Into The Mist: A LaShaun Rousselle Mystery (LaShaun Rousselle Mysteries Book 4)

by Lynn Emery

  Anderson suggested, and Chase agreed, that Sherry should stay in the cruiser with a female deputy. So she sat outside while LaShaun, Chase and Det. Anderson entered the trailer. LaShaun stood in the open door taking in the whole picture. Anderson went down the hallway to the small bedrooms. Chase stayed quiet as he looked around the kitchen and cluttered living room.

  “This is a bunch of bull,” Det. Anderson said when he rejoined them in the main living area. Then he directed his raised voice at Chase’s back. “Sherry Bradford knows more than she’s letting on. She put this crap on the wall to throw us off.”

  “Maybe. Forensic analysis might give us some clues.” Chase sighed. “Listen, I agree with you about the mother, but if we discredit her outlandish story, then we’ll have a lead on what she’s up to. Agreed?”

  Det. Anderson grunted then grimaced at the mess around them. He kicked a pile of dirty laundry out of his way. “Yeah, whatever. We should charge the woman with violating public health laws. This place is disgusting.”

  LaShaun tuned out Anderson’s complaints. She heard the male voices as faint background noise. Her focus was on the strange symbols, but not reading them. LaShaun gave up on that effort fast. She didn’t recognize the writing, so trying to decipher the message would waste time. Still she stared at them hard. Then she stepped close to the wall and sniffed.

  “Don’t touch it. At least not without gloves,” Chase said over her shoulder.

  “Cinnamon,” LaShaun said, cloves and something else I can’t quite figure out. Maybe ethanol.”

  “Damn, you’ve got one sensitive nose.” Chase started to say more, but moved off when Anderson beckoned to him.

  LaShaun stood back from the wall again. She continued taking pictures with her cell phone. Then she texted them to Miss Rose and the twins. Three walls had neat lines of the script. There was obvious order and method to the characters. A message obviously. For Sherry or LaShaun?

  “Okay, let’s bring in Ms. Bradford,” Chase said to Anderson. “Maybe she’ll tell us about this.”

  “If we can believe a damn thing she says.” Anderson gave a snort as he marched out.

  “He’s not a bad guy, just impatient,” Chase said before LaShaun could form her comment.

  “What’s his story?” LaShaun turned to the dark lettering to snap another photo.

  “Worked in St. Bernard Parish for a while. After that he went to Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. Good arrests record, though some say he bends the rules.” Chase went to the door and started out.

  “So he got himself in trouble in Jefferson Parish. Stepped on big enough toes that he decided moving way out to Vermilion Parish was a good idea.” LaShaun didn’t turn around as she spoke.

  “You got all that just from me saying—”

  “Why else would an ambitious law officer leave a major urban area to work way out in the country?” LaShaun texted the last picture to her friends. Almost immediately her phone started vibrating as they replied.

  “Dave wouldn’t have hired him if he thought the guy was dirty.” Chase broke off and stepped away from the door.

  Seconds later, Sherry walked in followed by Anderson. The female deputy brought up the rear, fanning her face. Sherry blushed as she took a few more steps.

  “I didn’t have a chance to clean up the last few days. The kids… they’re always into something and I stay tired.” Sherry started to pick up a toy truck, but Dave blocked her.

  “Don’t touch or move anything until we say so. Explain this,” Anderson rumbled and waved a hand at the walls.

  “I, uh, I went out last night. The kids were sound asleep, and Miz Thibaut next door promised to check on them every hour or so. Um, my friend’s car broke down so I got back late.” Sherry twisted her hands together. Her words tumbled out with more explanations, or rather excuses.

  LaShaun studied her as she spoke. She felt an urge to question how she could leave a four, three and one-year-old alone. Instead she pressed her lips together. Sherry no doubt knew the deputy or Det. Anderson would question her neighbors. Still the young mother tried to offer a less damning account of her actions.

  “What time?” LaShaun said before Det. Anderson could speak.

  “Maybe one o’clock this morning. Like I said, took a while for our other friend to come get us.” Sherry was fidgeting with the collar of her dark green jacket.

  “And that’s when you saw the writing?” Chase made a circuit of the wall to stare at it again.

  “No. I mean I don’t think so. I was kinda tired when I got in. I fell asleep on the couch.” Sherry pointed to the brown sofa made of imitation suede.

  “Tired. Yeah.” Anderson crossed his arms and gazed at her hard.

  “I mighta had a few too many beers. But I wasn’t driving,” Sherry put in quickly. “I woke up and saw all this on the walls. Then I remembered Dina hadn’t come home, so I called my cousin. She lives down the lane.” Sherry pointed to the window as if they could see her cousin’s trailer. Then she slowly lowered her arm.

  “Dina would go there to play and stay overnight?” LaShaun glanced at Anderson, hoping to head him off from turning bad cop. Sherry might stop talking.

  “That’s right. Dina loves my cousin’s little girl. She nine, but she doesn’t mind Dina following her around. I mean, everybody around here’s always been nice to us. I got family right down the lane. I didn’t think…” Sherry’s voice died away so that her last words seemed to evaporate in the air.

  “To recap your story, you went out to party when you didn’t even know where your six-year-old kid was, left your three youngest here alone, got back drunk after one in the morning, woke up, saw the writing and decided something was wrong.” Det. Anderson pressed his lips together.

  Sherry flinched. “I didn’t leave until almost ten, so really it wasn’t all that long.”

  “Uh-huh.” Anderson put on his sunglasses and looked away from her.

  Sherry faced LaShaun. “They say you’ll know. Tell me what this says. Where’s my girl?”

  “I don’t recognize these letters, Sherry,” LaShaun replied. She read regret in the woman’s eyes.

  “We’ll have to do some more research,” Chase added. “Det. Anderson, take a set of pictures for the department. Work with Deputy Wilcox to scrape samples of the ink off. We’ll send it to the state police lab for analysis.”

  Det. Anderson hissed low. “Right. We’ll track down who decided to be an artist in the middle of the night.”

  “It wasn’t me. Tante Alice and grandmamma says it’s evil. If that’s true, then they got my Dina and no tellin’ what they done to her by now.” Sherry’s voice rose to a hysterical whine. “It don’t take long to hurt a little girl.”

  At Chase’s signal, the female deputy stepped forward and took her by the arm. Their voices faded as Sherry allowed the deputy to lead her away. “C’mon, ma’am. I’ll take you over to your mama’s house like you said. Let’s pack a few things.”

  LaShaun turned to Chase. “Where are the other children?”

  “The middle child’s father picked him up. The other two are with Sherry’s mama. DCFS hasn’t made a decision on removing the three youngest yet.”

  The Louisiana Department of Child and Family Services, notoriously understaffed and underfunded, might well be leaving the children with relatives. At least Sherry wouldn’t be left alone with them in the short-term. Chase pulled LaShaun aside so that they were across from the action in the dining area. Anderson continued taking pictures yards away. A second deputy helped him. Both carried evidence bags and collection tools.

  “Your phone keeps buzzing like a trapped wasp. What’s up?” Chase said low. He watched her read text messages from Miss Rose, Justine and Pauline for several moments.

  “They don’t know either, but they’re working on finding out.”

  “But you said the writing is in letters.” Chase frowned at the walls.

  LaShaun scrolled to the photos of the writing on her phone. She
gazed at them as she talked, “Yes, an alphabet. They’re arranged to be sentences I think, not pictures telling a story. But I’m sure no authority on arcane languages. I’ve only studied a few like the Enochian Language, the Rune of Othalan, and a few others.”

  “Naturally it couldn’t be something simple. No, we got the Rune of Whatsit.” Chase let go of a long sigh.

  “The Rune of Whatsit?” LaShaun grinned at him.

  “Do me a favor. Keep that language of the ancients talk between us for now. You know what kind of ink that is because you sniffed it.” Chase nodded toward the writing on the nearest wall.

  “Yes…” LaShaun pursed her lips together. Then she cleared her throat.

  “That was your cue to give me an answer, LaShaun.” Chase nudged her. When Det. Anderson glanced their way, he waved and put on a neutral expression.

  “I don’t think you’re going to like the answer, babe.” LaShaun smiled at the other officers. She turned her back to them as if studying another part of the room.

  “Let me think. We got a missing child, demonic scribbles on the wall, a drugged out mother, and a Cajun mafia family. Honey, I already don’t like a damn thing about this case.”

  “I never said the writing was demonic or satanic, but from the smell, I’d say the writing was done with Bat’s Blood Ink.”

  “Are you freakin’ kidding me?” Chase blurted out. When Anderson jerked around to stare at him. “Nothing, it’s nothing. Just keep collecting evidence.”

  “Think calm thoughts. Let me take a few samples from the wall. Our TEA might have someone who can analyze them. I’ll wait until your guys are through then discreetly scrape a bit off.” LaShaun patted her distressed lawman husband’s arm. “Hey, I could be wrong. Maybe it’s nothing but a marker, and some kids thought vandalism would be funny.”

  Chase glanced to his left, and LaShaun followed his gaze. A photo of Dina, her small heart-shaped face framed by honey smiled at the world.

  “And the missing kid? I sure as hell ain’t laughing about that.”

  “No, me either. We’re going to find Dina and make sure she stays safe from now on.” LaShaun’s hands tightened into fists.

  Chapter 4

  The next day passed with no new clues as to what the message on Sherry’s walls meant. Yet what weighed on LaShaun’s mind wasn’t that mystery, but the location and wellbeing of a little girl. She saw the image of Dina’s sweet face when she closed her eyes at night. Sometimes her hazel eyes melded into Ellie’s dark brown gaze to stare back at her. A child’s voice calling for her mama woke her up one night. A nightmare that sent her racing down the hallway to Ellie’s room. Her hands shook as she smoothed the blanket over the still sleeping baby. Even though it was midnight, she called Rose Fontenot. The older woman didn’t get angry or in fact seem surprised to hear from LaShaun. Miss Rose agreed they needed to meet, and then added a terse, “Now get back to bed.”

  At six am, Chase stood close to LaShaun drinking his morning coffee. “I’m worried about you, babe. Bad dreams mean you’re letting my case get to you. I know how you feel. Every deputy is a parent or uncle, or aunt. We deal with murder, beatings, and all kinds of stuff that make you feel just plain dirty at the end of a shift. But when it comes to kids…”

  “I can’t see her, Chase. Not one vision of Dina.”

  LaShaun kept her voice low. Chase followed her gaze to their daughter. Ellie bounced around happily in the play pen Chase’s father had designed for her. His way of emphasizing he didn’t disapprove of their marriage like his wife. A lively tune came from the television, a children’s show featuring a big blue dog.

  “You always tell me there’s no on and off switch. It comes and goes, right?” Chase rubbed her back with one hand.

  “Yeah, more like scanning for a radio station. Most of the time all I get is static or voices I can’t make out. You always tell me that the first forty-eight hours are critical. Where could she be?” LaShaun went back to washing dishes by hand. The busy work helped steady her nerves.

  Chase put down his empty mug. “The kitchen is spotless. I bet you cleaned the rest of the house before I got up this morning.”

  LaShaun sighed as she wiped her hands with a paper towel. “I didn’t vacuum though. Didn’t want to wake you two. The dusting is done. I organized your desk in the library.”

  “Gee thanks. Now I can have fun trying to find my stuff,” Chase teased. “And you vacuumed yesterday.”

  “Maybe I’ll get something done outside before everyone gets here. Savoie’s is delivering lunch by eleven thirty.” LaShaun glanced at the wall clock. “I’ve got plenty of—”

  “There’s nothing to do outside. No leaves to rake. No weeds to pull. Mr. Earl keeps your family’s cemetery real tidy. Flowers put out and everything,” he added. “He’s coming today in fact.”

  Earl Gray, a retired groundskeeper and amateur historian, had volunteered. He not only wanted to keep busy, but the Rousselle family history intrigued him. He’d gone to school with LaShaun’s uncles. Even so, Chase and LaShaun insisted on paying him. Mr. Earl, a devout southern Baptist, also happened to believe in the supernatural. He kept an eye out for any signs of unusual activity.

  “Fine. Maybe the attic can use a good cleaning,” LaShaun said. She laughed at the face Chase made at her. “I’m kidding, okay? I won’t wipe, scrub or organize anything else. Promise.”

  “Thank the Lord. Took me fifteen minutes to figure out where you ‘organized’ my shaving lotion and deodorant in the bathroom.” Chase finished stacking the plates on a shelf and closed the cabinet door.

  LaShaun grew serious again. “What can you tell me that won’t violate department policy?”

  “Tommy Bradford has been arrested three times on sex related charges, including one charge of indecent behavior with a minor.” Chase frowned.

  “Damn, not good.”

  “Yeah. He made a lot of noise the other day, but now we can’t find him. Nothing raises the suspicion of cops like a guy disappearing before we can interview him. I got a bad feeling about it.”

  “What does Sherry say?” LaShaun looked at him.

  “Backs their mama’s story. Claims Tommy went on a fishing trip with some buddies.” Chase snorted. “We strongly suggested they tell him to get his ass back here.”

  “Right, call his cell or text him. Easy enough.” LaShaun went over to pick up a toy Ellie tossed out of her play pen.

  “His mama came up with weak excuses.”

  “They have a history with the police. Not telling you everything is probably second nature and makes sense to them. His mother probably sees Tommy as a victim. Not saying I agree,” LaShaun added quickly at Chase’s grimace. She wiped off the yellow ball before tossing it into the play pen again.

  “You’d think they’d have the good sense to know this is different. The child could be in danger. The longer she’s gone…” He tapped a fist against one thigh.

  “Yeah.” LaShaun didn’t need him to finish the thought. “Well, whisper a prayer that we come up with something.”

  “Ah yes. The fortune tellers will plug into the ether, gather the collective forces of crystal balls everywhere.” Chase raised his hands in surrender when LaShaun squinted at him. “Need something to lighten my mood.”

  “More like we’re going to plug into our Wi-Fi. Miss Rose contacted a linguistics professor. Yes, we have academics in our network.”

  “Wow.” Chase touched the fingertips of one hand to his temple.

  “We also have at least two physicists and an astronomer. You’d be surprised at the range of professionals available as consultants.” LaShaun grinned at him.

  “No, I wouldn’t. If cats started raining down, I wouldn’t blink these days.” Chase gave a grunt as he pulled out his cell phone.

  “We only use that in case of mouse emergencies,” LaShaun replied with a giggle.

  “I think you’re only half joking.” Chase started to say more, but stopped as he read the text on the scree
n. “I better get a move on. We have a search warrant for Tommy’s house. A neighbor swears he had a little girl over there three days ago.”

  LaShaun crossed to him quickly. “I can’t believe Sherry would lie knowing, or even if she suspected, her brother is responsible.”

  Chase gazed at her with a grave face. “I’ve seen a lot of evil covered up in families.”

  LaShaun shivered. When Chase hugged her goodbye, at least some of the chill faded. She smiled as he gave Ellie her usual goodbye tickles and kisses. For the next two hours, she swung between putting on jolly face for Ellie and worrying about Dina. Despite her promise, LaShaun did go outside with Ellie on one hip. Her excuse would be that they took a walk since the weather had turned out so fine. Indeed the sunshine and blue skies made the mid-December day seem like spring. Pulling Ellie along in a bright red wagon, they took a path from the edge of the backyard through the trees. Beau trotted alongside. A brisk ten minute walk brought them to the Rousselle-LeGrange family cemetery. Stone markers dated to the early 1800s with some worn smooth by the decades. Mr. Earl speculated that even earlier graves had sunken long ago into the woods.

  As they approached, the figure of a sturdy man in his early sixties appeared above the brush. Then the way cleared to reveal the new iron fence around the gravesite. Mr. Earl wore a long-sleeved blue work shirt and matching pants, boots and a straw hat. He waved at them but bent to continue pulling weeds.

  “Y’all enjoying the nice day, huh? Little ones gets rowdy if they cooped up to much. Need to have space to run and play.” As usual, Mr. Earl started the conversation as if they’d already been talking.

  “Yes sir. How you doing, and how is Miss Joyce?” LaShaun replied.

  She glanced down to check, but Ellie seemed unaware of the bumping-along progress of the wagon. Her favorite baby doll claimed her attention. Beau went to Mr. Earl, accepted a pat on the head, and then nosed around the grass. From time to time, Beau lifted his head to gaze at Ellie, then he’d continue exploring.