Daniel rubs my arm. “You’ve been through a lot. Would it be so strange of a coincidence for you to experience nightmares around the same time that you run into these people? I mean, you haven’t actually met anyone from your dreams on the street, have you?”

“The man with the goatee. The one from the café.”

“But you only dreamt about him after meeting him, right?”

“Yeah, I guess.” I know Daniel is trying to make me feel better, and it should be working. But it’s not. I only feel crazier for reading anything into this at all. “What about Fortune’s Gate?”

“What about it? It was a really weird store. New Orleans is full of them.”

Do I want to explain what I think I saw? I bite my tongue. He’s so sincere with his wide, square teeth and frank, brown eyes. I don’t know how to not agree with him.

“If you’re not having an episode—which I don’t think you are—then what else could it be?” he says.

I swipe at the tears as they fall. “Ghosts. Apparitions. That’s all I can come up with. I mean, isn’t like 75 percent of this city supposed to be haunted anyway?”

He laughs. “You got me there. But why would they be haunting you? And why so many?”

I shrug. “Any other theories I come up with just make me sound less stable.”

Daniel sighs. “Things aren’t always as simple as they seem on the surface. Mawmaw is always saying there’s more to this world than meets the eye.” He gets to his feet and holds his hand out to pull me up.

“You sound like one of those conspiracy theorists.” I massage my knees for a moment as I stand next to him.

“Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“To see Mawmaw Barb. It’s time I bring you round again.”

XXI.

WHEN WE PULL UP THIS TIME, MAWMAW BARB IS comfortably wedged into a rocker on her front porch. She has a colander in her lap and a plastic bag full of green beans. She snaps the ends off before breaking each bean in two and dropping it in the colander. She doesn’t wave as we approach or miss a beat in her bean routine.

“Mawmaw, you off today?” Daniel asks as we linger on the steps.

She eyes him over the top of her readers. “I’m here, ain’t I?”

He laughs. “I brought Cat over again like you asked.”

Now she pauses. Her hands are smooth skinned with big, fleshy veins running over them like earthworms. They hover mid-bean over the colander as she appraises me. After a moment, she drops the bean in and grabs up the bag. “Come on then.”

She hands the colander to Daniel and starts for the door. “May as well put you to work if you’re going to be here underfoot.”