Between Dusk and Dawn (4 page)

“
Oh, I see.” Her light
brown face grew serious, as though not having an appointment meant
LaShaun was in serious trouble. “I’ll check with Mrs. Honoré right
now.”

“
Thanks.”

LaShaun grinned at the way the young
legal secretary hustled off. Moments later Savannah led the way
back to the lobby. Her secretary blinked rapidly at
LaShaun.

“
Good morning,” Savannah
smiled. Then she tilted her head to one side. “I hope this is
purely a social visit.”

LaShaun laughed. “It is, I
promise.”

Savannah grinned back and walked to
her office. “Okay, then you can come on in. Otherwise I was going
to send you over to my friend in Lafayette Parish. I can’t take
another action-packed episode in the life of LaShaun
Rousselle.”

“
Hey, I’m not the only
source of turmoil around here,” LaShaun tossed back, and sank down
in a comfortable leather chair in the seating area.

Savannah brought out a box of donuts,
and then poured coffee in two mugs. She sat across from LaShaun in
a matching chair and propped her feet on the seat of a third
one.

“
I’m not going to comment,
except to say you provide the most interesting commotions at least.
None of this routine, penny ante trouble. Why can’t people manage
their lives a little neater?” Savannah bit into a donut and chewed
for a few moments. “I mean, is that too much to ask?”

LaShaun selected one of the glazed
treats that had a filling. “Apparently the answer is yes. Life is
messy.”

“
Oh well, I could have
stuck to marine law, and mineral and oil rights practice. But I
wanted the human side of law.” Savannah sipped from her
mug.

“
Be careful going after
what you want, as the old saying goes.” LaShaun gave her shoulder a
pat and laughed at the scowl on her friend’s face. “Speaking of
messy lives, Miss Clo came to see me. For once, somebody other than
me is being accused of putting bad gris-gris on folks.”

“
Humph, that’s small town
Louisiana for ya. Your neighbor trips and breaks a toe after y’all
get into a fuss, and bam! You must be burning black candles on ‘em.
It’ll blow over soon enough.”

“
Like it blew over with me,
you mean?” LaShaun looked at her.

“
You have a point. So Miss
Clo came to consult our local expert in the dark arts, eh?”
Savannah smothered a laugh when LaShaun’s eyes narrowed to
slits.

“
Funny. What have you heard
about Patsy Boutin? She’s younger than us, right?” LaShaun asked as
she licked icing from her fingers, then grabbed a napkin and wiped
her hands.

“
Yeah, about twenty-four.
Patsy was in school with one of my cousins on mama’s side. She
married her high school sweetheart. Vic ignored all the talk, and
his mama’s advice, and marched down the aisle with her
anyway.”

“
What talk?” LaShaun
said.

“
Patsy’s hobby is
collecting male admirers. Rumor has it her current back door man is
a handsome fella who moved here three years ago; a very
married
handsome fella.”
Savannah carefully selected a second donut and sat back in her
chair. “Not that I’m one to spread gossip, you
understand.”

“
Oh, of course not; you’re
simply sharing insights into human nature,” LaShaun tossed back
with a chuckle.

“
Very important in my
profession,” Savannah said and grinned back at her. “I’m guessing
you already know he finally got fed up and walked out on
her.”

“
All a big misunderstanding
according to Miss Clo,” LaShaun said and frowned. “And she’s not
some gullible little old lady either.”

“
So somebody is saying
she’s sneaking around because somebody put a spell on her?”
Savannah let out a sharp laugh. “Yeah, some hunky man with a nice
package in his tight jeans.”

“
If your daddy and aunt
could hear such earthy talk,” LaShaun shot back. Then she tapped
her fingers on the table top. “I’m totally sympathetic to a woman
who’s the subject of lurid gossip about her romantic
life.”

“
I remember the big scandal
when a local high school coach got caught with Patsy parked on a
secluded country road in the back of his SUV. They weren’t
discussing sports. Lucky for him, she’d turned eighteen the week
before. Instead of a jail sentence all he got was suspended from
his job for the school year, and a cast iron skillet aimed at his
head when he got home. He survived, and so did his marriage, but
just barely in both cases. He walked around with stitches on his
scalp like he was wearing a big letter ‘A’ for
adulterer.”

“
You just made my life
simple again. I’m eternally grateful. I can go back to my quiet
bayou country existence,” LaShaun said as she got up to refresh her
mug of coffee.

“
Glad I could help. But
like you said, Miss Clo is pretty sharp. If she’s sensing something
is up, keep your eyes and your mind open,” Savannah
replied.

“
I will. Your new secretary
seems very efficient.” LaShaun sat down again.

“
A little wide-eyed and
innocent, but we’ll put an end to that with a few sordid small town
scandals,” Savannah quipped. “She just moved here from Indiana with
her husband. He’s an instructor at the University of Lafayette. She
needed extra money, and my paralegal left for bigger
things.”

“
Sounds good.” LaShaun was
about to go on when Ginger knocked on the door and came
in.

“
Sorry to interrupt, but
there’s a call from the sheriff’s station. Detective Broussard is
on line two.” Ginger’s eyes were wide, proving Savannah’s
description as accurate.

“
Thanks, Ginger.” After
Ginger left Savannah glanced at LaShaun. “Your sweetie tracked you
down, girl. Must be checking in to see if he needs to pick up milk
or something before he comes home.”

“
Number one, no man keeps
tabs on me. Number two, if he did I’d make him regret it and number
three, we’re not playing house,” LaShaun shot back.

“
Whatever,” Savannah
replied with an impish grin. She went to the phone and picked up
the cordless handset. “Hello officer. You’re right on time. Oh, you
really need to talk to me. Never mind, what’s up?” She listened for
a few minutes before she grabbed a legal pad and wrote notes.
“Right, I can be there in a few minutes. I don’t have any
appointments until after lunch. Got it. And don’t answer anymore
questions.” She hung up, stood and grabbed her leather satchel that
functioned as a brief case and purse.

“
Is Chase okay?” LaShaun’s
heart started to hammer in her chest. “Why would he need a
lawyer?”

Savannah checked to make sure her
supplies were in the satchel. “Those instructions weren’t for
Chase. He put his suspect on the phone.”

“
Enjoy the more human side
of the legal profession,” LaShaun joked as she walked out with her.
“I’m going back to simple stuff, like picking up some fresh
vegetables from the Farmers Market.”

“
Don’t get too comfy. I
have a feeling you’re going to get a call from Miss Clo before
Thursday. Vic just got arrested for trying to kill Patsy, but he’s
claiming it was self-defense.”

It was LaShaun’s turn to stare at
Savannah with wide eyes. “Oh hell.”

“
And her daddy is at the
station demanding a few minutes alone with Vic to beat some answers
out of him. Patsy has gone missing.” Savannah pushed through the
front door. “Just watch the evening news tonight. I’m sure you’ll
hear more.”

“
Oh double hell.” LaShaun
planted her fists on her hips as she watched Savannah get in her
car and drive off.

Chapter 3

Two days later the weather was just as
lovely as the day before; a perfect Friday to cheer up all working
people. Noon day sunshine painted the landscape and made colors
look brighter against the clear blue sky. LaShaun looked forward to
the weekend. Chase had three straight days off after working long
hours all week. They planned to shut out the ugliness of the past
five days. But instead of thinking TGIF, LaShaun was entertaining
potential trouble in the form of two country ladies. Miss Clo had
shown up after calling early in the morning again. This time she’d
managed to drag Joyelle along. LaShaun went back into the front
parlor where her grandmother had entertained for three and half
decades. When she walked in balancing the painted wood tray the two
women stopped their intense whispered conversation.

“
Here we are, ladies, tea
with a touch of mint.” LaShaun smiled at Joyelle to put her at
ease. The taut smile in return said she needed a lot more
convincing.

“
Thank you, baby.” Miss Clo
picked up the tall glass and drank. “Hmm, delicious and just sweet
enough.” She nudged Joyelle.

Seeing her friend had no ill effects,
Joyelle cautiously raised the glass to her mouth and sipped. “Yes,
it’s very good.”

“
Thank you. Now what can I
do for you ladies today?”

Miss Clo and Joyelle exchanged a
glance. Miss Clo cleared her throat, sipped some tea and put down
the glass. “You remember I came to you a few days ago about strange
happenings, and Joyelle seeing some of her clients.”

“
Yes.” LaShaun raised an
eyebrow.

“
I don’t care what nobody
says, Vic didn’t hurt Patsy,” Joyelle blurted out. Then she pressed
her lips together as if working to keep more words from
escaping.

“
Okay.” LaShaun sat back in
chair startled, and unable to think of any other response. She
looked to Miss Clo for some coherent explanation.

“
That body wasn’t even
Patsy, and they still don’t know who she is. Was,” Miss Clo added
with a wince. “May the Lord give the poor soul sweet
rest.”

“
Amen,” Joyelle said
softly.

“
Yes, I saw the news
reports.” LaShaun nodded.

According to KATC, the Lafayette
television station they picked up in Vermillion Parish, no one had
come forward to identify a dead woman. Found in a swamp, she didn’t
fit any of the missing persons reported in either Vermillion or
Lafayette Parishes. Chase had told her there really was nothing
else that the department was withholding.

“
It means Vic didn’t kill
Patsy,” Joyelle said, this time with less force. She seemed to have
relaxed a little.

“
Well, it means no one
knows where she is. She could still be alive,” LaShaun said
carefully.

“
Plus thatTommyDaigle is
missing. Did they run off together, LaShaun?” Miss Clo leaned
forward as though LaShaun would go into a trance and solve the
mystery.

“
Seems likely, huh?”
Joyelle stared at LaShaun as well.

LaShaun smiled. “There is nothing
supernatural about two cheating people high-tailing it out of town
together; which brings me back to Patsy going out at
night.”

“
And having amnesia, don’t
forget that part,” Joyelle cut in. “I knew Patsy’s reputation, so I
was gonna tell Vic to get some sense. But then I talked to her,
looked into her eyes. Something ain’t right with the
girl.”

“
I believe most folks would
agree. Let’s just say Patsy has a problem with faithfulness,”
LaShaun replied.

“
I wouldn’t argue with one
thing you’re saying,” Joyelle said with a firm nod. “I told Vic
instead of me he needed to see one of them marriage
counselors.”

“
Or a lawyer about a
divorce. Reverend Fletcher should be preaching to those two instead
of going after good people. Vic ain’t no angel by a long shot,”
Miss Clo said and gave a grunt to punctuate her opinion.

“
Really?” LaShaun became
even more convinced no psychic abilities were needed figure this
one out.

“
The ones we really feel
sorry for are their two little girls. Poor babies are caught up in
Sodom and Gomorrah,” Miss Clo replied. “Lord only knows what they
seen and heard in that house.”

“
Bless their sweet little
hearts,” Joyelle added.

“
This all sounds very
interesting, but I don’t know why you’re here talking to me.”
LaShaun shrugged.

This time both women cleared their
throats. Miss Clo nudged her friend with an elbow. Joyelle blinked
back at her and remained silent. Then she studied some far off
point visible through the window facing the sofa where she sat.
Miss Clo heaved an annoyed sigh.

“
Joyelle ain’t only talkin’
about Patsy. I told you about the little boy. There were two others
who had the same problem. They all was disappearing at night, and
would come home looking like they’d been running in the woods all
night.” Miss Clo nudged her friend again, this time
harder.

Joyelle twisted her hands together. “I
just thought at first it was some kind of strange sickness I never
seen before. But after a while I thought... maybe somebody put
something on these folks.”

“
You mean voodoo,” LaShaun
said out loud what they kept hinting around. Both women flinched,
and then nodded in unison.