She picked up an old T-shirt and tossed it lightly onto his face, saying his name as she did so.
“Antoine.”
Then she sat back and crossed one leg over the other.
He sat up snorting and protesting. “What?” he said. “What?”
When he saw it was her, he cringed back onto his pillows.
“Don’t hurt me.”
“I have no intention of hurting you, you little weasel.”
No, that wasn’t the way. Eulalie took a deep breath and tried again.
“All I want is information, Antoine. It’s as simple as that. No threats, no intimidation. You tell me what I want to know, and I’ll be out of here in a flash. You can go straight back to sleep.”
“I can never fall asleep after I’ve been woken,” he grumbled. He yawned and stretched. Then reached for his bedside drawer.
“Oh, I took the precaution of removing your gun. I’m not carrying one myself, so I figured that would even the odds.”
“Damn it! That’s an expensive piece of hardware.”
“You’ll get it back later. This is a civilized chat, Antoine. The sooner you answer my questions, the sooner I’ll be out of your hair.”
“You’re really not armed?”
“Only with my natural wit and charm.”
The next second something small, dense and heavy was flying at her head. Eulalie had started to lean out of the way before the strange object even left his hand.
She watched with curiosity as it flew past the place where her head had just been and smashed into the wall behind her.
“Oh, it’s a ball-bearing. Where did you get such a big one? It must be the size of a golf ball. It made a dent in your wall.” She looked down and added, “In your floor too.”
“Bitch.”
“We can sit here trading insults and heavy objects all day if necessary. You can’t lay a hand on me, and you know it. And for once I don’t feel like laying a hand on you. Information, Antoine. That’s all I want.”
He sank back against the pillows, looking sulky.
“Information about what?”
“A while ago, Jimmy the Knife referred a man to you. His name was Sawyer Blakely and he was from New York. He was looking for someone to guide him into the deep forest for a business venture he was planning there. Did he approach you?”
“What’s that? A guy from New York? I think I’d remember that. No, he didn’t approach me.”
“See, now I think you’re lying. I can always tell, Antoine. You have a number of tells. No, I’m not going to tell you what they are, but I know you’re lying to me. Sawyer Blakely came to see you, and he was flashing the kind of money that is very hard to say no to. We both know he ended up dead somewhere near the village. I’m not saying you killed him. No one is saying that. I just want to know if you were the person who guided him into the forest.”
“No.” He looked at her directly. “No, I was not.”
She met his eyes.
“Okay. I believe you. But I don’t understand why.”
Chapter 15
Silence fell as Eulalie waited for an answer.
She gave Antoine a hard look. What lie was he cooking up now? Except, that wasn’t his lying face. He looked almost embarrassed.
“What is it?” she asked. “Didn’t he approach you? Or, wait. He approached you, but you realized you’re not as young as you were and didn’t feel up to guiding someone through the forest.”
That was enough.
“Of course, he approached me,” Antoine snapped. “Who else would he approach? Everyone knows that if you need a guide into the forest, I’m your man.”
“So, you did take him.”
“No, I did not. Weren’t you listening? He came to me and we organized everything. We were going to leave two days later. He paid a deposit and I used it to buy provisions. You know what it’s like when you take outsiders into the forest – they need to eat every five minutes.”
Eulalie nodded. She knew what it was like.
“I went to collect him at his hotel at the appointed time, and he wasn’t there.”
“Which hotel?”
“That one on the corner of Beach and Palm. The Four Seasons.”
“Yes, that’s where he was staying. How can he not have been there?”
“Who knows? The staff told me he had left the night before all kitted out for a long hike.”
“Did he leave alone or with someone else?”
“He was with someone. The only person who saw him leave was a bellhop. Officially, they’re not supposed to tell you anything about their guests, but I bribed the guy. It was a waste of money. All he could tell me was that Blakely left with a man. He claimed he didn’t see the guy’s face.”
“So, you got stood up.”
Antoine stirred in the bed, scratching his chest with grimy fingers.
“I don’t know what happened. Some smooth-talker must have got to him after he spoke to me. Probably got wind of how much money was being offered for the job. He must have persuaded him that he could do a better job of guiding than I could. As if.”
“What did Blakely tell you about why he was on Prince William Island and why he wanted to go into the forest?”
“Same thing he told Jimmy.” Antoine shrugged. “He represented a big-bucks American company that wanted to build a theme-park in the forest. He needed to survey the area, make contact with the villagers, blah-blah. I didn’t care about his reasons. I just cared about the money.”
“How and when was he going to pay you?”
“It was going to be cash all the way. First there was the deposit of five thousand dollars, and then…”
“Wait. Five thousand dollars? For some trail mix and bottled water?”
“I’m telling you, the guy was insane. He was flashing money around like it was going out of style. He was due to give me another fifteen thousand when I picked him up that morning.”
“You weren’t going to hike through the forest carrying fifteen thousand dollars in cash?”
“No, I was going to put it in my safe deposit box at the bank. I’m not an idiot, whatever you might think. The last five thousand was to be handed over when I dropped him safely back at his hotel in Queen’s Town.”
Eulalie shook her head. “Twenty-five thousand dollars for a few days in the forest. That’s crazy money. No wonder Jimmy was sorry to hand the job over to you.”
“And I was sorry to have it stolen out from under me by some pirate.”
Eulalie thought for a minute, trying to make connections in her mind.
“Speaking of pirates,” she said. “Have you heard anything about Lucien being back in town?”
“Lucien who?” Antoine asked irritably. “Half this damn island is called Lucien.”
“Lucien Park. My father.”
Antoine stared at her.
“Your father? He’s been gone for years. It must be what – nearly thirty years by now?”
“Twenty-eight.”
“What makes you think he’s back?”
“Just something I heard.”
“Well, if he’s the bastard who cost me the Blakely job, I’ll kill him, I swear.”
Eulalie gave him an amused look.
“Do you think you could?”
“No,” he admitted. “Not easily. Not unless he’s changed a lot.”
“Where did he go when he left all those years ago?” She dropped the question in casually, as though the answer didn’t matter much.
“How the hell would I know? America probably. That’s where he used to talk about going when we were kids. I doubt he’s back, whatever you might have heard. He probably got himself killed by now. He was an arrogant son of a bitch. A lot of people didn’t like that about him.”
Eulalie stood up.
“I’m sure he has fond memories of you too, Antoine. Thanks for the information. You can go back to sleep now.”
She slipped out the door as silently as she had come. She wa
s halfway to the stairwell when she heard him yelling.
“Where’s my gun, bitch?”
Eulalie had just turned out of Finger Alley and into Lafayette Boulevard when her phone buzzed with a text from Chief Macgregor.
Chief Macgregor: We have another body.
Dead bodies were urgent, obviously, but so was lunch. It had been a long time since that baguette in Angel’s kitchen, and Eulalie was hungry. She stopped off at a food truck on her way to the police station and picked up a pita bread stuffed with falafel and yoghurt dressing. She was thirsty, so she got a fruit smoothie as well. Both were half finished by the time she got to the police station.
“Hey, Eulalie,” Manny greeted her. “Late lunch?”
“If you knew the kind of morning I’d had, you’d understand why I’m eating late. Besides, I like to get lunch out of the way before I meet any new corpses. Is it male or female?”
“It’s an adult male. He’s wearing western clothes, so they don’t think he’s a villager. But it was a couple of villagers that brought him in this morning. They found him in the forest.”
Eulalie’s heart sank. “Don’t tell me he was murdered too?”
“I have no idea what happened to him. He was covered in mud from head to toe.”
Her heart sank even further. “Is he here or at the morgue?”
“He’s here in our cold room. They haven’t had a chance to transfer him yet. You can go on back. I just hope you’ve got your garlic and wooden cross handy.”
“Am I likely to meet a vampire back there?”
“Worse.” He leaned forward and whispered. “She’s here.”
“She who?”
“You know. What’s her name. The wicked witch of the west. Dr. Autry.”
“Oh, her. Yes, I’d expect her to be here. She is the medical examiner, after all.”
Manny wagged a fatherly finger at her. “You’d better watch out. She’s after your Chief Macgregor.”
“He’s not my Chief Macgregor.”
“You keep saying that, and if Dr. Autry has her way it’s going to be true. She reckons they’re a good match because he’s just as much of an ice-block as she is. But that’s the thing. He isn’t really. Chief Macgregor has a heart – a big squishy one. And you’re just the person to bring out that side of him.”
“I appreciate the vote of confidence, Manny, but I’m not about to go to war over a man. That’s not how I roll.”
Manny sighed. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“I won’t.” She walked through to the back of the police station to the cold room where bodies were kept before they could be transferred to the morgue.
For a moment, she thought she was in the wrong place because she heard laughter coming from behind the door, which was slightly ajar.
Chief Macgregor did not laugh. On very rare occasions, he smiled. Stephanie Autry did not laugh either. Not that Eulalie had ever heard. She had also never known her to smile.
There must be someone else in there with them.
She knocked on the door and went in. There were only two people in the small room – Chief Macgregor and Dr. Stephanie Autry. When they looked up at her, she could see that Chief Macgregor’s face was the same as usual, but Dr. Autry had her head thrown back in mid-laugh. It was a disconcerting sight.
“Thank you for coming so quickly.” Chief Macgregor stepped forward and clasped her hand. I told Dr. Autry you were the person to help us shed light on this.”
“Stephanie Autry.” The woman stepped forward, holding out her hand. “I’m the medical exami…”
“We’ve met.” Eulalie didn’t have the patience for mind games today. She wanted to know who exactly was lying on the table between them.
“Who brought him in?”
“Two young men from the village,” said Chief Macgregor. “The one said he was a cousin of yours, and the other told me his name, but I didn’t quite catch it. It sounded like ‘Rail’.”
“Louis-Martin and Rael,” she said. “It must have been them. Did they say where they found him?”
“They said to tell you that they found him in the dried-up riverbed. Some of the men from the village were filling up the trench that had been dug in the mud. They uncovered his body and realized at once that he was an outsider. So, Rael and your cousin brought him here to hand him over to us. They arrived close to midday.”
Eulalie made herself look at the body on the table. He wasn’t a pleasant sight. He lay flat on his back with his legs splayed and his arms outstretched. There was a look of wide-eyed, openmouthed horror on his face as though he were howling in pain. It was difficult to tell much about his appearance because he was so saturated in mud.
He seemed to have been a white man, and to have had short hair. He was wearing jeans and a button-down shirt. His boots were sturdy and appropriate for someone who was doing hard physical labor.
“It’s hard to say for sure,” said Eulalie. “But I don’t think I’ve seen him before.”
“Me neither,” said Chief Macgregor. “If he was a local, he wasn’t someone I recognized.”
Dr. Autry circled the examination table, looking at the body from all angles.
“We need to arrange to have the body transported to my office. I will conduct the autopsy there. There’s not much I can say on preliminary examination like this.”
“Any comments would be helpful, Doctor,” said Chief Macgregor.
“In that case, I think we can safely say that his death was of recent date. There is no sign of putrefaction whatsoever. Not even a hint. He could have been killed as recently as this morning - especially when one takes into consideration the heat and humidity in the deep forest.”
“We must remember though, that it takes twelve hours on foot to reach Queen’s Town from the village,” Chief Macgregor pointed out. “This man was found yesterday afternoon.”
“Yes.” Dr. Autry frowned. “That is strange.”
“I think I know the answer,” said Eulalie.
Dr. Autry shot her an irritated look.
“What is it, Ms. Park?”
“The mud in the old riverbed has preservative qualities, as I told you the other day, Chief. It is like the peat bogs of Ireland in that respect. Anything that lands in there doesn’t rot but becomes mummified over time. This man could have died two days ago or two months ago. It’s impossible to tell just by looking at him.”
Dr. Autry looked skeptical. “I’ll run some tests on this mud to see whether you are correct.”
With gloved hands she turned the body on its side and examined the back and head carefully.
“Cause of death is something I can’t determine at the moment. The look on this man’s face suggests that he was aware he was about to die. He seems to have been facing his assailant at the time of his death. It is possible that it was someone known to him. I will look for ligature marks around the neck as well as signs of trauma to the head. It will soon become clear what method and instrument the murderer used.”
Eulalie closed her eyes briefly. She didn’t want to have to contradict the medical examiner a second time, but she had to. This was why Chief Macgregor had called her in – for her special knowledge of the people and the location.
She cleared her throat, which earned her another exasperated look.
“What is it now, Ms. Park? What possible insight can you bring to bear on the question of this man’s death? Are you disputing the likelihood that I may find signs of head or neck trauma on him? These are questions that can only be definitively answered at autopsy.”
Chief Macgregor’s eyes flicked from one woman to the other. He could sense the tension in the room but had no idea what was causing it. He watched their faces for a clue.
“Let’s have it then, Ms. Park,” said Dr. Autry. “Was it Professor Plum in the library with a candlestick? Or does your crystal ball not give such precise information?”
“The thing to remember is that this man might not have been murdered at all.
His death could have been quite natural.”
“Only if he had a fit and fell down face-first into the mud. Or perhaps he was drunk and not looking where he was going. But that expression of horror on his face tells its own tale. I believe we will find signs of foul play.”
Eulalie turned to Chief Macgregor. “The riverbed has several patches of soft, wet quicksand. Most of it is quite solid to walk on. You would sink up to your ankles and no more. But there are also treacherous patches of quicksand that will swallow a man whole. This man might have fallen prey to one of them.”
“Why would anyone deliberately walk into a patch of quicksand?”
“Because they’re invisible. They look exactly like the rest of the mud. There’s no way of knowing they’re there.”
“And what about the look of horror on his face?” asked Dr. Autry. “How do you account for that?”
“The quicksand doesn’t swallow you right away. You sink slowly into the ground. The more you struggle, the more the mud sucks at you. You have plenty of time to think about the fact that it is going to close over your head and that there is nothing you can do about it. When the mud gets a grip on you, it doesn’t let go. You can scream and shout and beg for help but if no one is around, there will be no answer, and no help coming. In my opinion, that more than accounts for the look on his face.”
“You’re saying this was an accident?”
“No. He might have been murdered, and it’s possible that you will find signs of that on autopsy. I’m just saying there is also a possibility that he died by misadventure. The riverbed is regarded as one of the most dangerous places in the forest. As an outsider, this man might not have known that.”
Chief Macgregor nodded. “We’ll know more after the autopsy. I’ll arrange to have the body moved to the medical examiner’s office now, Dr. Autry, if that’s convenient.”
The Complete H-Series of The Eulalie Park Mysteries Page 88