A demon.
I sit back on my heels. “What do you think Daniel saw in the photographs—devil horns?”
Jude shakes his head, every bit as stumped as myself.
I think about his grandfather’s tip to the police. We have stumbled upon two of the names—Rueben and Frank.
Both of them, corrupters.
Bad apples.
Rotten fruit.
Can blood be evil?
Suddenly, it’s very clear to me why Jude’s father warned him to stay away from that side of the family. I want to give Jude the same warning now.
I can still feel the nip of Rafe’s teeth against my ear. The sting of my palm after I slapped him. I keep the memory to myself, and say instead, “I think Rafe is seeing Lainey Sikes.”
“What?”
“Last night, Kate said Lainey broke up with Griffin, and apparently, she keeps bragging about dating a college boy who goes to Yale.”
Jude’s expression darkens.
“You really think he’d be interested in Lainey?”
“I have no idea what interests Rafe,” Jude says, picking up the sketch. “We should show this to Tulane. The locket could be a family heirloom. Maybe Denis has seen it before. Maybe he knows where it is.”
22
ERRATIC BEHAVIOR
Jude thinks Tulane might be in the conservatory, so we descend the spiral staircase inside the east wing turret. When we reach the bottom, the sound of raised voices greets us.
Jude pulls me to a stop.
The door is ajar, allowing us to see a sliver of the unfolding scene. Isabel faces off with Rafe, the two of them surrounded by exotic plants as rivulets of rain run down the glass walls.
The first time I saw Jude’s stepmother, I thought her a beauty. Then I met her up close and realized it was a trick of her meticulous grooming. In actuality, her face is too narrow, her lips too thin, her nose like a beak. A combination of features that could either be described as striking or off-putting, but certainly not pretty. At themoment, her cheeks have gone blotchy pink. She stands like a frightened deer with her hand pressed against her clavicle.
She’s covering a necklace.
Rafe faces away from us. I can only see his back, but I can tell from his posture that for once, he isn’t being playful or coy. There is nothing cryptic about the anger radiating from him now. It’s as obvious as Isabel’s fear.
As quick as a viper, he grabs Isabel’s arm so hard, she gasps.
“Rafe,” she pleads. “You’re hurting me.”
I move toward the door to stop him, but Jude wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me into shadow.
“Tell me where you got this,” Rafe demands.
“In the family safe,” Isabel whimpers.
“Liar.”
“I’m not lying. It was part of Maureen Vandenberg’s collection.”
