Part 23 (1/2)
”He said there was blood all over him,” she argued in a firm voice, and Jo sat back with exasperation.
”You people and your seeing- is-believing!”
”Jo,” Nicholas said in warning tones as she leaned forward to pick up her coffee.
”I'm just going to drink it,” she muttered, and proceeded to do so. As Jo lowered the cup, she glanced to his sister and asked, ”But if I had thrown this on you, Jeanne Louise, and you were covered with coffee, would it mean you drank it? Or even that you spilled it?”
When Jeanne Louise just stared at her, eyes widening slightly, Jo said firmly, ”Nicholas didn' t kill that woman. He has no memory between when he first spotted the woman in the parking lot and when he opened his eyes in his bas.e.m.e.nt to find her lying dead in his arms.
Someone set him up. And if it wasn' t Decker, then they got super lucky that he showed up when he did, or I bet they somehow arranged for him to show up.”
”But how could they have managed it?” Jeanne Louise asked quietly. ”How did they get Nicholas there with the dead woman in his arms?”
”Drugs would be my guess,” Jo said, and when Jeanne Louise merely bit her lip and looked uncertain, she s.h.i.+fted impatiently. ”Look, it doesn't matter if you believe in his innocence, I do. So just tell us if you know what Annie might have wanted to tell him.”
Jeanne Louise sighed, but shook her head. ”I don' t know.”
Jo sagged with defeat, sure the girl wasn't even trying because she didn't believe.
”Jeanne Louise,” Marguerite said softly, suggesting she thought the same thing.
”I don't,” Jeanne Louise insisted. ”We talked about loads of things. Her work, my work, family, shopping, movies, men...” She shrugged helplessly. ”Everything.”
”Wasn't there anything she talked about more than others?” Jo asked pleadingly. ”I'm sorry, no. Not that I recall,” Jeanne Louise said unhappily.
Jo sighed and glanced around the room. ”Well then maybe she mentioned something to one of you?”
When her gaze settled hopefully on Marguerite, the woman's gaze turned apologetic and she shook her head. ”I'm sorry, dear. I really want to help, but we only met three times. The first time was when she and Nicholas first got together, and she was quiet and shy then. The second time was at the wedding, and we didn' t get a chance to talk much at all, and then the last time was a couple weeks before she died. She and Jeanne Louise came for a visit while Nicholas was away, and as I recall...” She paused and frowned. ”I think she mostly asked me about Armand.”
”Armand?” Jo asked.
”My father,” Nicholas told her.
”She was naturally curious about him,” Marguerite murmured.
”Why naturally?” Jo asked with a frown.
”Because she hadn' t met him.”
Jo glanced to Nicholas and back to Marguerite with confusion. ”Surely he attended the wedding?”
”No,” Marguerite said quietly. ”He couldn't bring himself to attend.”
”He hasn't left his farm since his last wife died,” Thomas said quietly. ”He's become a total recluse.”
”His last wife?” Jo asked sharply. ”How many has he had?”
”Three. Each has died within a handful of years after their marriage,” Thomas said and then added, ”My mother lasted four years or so. She was the longest.”
”He's had three life mates?” Jo asked with amazement.
”No,” Marguerite said at once. ”Only one was a life mate. Nicholas's mother. Armand turned her. The second wife, Thomas's mother, was an immortal. She was a bit wild, became his lover and got pregnant. Obviously, she wanted to or she wouldn't have been drinking enough blood to even start the pregnancy, let alone keep it long enough to know she was pregnant,”
she added dryly, and then shrugged. ”She told Armand, and he, of course, married her. It was the eighteenth century,” she added. ”And at that time, an unmarried girl simply didn't have a child on her own. No one in the immortal community would have been too distressed, but we were all trying to fit in as mortals. They married for propriety's sake, but agreed it would only be until one or the other met their life mate.” Marguerite grimaced. ”Instead, she died.”
”The last wife, Jeanne Louise's mother, was also immortal,” Nicholas announced. ”Father was lonely, and I think she felt sorry for him. She also wanted a child of her own and so they made an agreement-a temporary marriage for companions.h.i.+p until one or the other met their life mate.”
”But she died too,” Jo murmured.
”Yes,” Marguerite said with a sigh. ”Armand has had absolutely no luck with wives.”
Jo raised her eyebrows. ”You're kidding, right?”
Marguerite raised her own eyebrows. ”You think losing three wives is good luck?”
”I think an immortal losing three immortal wives one after the other is completely unlikely,”
she responded grimly. ”Let me guess, they all died in weird accidents?”
”Well, yes,” she admitted with surprise. ”Nicholas's mother died in a fire, and-”
”You didn't tell me fire can kill you?” Jo said, turning on Nicholas accusingly.
”It usually can't,” he said quietly. ”We can take a lot of damage and still keep moving and get out of the fire and then repair. But my mother was trapped and...” He grimaced and shrugged.
Jo shook her head and glanced at those surrounding her. ”You guys are immortals, hard to kill. What are the chances of one of you losing three wives in a row? Don' t you think that's odd?”
”That's what Annie said,” Jeanne Louise murmured almost thoughtfully.
”Did she?” Jo turned on her quickly.
Jeanne Louise nodded. ”I'd forgotten about that. She was curious as to why Father hadn't attended the wedding, and when I told her about his misfortunes with wives, she thought it was weird too and started asking all these questions...”
”She was very interested in how they died and so on that day you both came for tea,”
Marguerite murmured.
”She asked me about Uncle Armand and his wives too,” Lissianna said. ”I didn' t think anything of it at the time.”
”She did talk about it a lot,” Jeanne Louise said, turning wide eyes to Jo. ”You don't think that has something to do with what she was going to tell Nicholas?”
”It could,” she said thoughtfully. ”I certainly would have thought it odd and been curious about it. And if she started looking into it and learned anything that suggested even one of the deaths wasn't accidental...”
”Then it would be a very good reason for someone to want her dead before she could tell Nicholas what she'd learned,” Thomas said grimly. ”Yes,” Jo murmured, not noticing the sudden silence in the room, until Bricker broke it by standing up.
”I need, to feed,” he announced, heading for the door. ”Does anyone else want something?”
There were murmurs from several people, but Jo was distracted with considering what it was Annie might have learned... and how she'd learned what she had. The deaths had happened so long ago, it was hard to imagine she'd learned anything.
”I think I heard Lucy chattering as I crossed the hall.”