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said, flashing her a smile. Then his eyes met mine, and the smile dimmed.
âByron?â
âNo, maâam, but thank you. Iâll just be getting these artifacts back,â he said, reaching for the book.
âOh, I can bring them later,â Dr. Aimes said, still studying the book with a resolute intensity.
Byron scowled. âI think itâs best if I take them to the office, where I can secure them,â he said, determined.
Dr. Aimes looked up, clearly irritated. âByron, I understand that you worked for the last owner, but Iâm the director of the project now. The house and its contents are my responsibility. Not yours.â
âYou might be director, but Iâm in charge of the artifacts,â Byron shot back darkly. âAnything happens to them, and itâs my ass on the line.â
âIâll walk them over later tonight,â Dr. Aimes said. His tone was so stark that it was clear the decision was final.
âI really think we need to follow protocol on this ⦠â
âAre you implying that I donât know how to handle artifacts?â Dr. Aimes asked. Iâd never heard his voice go steely like that.
See, Lucyâs dad is all gangly limbs and tufts of hair sticking out at odd angles, and he has a way about him that makes you think of a snug corner in an old library when he speaks. Like thereâs book dust in his voice. Heâd brought his whole family to Louisiana because restoring Le Ciel was his dream, and his family loved him enough not to hate him for it. But glaring at Byron like he was, I saw a side of him I hadnât noticed before.
For a moment, Byron looked like he wanted to argue, but he didnât. He glared at Dr. Aimes before he sullenly took his leave, looking back more than once before he finally left the parlor.
Dr. Aimes took a moment longer to look over the book before he set the two artifacts back into the crate reluctantly.
âOh, Piers,â Dr. Aimes said, his voice back to its usual softness and his expression relaxed. âHold on. Thereâs one other thing I wanted to talk to you about ⦠Let me just grab it.â He stood abruptly and disappeared into another room.
âAre you okay?â Piers asked Lucy. âFor a second there, you looked like you were about to fall over.â
Lucyâs cheeked flushed in embarrassment. âThe picture took me off guard.â
âThey seem to have a tendency to do that with you,â Piers said with a smirk. âStrange for a photographer ⦠â he teased.
Lucy slapped his arm. âShut up. You know why I fainted the last time.â
Earlier in the summer, Lucy and Piers had been with Dr. Aimes when heâd found a daguerreotype of Armantine Lyon, the girl Lucy had dreamed she was in a past lifetime. The unexpected sight of seeing Armantineâs face in her waking hours had made her faint dead away. I hadnât realized back then what was happening to Lucyâor to meâso Iâd teased her about it mercilessly.
âI remember what Josephine Dutilette was like to Armantine,â Lucy went on. âWhen I saw Josephineâs eyes staring up at me ⦠â She shuddered. âLetâs just say, that woman was a piece of work. I donât have any desire to ever run into her again, not in any lifetime.â
Lucyâs father returned a moment later with a foam cube. He set it on the coffee table between us and opened it. Inside was a small, dark piece of wood that at first looked like a misshapen star. Then I realized it was a carved doll of some sort that had a bit of ancient-looking, rust-colored thread wound about its body.
âYou still have that thing?â Lucy sounded horrified.
âOf course,â Dr. Aimes replied. âAfter we recovered it from Thisbeâs cabin, we cataloged it, same as the other artifacts.â
The University of New Orleans, which owned the plantation and ran its