Unbreakable (12 page)

“I called you four times. Why didn’t you
answer?” She scolds me.

“Well hello pot, I’m kettle. I think I’ve
called you five times with no answer,” I scold right back.

“Jeez, for someone who lived such a sheltered
life, you sure know how to have some attitude,” she teases. “Is
that a safe?”

“Yeah, I just found it, I had no idea it was
there,” I explain to her.

“Do you know the combination?” She asks and
Luke starts laughing immediately. “What?”

“The next person who asks me that question is
going to get shot by my pretend gun,” I say now laughing with
Luke.

“Oh, duh!” She rolls her eyes realizing her
stupid question.

“I take it you saw the article? I think we
should press charges against her for being ugly,” Emma snorts.

“Ugly and stupid," I laugh with Emma.

“She’s such a cow. I can’t believe the nerve
of that crazy woman.” Emma sits on the edge of the desk and I can
see the cogs of her mind are spinning as she starts chewing on her
thumbnail.

“What’s up?” I can tell something is on her
mind. “What were you doing yesterday?” I get up moving passed Luke
to take the conversation to the kitchen. He gives my arm a squeeze
as I pass. I look up at my handsome man, and he gives me the
warmest smile that makes my knees go weak.

I turn my attention back to Emma, giving her
a look to let her know I am waiting. “Spit it out!”

“I was doing some research. I have some news
about your birth mom,” Emma blurts out stopping me in my
tracks.

“What are you talking about?” I look at her
confused. “Who… what... birth mom?” I stare at her waiting for some
more info.

“I talked to Maria about our encounter at Bon
Dieu’s the other day, and I used the internet to translate what the
crazy woman said. Samantha you’re dead, and ghost devil is what the
words meant. I think Samantha is your mother!”

I feel darkness close in, and all I can see
is a tunnel with Emma at the end. Then it’s black.

I awaken on the floor, my head in Luke’s lap
with Emma on the other side of me. “Lilly… Lilly, wake up!” She’s
shouting. Luke is rubbing the top of my head with a look of terror
in his eyes. I look up and Jacob is hovering above us.

“Thank god, Lilly. How do you feel? We should
get her to a doctor.” Luke stands, lifting me up, and I am cradled
in his arms.

“What happened?” I feel disorientated, but I
don’t want to go to the doctor.

“You fainted.” Jacob is studying my face.

“I’m fine. Can I stand?” I look up at Luke
who hesitates, but finally lowers me to my feet. He keeps a hold of
me till he is sure I have my footing.

“Let’s get you some water.” The three hover
around me as they guide me into the kitchen.

“I’m fine, geez.” I swat at their hands as
they try to help me up on one of stools at the kitchen island.

Luke sits next to me with his eyes planted on
me. Emma hands me a glass of water. I remember what we were talking
about before I fainted, and look up at Emma over the rim of my
glass.

“What makes you think that Samantha is my
mother?” I grate out of my dry mouth, and take a sip of the cool
water.

“Jesus, Emma, I told you to leave it alone.
It’s a bunch of voodoo mumbo jumbo.” Jacob scowls at her, and I
wonder when they talked about this without me around.

“Does someone want to fill me in?” Luke’s
face is filled with confusion. Emma explains to him what happened
at Bon Dieu’s.

“So how exactly did you come to the
conclusion that Samantha is her birth mother?” Luke repeats my
question.

“See, my dad and Ted have been friends since
school, and Maria’s family has worked for mine for years. I’ve
always wondered how much they knew about Lilly, and why Jane hated
her so much since my dad would never tell me. Maria’s familiar with
voodoo lore and all that.” She stops when Jacob lets out a huge
sigh, and they exchange looks. Jacob is warning her with his eyes,
but she ignores him.

“I asked Maria to translate. When she heard
the name Samantha, she turned white as a ghost and told me to
forget about it.” She takes a breath. She is talking a mile a
minute. “So I pushed, who’s Samantha? What do you know? I kept
asking, and she got mad at me. Maria has never gotten mad like
this. She took my arm and told me, ‘This is none of your concern. I
don’t want to hear that name again, and that’s final.’ I was so
shocked by her tone that I stopped.” She finally stops and takes
another breath.

Luke puts his hand on my knee giving it a
squeeze.

“I agree with Maria. Why don’t you leave it
alone? She just fainted. You don’t mess with this voodoo crap,”
Jacob’s agitation increases.

“She didn’t faint because of voodoo, she
fainted from the news.” Emma rolls her eyes at Jacob and he shoots
her a dirty look.

“This still doesn’t explain how you came to
the conclusion that Samantha is Lilly’s biological mother,” Luke
presses. He seems to be getting agitated also.

“You didn’t see her face when I said that
name,” she defends herself. She looks at me and I am speechless.
“Don’t you see Lilly, that crazy woman in the shop thought you were
Samantha. Wouldn’t you look like your mom?” She throws her hand up
in frustration, not understanding why we are not getting what she
is saying.

“I don’t know who Samantha is, but I think
it’s a huge jump to assume she’s my birth mother,” I contend.

Luke takes my hand and kisses the back,
placing it in his lap. Very protectively, he places his arm on the
backside of my chair.

Emma stares at us, looking from one to the
other, and then at Jacob who still looks extremely pissed.

“What is going on here? Two days ago you
thought Luke had a super model girlfriend, and now you’re acting
like long lost lovers,” she blurts out, frustration in her voice,
wondering why we can’t see the conspiracy she has concocted in her
head.

“Emma, please!” I’m embarrassed by her
candor. “By the way, I know about the two of you talking, and about
the set ups. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!” I wave my finger
at her.

“That would have kind of defeated the whole
purpose.” She points her finger right back at me.

“Thank you so much for telling me about the
security issue,” Luke jumps in scolding Emma, motioning towards
Jacob.

“Hey, blame your father for that one. He’s
the one who didn’t want to tell you,” Emma defends herself to Luke.
“Why are we changing the subject? Can’t you see what I am saying?”
She says frustrated with us. We all stare at her not sure what she
wants us to say.

“Look, whatever,” she rolls her eyes. “I
think we need to investigate this,” she says trying to sound
convincing. “There’s something going on. I’ve seen two people turn
white as ghosts to the name Samantha,” she pushes.

“How are we going to find out? Maria won’t
talk to you, and if you can remember what that crazy woman said,
she’s apparently dead,” I point out. I get an overwhelming sad
feeling rush over me as I think of my birth mother being dead. I
shake my head trying not to think about it. Why is it making me
sad? I never met her, and she didn’t want me.

“Look, Lilly, has only had six months of
freedom,” Luke speaks up. “Why don’t we let her settle into her new
life a little bit, and then we can investigate Samantha, whoever
she is.”

“I think that is a great idea,” Jacob chimes
in happily, finally getting his way.

“Em, your dad is on me about going through
the estate. I need to concentrate on that for now,” I say looking
at her intensely. I try to tell her with my eyes to drop it for
now.

“Uuggg. Fine,” she gives in. “I’m still going
to work on Maria though,” as if this is her final say in the
matter. Neither Luke nor Jacob is going to tell her what to do.
“Oh, Daddy wants you to call him. He thinks he found someone you
can trust with the books,” she says dropping the whole thing all of
a sudden.

“I’m starving. Can we go get something to
eat?” She says and we all laugh at her attention span.

“We need to stay here and wait for the
locksmith,” Luke answers. I had almost forgotten the safe.

“Oh yeah, let me see it again,” she runs
around the counter and grabs my hand dragging me with her to the
study. Luke gets up and Emma turns around waving her hand at him
like she says down boy. “I need a minute alone with my best friend,
if that’s okay,” she smiles sweetly, but is telling Luke with her
eyes to back off.

Luke ignores her and grabs my waist before I
am drug off, pulling me to him. His lips meet mine and I am lost.
His tongue slides across my bottom lip and enters my mouth,
searching and exploring. I am limp against his body, his hard chest
pressed to mine.

“Oh, for Christ sakes!” Emma barks.

Luke pulls on my bottom lip with his teeth as
he breaks the kiss. He kisses my nose gently before he lets me go.
“Off you go,” he says more than satisfied and pats my behind as I
walk away.

“Spill it,” Emma orders as we walk into the
study. “Obviously you guys have worked out that you are madly in
love with each other.”

I blush. I know I am madly in love with him,
but I can’t say if that is how he is feeling. She reads my mind and
works to change the subject.

“That’s a big safe, I wonder what’s in it!”
She draws her attention to the wall. “It could be anything. Maybe
something about your birth mother,” she raises her eyebrows at
me.

“We’ll find out soon enough,” Luke says
entering the study, followed by an elderly gentleman carrying a
toolbox. He’s in his sixties and completely bald, except for a
patch of gray hair that extends the back of his head. “This is Mr.
Thomas,” Luke introduces us to the locksmith.

“That’s an oldie. Might take me awhile to
crack her,” he exclaims heading to the safe. We all just stand
there watching him like we think he can just touch it and it will
open. “I need complete silence,” he says as if that’s a cue to
leave him be while he works.

When we walk back into the kitchen, Miss
Finnegan has started supper. She and Jacob are conversing quietly.
They stop talking as soon as we walk in, and Jacob walks around the
counter taking a seat on one of the stools.

“What are you two talking about?” Emma
questions as we notice the instant silence.

“Nothing dear," Miss Finnegan chimes to Emma,
her grey hair pulled tightly in a bun. “Are you alright Lilly?
Jacob told me you fainted,” she asks me looking me straight in the
eyes. So they were talking about me, of course. “I must say, Emma,
I think you need to stay away from this voodoo business,” she says.
Emma shoots Jacob a dirty look for telling on her.

“Yes, I’m fine. We have already agreed to let
it go for now,” I tell her. Luke sits at the kitchen table and
takes my hand to lead me sideways on his lap. Miss Finnegan looks
up at us and gives us an approving smile.

Chapter 14

Sitting around the kitchen table eating Miss
Finnegan’s gumbo, Jacob and Luke have found they both have
something in common, that they both seem to hate Simon Booth. Jacob
is telling Luke that it takes about a week to get a background
check back and that he is going to be keeping a close eye on
him.

Emma distracts me with conversation about how
I should redecorate the master bedroom. We are interrupted by Mr.
Thomas walking into the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel.

“Well, she’s open,” he says, “Wasn’t as bad
as I thought!” He hands Luke the bill.

We all simultaneously stand up and sprint for
the study.

There’s the safe, its door sitting ajar. I
look around at everyone and they are all staring at me with
anticipation. Mr. Thomas is just standing there with his toolbox in
hand. I realize he is waiting to get paid. I grab the bill from
Luke’s hand and quickly scribble out a check.

“Have fun!” He says as I hand him payment,
“I’ll show myself out”. With that he is gone.

“Well!” Emma’s fidgeting. “Let’s see what Ted
was hiding,” she says not able to contain her excitement.

I walk over to the front of the safe and grab
the large metal handle. It’s a heavy door and I use all my strength
to swing the door open. I hear gasps behind me. The first thing I
see is stacks and stacks of cash, one hundred dollar bills wrapped
in neat little bundles.

“There’s got to be five million dollars
there!” I hear Jacob gasp.

“At least, and the rich just keep getting
richer!” Emma teases behind me.

On the second shelf there are some insurance
policies, and what looks like some bonds.

On the third shelf there is one newspaper
article lying there all by itself, and a single folder underneath
it. I sit on the floor in front of the safe and pick up the
article. It reads:

Remains of a Girl Found In
Lafourche Parrish

A body has been found in a wooded area near Bayou
Cane along South Rutledge RD. Authorities are working to identify
the remains. Deputies on the scene report the body has been badly
burned. A search party has been walking the grounds for clues.

A local hunter found the remains
and contacted authorities.

Authorities estimate the body has
been there two days. Coroner’s preliminary examination of the
remains yielded some very disturbing results.  Dr. Harrison,
local coroner, reports that, “It is a female that has recently
given birth, and from what I can tell by the uterus, the baby was
close to full term.”

Authorities are confident that
there is no evidence of the baby at the scene. They believe the
baby to be alive and have no evidence to suspect otherwise at this
time.

Local authorities seem to think
that this was some sort of voodoo ritual gone wrong. Items left at
the scene are what have led them to believe this.