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while she’s at Adele’s, I’m going out to Langley Manor to see Vanessa.”
    “How dey doing out dere?” Hebert fiddled with the button on his unironed yellow shirt.
    “Just great. The place is booked seven days a week.” Zoe sighed. “I’m happy for them, but I really miss having them living upstairs. Pierce and I never see them unless we go out there. They can’t both be away at the same time as long as they have guests.”
    “Makes sense,” Father Sam said. “I never really thought about it.”
    Savannah came over to the table and started pouring refills. “ All the customers are talking about the Bathtub Killer. I’ll tell you one thing: There’s not a lot of sympathy out there for the victims.”
    Father Sam took off his glasses and wiped his eyes. “I know people are bitter, but those two men didn’t deserve that. ”
    “Dere are some folks who tink dey did.” Hebert took a sip of coffee. “Hearts are stone cold toward dose CEOs.”
    “Perhaps they should sit awhile with the grieving families,” Father Sam replied. “The killer didn’t make Girard Darveau and Peter Gautier pay. He made their families pay. The humiliating drama of drowning them in their business clothes and numbering them did far more to punish the families than the victims.” Father Sam glanced over at Grace. “Enough said. It’s cruel, that’s all.”
    “I’m guessin’ the killer would argue that what Darveau and Gautier did was cruel.” Tex lifted an eyebrow. “I’m just sayin’.”
    “My aunt Nicole has a computer systems company,” Savannah said, “and she’s had to lay a lot of people off. She says we don’t understand the pressure they’re under to stay in the black—that layoffs are a necessity.”
    “So’s eating and paying da mortgage.” Hebert scratched the gray stubble on his chin. “Da reason people are cynical is dat CEOs still get whopping bonuses in spite of da layoffs. Dat’s not right.”
    Father Sam nodded. “I agree. But none of it justifies murder.”
    “ I two!” Grace held up two fingers and seemed to be speaking to anyone who would listen.
    Father Sam smiled and turned his attention to Grace. “Do we know anybody who’s two?”
    “Me!”
    “Me? Are you Me Broussard?” Tex asked.
    “No, I Grace Brew-sar.”
    Hebert tapped her on the nose. “Den we do know you.”
    Grace bobbed her head, giggling with delight all the while.
    “Eat your breakfast, sweetie.” Zoe pulled one of Grace’s blonde pigtails away from her mouth and looked over at Hebert and Tex. “With all the awful news we’re hearing, Grace’s sweet innocence reminds me there’s still good in the world.”
    “There is,” Savannah said. “But right now, all that innocence isn’t going to help whoever’s destined to be victim number three.”
    Zoe shuddered. Why hadn’t the authorities figured out who was behind this?

     
    Zoe stood with Vanessa on the wooden bridge that spanned the duck pond at Langley Manor and took in the splendor of the rolling, velvet green grounds dotted with weeping willows, magnolias, and crape myrtles.
    In the distance, shaded under the arms of a massive live oak, the stately white mansion with its four round pillars looked worthy of the cover of Southern Living.
    “You have to love it out here.” Zoe rested her arms on the railing. “It’s gorgeous. Must seem surreal at times.”
    “It does. I know it’s a privilege living here, but it’s also a lot of work.”
    Vanessa wore a bright pink sundress, her long, dark hair tied back with a matching scarf. Did she realize her wardrobe matched the blossoms on the crape myrtles?
    “Pierce and I miss having y’all next door,” Zoe said.
    “We miss it too. Ethan and I were just talking about how much we enjoyed living upstairs from Zoe B’s. Especially standing on the gallery and watching the people on rue Madeline . That was a unique experience.”
    “I wonder how many times we came out here with Ethan and Pierce and had