Chapter Thirty-Three

The house Edmée Crowley and Dr. Fabian Long lived in was large and painted a blinding white. It was set back from the street amid a full to bursting fall garden that poured from the back yard to flow along both sides of a wide, circular front lawn. A maid in khakis and a polo shirt answered the door. She led Billy Ray and Raven into what she referred to as the parlor, a small room near the front of the house filled with an oversized fireplace surrounded by white marble.

The maid left them sitting on a soft, white leather sofa. Billy Ray removed one of the many mustard-colored pillows so he could sit comfortably. Raven sat beside him, not saying anything, just looking around. She thought she knew Edmée, but boy was she mistaken. The woman who lived in this house, who decorated this room with odds and ends like the glass trout riding a Schwinn, was a stranger. Billy Ray sat with his hands on his knees, bent forward as if he couldn’t wait to finish with what Raven was sure he thought of as a routine chore. He wasn’t intimidated at all by his surroundings. He even kept his pork pie hat on.

“Friends,” Edmée said as she came sweeping into the room, the hem of her wide-leg slacks billowing around her.

Raven and Billy Ray stood and Edmée kissed them on both cheeks.

“No fair,” she said. “If you told me you were coming sooner I would have had Karen make us a late lunch. How are you after your adventures last night, Raven?”

“Better today,” Raven answered.

“And how is Cameron doing with all of this?”

“Oh, he’s hanging in there,” Raven said. “Frantic, kind of a pain in the butt. You understand.”

“I can,” she said, sitting in an armchair and crossing her legs. “That is the problem, isn’t it? Oh the dreams, the nightmares of where that boy could be right now. It makes my head ache. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“We wanted to ask you and your husband a few questions about Clyde and Noe,” Raven said.

Edmée frowned. “I don’t know if I’ll have any answers.”

“Well, maybe your husband does?” Raven said. “Is he home?”

“Why, of course, but I have to admit that I’m all over curious.” She stood up and strode to the door. “Darling, Fabian, there are some detectives here to talk to you,” she said in that ever-expansive way she had before turning to them with a wink. “Ah, here he is.”

Dr. Fabian Long entered the room dressed much differently than he had the first time Raven and Billy Ray met him. He was as tall and lanky as ever, but instead of being dressed in a three-piece suit, he wore a pair of washed denims and a light blue cashmere sweater. He shook Raven’s and then Billy Ray’s hand.

“Yes,” he said, smiling as he sat in the armchair next to Edmée’s. “I can’t say I’m happy to see you two. The last time we met was at the hospital, and I can’t help but recall that the conversation was about murder.”

“Yes, the Lamont Lovelle case,” Raven said.

“Unfortunate,” Fabian said. “The good part is that we won’t have to waste money on a trial.”

“Can I get you two something to drink?” Edmée abruptly stood and moved toward the door. “Coffee? A drink?”

“No,” Billy Ray said. “Sit yourself down. I need to get back to the restaurant, so we don’t have a lot of time.”

Long caught the familiarity in Billy Ray’s voice. He gave Billy Ray a look as sharp as razor blades before hiding it under a mask of friendliness.

Edmée sat down and crossed her legs again. She looked at them with polite inquiry.

“What’s this all about?” Long asked.

“We’re here about Clyde Darling….” Raven began.

“Yes, yes, I know,” Long said, waving his fingers. “My wife told me about that unfortunate boy, and the chief and I have talked. What a tragedy. But I don’t see what this has to do with us.”

“They found a body at your construction site, Dr. Long,” Raven said.

“But that was from the Sleeping Boy killer,” Long responded. “Your chief said that they already have a suspect in Clyde’s case.”

“It may be nothing,” Raven said. “We’re just talking to all of Clyde’s friends. They may know something important and not even realize it.”

“It’s certainly tragic,” Long said. “My wife cried all night when she found out what had happened.” He reached over the end table between them and grabbed Edmée’s bejeweled hand. He squeezed it, never taking his eyes from Billy Ray.

“There’s also Noe,” Raven said.

“Noe?” Long said.

“Yes,” Edmée broke in. “I told you about Noe, darling. He was Clyde’s best friend. He was missing.”

“Is,” Raven said before she could help herself. “He is missing. And he’s also my nephew.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Long murmured automatically, inclining his head respectfully.

“He’s not dead,” Raven insisted.

“Leave it, Raven,” Billy Ray said. “Edmée, it seems the boys lied to their parents about where they were supposed to be last weekend as you already know. We’ve got some new evidence and are just looking at some possibilities.”

“Like what?” Edmée asked. “I mean, I’ll tell you what I can. I care for those two boys very much.”

“That’s why we’re here,” Raven said. “We believe the boys may have come your way before they went missing.”

Edmée cocked her head and blinked. “I don’t understand.”

“We have video evidence of the boys getting off a city bus near your house.”

Long laughed. “Why, the only bus stop is miles away from here. I know because sometimes I give Karen a lift after her shift.”

“We’re thinking that it was a distance the boys would’ve walked,” Billy Ray said.

“That’s just ridiculous,” Edmée said. “Billy Ray. Really. When is this supposed to be?”

“Between four thirty and five on Friday,” Raven said.

“But why would they come here?” Edmée asked.

“That’s what we want to know. Could you have hired them to help out? Clyde was always looking for ways to make extra money,” Raven said.

“Why would I do that?” Edmée said. “I loved those boys, but I only saw them at the restaurant or when I was with one of you. I would never have a reason to see them alone.”

“Look,” Billy Ray said. “We aren’t accusing you of anything. We just need to know what they were doing in this part of town.”

“When you say this part of town, do you mean white?” Long cut in.

“If you want to see it that way maybe that’s what I mean. I think Clyde had a crush on you, Edmée. Could he have convinced Noe to come over here just for a visit? He had trouble at home and was pretty upset. Maybe he needed a sympathetic ear.”

“If he needed a sympathetic ear, then he would have talked to one of you. You know him better than my wife does,” Long said.

“But Edmée is good with kids,” Raven said. “She runs the home and all. Maybe Clyde thought she would be a better listener, no judgment, you know. You were always playing that memory game with him, Edmée. He really liked you.”

Edmée was about to say something, but before she could say a word, Long said, “My wife just said that they weren’t here on Friday. Take that as your answer.”

Billy Ray smiled without teeth. “Maybe they came over when you weren’t home?”

“Karen,” Long called while still looking at Billy Ray. In the time it takes a butterfly to close its wings, the maid was standing there. “Did you see two boys come over here on Friday, around four thirty or five p.m. in the afternoon? Two black boys?”

“No, Dr. Long,” she said almost before he had the words out of his mouth.

“Thank you,” he said. He waved her away.

“You still haven’t said if you were home, Edmée,” Raven pressed.

“I was home,” she said. “I had a hell of a migraine, so I was lying down.”

“Anything else, Detectives?” Long asked.

“Yes,” Raven said. “Edmée, do you know a man by the name of Ronnie True?”

“Oh, yes,” she said. “But of course. He did some work for the foster home. What a nice man.”

“Do you know that he recently died?” Raven asked.

Edmée ran her hands through her long black hair. “I had heard that he was attacked. I knew he was in the hospital, but didn’t know that he had passed. How awful.”

Raven believed that she meant it. Edmée was looking quite flushed.

“My wife knew Ronnie True quite well. She sat by his bedside on more than one occasion. Didn’t you, my dear.”

“Yes, I did,” she said.

“Did you know that Clyde Darling’s mother worked for Ronnie True?”

“Yes, I did. You know, it’s such a small world. But what has this to do with poor Clyde and Noe?” Edmée asked.

“I don’t know,” Raven said. “We’re just….”

“Poking every place you can to see if you hit water?” Long said.

Billy Ray smiled again. “Something like that. But we certainly don’t want to upset you or your wife.”

“It’s all right. I know you only do this for your job, but I saw that poor man in the hospital, and it makes me sick thinking about it. If there aren’t any more questions….”

“No,” Raven said. “But if you think of anything, you’ll call me, right?”

“You know I will. Just thinking about this is giving me a big migraine.”

Edmée made her apologies and left the room. Raven turned back to Long. “I never knew her to be so fragile. She wrangled a snake in my apartment last night.”

“That’s right. She told me about that, and I know y’all knew each other in high school. Snakes never bothered Edmée. As far as her being tough, people change in the space of a decade and more, Detective. One thing I know about my wife is that she hates it when people get hurt, especially young people. It takes her back to how she grew up.”

“She just seems a lot tougher than that,” Billy Ray said.

“Oh, she is,” Long responded. “But not with everything.”

Long stood up to walk them outside himself. Raven wondered if he did so to show Billy Ray that there were no hard feelings. On the massive front porch, the two men shook hands, and Raven watched Billy Ray get into his Skylark for the drive down Lakeshore back to Chastain’s.

Raven and Long stood in silence for a few moments. She didn’t make a move to leave because she was sure he hadn’t finished talking.

Finally he said, “Yes, she’s a regular trooper, but sometimes her over-grieving concerns me, especially about people she doesn’t know.”

“What do you mean by over-grieving?” she asked.

“Well, did you hear about that boy who was tortured by his parents?”

“Yeah,” Raven said offhandedly. “I know the reporter who broke the story. The DeWitts, right? Claude DeWitt. His parents adopted and abused him. Ended up killing him, right?”

“Yes. That would be upsetting to anybody. But Edmée took it hard like it was her fault for only working with older kids. She cried so much that I had to give her a sedative.”