few steps forward and peered into Carmela’s face. Looking for… what? For her to flinch? To crack and come clean?

When Jade Ella didn’t seem to find what she was looking for, she let loose a long sigh then held up her own set of keys. She jangled them noisily in Carmela’s face. “See, I’ve still got my keys, too.”

Carmela stared back at Jade Ella, wondering if Jade Ella had finally received the life insurance check she’d been so anxiously awaiting. Was the case finally settled? Was Jade Ella no longer a suspect? Did she now own Menagerie Antiques lock, stock, and barrel?

Carmela’s momma had once told her that the best way to get an answer from someone was to ask them a direct question. That’s what Carmela did now.

“Did you get your insurance settlement?” she asked Jade Ella.

Jade Ella’s pupils seemed to contract, her eyebrows pinch together. Then, within a split second, she’d composed herself again.

“Why, no, I didn’t, Carmela,” said Jade Ella. “But it’s awfully kind of you to ask.” Jade Ella’s voice was guarded.

“Reed Bigelow, your insurance agent, stopped by my shop this morning,” said Carmela, by way of explanation. “That’s why I asked.”

Jade Ella’s face seemed to relax. “Ah, and what did the tedious Mr. Bigelow want from you?”

“He wanted to ask a few questions concerning Barty’s death,” said Carmela. “Since I was almost a witness.”

“Yes, you were,” said Jade Ella. “Almost.” Her green eyes bore into Carmela with burning curiosity. “Carmela, you didn’t tell Mr. Bigelow that I played any sort of role in Barty’s business affairs, did you?” Jade Ella took a step forward and adjusted a small oil painting that sat on an easel.

“We never got around to any kind of Q and A session,” Carmela told her. “Things just got too busy. And besides, everything’s already in the police reports, which I believe he would have access to. Why do you ask?”

Jade Ella folded her arms protectively across her chest. “There’s seems to be an itty-bitty problem concerning taxes,” said Jade Ella. “Something owed, or unpaid, or carried over,” she said. “Anyway… Barty’s tax issues have absolutely nothing to do with the insurance company paying out death benefits.”

“Death benefits,” repeated Carmela. “Sounds so final.” But Jade Ella had already spun on her glitzy boot heels and was threading her way back through the shop and toward the back door. “Good day, Carmela,” she called.

Chapter 15

RAIN beat down and a howling wind whipsawed stands of scrawny palmettos as Carmela made her way tentatively down River Road. Bumping along this deserted stretch of road that wound perilously close to the banks of the Mississippi, she’d once again come to the inevitable conclusion that New Orleans and much of its surrounding environs was a very spooky place. Aboveground cemeteries seemed to lurk everywhere. Old buildings emerged from dank mists like silent sentinels. And here in the Crescent City, where humidity often topped out at one hundred percent, trees and vegetation had a nasty habit of running wild. Of stealthily overgrowing brick walls, fountains, and crumbling outbuildings to the point where landmarks were reduced to architectural topiaries.

As Carmela slowed her car and rolled down the window, searching for 1015 River Road, she had the feeling she was time traveling. She’d been on the lookout for a storage space. Hopefully a modern, concrete building that was well lit and offered orderly numbered addresses.

Instead, what she was finding were decrepit old buildings, docks, and warehouses. Very industrial and not the least bit inviting. No sir.

Faded numerals loomed ahead of her. A one, a zero, a blank spot, then a five. Was this 1015? Had to be. Cranking her car into a muddy parking lot, Carmela gazed at the ramshackle wood building and wrinkled her nose.

She was staring at a long, low building with some sort of decaying wooden truck dock stretching along one side of it. A tumble of old machinery was scattered about, most of it hidden by overgrown weeds. This had obviously been some kind of manufacturing plant. But certainly not in recent years.

Carmela cut the engine, listened to the tick tick tick of the motor cooling down. Boo, hunched in the front seat next to her, gave a tentative woof.

She reached over and ruffled Boo’s fur. “Sorry, girl,” she told the dog. “Your job is to stay here as lookout and lend a little moral support.” Gazing at the ramshackle building once more, she noted that it was sublimely unappealing. “Make that a lot of moral support.”

Okay, she told herself. This was your big idea, your grand adventure. You had an inkling that Billy Cobb might be hiding out here. Does this look like the kind of place someone would hide out?

Ignoring what she deemed to be her own stupid, frivolous questions, Carmela opened the car door and stepped gingerly onto squishy, muddy ground.

If this is Bartholomew Hayward’s storage space, what on earth does he store here?

Slowly, quietly, Carmela made her way to the front door of the building. There were no windows, no lights, no indication of what might be inside.

Putting a hand on the old metal door, Carmela jiggled the handle. No dice. The door was dismally chipped and pock-marked, but it was also sturdy, serviceable, and securely locked. No way was she going to just waltz in the front door for a quick look-see.

That meant searching around back. Looking for a window to slip in or another door that could possibly be jimmied.

Which also meant breaking and entering. Gulp.

Keenly aware she was stepping on broken glass as well as moldering vegetation, Carmela made her way to the back of the building. Here the earth was even more soggy, and with each step, she had to pull her shoes from sucking mud.

Stopping in front of a wooden door, Carmela grasped the handle and gave it a tug. The handle rattled, but this door seemed to be locked securely as well.

But back here was also a row of windows.

Carmela stalked along the back of the building, searching for a possible point of entry. At the last window, she spied a loose molding. Digging her fingers under the wood, she tugged hard and was rewarded with a loud creak. The wood, damp and rotting, crumbled easily. Then the entire strip of molding pulled away and the bottom window, dirt-streaked glass set in decayed wood, came crashing down, barely missing her foot.