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Authors: Barbara Colley

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BOOK: Polished Off
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With her insides still churning, she marched into the kitchen and snatched up her supply carrier. Only later, after she was already driving up Prytania, did it occur to her that she should have told Patsy she had finished cleaning and was leaving.
Just as well
, she thought. In the mood she was in, she didn’t trust herself to even speak to another human being. Besides, Patsy was too caught up in her newest project to care one way or the other.
The short drive home didn’t help to improve Charlotte’s mood a whole lot. She kept replaying the shouting match she’d had with her sister and fuming. Charlotte knew that it was more than just this particular incident with Maddie. It didn’t help that she was tired and didn’t feel well, but she was also feeling the effects of years of having to put up with her sister’s selfishness and pettiness. Today it was like a dark curtain had been yanked away to reveal the blinding sunlight—and the revelation was devastating.
All this time, all these years, she’d been burying her head in the sand as far as Madeline was concerned. She’d purposely ignored just how selfish and shallow her sister could be in order to avoid dealing with it. How many times had she made excuses for her? How many times had she bailed her out of financial difficulties? All the while, she’d chosen to ignore Madeline’s hurtful and destructive ways, even though she’d had to step in and take over the raising of Judith and Daniel. The question was, why? Why had she put up with Madeline’s behavior?
Charlotte steered the van down Milan as she grappled with the answer. That she loved her sister was the obvious answer. And she did love her. Yet, the answer was more complex than simply loving her. Other than herself and her own memories, Maddie was Charlotte’s only connection to her parents. So was the old saying true? Was any port in the storm better than no port at all? Maybe once it might have been true, but now...
It wasn’t until Charlotte pulled into her driveway that she noticed Louis sitting on the front porch swing. She figured he was waiting for her. Still, it was such a beautiful day, he could be sitting there just enjoying the spring weather.
“Nah,” she muttered. And if he was waiting for her, that meant he had something to discuss, something that couldn’t wait until later at dinner.
“Please, not now,” she grumbled as she parked the van and shut off the engine. For a moment she was tempted to simply go inside through the kitchen door.
With a sigh, she climbed down from the van and trudged toward the front porch. If nothing else, Louis could be persistent; it was just one of the traits that had made him such a good police detective. Knowing Louis, if she didn’t come in through the front, he’d just bang on the door until she answered it.
Chapter Three
“W
hat’s wrong?” he asked as she climbed the steps. “You look like you could chew nails.”
“I’d rather not talk about it right now, if you don’t mind.”
“Well, I do mind, but I know better than to push when you’re like this.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Was there something that you wanted in particular?”
Louis nodded. “Actually, I’m going to have to cancel our dinner tonight Something’s come up, but I wanted to talk to you before I leave.”
Charlotte couldn’t honestly say that she was disappointed about the dinner. Given the mood she was in, she wouldn’t have been fit company for anyone. She waved a hand at him. “So? Talk.”
Though he gave her an odd look, he motioned toward the side of the double that he’d been renting from her. “I know I was supposed to move out at the end of the month, but I’d like to rent the place a while longer.” He rushed on to explain. “I’ve had a job offer from Lagniappe Security Company, and now that my son and his family are back in my life, I’ve decided against moving to the lake house. It’s too far away from everything”
And too far away from everyone.
Charlotte silently filled in the blanks. After years of being estranged, Louis and his son had finally reconciled, and “everyone” now included not only Louis’s son, but his son’s wife and his son’s little daughter as well.
“But it might take some time,” Louis continued. “You know, to sell the lake property and find something affordable in the city. In fact, that’s where I have to go this evening. I’ve got a couple interested in seeing the lake property, so I was wondering if it would be okay with you if I could continue to rent the double a while longer?”
Charlotte wanted to ask him just how much longer he would need but held her tongue. From the beginning his stay was supposed to have been temporary. She’d only agreed to rent to him as a favor to her niece, and she’d rented the double to him cheaper than she would have rented it to a stranger. So what guarantee did she have that he really would look for another place to live? Louis was no dummy. Property in New Orleans could be expensive, and he could be a real penny-pincher.
No guarantees, she decided. None but his word. And even if he did stay for a while, she had to admit that it had been a comfort knowing that someone reliable and trustworthy was right next door, especially after her last tenant.
Any other time, she might have confronted him and pinned him down to a timetable, but at the moment, all she wanted was to be left alone. Later she would deal with Louis, she decided. But not now. Now, somehow, some way, she needed to decide what she was going to do about Madeline.
“Well?” Louis asked. “Is that okay with you? Is it okay if I stay a while longer?”
Charlotte shrugged. “Sure. I guess. Until you can find something,” she added for good measure. “Now, if you’ll excuse me—” She walked to her front door and unlocked it. “I’m tired.” Without waiting for a response from him, she went inside and closed the door behind her.
But once inside, with no one but Sweety Boy for a distraction, she found herself restless and confused... and obsessing about Madeline. For long minutes she paced between the kitchen and the living room, only stopping occasionally to stare at the telephone.
“Should I call her or not, Sweety?”
For an answer, the little bird fluttered his wings and did his own pacing, back and forth on his perch inside the cage.
“Just as I thought,” she muttered. “No help at all.” Charlotte flopped down on the sofa, but after a moment she jumped up again and marched over to the phone. She’d always hated contention of any kind, but it especially bothered her when it concerned her own family. To Charlotte, her family meant everything, and, like it or not, Madeline was her sister, the only sibling she had.
Charlotte reached for the receiver, but the second she touched it, she felt her temper rise all over again. Jerking her hand away, she did an about-face and stomped into the kitchen. If she called Madeline now, they would end up in another shouting match for sure. Later, she decided. She’d call her later, after she’d calmed down.
But later proved to be sooner than she’d expected. Charlotte had just poured herself a glass of iced tea when the phone rang. For a moment she was tempted to let her answering machine catch it, but only for a moment. Not everyone who called always left a message. Call it superstition or whatever, she always figured that the one phone call she didn’t answer would be the call she should have answered. Besides, it could be business.
With her glass of tea in hand, she trudged back into the living room and picked up the receiver.
“Don’t you dare hang up on me again.”
Madeline.
“What do you want, Maddie?”
“I—I want to—to apologize.”
Charlotte blinked several times and wondered if she should get her hearing checked. She could count on the fingers of one hand the times that Madeline had ever apologized about anything.
“I’m sorry, Charlotte. I had no right to take out my frustrafions on you. And I was wrong.”
Charlotte set the glass of tea on a coaster and sat down at the desk. Maybe there was hope for Madeline after all.
“You know I
want
to do what’s right,” Madeline continued. “It’s just that... I—oh, Charlotte, I’ve made such a mess of things. Judith has barely spoken to me at all since Sunday, and Daniel won’t take my calls. And I didn’t mean what I said about you,” she rushed on. “You know, about not supporting me? You’ve done more for me than anyone has a right to expect. It’s just that ... oh, dear Lord, how can I say this? I wanted more for Daniel—more than a woman who already had a kid. I think we can both agree that Daniel is a good catch for any woman, and I just can’t get past the notion that all that woman saw was a meal ticket and a father for her bastard son.”
Charlotte winced at her sister’s graphic description of Nadia and Davy.
“Well, don’t you have anything to say?”
Charlotte had a lot to say.
Do right, and you’ll feel right. Judge not lest ye be judged. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
. Just to name a few things. But none of that was what Madeline wanted to hear or would even listen to at the moment. So what could she say?
“You know I love you, Maddie. All I’ve ever wanted was what was best for you and Daniel and Judith” She took a deep breath and prayed that she was saying the right things. “Daniel is a fine man. But he’s a man now, not a boy,” she emphasized. “He’s intelligent, educated, and well respected in his profession, and I think you need to trust him—trust that he knows his own heart and mind. And I also think you need to be careful how you judge people. We all do,” she added. “Both of us know from personal experience that things are not always what they seem on the surface. And neither of us can afford to throw stones at someone else because we both have things in our own past that we’d just as soon no one else knew about or held against us”
As Charlotte waited for a response, the silence grew on the other end of the line. Still, she waited, all the while telling herself to be patient. Then she heard it—that faint telltale snaffle.
Long moments later, Madeline finally cleared her throat. “You’re right,” she said, tears in her voice. “I know you’re right. So why is it so hard for me to do what’s right?”
Because you’re selfish and spoiled
But giving voice to those thoughts would only cause more contention. Charlotte squeezed her eyes closed and again prayed for patience. Then she said, “That’s something you have to figure out on your own, Maddie. But, for what it’s worth, I think you’ve made a good beginning. To admit we’re wrong is the first step... and it’s sometimes the hardest step.”
After Charlotte hung up from talking with Madeline, she called Nadia. Daniel answered the phone.
“Hey, hon. This is Aunt Charlotte. I was just calling to check on Nadia. Is she feeling better?”
“Not a whole lot,” he answered, “but at least she’s stopped throwing up.”
“Can I do anything to help?”
“Naw, Auntie. We’ll be fine. But thanks for asking.”
 
 
 
On Friday morning, Charlotte couldn’t believe how much better she felt as she locked her front door and headed for the van. Climbing inside the van, she found herself humming the old song, “What a Difference a Day Makes.”
And it was true, she thought. Just as the song title implied, one day could make all the difference in the world. And so could something as simple as an apology.
While she was waiting for several cars to pass before backing into the street, her thoughts turned introspective. Though Charlotte truly didn’t believe that one person’s happiness and well-being should depend on another person, she was a realist. Being at odds with her only sister had been a miserable experience and had really had an effect on her. It wasn’t the first time it had happened, and it wouldn’t be the last, she was sure. And in theory, yes, happiness had to come from within, but theory didn’t always take into account that people were only human, and humans needed to live in harmony with those they loved.
The street was clear of traffic, and as Charlotte backed onto Milan, her gaze strayed to the driveway on the other side of her house and her thoughts turned to Louis Thibodeaux. Louis’s blue Taurus was gone, she noted. So where was he at this time in the morning? she wondered as she drove past her house. She didn’t remember hearing him leave earlier, but he could have left while she was in the shower.
None of your business.
“And what do you care, anyway?” she muttered as she ignored the tiny voice in her head that answered back, insisting that she did care, probably more than she should.
 
 
 
The drive to her Friday client’s home usually took about ten minutes, depending on traffic. Though there was a steady flow of traffic today, it moved along without any delays for a change.
Almost a year had passed since Charlotte had begun working for Marian Hebert on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. In that year she’d seen Marian undergo some dramatic changes.
A widow in her late thirties, Marian was well on her way to overcoming an alcohol addiction and getting a firm hold on raising her two sons. But the journey to sobriety hadn’t been an easy one. It had taken a murder and a life-threatening experience to jolt Marian out of the quagmire of self-pity and guilt that she’d buried herself in.
BOOK: Polished Off
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