Bayou Treasure

by Georgia Tribell

  Marie nodded, as she stood pressed against LD outside the Manning Inn. Personal space was non-existent here on the crowded sidewalk. Holding tightly to his hand, she watched as he once again flashed his badge and they were allowed entrance. That was one handy little tool he carried. She was beginning to think she needed one.

  As they made their way into the hotel lobby, the crowd thinned marginally. The party was well under way and the group was boisterous, reminding her why she never attended these functions.

  “This is crazy,” she shouted as they inched their way through the crowd. All around them, guests swirled about in glittery, feathered and sequined costumes in every bold color. “We’ll never find them in this madhouse.”

  “I know my father. He’s close to one of the bars where people come and go. It’s his form of mingling without having to actually walk around. And he won’t be wearing a costume.”

  “Thank goodness he’s not a wanderer.” She finished the statement as a large group of partygoers in full masquerade pushed into them. She lost her grip on LD’s hand and quickly lost sight of him as she got dragged along with the crowd.

  After several failed attempts to break away, she finally managed to disentangle herself from the drunken revelers. Luckily, she was in front of a bar. She scanned the crowd and found no sign of LD or his father. Skirting the crowd, she moved around the room in a clockwise pattern. She figured eventually she would find another bar, plus this gave her a good view of the room.

  The crowd grew denser as she passed people carrying fresh drinks. She made her way through the crush to the next bar. Deciding the best approach was a direct one, she asked the bartenders if they’d seen the governor.

  They looked her over, and she became fully aware she didn’t meet the dress code. The female bartender picked up a phone and turned away from her. Great, they were calling security on her. She’d probably be hauled off to jail and never see daylight again. Not even LD and his family would be able to bail her out.

  She moved away from the bar as quickly as she could, trying to lose herself in the crowd. Of course, in her tattered, muddy and blood-stained clothes she stuck out like a chicken in the middle of a peacock display.

  Continuing her clockwise pattern, she ignored the stares and murmurs and scanned the room for another bar and anyone she might recognize who could help. But even if she knew anyone here, she’d never be able to identify them dressed in full costume.

  Marie stumbled to a stop as a vision suddenly formed in her mind, blurring the room in front of her. In her mind’s eye, she saw LD and his father standing together, talking. LD was dressed in his damp and muddy jeans while his father wore a black tux. Above their heads, a very large Queen of Diamonds mask hung suspended from the ceiling. Unnoticed, a tall slender man wearing a red and purple jester’s mask approached LD and the Governor from behind. The jester exuded an aura of evil that danced around him like the snakes on Medusas’ head. The jester removed his mask as he reached into his coat and withdrew his pistol. Shouting at LD and the Governor, he pulled the trigger.

  “Hey lady, you okay?”

  Marie blinked and as her vision cleared, she glanced up at a man standing before her with a cape and red Satan’s mask. Without a word, she pushed past him and ran toward the Queen of Diamonds decoration suspended above the crowd on the other side of the large room.

  * * * * *

  The devil smiled as he followed Marie through the crowd. Patience was a virtue, especially when one knew his reward was within reach.

  Soon, LD would finally understand there were things far more painful than death.

  * * * * *

  “Son, I hear what you’re saying, but I find it hard to believe.”

  LD ran a hand through his hair and resisted the urge to grab his father by the lapels and drag him from the building. Taking a deep breath, he tried another approach. “I know it’s hard to think someone you’ve worked with and trusted for years would betray you, but believe me, he has. All I’m asking is that you and Mom leave the party, now. If I’m wrong, there’s no harm done and I’ll even apologize to him, if that’s what you want.”

  His father hesitated, so LD tried one more ploy. “I can’t go look for Marie until I know you and Mom are safe. Please don’t make me choose between the two of you and the woman I love.”

  His father’s eyes widened in surprise and then he smiled. “How can I argue with that? I’ll get your mother and we’ll be on our way home.”

  LD reached out and squeezed his father’s shoulder. “Thanks, Dad. I’ve got to find Marie.”

  “Can we help?” his father offered.

  “No, but thanks anyway. I’ll…”

  Marie’s voice carried through the crowd, “LD—behind you!”

  Recognizing the alarm in her voice, LD whirled around, drawing his gun as he did. At the same time, his father pushed him aside.

  “What the hell are you doing, Schelling?” His father’s words were filled with anger and outrage.

  People screamed and pandemonium broke out around them as the crowd tried to move back. LD focused on the man whose gun was pointed at his father’s chest not six feet away.

  Schelling looked at his father with such hatred and madness it contorted the man’s face. LD couldn’t help but think how appropriate the red and purple jester costume was.

  “I’m tired of always following in your footsteps, being told to follow the party line and wait my turn, like a good little boy. I should have been the party’s choice for governor and you my lieutenant governor.”

  “And you think this,” Kevin gestured to the gun, “will get you where you want to be?”

  LD stared in horror as Schelling’s fingers tightened on the trigger and he took another step toward LD’s father.

  “Stay where you are, Schelling,” LD commanded. “Put the gun down.”

  Schelling swung the gun directly at LD and his face registered his surprise. “You!”

  LD froze. Schelling confirmed everything LD had already figured out. He didn’t want to take a shot in this crowd, there were too many innocent bystanders that could be wounded or killed. Judging by his manic, glassy-eyed look, the man had completely lost touch with reality. What LD needed was time and he’d buy as much as he could by talking to the man, even though he didn’t think it would do any good.

  “Put. The. Gun. Down.” LD enunciated each word slowly, inching forward as he spoke and prayed sanity would spark to life inside the lieutenant governor’s head.

  “You should have stayed away, LD. If you weren’t around, nothing could have stopped us. Nothing.”

  Us? “Who are you working for?”

  “The only person I’ve ever worked for is your father and I’m damn tired of licking his boots. No, I’m running this show and no one’s telling me what to do.”

  LD seriously doubted Schelling was running anything other than this moment in time, but he also knew enough to keep his thoughts to himself. A quick glance around assured him people were clearing the area. If he could hold Schelling off until backup arrived, then maybe no one would get hurt. “You’re in charge, that’s good. Why don’t you tell me who you’ve got working for you?”

  “Do you think I’m crazy?”

  Yes. “No.” LD kept his voice level and steady. “I was only wondering if I knew any of your employees.”

  Schelling laughed the hideous, high-pitched laugh of the mad. “Know them? I assure you you do. One of them has a particular grudge against you. Seems you killed his lover.”

  LD frowned at Schelling and knew at least this part of his rambling was true. “You’re the one who told Black where to find Marie and me?”

  LD knew the answer, he’d figured it out this morning while cleaning his and Marie’s shoes, he just needed the fact verified.

  “Yes. The bastard was supposed to kill you both this morning. I told him you and the woman were involved and that excited him even more. Black said he was going to enjoy killing her in front of you. Obv
iously, he failed to do his job—again.”

  Over Schelling’s shoulder, LD watched Marie push her way through the retreating crowd toward him.

  Stop!

  Fear coursed through his body and sweat ran between his shoulder blades, as the word echoed in his mind in a silent plea. The last thing he needed was for Schelling to realize Marie was standing behind him, especially after what he’d just said. Marie stopped, but that did little to relieve LD’s stress.

  LD’s father spoke up from beside him. “Ken! You sent someone to kill my son? How dare you!”

  “Don’t antagonize him, Dad.” LD muttered just loud enough for his father to hear. “Please, move back behind me.

  Behind Schelling, he saw movement close to Marie. A tall man dressed in black with a flame red cape tied around his neck walked out of the receding crowd. His features were hidden behind a red devil’s mask with two twisting black horns that towered above the crowd. There was something about the way he moved that set off all of LD’s warning bells.

  The man stopped beside Marie and took her arm. Maybe he was only trying to get her out of harm’s way, LD thought, but then the man laughed and turned to smile at LD.

  Christ, no.

  “I said to stay back.”

  Schellings’ hysterical voice pulled LD’s attention back to the situation in front of him. It was only then he realized his father was still closing in on Schelling.

  His father raised a hand and pointed at Schelling like one would when reprimanding a child. “You conceited son of a bitch. You don’t deserve the position the people of this state elected you to. You don’t even deserve…“

  Schelling swung his pistol at the governor and LD lunged forward, pushing his father out of the way as he pulled the trigger on his own pistol. He never heard the gun go off, but he felt fire explode in his shoulder.

  They say one’s life flashes before their eyes in the moments before death, but LD’s didn’t. Instead, pictures of children, weddings, birthday parties, and funerals—events he would never attend flashed through his mind, twisted and surreal, like Picasso’s paintings. It was the life he’d never have if he gave in to the darkness that was descending on him.

  His vision tunneled and he fought his way back, determined not to lose consciousness. He hit the floor hard, landing on his injured shoulder. The blinding pain gave him the strength to fight for what was his, for what he’d waited for so long. Pushing himself up with his good arm, he spared a glance at Ken, now dead from LD’s bullet and no longer a threat. Turning away, he scanned the crowd and spotted the devil, guiding Marie toward the building entrance.

  “LD! Are you all right? My God, you’ve been shot!”

  LD shoved his father’s seeking hands away. He shook his head against the pain and to clear his mind. The bullet entered his shoulder from the front and exited out the back. He tried to move his left arm and couldn’t. He knew he was losing blood quickly because already his feet felt sluggish.

  Those were the least of his problems, he thought as he stepped over the dead lieutenant governor. Crossing the room, he raised his gun and shouted, “Black! Let her go!”

  Like an old silent movie, Marie watched LD lunge toward his father, then blood spattered and the lieutenant governor crumpled to the floor in an unmoving heap. She barely noticed the dead body because her focus was on LD as he flew through the air. Before he even hit the floor, she’d seen the dark red patch on his shoulder blooming larger and larger.

  “No!” She broke away from Black’s hold and headed toward LD, only to be grabbed from behind. She yelled in pain as he jerked her backward by the hair. She tried to kick behind her, like LD had shown her, but stopped when she felt cold metal pressing against her temple.

  She turned and looked up into ice-blue eyes, bold against the red mask, and she felt every ounce of hatred within him. In her mind, the devil’s eyes were black, not blue. The contrast between the deep red and those steel blue eyes sent a shiver down her spine. Realization dawned while looking into the eyes of death. “You never intended to kill LD, did you?”

  He sneered down at her. “I told you before what I had planned for him was far worse than death.”

  “Me. You’re going to kill me.” She was surprised her voice came out as strong as it did. Especially, when her insides were quaking and she thought she might throw up at any moment.

  “You finally figured it out.”

  Her heart skipped a couple of beats before she continued, “He’ll kill you.”

  He shrugged. “As long as I live to see the pain on his face when he realizes you are dead. Then I’ll die a happy man.”

  “You’re crazy.”

  “Yes, I am. If it makes you feel any better, you weren’t my first choice, his father was.”

  Before she could respond, she heard LD’s shouted command to Black. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw him standing across the room like an angry, wounded guardian angel. Fury, hatred and fear were pumping through his veins making him appear far more deadly than Black. Despite this, she wanted to run to him and throw her arms about his neck, but Black jerked her back toward the exit.

  Her best bet for survival was within the walls of the hotel. Once outside, the mass of people would be almost impregnable and the odds of both she and LD getting out alive would be slim. Knowing she couldn’t overpower Black one-on-one, she did the only thing that came to mind. She went limp and fell to the floor.

  “Get up!”

  Black jerked her wounded arm so hard she gasped in pain and tears flooded her eyes, but she refused to stand and simply walk out the building to her death. If he wanted her outside that bad, he could drag her from the building. “No.”

  She kicked up and out, hoping to catch him in the groin. He blocked the move with his hip, then twisted her arm up behind her back. Pain radiated down her arm and across her shoulders, bringing her to her knees, but still she refused to stand. She gritted her teeth against the pain, determined not to make this easy for him.

  He applied more pressure to her twisted arm as he bent down behind her. With his mouth next to her ear, he looked over her shoulder and he raised his gun. He pointed it directly at LD, who was crossing the room toward them. “You get up and walk or I kill him. It’s your choice. But you tell me right now who’s going to die tonight. You or him?”

  “Me.”

  “That’s what I thought, now get off the floor and walk. Any more trouble out of you and I will kill him. Then you can live knowing you were responsible for your lover’s death.”

  He’d found her vulnerability. She did as he told her and let him drag her quickly toward the entrance. They were at the glass doors leading to Dumaine Street and she could see the tops of the parade floats as they passed in front of the gathered crowd.

  Tears ran down her face as she heard LD calling to her, begging her not to go outside, but Black ignored him and pulled her forward. She turned and caught sight of him. The left front side of his shirt was almost completely covered in blood.

  Black pushed open the doors to the street and she saw nothing but a sea of bodies. It would be easy to get lost in a crowd like that, Marie thought as Black cut a path for them. She heard LD call her name again and looked back. “I love you,” she whispered before the mob closed in around them, blocking LD from her sight.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Black pulled her down the street, toward the parade’s starting point. Off to her left, she saw mounted patrol officers, but the crowd was too loud and boisterous for her to get their attention.

  Music blared from a three-story-high Jester’s head as a new float rounded the corner. The crowd erupted into another frenzy of noise as they cried out for beads and other favors.

  The party was in full swing, hindering Black’s progress. Marie had no idea where he was headed, but knew she should be going in the opposite direction. Because once Black reached his final destination, she was dead. Black cursed as he stopped and tightened his grip on her arm. He was trying
to find a path around a group of inebriated men. Finally, a small opening appeared and Black moved forward.

  They were about halfway through the group, when a man grabbed her by her free arm. “Hey lady, flash me some boobs and these beads are yours.”

  Marie’s first instinct was to tell the man where to go. She’d lived in this town all her life and even in her younger days, never succumbed to the custom of flashing breasts for a few gaudy, plastic beads. She stopped the retort on the tip of her tongue and instead smiled sweetly up at the drunk young man, who was built like a linebacker. Black tugged harder on her arm, making her feel even more like a wishbone.

  “I’d love to hon, but this guy won’t let me.”

  Mr. Linebacker pulled hard on the arm he held, jerking her off her feet. For a moment, she thought she was going to snap in two as she was pulled between the two men, but then Black’s grasp slipped.

  She was free! Joy ran through her body as she took a step away from Black, but the elation died just as quickly when Black turned and pointed his gun at the man who’d just rescued her. The linebacker saw the gun and shoved her behind him as he jabbed out his left hand. In spite of his inebriated state, the man was fast and Black’s head snapped back as the punch connected.

  Marie stared as Black staggered back. Then instinct took over and she turned and blindly pushed her way through the crowd. She needed to put as much distance between herself and Black as possible. She heard a small roar of anger from behind her. The air caught in her lungs as she pushed harder and faster through the crowd.

  She stopped and turned around when she heard people screaming and yelling “gun”. She could see revelers trying to get out of the way as they scattered like frightened rats. Looking over the crowd, she saw tall devil horns moving in her direction.

  She wasn’t dead yet and she wasn’t about to stand around waiting for Black to find her. She had too much to live for. With that thought in mind, she continued to cut a blind path through the frenzied mob.