by Lynn Emery
“How fascinating,” Adrianna said.
“Of course! So you’re the LaShaun Rousselle. I love that show Ghost Team USA. Are you working on the Blood River Ripper story with James Schaffer?” Sharon’s eyes were wide with interest.
“No, she’s not. And don’t believe anything they say on that stupid show. The guy’s full of it,” Chase said hotly.
“That’s right. He’s making everyone around here look like superstitious lunatics,” Elaine said with a grim set to her mouth.
“I was in school with two of Manny Young’s sisters, but only for a year or so. They were all older than me. Elaine had classes with two of them. But she won’t talk about it.” Sharon spoke in a low voice to LaShaun and Adrianna as though they were alone.
“They were his aunts, and I’m right here listening to you, Sharon,” Elaine snapped at her younger sister.
“Did you know Verlena?” LaShaun asked quietly, hoping the excitement she felt didn’t show.
“We worked on the newspaper together in high school, and she was a nice person. I don’t blame her and her sisters for leaving. People treated them like they were killers right along with Manny,” Elaine said.
“I thought they were his sisters, they treated him like a little brother. He was a cute kid. They brought him to a couple of basketball and football games at school,” Sharon said. “I couldn’t believe he turned into a crazed serial killer.”
“With that peculiar grandfather and father he had? I’m not surprised, “Elaine muttered.
“Ooo, I forgot about that.” Sharon turned to LaShaun and Adrianna. “Some of the girls at school said Mr. Orin gave them the creeps the way he looked at them, and...”
Chase waved to his sisters and then stood up. “Here comes mama’s cake. Yum-yum.”
“Shush, Sharon,” Elaine whispered. “No more gruesome talk.”
Over dessert Elaine and Chase made sure to keep the conversation away from voodoo and murder. Sharon and Adrianna talked about wedding details with delight. Mrs. Broussard wore a strained smile as they chattered. Finally the conversation wound down. Chase’s father and brother pulled him away to talk about a possible fishing trip. Elaine went with her mother to the kitchen.
“Listen, let’s have lunch. Bruce and I got married here, so if you want any tips on the best florists and dress shop to visit I can help,” Adrianna said. Then she grinned at LaShaun. “Who am I kidding? I want to hear more about your voodoo grandmother.”
“Adrianna, I can’t believe you said that!” Sharon put a hand over her mouth.
“My grandparents are from Costa Rica, so I think Queen Elizabeth suspects I’m an illegal alien,” Adrianna murmured.
“Really?” LaShaun laughed.
“Mama can be a bit... conservative,” Sharon admitted. “But she thinks of you as a member of the family, Adrianna.”
“Well, this one is sure gonna take the heat off me,” Adrianna said with a laugh. “She’s got my Latino heritage beat with the whole voodoo priestess thing. Wow, this year’s birthday and Halloween party for Jessi is going to be the best ever.”
“LaShaun, you must think we’re awful.” Sharon giggled and looked over her shoulder.
LaShaun burst into laughter and the two women joined her. In moments they were all in tears, slapping each other on the shoulder. Each of them tried to speak, but would dissolve into giggling. By the time the others joined them again, the three had mostly recovered. Chase gave LaShaun a questioning glance and she shrugged. Chase was the first to announce they would be leaving. His father gave LaShaun a bear hug that felt totally sincere. Mrs. Broussard gave LaShaun an air kiss, her cheek close enough to make it appear they were going to be such good friends. Sharon followed them out to Chase’s truck, mischief in her hazel eyes.
“I’ll call you about lunch. We’ll have a great time.” She waved to them as they drove off.
“Well, that was a lot of fun,” Chase said. His expression looked fierce because of the way his jaw clamped tight.
“I know that announcement didn’t go the way you planned. Bless your daddy’s heart. He’s adorable.” LaShaun patted his thigh.
“I’m sorry about the way my mother came across. She’s not as... intolerant as she seems. She just grew up a certain way.” Chase’s face flushed a light red.
“Don’t be angry, honey. I’m not sure members of my family would have open arms for you either. Of course that could be because you’re a cop, too. The Rousselle clan isn’t known for being law abiding citizens.” LaShaun moved closer to him. “It will be okay.”
“Yeah.”
Chase drove in silence for a few more miles, but LaShaun talked about how she enjoyed his sisters and turned on the CD player. After another twenty minutes she felt him relax and let go of the tension from the first family gathering. LaShaun kissed away the last traces of his frown with a peck on his cheek. He smiled at her and the sunshine looked a little brighter.
Chapter 17
Early on the Tuesday morning after her Sunday fun with the Broussard brood, LaShaun set out to meet Verlena Young Joubert. The drive was uneventful. The GPS system in LaShaun’s Honda CRV took her down Interstate 10 out of Louisiana and into Texas. With only two stops, she made good time. About three hours of driving brought her into the city limits. She followed the directions to a modest two story older home on Palm Street in Beaumont. She’d done her homework with help from Miss Clo and Miss Joyelle. Chase shook his head as LaShaun told him about the details the two women had gathered. They had better information than the FBI could have dug up on short notice.
Verlena Joubert , age forty-one, worked in a medical clinic but had been laid off. Now she was a stay at home mother. She kept in touch with one former friend from high school, a young woman who happened to be the cousin to a friend of Miss Joyelle’s second daughter. Between Miss Clo and Miss Joyelle, LaShaun got Verlena’s address and phone number. Fortunately the friend convinced Verlena to meet with LaShaun, but only briefly and without any word to Verlena’s husband.
LaShaun drove slowly to the corner of Palm Street and Brandon Ave. She parked the CRV on Brandon Ave. halfway between Verlena’s home and the house next door. Verlena had been vehement that her husband not find out. So just in case Verlena’s husband came home LaShaun could ask to be shuttled out a back door. LaShaun’s sixth sense told her there had been strain on Verlena’s marriage. The almost frantic tone in the woman’s voice over the phone set off alarm bells. The last thing LaShaun wanted was to bring her grief. She had a feeling Verlena had seen her share of trouble.
LaShaun went up the wooden steps painted gray to match the porch and pushed a square button next to the front door. Sheer curtains covering a narrow window to her left parted and closed quickly. Metal clicked and the door opened a few inches.
“Hello, Mrs. Joubert. I’m--”
“I know who you are,” Verlena said cutting her off. “I seen your picture a few times in the paper back when that man got killed.”
“Right.” LaShaun could have asked which man, but decided not to dwell on anything that might scare her more. “I appreciate you talking to me, and I won’t take up much of your time.”
“Uh-huh. If I thought Guy wouldn’t call the house I would have met you somewhere. But he gets upset when I don’t answer.” Verlena stepped back and opened the door wider, her only invitation for LaShaun to enter.
“Thanks.” LaShaun entered a surprisingly cheerful looking living room. “You could take your cell phone. If you feel more comfortable leaving...”
“No, come on in,” Verlena cut her off again. She closed the door and faced LaShaun. “Have a seat.”
“Are you okay? You seem nervous about your husband.” LaShaun let the statement hang in the air.
“Guy is a good man,” Verlena said defensively, and too quickly to be quite convincing. “He’s just protective of me.”
“I understand,” LaShaun murmured and sat on the edge of a chair upholstered in a floral fabric. She looked
around the room. A forty inch flat screen television with a game system attached sat in one corner. A softball catcher’s mitt lay on the floor.
“No, you don’t, but I guess that’s why you’re here.” Verlena sat on a dark tan recliner across the room near the sofa.
“Pardon?” LaShaun stopped taking in the details of the house and looked at her sharply.
“I get the paper from home. They brought up Manny’s case again with the killings y’all just had. My husband doesn’t want our two boys to know about all that, or me to get upset. So I burned the paper. We finally have a decent life away from all that mess.” Verlena’s bottom lip trembled. She had traces of both her mother and Orin Young in her facial features. “How’s mama doing? My friend Stacey says you been to see her at Shady Grove.”
“She’s frail, but doing fine,” LaShaun said.
“Uh-huh.” Verlena rocked back and forth. Her tone conveyed that she either didn’t believe LaShaun, or didn’t care if her mother was doing fine or not. “So you drove a long way just to spend a few minutes talking to me.”
“Your daddy asked me to go visit Manny. He’s hoping...”
“To get him off death row. Yeah, I didn’t need a crystal ball to tell me that,” Verlena said with a bitter laugh.
“You think Manny should get the lethal injection?” LaShaun said, surprised at the turn their talk had taken so quickly.
Verlena looked at LaShaun with her head tilted to one side for a few minutes. “You shocked that I’m so blunt. About the only thing I’ll claim from Orin Young is being direct. Took me long enough to figure out how to stand up for myself.”
“You’re father is trying to do his best for your nephew,” LaShaun replied.
Verlena’s hands gripped both arms of the recliner, her fingers making deep pits in the fabric. “My friend says I should trust you, but I’m not so sure if you’re set on helping daddy.”
“I’m trying to find out the truth, and maybe help some families find out what happened to their missing relatives.”
Verlena’s face went pale. “Them poor folks not knowing is the worst part. Made me sick to see that one lady on television crying her eyes out.”
I didn’t promise to help Manny be released or to cover up anything.” LaShaun watched as Verlena studied her as though looking for a sign to help her judge.
“You know what it’s like to have folks look down at you,” Verlena said finally.
“Well, hmm, yes. Mostly because of...”
“I heard all about the Rousselles.” Verlena nodded. “So you know how it is to feel like a freak, like everywhere you go there’s some kind of shadow hanging over you.”
LaShaun did not have to pretend to be intrigued, and baffled at the sharp turn their conversation took. “I heard you and your sisters had friends, and you even worked on the high school paper. Your sister Diane sang in the choir and...”
“Sure, we put on a good front,” Verlena said, continuing her trend of interrupting LaShaun. “I still felt like a freak. Pretending to be something I wasn’t, nerves on edge cause you just know somehow the truth will come out.”
“Your mother mentioned there were problems at home,” LaShaun said carefully.
“Humph, is that what she called it? Problems?” Verlena’s gray blue eyes so like her father’s sparkled with anger.
“She didn’t give me any details.”
“Now I know for sure you talked to her,” Verlena said with a harsh laugh that like sandpaper had rubbed her throat raw. “Never talk, that’s what she preached to us. Don’t tell anybody. When I finally did say something my high school guidance counselor helped me get the hell out. Thank God for her, and for my husband. I went to Kaplan College here in town, got a degree in medical coding. I tried to get Diane to listen and go to school. She left with the first man that offered her a ride out of town.”
“How is she doing?” LaShaun knew the question would keep Verlena focused on the story of their lives.
“Diane doesn’t keep in touch with me and my other sister. Too much we don’t want to remember or talk about. She’s had a couple of nervous breakdowns so maybe it’s for the best.” Verlena swallowed hard.
“I’m sorry,” LaShaun said softly.
Verlena let go of the chair arms and flexed the fingers of both hands. “Anyway, you came here to get the real story. You sure you want to turn over that particular rock?”
“If it’s too hard for you to talk about I understand. Manny seems to sincerely feel bad for Miss Flora Lee. He misses you, your sister and his grandmother.”
Verlena’s expression softened for the first time. Her bottom lip trembled again, and then she seemed to shake herself back to being strong. “He’s not totally to blame what he turned into. Me and my sisters tried, but daddy had too strong a hold on him. No different from the way he had a hold on the rest of us.”
“Manny was like your baby brother,” LaShaun offered. She was guessing that Orin Young was the villain.
Verlena balled up a corner of the oversized sweater she wore over her jeans. “Manny wasn’t our like our baby brother. He is our baby brother.”
“Wait a minute. Repeat that,” LaShaun said and leaned forward.
“In the spring of 1979 daddy brought home this girl. I guess me and Diane didn’t give him enough variety.” Verlena spoke as though the words tasted sour on her tongue as they came out. She stopped talking. Her body became stiff and straight in the chair. “Daddy introduced her as my brother Ethan’s wife. They shared her until daddy decided he wanted her all to himself. By that time Ethan had fallen in love with Karla. Him and daddy got into it. Karla was hooked on drugs, and daddy kept her supplied. Naturally she chose him over Ethan. That’s when Ethan’s drinking and drugging got bad. He just took off one day in 1980. Karla moved to New Iberia, and daddy would go see about his daughter-in-law. One day a year later he showed up with the baby.”
“And you all told everybody that Manny was Ethan’s baby.” LaShaun gazed at her, feeling the vileness of what she was saying.
“We did as we was told like always,” Verlena said quietly, her voice husky with emotion.
“Your daddy sexually molested you and Diane?” LaShaun said as gently as she could.
Verlena nodded and let out a ragged breath. “After all these years it’s still hard to come out and say sometimes. I went through therapy. Diane wouldn’t. We managed to protect our baby sister. I brought her with me when I got married. She lives in Austin now, but don’t tell nobody,” Verlena said quickly. “I don’t want daddy to know where she is.”
“Oh God.” LaShaun began to see glimpses of the damage one man had done.
“Daddy thought of us as his possessions to do with as he liked. It stopped only because we escaped. Mama just pretended she didn’t see. She was just as much a prisoner in some ways I guess. But she should have done something, anything to protect her children.”
“I’m so sorry for all you’ve been through,” LaShaun said after a few minutes of silence.
“I don’t see how this makes a difference to anything.” Verlena stared at LaShaun waiting for an answer.
“I don’t know either. Manny seems to be connected. And no, law enforcement doesn’t think so,” LaShaun added quickly when Verlena started to speak.
Verlena rocked the chair back and forth. “Manny is locked up, and that’s exactly where he needs to stay. Is daddy in the house by himself?”
“What?” LaShaun blinked in surprise at another sharp turn in their conversation.
“Daddy likes having somebody to control and manipulate. We’re all gone now, so who’s he ruling over? No, I’ll bet he’s got him somebody. Lord, I hope it’s not a child.” Verlena placed a hand over her heart.
LaShaun cleared her throat. “I got the impression one of the nurses at Shady Grove had a thing for your daddy.”
“I’m sure she’s doing more than sweet talk with him. But if she’s an older lady, that’s just for show. Daddy likes ‘em young.�
� Verlena rubbed her chin. “He enjoys slapping women around, and he’s even meaner if he’s drinking. But I don’t know about killing people the way it was described in the news.”
“Did you think Manny would become a serial killer?” LaShaun asked the question in a soft tone to blunt the blow.
Verlena flinched and her eyes filled with tears. “He was a sweet baby, but as he got older he acted strange. Daddy would hit him, said it would toughen him up because life was hard. Ethan hated the sight of Manny, and let him know it. He’d knock Manny around if daddy wasn’t there to stop him. When he got to be about twelve, daddy started taking him on ‘outings’. Lord only knows what he taught that boy. By that time Diane and me was trying to have our own lives with high school activities.”
“You did your best,” LaShaun said.
Verlena looked away through the sheer curtains covering one window. Tears rolled down her face. She didn’t wipe them away. Soon her face was wet. “Maybe, maybe not. Manny might be blaming me like I blame mama.”
“I don’t think so at all. Manny expressed affection toward you and Miss Flora Lee. Where’s the bathroom?”
“Down that hall to your right,” Verlena whispered. She covered her face with both hands and sobbed.
LaShaun followed her directions and grabbed a box of tissues. She went back and handed them to Verlena. For a long time the woman continued to cry, not paying attention to the box or LaShaun standing next to her. Soon she was wailing as though all of the agony caused by Orin Young coursed through her body. LaShaun put an arm around her and let her weep. After several minutes Verlena quieted. She grabbed a handful of tissues and pressed them to her face. Then she blew her nose.