[ He feels the squeeze and drifts back a little. So that he can be side by side with Billy. So that their hips knock when squeezing through doors to check out each room. Each from front to back all the way to the stairs that lead down to what he assumes is a root cellar. His hand remains tight and warm, prepared to let go if Billy needs to suddenly pull that little hairpin from his locks to throw. ]

I can't rightly say, I'm afraid. But this place, I've not seen one person out on the street. Even in the smallest towns we've been in, there's always someone out and about during the day. But there's not been hide nor hair of anyone being here. It's like this place was abandoned. Everyone just plum got up and left.

[ It makes sense too, for him. That all this would be left behind. If you needed to go quickly, you grabbed what you could and disappeared. He is fairly certain that the Robicheaux house was still as he had left it all those years ago. ]

If the rightful owners come back, I'll handle them. Don't you worry about that. I'll make sure things go easy and amicably. For now though, we can stay here and we'll handle things as we always have. [ Together. ]