"You can give it to me and I'll deliver it," Aubrey said, his hand out.
"I'm sorry, sir, but I cannot give it to anyone else," she insisted.
Aubrey was about to reply when I stepped closer. "It's all right, Aubrey. I'll look after this. I'm Mademoiselle Pearl. How can I help you?"
The tall girl studied me a moment and nodded. She didn't look more than fourteen or fifteen, but she had a strong and confident air about her that suggested she was older. She had a very smooth and shiny complexion with large ebony eyes, which captured the entryway light and sparkled like polished onyx, "I was asked to deliver this to you," she said handing me the letter.
I took it quickly. There was no name on the envelope and no return address. "Who sent this?"
"Everything is explained in the letter," she said. She didn't smile, but she fixed her eyes on me so intently that I felt as if she were delving into my very soul. Then she gave me a small, tight smile, turned, and walked out. I watched her step quickly over the tile patio and into the darkness from which she had so suddenly emerged.
Aubrey waited beside me, his face full of concern.
"It's all right, Aubrey," I said. He closed the door and returned to his quarters.
I looked at the envelope more closely and noticed some sort of red powder on the flap. I opened it quickly and saw it was addressed to Daddy and me and it was in Mommy's hand.
My heart stopped and then began beating madly. Without reading the first word, I pulled open the front door and lunged down the steps. I ran over the tile drive and into the street just as the tall, black girl turned the far corner. She was walking very quickly.
"Wait!" I screamed, but she didn't hear me. I ran up the street after her. When I turned the corner, she was heading toward the streetcar. "Wait!" I shouted. The streetcar rumbled down the tracks to the station. "Please, mademoiselle, wait."
I ran as fast as I could. She turned as she stepped up to the car and looked my way, but she didn't hesitate. She got in, and the car door closed just as I approached. I saw the girl take a seat by an open window in the rear. She gazed out at me. I waved the letter and ran alongside the car.
"Where is she? It's my mother! Where is she?" I cried.
The girl stared out at me without speaking.
"Please!" I cried as the car began to pull away from me. Suddenly the girl threw something out of the window. It bounced on the grass in front of me as the streetcar made a turn and disappeared. I stopped to catch my breath. My heart was a wild frantic animal in my chest, thudding so hard that my ribs felt as if they would burst. Gasping for air, I stepped forward until I found what she had thrown. Whatever it was, it was in a small cloth sack. I picked it up and undid the string, pausing to look in the direction of the streetcar. What could this have to do with Mommy?
I felt something hard in the bag and pulled it out carefully. The moment I set eyes on it, I screamed and dropped it. It was the head of a snake. My heart seemed to jump out of my chest and into my throat. I felt my face turn crimson, and for a moment it was as if I had stepped into a hot oven. People driving by slowed down to gaze at me. I'm sure I looked wild and hysterical, gasping, crying, shaking my head. Finally, after I got control of myself, I turned and hurried back to the house.
As soon as I entered, I hurried down the hallway to Daddy's study. He was seated behind his desk, but had turned his back to the door and was gazing up at a portrait of himself and Mommy, a portrait she had painted from a photograph. He had a tumbler of bourbon in his right hand.
"Daddy, Mommy has sent us a letter!" I declared.
He turned slowly. His face was streaked with tears. He wiped them away with the back of his hand quickly. "What's that? A letter?"
"Some girl just delivered it. I tried to run after her and question her, but she got on the streetcar before I could stop her. She threw something terrible out the window at me when I screamed for her to tell me where Mommy was."
"Terrible? What?"
"A sack containing the head of a snake," I said, crying.
"Head of a snake? How sick."
"And there's red powder on the envelope," I said, holding it up for him to see.
"Red powder. Another voodoo thing," he said with an expression of disgust. "Where is she? What does the letter say?"
"I don't know. I haven't read it yet."
"Well, read it," he ordered and sat forward. I turned on the lamp near me and opened the letter.
My precious husband Beau and my precious daughter Pearl,
By the time you read this, I will be long gone. I tell you that so you won't go searching wildly over the city to find me and bring me back. That's why I waited until now to write and deliver this letter.
I know that you do not believe as strongly as I do in the powers of the unknown, but the two of you were not brought up in a world in which such things dwelt. I am the granddaughter of a true traiteur, and as such I have some spiritual insight. I know that more than ever now.
Last night I spoke with the dead. Nina's voice was clear, and her spirit was in me. She regretted not having been able to speak with me before our tragedy. She thinks it might have been prevented.
"What a state of mind she is in," Daddy commented. "These people have poisoned Ruby's thoughts, taken advantage of her while she is in mourning, weak, and vulnerable. I'll have them all arrested," he raged.
"There's more, Daddy," I said, my fingers trembling as I held up the paper.
"Go ahead," he said, lowering his head like a flag of defeat.
Although I couldn't prevent what happened to Jean, I can prevent any further bad luck from entering our lives and hurting my loved ones. Nina has given me specific instructions to peel away the layer of evil that has been spread over our home and our lives, evil that was born out of my sins.
These instructions require my leaving our home, maybe forever. That's up to Fate, I suppose. I didn't want to leave so abruptly, but I knew if I told either of you any of this, you would try to stop me.
Already we have seen what these rituals can do for us. Pierre will mend as long as I continue to pursue the path I've been instructed to pursue.
I beg you both not to try to follow me or stop me, but I want to assure you both just how much I love you and how difficult this will be for me.
I am depending on you, Pearl, to be the strength I couldn't be. Stay by your brother and your father and help them.
Beau, my darling, please find it in your heart to forgive me and believe in me. If I have your trust, I will be that much stronger in the days to come and during the battle that is to follow. I will feel your faith in me.
I will not be able to talk to you or call you or even write to you again until I have completed my mission. It is painful for me to be away from the ones I love. I am doing it only because I love you all more than I love myself. My pain is nothing if it will buy happiness and health for my family.
I love you.
Ruby
I lowered my hands and gazed at Daddy. Hot tears were streaming freely down my cheeks and dripping from my chin.
He stared for a few moments and then sat back. "Well," he finally said, "there you have it. Just what I feared and suspected. Who knows where she's gone to or what she's going to do?"
"We've got to find her, Daddy, and bring her home."
"Find her," he said angrily. "Those people close around their own like clams. They won't talk to us; they won't tell us anything."
He reached for his nearly empty bottle of bourbon and poured himself another drink. "Maybe she'll come to her senses and call us or come home," he muttered.
"Daddy, we've got to call the police. She's not in her right mind after all this sadness and tragedy. They'll understand and they'll help us," I said.