Read Online Whispers of the Bayou by Mindy Starns Clark - Free Book Online Page B

going downstairs and retrieving our bags, we moved away from the chaos of the baggage claim area and watched for Nathan’s sister, Quinn, who was supposed to be meeting us here. I also had an eye open for Mr. Benochet, who had called me first thing this morning, as soon as he saw my e-mail. He insisted that I cancel the rental car and let him take me to Twin Oaks. When I had protested that I would need some sort of transportation while I was in town, he said that there were several cars out at the house, any one of which I could use while I was here.
    “Miranda? Miranda Miller?”
    Tess and I both looked to see an older, silver-haired distinguished gentleman, in an elegant suit and tie, coming toward us. He was gazing at me with curiosity, studying my face. I reached back to pat my pinned-up twist and met his eyes, nodding as I spoke.
    “Yes?”
    “I’m Charles Benochet. Are you Miranda?”
    “Yes.”
    “I knew it was you,
cher,
” he cried, slapping his knee as he broke into a broad smile. “Somethin’ about the way you carry yourself, and that dark hair. You remind me so much of your
mamere.
”
    “My who?”
    “Your
defante mamere,
your late grandmother. You look so much like her. And this must be your daughter, bless her heart. She looks like she takes after her daddy with those blond curls.”
    He gave a little wave to Tess and she smiled shyly.
    “Do you know my daddy?”
    “No, I don’t,” he said, “but seeing as how there aren’t any blue-eyedblondes on your mama’s side of the family, I have to guess that you got all that from him.” He knelt down to Tess’s level. “What’s your name, honey?”
    “Tess,” she answered, hiding halfway behind my legs, thumb suddenly popping into her mouth.
    “Cass?”
    “
Tess,
” she repeated. “T-E-S-S.”
    “Got it. Tess. Like, tess-ting one, two, three.”
    She giggled, and he stood up straight again, grinning.
    Since my grandmother’s death six years ago, I had spoken to Charles Benochet several times on the phone, always to discuss some detail of the estate that AJ needed my input on. In my mind’s eye, the man on the other end of the phone hadn’t been nearly so distinguished, so dapper. Maybe it was the South Louisiana accent, but I had pictured someone far less…cosmopolitan. Shaking hands with him now, I realized that I had judged this man unfairly just because of his country accent. Shame on me.
    I explained that Tess would be leaving with my sister-in-law, who was supposed to be meeting us here. Unfortunately, there was still no sign of her, so I pulled out my cell phone to call. I had turned it off on the plane and as it sprang to life now, I saw that there was a message waiting for me. I dialed in to pick up that message and listened to Quinn apologizing profusely, saying that she’d been delayed at school. Apparently, she hadn’t realized that she had to fulfill several more duties in her job as a resident assistant in the dorm before she was free to leave town and head home. She promised to call me tomorrow once she was on the road, saying she expected to arrive in this area by two p.m. at the latest.
    Hanging up the phone, I swallowed down my anxiety about having Tess tag along with me between now and then. All things considered, she should be safe; then again, I had thought I was safe yesterday cutting through an alley in Manhattan, and I had ended up facedown in slime.
    Swallowing my anxiety for now, I told Tess about the change in plans. She took it better than I expected, seeming merely disappointed rather than devastated. We headed for the parking garage, Tess and I holding hands as we walked alongside Charles, his driver rolling the bags aheadof us. Stepping outside, we encountered air so thick and hot that I felt as though a steaming wet washcloth had been slapped over my face. I had known that Louisiana in June would be warm, and I had certainly been to a number of humid places in my life, but I had never felt a combination