Read Online LeOmi's Solitude by Gene Curtis - Free Book Online

your
mom: one point five million dollars. I think she got the money from
Compton, or maybe Compton didn’t want to be the registered owner,
and when she was supposed to report back to his mansion with the
little trinket, well, she just took it on her merry little way.
Imagine that. How dare she? I guess he got angry.”
    “What did she do with the Journal?”
    “Now there is the big question. That and,
what did she want with it in the first place? All questions and no
answers. There must be some clue that will make everything start
falling into place. Something I’m missing.” He turned quickly and
the squirrels scurried.
    “What about you, do you have any ideas?”
    “Well whatever is going on has been going on
since the first time my mother left. I was six years old when she
left the first time, just after Ruby left to start school and it
could have started before then. That was just when I was old enough
to know that something was going on. But now that I look at the
whole picture, she may have married my dad to leave this other life
behind, and then maybe she missed it.”
    “So you think that your grandmother is the
one with the answers, and she is the one who has said the
least.”
    He started packing things away in the car,
stopped and turned to her, “You don’t think that much about your
grandmother do you?”
    “What makes you say that?”
    “Well let’s just say it is that intuition
thing again?”
    “I have never met anyone like Grand-Mère. She
has a lot of...inconsistencies...and things are not what they
seem.”
    “You’re right, that little old lady wields a
lot of power in this town. Someday, I will let you read the folder
I have on her.”
    “What? Are you saying that my grandmother has
been an object of an investigation other than her involvement with
my mother?”
    “Yes.”
    “What?”
    “Well, let’s just say…you remember what I
said about being surprised at what people are capable of?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Well, your Grand-Mère didn’t just come by
all her power and influence by chance. She built that up over time
and your mother knew all about it.”
    “What?”
    He shook his head back and forth, “No. There
are some things, that it is best for your loved ones to tell you
about. If you still get the cold shoulder from your Grand-Mère, try
your dad. I am sure he can fill you in on a few things.”
    “Secrets, Sergeant?”
    “If I told you, it will not make a difference
between you and me and what we need to do, but it would make a
difference to your family. Some family secrets are best left in the
family.”
    “But I’m leaving soon.”
    “Oh really!”
    “At the end of August, I start school, a
private school—not here in New Orleans. Before I leave, I want to
find out what happened to my mother.”
    He turned to leave and abruptly stopped and
faced her. He took the last good inhale off of his cigar and then
he stopped, threw it down on the ground rolling his heel back and
forth—always the showman.
    “Don’t want them squirrels picking up any bad
habits.” He picked-up the crumpled remains of his cigar and stowed
it in a wad of paper. “Tomorrow, same time.”
    She nodded.
    He smiled and said, “I think we will make a
good team, don’t you?”
    She nodded again. “No doubt, dinner will be
interesting tonight.”
    He turned and started walking towards his
car, in that bowlegged gait which was becoming a familiar
sight.
    Dinner would be at eight, as usual. LeOmi
felt that she had several options. First Hannah, second Grand-Mère
and third was the house itself. “I’m sure it holds all types of
secrets.”
    Three months wasn’t a lot of time.
    * * *
    Hannah had her routine for every day of the
week. Mondays were changing the sheets, laundry, ironing and
vacuuming. Tuesday was scouring the kitchen. Wednesday was grocery
day. Thursday was baking day, dusting and mopping. But today was
Friday and Friday was the fish market day, fish brought home and
prepared fresh.