Take - Page 96

And I needed to work it out fast.

40

FRANKIE

Night had fallen, and I was busy trying to stay on my feet as Auclair dragged me down an uneven path.

I looked up and swallowed. We were in a cemetery.

Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 was in the Garden District and filled with historic tombs and crypts. Auclair had delighted in telling me on the drive here that I was going to rest with the dead. His plan was to lock me in a crypt. Where I’d either run out of air or starve to death.

I’d tried to leave a clue for Reath in the warehouse, but I’d been dragged away before I could finish.

Reath would find me. My smart, tenacious former spy wouldn’t give up.

I really didn’t want to die.

I wanted to finish my project. I wanted to talk to my mom and Lindsay. I wanted to see Jack again.

And I wanted Reath.

If I made it out of this, I was going to tell him how I felt.

I was falling in love with Reath Fury.

The thought gave me a burst of energy.

I would survive.

Auclair had let his men go, so now it was just the two of us. We were deep in the cemetery, lost in the labyrinth of tombs and mausoleums, which was creepy as hell. I’d really wanted to do a cemetery tour, but I was scratching that off my list.

I reached my free hand up, pretending to be touching my neck. I flicked open my monkey pin and let it fall to the ground.

Please don’t let him notice.

“You know my French settler ancestors were the ones to start the cemeteries here in New Orleans,” Auclair said conversationally. “And they started the practice of burying the dead above ground, due to the high water table.”

“Fascinating.” My toe caught on an uneven paving stone, and I pitched forward.

Auclair yanked me upright. “Watch your step.”

Finally, he stopped in front of a huge marble tomb. It had an ornate, arched roof and stained marble. Auclair pulled out an old iron key and yanked me closer to the door. He held his flashlight up and I saw an engraved name on the crypt. Deschamps.

“Why this crypt?” I asked.

He turned the key with a low screech. “Because it’s airtight.”

My stomach clenched.

“And my wife’s maiden name was Deschamps. It seems fitting that you die here.”

He opened the door and yanked me inside.

The tomb wasn’t huge, but larger than other ones we’d passed. The walls had metal handles set in the sides and I guessed there were bodies in there. I swallowed.

He pulled me to the back of the crypt. A large statue of a weeping angel sat by the wall.

That’s when I saw the chains.