Free Rebel Without a Cake by Jacklyn Brady Page A

wasn’t sure why I was responsible for her visitors, but clearly she thought I was, so I tried to get a bit more information. “Are they friends of yours?”
    â€œOf mine? No! The crazy girl says she’s a friend of yours.”
    â€œBut that’s impossible.”
    â€œAre you saying you didn’t send them over here? That you’re not responsible for that frightening-looking woman I found on my porch? She was shaking something at me, Rita. I swear they’re bones.”
    Bernice had to be imagining things. “I doubt that,” I said gently. “Where are the women now?”
    â€œIn my living room,” Bernice whispered. “I had to let them in so the neighbors wouldn’t see them.”
    Seriously?
“You let complete strangers into your house even though you thought they were carrying bones?”
    â€œI had to,” she insisted. “They said that they refused to leave until I let the voodoo lady contact Uncle Cooch, and Polly Ebersol was out walking her dog. I didn’t know what else to do. But don’t worry. I’ll be all right until you get here. I have my gun.”
    That
did it. “Do not use your gun,” I ordered. “I’m on my way.” And then I bolted for my office to get rid of Evangeline Delahunt.

Seven

    I finished up with Evangeline Delahunt as quickly as I could. She promised to have the decoration committee chair call me, and I said again that I’d draw up some sketches and make another appointment with her when I had them ready. I just hoped she would call her decorator pronto. We couldn’t afford to lose a single day.
    By daylight Miss Frankie’s neighborhood looked festive and ready for Halloween. Corn husks and jack-o’-lanterns decorated sidewalks and porches. Fall wreaths hung on doors. A couple of neighbors had even created faux graveyards on their lawns.
    Bernice must have been watching for me because she opened the door and stepped out onto the porch before my car stopped moving. The moment I got close enough, she grabbed my arm and tugged me to the far side of the porch. “I
told
you I didn’t want anybody to know what happened last night,” she scolded in a harsh stage whisper.
    I pulled my arm away gently. “I didn’t say a word,” I assured her. “I have no idea what’s going on, but I’ll find out. Where are they?”
    â€œIn the living room,” Bernice said with a nod toward the door. I hurried inside and she trailed behind me. As we passed the kitchen, I said, “Stay here. I’ll come back when they’re gone.”
    I was a little surprised that she obeyed me without arguing. I could hear soft voices as I walked down the hallway, but that still didn’t prepare me for what I saw when I stepped into the room.
    Isabeau sat on Bernice’s giant leather sofa next to a tall black woman wearing a white turban, tiny oval-shaped sunglasses, and a black sundress sprinkled with yellow flowers. If it hadn’t been for the small bones on a jute string she held in one hand, the woman would have looked perfectly normal.
    Isabeau grinned when she saw me, and I flashed back to the night before at the Dizzy Duke. I hadn’t meant to lie to Bernice a moment ago; I’d honestly forgotten that I’d told the group about Bernice’s visitor. I’d also forgotten Isabeau’s claim that she knew a way to help. Oops.
    My stomach dropped and guilt settled on me like a pile of rocks, along with a sprinkle of outrage. “What in the hell are you doing here?” I demanded.
    Isabeau popped up from the couch and bounced across the room to hug me. “I told you I knew someone who could help. Don’t you remember?”
    â€œI do now. Who is this?”
    She turned back to her companion with a flourish. “This is Mambo Odessa, Ox’s aunt.”
    You could have knocked me over with a feather. Ox had an aunt who was a voodoo