a single space that hadn’t been designed without thought. He knew excellent work when he saw it. The house sat just back from the river with weeping trees close, but not so close that they might fall on the structure. He could see enemies coming at him. He had several escape routes for him and his family should he need them. He could get to the Fontenot property or to Trap’s fortress, both places of relative safety. The swamp surrounded his property, and he had the waterway as well.
“How many bedrooms?”
He liked that she asked that question. She wasn’t thinking about visitors. She had to be open to the possibility of children. “Three, although the attic runs the entire length of the house and can be converted to a third story. The builder had started on that project when his wife died unexpectedly.”
Jonquille spun around, right there in the middle of the dining room. It had the same high ceilings as the entire house, and one wall was dedicated to a long built-in gas fireplace. When it was turned on, small flames danced along that wall, adding to the warmth of the room but also giving the old-growth cypress throughout the room and ceiling a beautiful glow.
“That’s so sad. It reminds me of Luther. I feel so bad for him losing his wife.”
Rubin nodded. For the first time in his life he knew what it would be like to lose someone like Lotty. He was watching Jonquille closely. She’d only taken one day to rest after she’d woken, with Nonny and Rubin both attending her. She was on her feet and determined to see everything, declaring she felt absolutely fine, but he had examined her that morning and she was still bruised internally.
“Luther loves Lotty to this day. Everything he does, he does with Lotty in mind.”
“Diego was a little obsessed with finding his still. Does Luther actually have one?”
“Oh, he has one, all right. And he makes the best whiskey around, which he does sell to the highest bidders. Luther is no fool. He knows what his product is worth. He also knows there are some people who want to steal from him.”
“Do you know where that still is?”
He shook his head. Her hair drew him like a magnet. He wanted to touch all that silk. He had since she came out of the shower early in the morning, toweling the mop of blond strands dry while she chattered happily about going to see the house he’d bought. He’d suggested it early in the morning and prepared a picnic in the hopes she’d go with him. Deliberately dangling the house in front of her was low, but he wanted to show her what he had to offer.
Naturally they’d been delayed by several hours, and he thought they’d never be alone. Then the weather had turned on them, the rain deciding to fall in little stops and starts. Already the sun was determined to set, but Rubin was equally determined to have one night alone with Jonquille. So far, she hadn’t objected and asked to go back to the Fontenot house.
“Luther must have planned all along to conceal the still in the caves. He’s had plenty of time to do it over the years and find a place he could vent while he works on his whiskey,” Rubin explained, filling her in on the older man they’d all come to be fond of.
“Don’t you think it’s extraordinary that these experiments have been taking place since the beginning of the Vietnam War, Rubin? Most likely before?”
“I heard rumors from the time I was a little boy about him. All the pieces of the puzzles involving Luther fit now that I can put them together. He must have really had fun feeding the gossip. Even giving Edward Sawyer a bad time about being a spy for the government. Of course all that did was get me worried about him.”
“I think it worried Edward’s brother, Rory, as well,” Jonquille pointed out.
Rubin liked that she’d picked up on that detail. “You’re right. Rory was concerned for Luther. The old man had trudged through a blizzard to check on his mother. He wasn’t going to turn his back on him if he’d grown senile or had turned just plain ornery. The Sawyers are good people.”
“I think a lot of your friends are good people, Rubin.”
“The ones in my unit certainly are. I’m glad you like the house, Lightning Bug. I was hoping you’d like it