I pushed with all I had, smashing his fingers as hard as I could.
“I should have known you were a liar when you told me Lisette sold my name and picture to that man. She never would have done that. That was always you.”
He did not respond. Instead he pushed himself into the door again. He was making headway, inching the door open further and further. I turned my back to the door and wedged my legs up on the bathtub. I gave a hearty kick that squeezed his hand so hard he had to pull it out. The door finally shut.
“How much money am I worth, Jimmy? What’s the price to kill one of your own?”
I could hear him easily through the thin wood. “You’re not one of my own, Fanchon, or should I call you Helene? You are just like one of the rich bitches I serve food to at the college.”
“I didn’t grow up rich, and you know that,” I shouted.
“You sure acted like it. You took all Josephine’s money when she died and never offered to help anybody with it. You forced me to sell you out, Fanchon.”
“If all you wanted was money, why didn’t you just kill me yourself a year ago? Why involve Stepwald at all?”
“I was just giving information. But you just kept on messing it up, leaving, running, never being alone. Nobody could finish the job. But things have changed, Fanchon. I’m not lying about it being you or me. Marlene said either you’re dead by sun up or I am.”
“You’re pathetic, Jimmy. I’m glad Lisette didn’t live to see it.”
“Don’t you talk about her!” he banged on the door. “Lisette was the love of my life.”
“Then how could you turn on me?” I shouted back at him. “She was like my sister.”
“Because after she died nothing mattered,” he said screaming and now kicking the door with enough fury to knock my head forward with each hit.
“The only thing that matters to you is money. You would sell out your friends. Maybe I always did act like a rich bitch, but I was sure better than you. You really are trash.”
His response was to punch the door with such fury the wood splintered above me. I could feel the kick that followed bursting through the door into my back.
The kicks grew fiercer. The door was ready to split. I put my feet back on the ground and bounded away from the door to the rotted spot by the toilet and jumped. The floorboards beneath me gave way just enough to make me teeter and have to regain my balance. As soon as I was upright the door broke open and I jumped again and felt the floor give way and spill me into the water of the bayou. It was cold, and with the moon hiding under the trees there was nothing to shed light on how deep I was. I felt something slimy touch my ankle just before I felt the ground beneath my feet. I used the ground to push off in the direction of the dock at the front of the house, planning to get under it and hide.
I stayed under water kicking and pulling my way as fast as I could towards the dock. I heard the water whirl around me when Jimmy jumped in after me. I knew he would be disoriented like I was and took the opportunity to surface and take a gasp of air. I stayed up just long enough to get my bearings and went back under.
I didn’t think he saw me, but the splashing I heard heading in my direction told me he was getting closer. I didn’t have enough room between him and me to hide and formed another plan.
I kicked for the front of the dock hoping the crawfish trap was still there. By my estimate I could be there in one more breath. I kicked the water behind me and pulled myself forward. I surfaced one more time and saw that I was just arms length away. I reached for the string and kicked again, just as the string grazed my finger I felt Jimmy grab my foot. I kicked him again, and he didn’t let go, but I got just enough push from the kick to get the string within my grasp.
I held tight to the string. It burning my hand as Jimmy pulled me to him. As soon as I was at the end of the rope I could feel the trap. When he grabbed me to turn me around the trap broke free of its restraint, and I grabbed it before it sank.
I kept it below the surface of the water as Jimmy turned me to face him. When my eyes locked with his he lifted his hands over the top of my head and tried to push me underwater. I took my moment to swing the trap up and over his head. He didn’t realize what happened right away and still pushed my head under, but quickly pulled his hands back to try to protect himself. I came up from the water and saw him trying to pull the trap off. The bottom ring was resting on the top of his shoulders and the basket of the trap was over his face.
I reached for the bottom ring and held onto it with all of my strength, pulling it down. I let it crush my fingers between it and Jimmy. I forced it past his shoulders into the upper fleshy part of his arm, making it bleed. Jimmy screamed as the trap, filled to bursting with crawfish, smothered his face. I could see the little creatures scratching at him and pinching him, trying to get away. He was using one hand to pull the basket up and the other to try to swing at me. His angle was poor and his hits landed softly on my ribs. I kept my focus on the ring and refused to let go.
Jimmy started to slow down. His punching and thrashing were getting weak and he tried to focus the last of his energy on freeing himself. All was quiet for a moment when a gust of wind hit my back and sent a shiver up my spine. The breeze played along the surface of the water dancing as it went. I watched its path until it settled near a tree, shaking its leaves. Just as I was about to look away I saw two round eyes reflecting the white moonlight back to me. They disappeared, and I heard the water slosh where the creature had just been. It was the same sound I used to hear under my room at night when the gators were feeding.
I knew I had to get out. I pried my fingers out from under the ring and turned to the dock, swimming as fast as I could. I reached it in two kicks and pulled myself up in one go. I lay on the wood and caught two breaths before Jimmy realized I was gone. He thrashed in the water, finding a second wind from his newfound freedom. He ripped the netting of the trap and spilled crawfish back into the water. His face was red, covered with the blood of tiny lacerations from the crawfish.
He turned to look in my direction, took a step forward and a look of shock crossed his face. He only managed one tiny yelp before he was violently pulled underwater.
I heard sirens in the distance and considered whether I should stay and tell my story or go on the run. I thought about Lieutenant Portvliet telling me to put my hands up and the notes Jimmy left in the house. I thought I was back to being a suspect in my brother’s murder, and I was sure I was put there by my sister, Marlene Baxter, but I had no proof. It occurred to me that I knew one person who might be able to back me up, and I decided to go have a chat with her before I turned myself in. I was hoping I would be able to count on Mrs. Hadley.
Tippy’s
truth
I left the house before the police arrived and ran for the road. I went to where Jimmy said he parked his car and was surprised when I found The General tucked away there. I jumped in the driver’s seat and found the second set of keys Beau had been looking for in the ignition. Then I understood one of Josephine’s secrets. She had bought the car for Jimmy. That’s why it was stored in New Orleans, and that’s who she sent the keys to.
I started the car and drove the back roads towards the city. I found a convenience store and bought another pre-paid cell phone. I called Banyan and this time I took control of the conversation. I no longer had feelings for him and felt like an idiot for not realizing that what he liked so much about New Orleans was Lt. Portvliet. I caught them having dinner on a paddleboat last time he was in town, and he was always busy when I tried to call. I had been such an idiot and thrown myself at him. My crush was over and when I called this time I was all business.
“I have a lot to tell you, Banyan and three minutes to do it in, so don’t interrupt me. First, if you are looking for Jimmy he got eaten by an alligator by my parent’s front dock. Second, I know who poisoned George and Elaine and I have proof. I’m not telling you any of it until I confront Marlene about it or the evidence migh
t disappear. Meet me at the Endymion ball tomorrow night and stay close to Marlene.”
“I don’t think she’s going to be going to a ball, Fanchon. She just had transplant surgery.”
“I know what type of person she is. I bet she already found the energy to come to the police station and tell you and the lieutenant that she thinks I tried to murder her children.”
“She did,” he said. “And her lawyer said he can no longer represent you now that you and Marlene have separate interests.”
“Is there a warrant for my arrest now?” I asked.
His silence was my answer.
“Just make sure you stay close to her at the Endymion Ball. I will be there, and you can arrest me then if you still think I did it.”
“We know…”
I cut him off. “That’s all, Banyan. I’m not coming in. I don’t care what you think I should do, and I don’t care how it looks. Have fun with the lieutenant and tell her I’ll see her tomorrow.”
I looked to the city and then back to the bayou and chose to go where I was most familiar. I drove The General deep into the swampland. I parked it between the trees and left the windows down a crack as I laid back and tried to calm my nerves. After my adrenaline wore off, I was dead tired and fell asleep to the sounds of a rustling willow tree.
I woke when the sun was fully in the center of the sky. I looked down at my clothing. My dress was a mess – ripped up and splattered with blood and dirt. I decided I was a lost cause at the moment and headed to the Hadley House in my disheveled state.
I pulled up to the front entrance. I looked at the buzzer and decided I didn’t want to argue about coming in. Rather than touch the buzzer I pushed the gas pedal on the General to the floor and mowed down the gate. I pulled up to the house and barged through the front door, past Massey who was begging me to turn around. I burst open the door to the study and found Mrs. Hadley staring at me wide-eyed from behind her long mahogany desk.
“Marlene is trying to kill me, and I think you know why,” I shouted.
Massey offered to call the police, and Mrs. Hadley turned her away, waving Massey off with her well manicured hand.
She motioned for me to sit the wing-backed chair that Mr. Hadley had been in several days prior.
I was surprised she was so welcoming and stammered for a moment. Mrs. Hadley finally cut me off and said, “Just spit it out.”
I breathlessly told Mrs. Hadley everything that had happened since I left her house, including how I met Marlene, the night at the dinner party, the poisoning, and finally my confrontation with Jimmy. I told her Marlene hired Jason Stepwald to kill me and that I thought she hired the Maestro from her dinner party to poison her own children.
She tapped her long slender fingers on her desk for a few moments, not revealing anything through her dour expression when she finally said, “Marlene is everything that you suspect she is and worse. I learned early on that Marlene was not a normal person. You see, when I was a child I had a lovely white Pomeranian named Tippy. My little Tippy followed me everywhere, and he hated Marlene. Whenever he saw her he would bark and snarl like a little beast. That sort of nasty behavior was always reserved for Marlene. I suspect Tippy saw her for what she was. Marlene would get annoyed and when no adults were looking she would kick my Tippy and make threats to him. One day, by chance, my father left the gate open.” She looked down the lane in the direction of the gate I had just destroyed, and I shrunk in my chair. She looked back at me and continued. “Anyway, Tippy got out. I searched everywhere for him and turned up nothing. Finally, my mother took me around to the neighbors. I had a terrible feeling when we went to Belle Bleu that we would find Tippy there. My mother held my hand as we walked to the back of the house and there on the driveway, near the garage we found Tippy.”
Mrs. Hadley started to tear up. She reached forward for a tissue and said “He had been run over by a car. My mother confronted Lene’s chauffer, but he was adamant that he did not run the dog over. Marlene, at only ten years old, was standing behind her mother watching the driver swear his innocence. When she saw me watching her she smiled. It was more than a smile. It was a knowing little grin meant to tell me that she did it. When my mother looked in her direction she had already welled up her eyes with tears and said, “We all loved Tippy so much. How dreadful.”
Mrs. Hadley’s own eyes had filled with tears at her story. She continued. “That is the sort of person she is, Helene. You need to know who you are dealing with.”
“But, I never did anything to her. Until a few days ago I wouldn’t have been able to pick her out on the street.”
Mrs. Hadley walked back behind the desk and took an oil painting from the wall. It hid a safe, which she opened. She reached in and pulled out a paper, which she handed to me.
“This is the will of her father, Lene Bouman. My mother signed it as a witness and kept her copy here. I imagine I am holding the last existing copy of this document.”
She passed it to me. I started reading from the top. She reached her hand across the paper at me and pointed to a line at the bottom which read, “…assets are to be divided equally amongst my children.”
I furrowed my brow at her. “Did he have other children?”
“Marlene had a brother who came to an untimely and unexplained end. I will allow you to draw your own conclusions about that. The important fact is that the will was never amended after his son died. Lene left open the possibility that he might one day have another child. Upon his death it appeared that Marlene would inherit everything and the clause was meaningless. That is until at Lene’s funeral, his nurse arrived, Marsha Vallaincourt, holding a baby. I overheard the entire exchange between Mrs. Vallaincourt and Marlene. This was not because I was eavesdropping you see, but because I was always watching Marlene, careful not to turn my back on her. Marsha told Marlene that you were her sister, and she asked for help with the expense of raising you. Marlene turned her away quickly, having her thrown out before anybody else heard the exchange. Some months later she returned from the summer season with you in her arms. Your resemblance to her was so striking and most of our friends and neighbors assumed you were her child, born out of wedlock, but I knew better. Now you must understand you were just a baby and not yet a threat to Marlene. You were not set to inherit until your eighteenth birthday. I wondered what she would do to you when you became a threat. When it seemed you had drowned in the river I thought she had done it again, just like with her brother, just like with Tippy. I thought she had gotten away with murdering you.”
“I don’t understand why she decided to kill me at all. It seems like things were going well for her. Why would she all of a sudden, when I was in high school hire the tweed man to kill me and years later, when I was gone to New York, hire Jason Stepwald to kill me?”
“I know the answer to that as well. Some number of years ago, I imagine this was while you were in high school, I visited Oak Alley Plantation with my women’s club and I saw you wearing a florally adorned bonnet and serving mint juleps on the veranda. Your resemblance to Marlene was stunning.”
She looked out the window and placed her hand up to her face, tapping her finger on her lips as if lost in thought.
“And,” I said.
“And what?”
“So you saw me and then what happened?”
“Well, long story short I saw you and told Marlene and she paid me to keep silent about the whole thing. Before that went on too long, her tweed man was murdered, and he had all of the information about you, so nobody knew who you were or where you went. So the search was put on hold, and she stopped paying me.”
I flared my nostrils at her. “Oh don’t get on your high horse about it. I had no idea she was going to kill you. I just assumed she was going to pay me never to mention it and things would go on as they were. This estate is well past its glory, and I have people to take care of.”
“After she found me why didn’t she kill me outright?” I asked.
“My dear,” she reached forward and poked me in the side. “She was going to kill you. She hired the man in New York to kill you as you said, but she only realized her kidney’s were failing her a short time ago. Once she realized your organs were of value to her she wanted them, but she also wanted you out of her life, where you could not ask questions. What better place than to have you in prison.”
“And once she had a kidney she didn’t need me at all, so she renewed the kill order.”
Mrs. Hadley nodded. “She cannot have you out there now, Helene. You know too much. I wish I could help you take her down. I really do, but I have never been able to best her.”
I looked down at the will and folded it. Mrs. Hadley jumped forward and snatched the will out of my hands.
“Oh, no you don’t,” she said.
“I need it. I need it to prove why all of this is happening. You said it’s the only copy.”
“I know you need this to prove your innocence. But if you have this will and you don’t succeed in proving Marlene is behind these murders she will still be a free woman and she will know you got the will from me. She will make sure I pay for it.”
“Well, what do you want me to do? How am I supposed to take her down without the will?”
“I don’t know. You must find a way without it. I will help you put a nail in her coffin, but you will have to get her in there yourself. I will promise you this: if you manage to get the better of Marlene and I am sure her days are numbered I will make sure this will finds its way into your hands, so you can have your justice and your fortune.”
Endymion
I drove back to the quiet space I had found earlier on the bayou. I settled into my place under the willow tree and watched the branches sway while I formed a plan to get into the Endymion Ball. It was the most exclusive event of the year in New Orleans and security would be tight. I had tried to sneak into the ball before with Josephine, but they never left a nook or cranny around the building unguarded. The tickets were sold out years in advance, and it would be too expensive for me to buy my way in anyway. The only people at the ball without tickets were the people that rode on the floats that drove through the ball. That would have to be my way in.
A Masquerade of Saints (Saints Mystery Series Book 3) Page 15