by Terry Keys
“I just loaded my daughter on a plane back to Houston. I was actually headed back to the scene to look for clues. My next move was to come in and file my report.”
“No. I don’t know how you boys do things in Houston, but that’s not how it works here. Not on my watch. Come file your report immediately.”
I was stomping in their territory, but how about having a little professional courtesy? I wasn’t some masked vigilante running around in a bat suit.
I headed toward the NOLA police station to meet with their chief of police and give them a statement regarding what happened. Then I would head back to Stacy’s grandmother’s house and see what I could find. There’d probably already been a handful of cops in and out of the house. I just hoped they didn’t take anything valuable or trample any of the evidence before I arrived.
I pulled into the parking lot and hurried in. I knew this had to be done, but I had more pressing things to attend to. I wasn’t happy about being wrangled into doing it now.
“I’m here to see the chief. Detective David Porter HPD,” I said, flashing my badge at the officer at the desk.”
“Give me a few minutes, detective, and I’ll run him down.”
I leaned over the desk. “Thank you. I’m kind of in a rush, ma’am, if you don’t mind.”
“A few minutes? I don’t have a few minutes,” I said to myself as I took a seat. This department, at least on the surface, was a complete one-eighty from the hustle and bustle of Houston. I thumbed through a few things on my phone and waited. Finally after five and a half minutes the chief showed up.
He was taller than I’d expected probably six one or so and well built. His arms and chest bulged against his shirt. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and way too clean cut to be from here.
He stuck out his hand to greet me. “Detective Porter, the legend.”
He had a firm grip. “Chief Davidson, nice to meet you. I’m afraid you’ve got me confused with someone else. I’m no legend, just a cop trying to do the best he can.”
“Humble, too; I like that. Let’s cut right to the chase, Porter. You discharged your weapon today. I have a board assembled to hear your side of what happened. And I’ll need you to sign a statement, too.”
A board? What happened to just writing my statement and getting the hell out of here?
“Okay. I’m here to play along. Hoping to get through this quickly so I can get back to hunting down this maniac and her twisted sister.”
“Come with me. They’re waiting for you in the conference room. You’ve traveled quite a ways, detective.”
“Yes, I have. And I’m not done yet. I won’t stop until I find her.”
We made our way down a long hall, passing at least ten offices on our way to the conference room. When we walked in, five ranking officers were seated behind a massive, rectangular table. It almost felt like a goddamn interview or a promotion panel.
“This is Detective Porter,” Chief Davidson said. “He is going to provide a statement regarding today’s events. I’ll turn it over to him.”
“I’m not certain where you’d like me to start,” I said as I took a seat.
“Why don’t you start from the time you entered the house, detective?” Chief Davidson said.
I looked across the table. No friendly faces, to say the least.
“Okay. I can do that. I have a longtime friend on your force that put me in contact with Randy Landry. Randy helped me navigate the swamps. I left him behind after the house came into view. As I approached the house, I deduced from the plate numbers that both Stacy Demornay and Brittany Foy were somewhere in the house. The plates were registered in Texas.”
“Is that when you pulled your weapon?” one of the officers asked.
What the hell was this? I thought. I ignored the question and kept going.
“I had spoken to the grandmother a few days earlier regarding the sisters. She told me she hadn’t spoken to them in years, but it felt practiced and seemed a little stretched. Rehearsed would be a better word.”
“Detective, you didn’t answer the question,” the officer said.
“Am I on trial here? I thought I was here to give a statement. I’m trying to do that. It’ll go a lot faster if I can just tell you what happened. I didn’t know this was a Q and A session.”
“Detective, my team is just trying to get a feel for the events that led up to your weapon being discharged,” the chief said.
“I understand, sir. Allow me to offer your team a little background information that they are clearly unaware of. Stacy Demornay is a bonafide killer. She’s the real deal. She killed three children back in Houston just to get my attention. She kidnapped my wife and held her captive for a year. She also kidnapped a detective from my station. She has killed several men over the last few days, and her sister as done the same. I’m not hunting a goddamn soccer mom here. So, yes, as soon as I had reason to believe I’d located the killer I was hunting—who, mind you, also had my daughter—I drew my weapon.”
“Listen, Detective Porter. I apologize if my question seemed accusatory or inflammatory. We’re all on the same team here,” the officer added.
“Apology accepted. Anytime I’m approaching an area where a known killer and fugitive may be hiding, I draw my weapon. That’s pretty much Police 101. As I was saying, when I passed the vehicles, I drew my weapon and went around the house to make sure no one was trying to escape on foot. I went onto the porch and tried the door to see if it was unlocked.”
“Detective, if you believed multiple perps were in this house, why didn’t you call for backup?” another officer said.
“I didn’t know how long I’d have to wait for officers to arrive, given the remote location. I also knew a child was potentially in immediate harm’s way.”
“Your child?”
“Yes, my child. But it wouldn’t have mattered who’s child it was. I jimmied the door and started clearing rooms to see if I could find anyone.”
“So, do you feel you had probable cause to enter the house without a warrant, detective?”
I was about finished playing games with these armchair quarterbacks. I had real work to do out there, and Stacy and her sister were putting miles and miles between us.
“Yes.”
“Care to elaborate?”
“No.”
The room fell silent and stayed that way for several moments. Finally, the chief cut in.
“Detective Porter, please continue.”
“Gladly. As I cleared the house, I heard music coming from one of the rooms. I couldn’t pinpoint which room it was at first, but as I got closer, I realized it was coming from the basement. I ran down the hallway and kicked the door opened, but the music was so loud that no one noticed. I started down the stairs, and Stacy noticed me first. She ran for a side exit and Brittany quickly followed. Their grandmother’s eyes were closed, so she never saw me. I noticed a child lying on the ground surrounded by candles, and I suspected some sort of voodoo ritual was being performed. The girl on the floor was covered in blood and a mutilated goat lay only a few feet away from her. As I neared, the grandmother spotted me and turned like she was moving for a weapon. I fired a warning shot at the ground near her. I yelled for her to lay on the floor and she complied. We done here?”
“Almost, sir. Why didn’t you give chase to the other assailants?”
“Like I said, there was a child involved—a bloody one—and I wanted to attend to her medical needs. I felt like that needed my immediate attention, rather than chasing two killers through unfamiliar swampland on foot. I also had another perp in handcuffs, and I didn’t want to leave her behind with the child.”
“Detective, this gives me and my team everything we need. Personally, I believe everything you did here today was justified. I probably would have done things the same way. As a husband and father, I am sorry for everything your family has undergone. I can’t begin to imagine. I don’t believe we have any more questions,” Chief Davidson said.
I got up
and shook his hand then headed for my truck. By the time I got to the front door, the chief had caught up with me.
“Detective, for what it’s worth, I don’t believe my officers were trying to corner or entrap you. I’ve been working with these men and women for nearly a decade. We aren’t used to the fast pace you HPD guys move at. If you hadn’t noticed, things move a whole lot slower here. We’ve had our troubles here in NOLA in the past, but the murder rates are way down; so are the aggravated crimes. So the way one of my officers would go into a situation is probably a lot different than what you’d do in Houston.”
“Got it,” I said.
“Good luck finding her.”
“Luck is about right. She’s good—really good. I’ll take any luck you or anyone else can throw my way.”
Chapter 32
As I walked back to my truck, I noticed I didn’t have my cell phone. I must have left it back in the conference room. Just as I turned to head back in, the chief came through the door, my cell phone in hand.
“I believe this must be yours. You just missed a call, too.”
I checked my phone and returned the call as I climbed back into my truck.
“Sorry I missed your call, De Luca. You here in NOLA?”
“Hey, David. Yes, we just got off the plane. Where are you?”
“Leaving the police station. Had to give my statement. I’m about to go back to Stacy’s grandmother’s.”
“Have they brought her in yet? Why don’t you see if she’s going to talk before you leave? Paul and I can start poking around at the house.”
“That’s a good idea. Doubt I’ll get anything out of her, but it’s worth a shot.”
“Call me when you leave,” De Luca said.
This was going to be fun. They weren’t exactly welcoming me with open arms here. I went back to the officer I had spoken with upon my arrival.
I sensed a bit of an attitude.
“Let me guess; you need to see the chief again.”
“If I could, please.”
I leaned on the counter, hoping my wait wouldn’t be too long. Just then, the chief walked around the corner.
“Detective Porter, is there something else I can do for you?” Chief Davidson said.
“Yes, I hope so. I need to ask—”
“You want to question the grandmother?”
“Yes.”
“She’s currently in a holding cell. I’ll get her to a room for questioning. Come with me.”
That went a lot smoother than I thought it would. I was nervous about leading the interrogation, because the case did involve my daughter. I needed to keep my cool here which, given the circumstances, wouldn’t be easy.
I got settled in the interrogation room and waited. As I contemplated which approach I was going to use, she walked in.
I gestured toward the seat in front of her. “Have a seat. I’m Detective David Porter. I’m willing to bet you’ve known who I am for quite some time now. Please state your name for the record.”
“You know who I am already, detective.”
“Fine. Don’t state your name. When I found Karen Porter, you and two other accomplices were performing some sort of ritual on her. What were you attempting to accomplish?”
“We were making her better.”
“Better? How?”
“You wouldn’t understand, Mr. Porter. To people like you, we are witch doctors. I won’t waste your time or mine trying to explain.”
“Try me,” I said as calmly as I could. She said nothing, but her eyes bored into me. I was growing more impatient by the moment; this wasn’t getting me very far.
“Not talking. Okay. Along with kidnapping, endangerment of a child is also on the list of crimes committed by you today,” I said.
“I don’t care about you or your laws.”
I decided to play on her heartstrings, if she had any, to see if I could wrangle any information out of her. I doubted it would work, but what the hell.
“Do you know where your granddaughters are headed? I’m going to catch them. I’d prefer to bring them in alive. I know you care about them, so why don’t you help me out here?”
“Do I look stupid to you, cop?”
“No, ma’am, quite the opposite. That’s why I’m asking you to help me. We both know I’m going to catch the girls eventually. We also both know they aren’t going to go quietly.”
“I don’t have anything else to say to you, David Porter. You are a monster pretending to be a do-gooder. I know what you did to my Lisa.”
“Contrary to what you believe, my only crime was youthful ignorance.”
She didn’t reply. I knew this conversation was going nowhere—at least nowhere good.
“Thank you for your time,” I said.
That went exactly how I’d believed it would. Time to catch up with De Luca and Lafitte to see what they had uncovered.
Chapter 33
I was able to navigate back to the crime scene without the help of my guide. It would be dark soon, and I was glad to arrive before it was a pitch-black abyss out there. It was a good thing Lafitte was there, too. No way I could have made it out of these bayous in one piece after dark.
I parked and headed for the house.
“David! You finally made it,” De Luca said as I walked through the front door. “How’d the interrogation go?”
“About as good as you’d expect. Got nothing I can use. She didn’t say much, but I really hadn’t expected her to. You guys find anything here yet?”
“We have IT going through the computer we found, but so far nothing. Lots of books on voodoo and witchcraft. A couple books on secret societies, too.”
I walked over and gave my old friend Paul a hug.
“What was that for?” Paul said.
“I love you, Paul. And I appreciate all of your help on this.”
“We’re brothers, man—for life.”
“I know we are. I want to talk to you about joining my new unit in Houston when this is over. I want somebody I can trust. Gonna be a huge undertaking, brother. Be like old times in a lot of ways.”
“I will definitely give it some thought. Honored you’d ask me, old friend. We need to brief you on the Carl Blake crime scene after we leave. Nothing earth-shattering, but we did find a few things that could help us.”
“Sounds good. I still want to know why they went after the Blakes. Anyone been down to the basement yet? I’m willing to bet if there’s anything noteworthy here that’s where it will be.”
“No, we haven’t been down there,” Paul said.
There was only one other NOLA detective on the scene, along with the guy from IT.
“We are going to take a trip down to the basement,” I called out to the detective.
“I’m about done here,” he called back to me.
“Me too, I can finish checking out this computer from the station,” the IT guy said.
“Ok if you guys come up with anything let me know. Thanks for your help on this.”
The three of us headed down to the basement, Lafitte and his flashlight in the lead. We reached the basement door, I opened it and pulled the chain switch turning on the lights.
We made it to the bottom of the staircase and started rummaging around. This room was filled with a lot of stuff, crates, papers just crammed full.
“Look at all this shit,” De Luca said.
“Classic voodoo. I’d be willing to bet each of your family members has a goddamn doll somewhere in here, David,” Lafitte said.
“I wouldn’t doubt it. I’m looking for anything we can find on their little group—a list of members, leadership structure, something I can track these girls down with.”
There were crates stacked everywhere. Some contained candles, drums, and other musical instruments. Others were full of paper. It’d take us hours to sift through them all, but it had to be done. We were here, and I didn’t want to leave any stones unturned.
I sat down on one crate and pulled anothe
r in front of me. “Looks like we’re going to be here for a while. There’s got to be something useful in all of this shit.”
“I don’t know, David. Would you leave important files here to be found?” De Luca said.
“Good point, but they’ve been operating here for over a decade, and we just found it. You get complacent. They probably didn’t think we’d ever find this place or tie the grandmother to any of it. If we don’t find anything, we don’t find anything I don’t want to leave here wondering, though.”
We all dug in our heels for the long haul. An hour in, none of us had come up with anything worth a shit.
“I gotta get up and stretch these old legs of mine,” I said.
“Still think we’re going to find something here, David?” Lafitte said.
I heard Lafitte talking, but I’d zeroed in on a vault tucked away in a corner.
“Hey, look over there. What do you guys think is in that thing?” I said.
“Your voodoo dolls?” De Luca said.
“Very funny. Why would you need a vault for voodoo dolls?” I said.
“Guns maybe?” Lafitte said.
Lafitte and I walked over to the vault and tried to lift it. No such luck. Together, we pushed it to the middle of the room.
“Jesus Christ! What the hell is in this thing?” Lafitte said.
“Old vaults were built a lot studier than the new ones. Made out of some heavy-ass metal, that’s for sure. One of you want to give me the key for this?” I said.
De Luca pulled her gun, took aim, and fired two rounds. Voilà!
“There you go, boys,” she said.
Chapter 34
Stacy and Brittany were headed back into Gulfport. They’d spent the afternoon hiding out in their car in the woods.
“Stacy, let’s go there,” Brittany said, pointing to a Dillard’s outside a mall.
“Sure. I bet they have some sexy clothes in there. Before we go in, I need to find a Starbucks. They have free Wi-Fi. We need to find our dates for tonight before we get ahead of ourselves.”
“Good thinking. Did you hear back about torching Grammy’s place?”