"That's a thought. I guess I will too, unless you other two want to?"
"No, I like to have my shower in the morning."
"Me, too." Elle agreed with Flora.
"They've really got delusions of grandeur, calling two small bedrooms, a bath, and a dinky little sitting area a suite," Flora said. "But if we hadn't got our reservations early, we wouldn't have been this lucky."
She yawned and stretched. "I'm tired. That crowd downstairs makes this suite look a whole lot sweeter."
"I saw that crowd downstairs," Hannah nodded. "But that's nothing compared to all the noise down there in the streets. We'll probably be able to sleep, though, after all the walking we did."
"We'll do fine. I'll put a spell of peace on our suite." Elle said.
"A spell of peace?"
Flora looked away, seeming a little uncomfortable.
"Sure," Elle nodded. "No problem."
Between getting out their clothes for the next day and watching all the partying in the street from the balcony, four tired tourists got ready to rest.
"Wait. I'll do our spell." Elle stood beside the table in the little seating area, glancing around the suite.
As Elle raised her arms, Flora who was in her robe, stepped out onto the balcony and Hannah joined her.
"You looked uncomfortable," Hannah said. "And I didn't know what to do either," She smiled at Flora.
"There's no harm in Elle, she's good and sweet and means well. But I stay as far away as I can from witchcraft or anything else that's dangerous."
Hannah hesitated. "That's probably a good idea. But, I guess it's all right to hope that spell of peace works?"
Flora didn't comment as they went back in.
Hannah and Flora carefully put their things where they wouldn't trip over them in the morning. Gina called goodnight from the a few feet away and everyone heard Elle say, "When I'm pushed for space I just leave some of my things in the car."
"How could you be sure that would be safe?" Hannah called. "You saw the police cars lined up bumper to bumper on Canal Street. There were New Orleans Police Department cars, Sheriff, State Police, and some National Guard vehicles too."
Elle didn't answer.
"Wonder what kind of spell she protects that with," Hannah whispered to Flora.
"I don't want to know," Flora whispered back.
The next morning the phone rang at eight o'clock, their wake-up call.
"Guess your magic worked, Elle," Gina pushed her hair out of her eyes. "I slept like I was hit on the head."
"Me too," Elle nodded as she tossed the covers off. "Let's have breakfast before we take our showers. It's on me, she grinned happily, looking around at all of them. Tell me, what does everyone want?"
"Do you really think they've got room service when the elevators aren't even running?" Hannah raised an eyebrow at Elle.
"No. But we don't need it. I'm going to get it. Whatever we want. You first, Hannah."
Feeling a bit strange, Hannah was the first to put in her order.
"Two eggs over light, crispy hashbrowns with onions please, and some raison toast."
"Elle, can you do waffles with a side of sausage?" Gina asked.
"Sure, what kind of syrup?"
"While I'm wishing, make it blueberry pancakes and blueberry syrup? And don't forget the sausage."
"You got it. No problem. Flora? And if you say black coffee, it will definitely fracture our friendship!"
"No danger. You couldn't possibly do crepes suezette, could you?"
"Sure. No problem, and congrats on your good taste," she smiled at Flora through the door. "Somebody push all that stuff on the table off to the floor. Who wants coffee?"
The answers were two yeses and an "orange juice, too" as Hannah helped Gina get the table cleared.
Within seconds, covered dishes appeared along with a carafe of coffee and pitchers of orange juice. Hannah looked with awe at the gourmet breakfast Elle had conjured up.
All of them fell on the food like pirates who couldn't remember their last shore leave.
"The next thing I'm going to wish for," Hannah said, chewing just enough to be able to speak. "That is, if we get a wish instead of fortune cookies with all this stuff, is for you to go with me, Elle, next time I go somewhere."
Everyone laughed with Hannah except Flora who simply sipped her orange juice, admiring the generous platter full of orange sauce and powdered sugar over her crepes.
"You sure you wouldn't rather have Tim Carpenter go with you, Hannah?" Gina grinned.
"No! I'm not sure of that, come to think of it."
"You haven't got up the nerve yet to tell him about your visions, have you?" Flora tilted her head at her.
"Well, no. But I've thought about it a couple of times."
"No points for just thinking about it," Gina quickly reminded her.
"But you're getting along well, you and Tim? Things look good?" Flora's fork blotted up some powdered sugar with her crepe soaked in orange sauce.
"Yes. I think I can safely say that. Unless I gain ten pound on this good breakfast, that is. You didn't take the calories out of it, did you, Elle?"
"No, but that's a thought." She raised her right hand.
"No!" Came a Greek chorus against that.
"Don't mess with my crepes suezette," Flora warned her.
"Aha! Flora," Elle eyed Flora. "Wait till I tell my mother I've found your weakness!"
"Oh, you WOULDN'T!" Flora pretended to be horrified then smiled at Elle.
"Oh, I guess not." Elle reached up and picked a napkin out of thin air. "I'm going to take my bath. Just leave everything, I'll take care of it. Anyone want to meet the chef before I go?"
"Can we? surely, you're not SERIOUS, Elle?" Hannah gasped, her eyes wide.
"No problem." Elle raised her hands and snapped her fingers. A good looking man who should have been making movies instead of pancakes appeared. He looked somewhere between thirty-five and forty-five and was wearing jeans and an apron. A squashed looking chef's hat sat sideways on his head as if someone else had crammed it on him just before he left wherever he came from.
Curious eyes studied him. He was good looking but didn't look good, Hannah thought. No, definitely not GOOD. And without even noticing the rest of them, he gave Elle a look that should have left bruises.
"Meet Benjamin," Elle waved a hand at him."He's in debt to my mother. He had no choice but to be available to us on our trip, so he's a little mad at me, I guess."
Elle gave him a school teacher's warning look. "Resentment doesn't become you, Benjamin."
Benjamin made a quick mini-bow with a sneer on his good looking face and disappeared.
"Oh, he can go without being sent?" Flora looked interested.
"He's not supposed to, but what the heck. And he's a good cook."
When Elle closed the bathroom door, Hannah touched Gina's hand. "I wonder what Elle's mother did for Benjamin to get him on her debtor's list?"
Gina shrugged. "I'm not going to ask." She looked at Flora. "I'm looking forward to meeting Flora's friend."
"You will, I'm looking forward to seeing her too." Flora nodded.
Four women getting things together to dress and get ready to go out called for more cooperation than will ever be seen at the United Nations.
Elle was finished first and opened the door to the little balcony. "Look down there, will you? Still wall to wall people covering the streets and sidewalk. You reckon the street's still there?" She laughed, waving back to someone in the street who had waved to her. She turned and went back in.
"Flora," Hannah asked. "Where and when are you supposed to meet the friend you want to check on?"
"I have her cell phone number. Today's Sunday. Maybe Monday would be all right. I'll call in a little while and see if she can meet me at the coffee shop, Café du Monde, tomorrow. Out in front if we can't get inside."
Flora went to take her bath, Hannah and Gina went outside as Elle pointed some of her thing
s back into her bag. She simply pointed and they obediently went, since there was no one left to see them and ask about it. Not that it mattered to Elle. Flora was busy trying to contact her friend.
Hannah and Gina stood looking at all the activity on the street below.
The weather was humid but comfortable with a little breeze blowing as Gina and Hannah happily admired the colors, wealth of Mardi Gras beads, and general excitement. They waved at everyone who looked up.
Gina's hand suddenly stopped in mid-wave. She looked surprised. Hannah quickly followed her gaze to the grinning reveler below them. The dark-eyed stalker?
"Yes. He's the one," Hannah breathed to herself.
As both of them watched, the man with the bold, dark eyes threw Gina a kiss. She stood as if bolted to the floor. Then he held out his arms and pulled them back slowly and sensuously as if to envelope her in a big hug.
Hannah and Gina both drew back against the wall. Gina didn't comment and when they both stepped forward a bit and looked again, the man was gone.
Flora joined them on the balcony. "I talked to my friend. She's coming Monday to meet me at the coffee shop and take us to brunch at her house—what's left of it. She's looking forward to meeting all of you."
"How in the world will she be able to get here?" Hannah worried.
Flora laughed, "She'll be on a small yellow tour bus with red spots like it's got the measles!"
Elle's face lit up. "Wonderful! I saw one which was probably like it while we were watching the crowd. It went by on one of the streets in front of us. A cute little green one."
"Yep. Life, death, taxes, and tourism, it all goes on," Flora smiled. "I think some of the little buses are old church buses. Don't be surprised or too depressed at anything you see. Some things are being fixed and others are just waiting to see what can be done or settled. Just keep thinking 'this too shall pass away'. It's just a miracle my friend and all of her family is all right and they can stay in their home while all the decisions and settlements are being hashed out."
"Yes," Hannah agreed. "Amen to that." She grinned. "And I can't wait to see that tour bus!"
Chapter 15
Cas and Rhodes walked around the judge's cabin but didn't go in. The tape was intact and it looked like nothing had been touched. They walked on down to the boathouse. The structure was big. It was obvious the owner didn't have to worry about money or space when he had it built.
Approaching the boathouse, Cas said, "Don't know why I'm surprised at how big this thing is. Troy said he had a party barge and a larger boat at one time." He drew a deep breath at the size of it.
"Looks like there would have been plenty of room for them. Especially if he put the party barge outside." His eyes measured the large building ahead of them.
The place was not locked but closed and one of the doors was slightly ajar.
"We'll shut that door good when we leave," Rhodes nodded at it then pointed. "There's the canoe."
They looked at the canoe as they approached. The chain Troy Spruce had told them about had been used to fasten it to the outside of the building. Cas reached out and pulled the chain. Both watched as the boat slowly came to them.
"Just a plain old canoe, another witness that can't talk," Rhodes observed after they looked it over.
"Yes. Nothing in it or on it. The oars are missing though, makes you wonder what happened to them. They're not inside anywhere."
They let the canoe drift back and went inside to look around more closely than they had last time they were there. As they looked the place over their voices sounded strange bouncing off the walls.
"An oar could be a lethal blunt instrument," Rhodes observed.
Cas nodded. "Or it could be used to keep someone in the water, unable to get back into the boat. But you wouldn't think there would be slivers like Clint said he found. To hit someone with something as hard as an oar and get splinters off of it, the victim would have a lot worse wound than a bruise and a few slivers."
He stepped out and pulled the canoe to him again. Rhodes followed. He knelt beside it and looked up at Rhodes. "You still got any of that Boy Scout equipment you've had since Hector was a pup?"
Rhodes straightened up, looking insulted. "Are you referring to my genuine Swiss Army Knife?"
"That or any other kind you may have. This canoe looks old, let's get a few slivers off the side of it and the bottom just in case Clint wants to take a closer look at them."
Rhodes promptly complied. He got several slivers from both sides of the canoe and a scraping from the bottom and the inside bottom while he was at it.
"Good thing I keep a couple of these evidence bags in my pocket," he said as he handed them to Cas. He rolled down his sleeves.
"Yes, it is. I can't help wishing we had those oars, but we've got the canoe anyway. While we're here, we may as well look around good in here."
Cas got up and the door creaked as it moved in the wind. Back inside, Rhodes looked around the big space. "Needs a little more maintenance than Troy's been giving it, looks like."
"Yeah. Looks clean in here though." Both of them looked around again. "Not much to see."
Cas bent and kicked some leaves which had blown through the door, continuing around the walls and looking at a few tools left hanging on the walls.
Both of them went over the inside, even touching a scrape on the far wall which may have been made by the party barge when it had been there.
"What's that sack over there?" Cas called from the other side of the boathouse, his voice close enough to an echo to sound hollow. "It's something in a sack. Look under those built-in shelves."
"Where? Oh, I see it." Rhodes walked a few steps and picked up a small paper sack. He opened and looked into it as Cas joined him. He held it out.
"Here you are."
"Mushrooms." Cas observed. "Looks like Julia might have been out gathering mushrooms as well as bird watching."
"Maybe she met someone else who was gathering mushrooms too? But if there had been someone else around he would surely have been seen."
"I don't know. No one saw Julia."
"Let me see them again," Rhodes reached for the sack. He reached in and held up one, then another larger one. "I don't know about these, Cas, they don't exactly look right somehow."
Cas shrugged. "I don't know much about mushrooms. They probably just need a good wash. I'd say take them home but since the sack is here, it's evidence."
Rhodes shook his head. "I don't want them." He was still eyeing them suspiciously.
"You mean they're not really mushrooms?"
Rhodes looked at the two he'd picked up. "Well, they do look like mushrooms, but," he shook his head. "I'm not sure."
He dropped them back in the grocery sack, coming to a decision. "If you want me to, I can ask Mary. One of her friends in her garden club is an expert on mushrooms."
"This friend really knows them? You're sure?"
"Yes, there's some kind of national organization she's a member of. She's an expert."
"Good. Bring them with us. When we get back, take three or four of them in an evidence sack and get this expert's opinion on them."
Chapter 16
Monday morning Gina and Flora led the way as they went out to wait for the tour bus. Behind them, Elle paused just long enough to touch the door with her hand. She patted it twice and smiled at Flora. Flora shrugged, smiling back at her.
"Must be another one of those peace or protection spells," Hannah thought. She pretended she hadn't seen.
Arriving in the midst of the crowd in front of the Café du Monde, there wasn't a vacant seat in the place outside or in and there were lots of people waiting to get in and get served their famous café au lait and beignets with heaps of snowy powdered sugar on them.
"Don't worry," Flora said. "This is just business as usual here. We'll stand here where we can see the street and what's coming."
They didn't have long to wait. "That's got to be it!" Gina exclaimed from several
feet away as she pointed.
While they watched, the little yellow tour bus made it's way toward them slowly, then stopped about three car lengths away to let someone off. When it crawled up and got opposite them, a woman stood in the door waving her arms and the bus driver reached out to stop the door from closing.
The bus was a small one like a church bus and had obviously been painted in a hurry to get it pressed into service.
Flora, Gina, Hannah, and Elle scrambled to get on the bus. They made it inside as the driver explained to someone else who followed them trying to board, "Private—sorry—contact the number on the side of the bus." He closed the door.
"Whew! We made it!" Flora exclaimed with her arms around the woman beside her. "Didi Martine, these are my best buddies: Gina, Hannah, and Elle."
Hands joined, joy reigned in their little group and the rest of the passengers looked on with smiles of approval.
"Girls, this is our hostess. You may hug." Flora made it sound like an announcement at a Crewe ball. And since she didn't specify who should hug, the rest of the passengers felt free to join them and share hugs too. Joy did reign, at least in the little tour bus.
Everyone got up and hugged. The few who didn't, gave them thumbs-ups till they got seated again. Without being asked, a young couple moved so Flora, Gina, Elle, Hannah, and Didi could sit together facing each other in the seats on both sides of the aisle.
"First, and I hope you won't mind," Didi told them, "We're going on the rest of the mini-tour we're on."
"Wonderful," Hanna interrupted, excited at getting to see some more sights in the area.
"Yes, it is," Flora agreed and patted Hannah's shoulder. "This is great, Didi. Frosting on the cake. Where are we going? Not that it matters?" Flora glanced at a colorful brochure a woman near them was holding.
"We're going to Metairie and visit some of the older tombs for one thing."
Gina squeezed Hannah's hand, they had both heard about the tombs and the way people are buried there.
Didi continued. "But first, we're going down St. Charles to see some of the houses in the Garden District. The one used for Tara in Gone With the Wind and maybe where Anne Rice used to live, I don't know. And I think, we'll also visit some swamp thing to see them feed alligators or something. I'm not sure when feeding time is so we'll see."
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