by Dan Foley
“Should we wait here to see if La Pierre shows up?”
Wolf shook his head. “No, I don’t think she’ll come down here now. Maybe later, but we need to get back. Grandmere’s going to worry, and you need to go to work.”
“Right,” she agreed, but Wolf could tell she wasn’t happy about it.
Unlike Wolf, Stella had no doubt that La Pierre would be on her way in a matter of minutes. She locked the Shack and started the five minute walk toward home. With luck, she could throw a few things in the trunk and be gone by the time the witch got here.
She was ready to leave when she remembered that La Pierre always arrived from the north. If she headed that way, she would pass the witch on the road. The only other option was south, but the road ended at the gulf. Then she’d be trapped. She was caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. So it was north. It seemed to be her only choice. She hadn’t gone ten miles when she saw La Pierre’s black car coming toward her from the opposite direction. She slumped as far down as she could and hoped the woman wouldn’t see her. She breathed a sigh of relief when the witch’s car passed and then disappeared in her rear view mirror.
If Renee La Pierre was fuming when she pulled into Stella’s, she became incensed when she found the shack buttoned up. “God damn it Stella, you’re dead when I find you!” she screamed at the shack. Then she walked around back to look at what was left of Bubba.
His body was still propped up against the shack, but his head was ripped apart. Black flesh and brain matter were splashed across the side of the shack and ground. “Useless,” she said and spit on the body. Her familiar was hissing and snapping at it. “Let’s go,” she told it, then kicked Bubba’s corpse once before heading back to her car. “Wait, I need something before we leave.”
Stella was gone, Skeeter was gone, Bubba was useless and Lobo had threatened her. I should have taken you as soon as you came home. Well, that’s water under the bridge. I’m not going to rest until you and your woman are nothing but dead meat. I’ll turn you into my puppet and have you carve her into little pieces. No one challenges Renee La Pierre — no one. I think I’ll go see if your woman is working.
So, there you are, she thought when she saw the bright red Ford parked outside the small cabin on the bayou. It might as well have been a blinking neon “I’m here, come and get me” sign. Rose Leritz, your grandson has become a thorn in my side. After I deal with him, I may come back for you.
The Seven-Eleven lot was empty when Renee pulled in. “Excellent,” she told her familiar. “Let’s see if she’s in there.”
Lobo’s woman was not behind the counter. Instead a short, blond woman looked up when she walked in. Her eyes only flicked over Renee before she went back to whatever she had been doing when she walked in. “Excuse me, but do you have a rest room?” Renee asked.
“Sorry, no. It’s for employees only.”
“Oh dear, I really need one. Are you sure?”
“Yes ma’am. I’m sorry.”
Oh, I’ll just bet you are ... you smug little twit. Maybe I’ll come back and teach you some manners once I’m through with the boy and his woman. Right now I have something else to do.
The house looked exactly the same as it did the day before. Renee could see no sign that Lobo and the Woman had been here since her last visit. “Well, that’s all right, they have to come back sometime. Don’t they, my pet? We’ll just leave them our little present, shall we?”
11 – An Offer They Can’t Refuse
“What you going to do now?” Grandmere asked when Wolf and Charlotte told her what had happened at Stella’s.
“Tomorrow I’m going to start asking around and see if anyone knows La Pierre.”
“Who you goin’ to ask? Nobody goin’ to talk to you about that woman.”
“They might, if I make them an offer they can’t refuse.”
“What you mean, make them an offer they cain’t refuse?”
“Nothing, it’s just something from a book I’m reading.”
“What book?”
“The Godfather. It’s about the mafia.”
“What’s this mafia?”
Charlotte gave Wolf a look of disbelief. “It’s a bunch of bad men from Italy. The Godfather was the head of one of the gangs. When he made people an offer they couldn’t refuse it was because they were afraid of him.”
“An’ you think people round here goin’ to be ‘fraid of you? They already ‘fraid of that witch.”
“Not me — him,” Wolf told her, pointing to Little Wolf.
“That might work,” Grandmere agreed. “Where you two goin’ now?”
“Charlotte glanced at her watch. “Oh my God, we have to leave or I’m going to be late for work.”
“Then get. You don’t ever want be late for work.”
Five minutes later Wolf was pulling into the Seven-Eleven. He parked in the same place he had the day before. Charlotte climbed out, and then stuck her head back in the window. “You going to wait out here again?”
“I am. I still have a book to finish.”
“Then why don’t you keep Little Wolf with you for company? He can let you know if La Pierre drives by.”
Wolf doubted that was going to happen, but he agreed to have Little Wolf stay with him.
“Great.” Charlotte opened her purse and the familiar jumped through the window and onto the passenger seat.
“Don’t get used to it pal, that’s Charlotte’s seat.” Little Wolf looked up at him and grinned.
Wolf watched Charlotte’s relief park and walk into the Seven-Eleven just before her shift was over. Charlotte came out a few minutes later.
“Better move it pal, she’s going to want her seat,” Wolf told Little Wolf when he saw her. The familiar stayed right where he was until Charlotte open the passenger side door. Then he bounded to the dashboard. As soon as she was in, he jumped into her lap. When she was settled, she leaned over and kissed Wolf on the cheek. “Hey, you never came in to use the rest room. That must be a record.”
“Yeah, well ... I didn’t want to get you in trouble. I can’t be walking in and using the rest room all the time if I’m not an employee.”
“Wait ... you didn’t? Did you?”
“Well, maybe once ... or twice. It’s no big deal?”
“Ugh. At least tell me you went in the weeds and not against the building.”
“Of course I went in the weeds. I’m not a complete animal.”
“That’s still disgusting. You couldn’t even wash your hands. Don’t even touch me until you do.”
“Hey, I didn’t pee on my hands and I didn’t have to worry about putting the seat back down out there.”
“Very funny. How about we go home?”
Wolf didn’t have a key to the front door, so it was Charlotte who stepped on the severed hand lying on the stoop when she stepped forward to unlock it. “What ?” she blurted out, and then retched when she saw it. Inside her purse, Little Wolf was howling to get out.
“Merde,” Wolf swore when he saw it. “Get inside,” he urged, and practically pushed her through the door.
“What was that? Where did it come from?”
Wolf knew exactly what it was and where it had come from. “It was Bubba’s hand. La Pierre left it. She wants us to know she knows where you live.”
Charlotte shivered and grabbed his hand. “You mean where we live.”
“Right, where we live. But that’s okay, tomorrow we’re going to find out where she lives.”
“How?”
“I don’t know, but I’ll find a way.”
After a night where neither of them slept more than an hour or two, Wolf was up with the sun. Charlotte joined him in the kitchen as he was pouring his first cup of coffee. Little Wolf was sitting next to him on the table.
“How do you think she found out about us and where we live?”
“It must have been the asshole who came into the sto
re. The one Little Wolf bit.”
“But how did he find you?”
“He didn’t find me, he found the Torino. I was driving it the day I got into that fight. He saw it then. All he had to do was look for it, and he found me.”
“Can we find her that way? You saw her car?”
“Maybe, but I’ve got some other ideas. We can try them out after we eat.”
“Why do we have to wait? I’m too nervous to eat.”
“Because no one else is up at this hour, so we might as well eat so we don’t have to stop once we start.”
Charlotte could see the logic in what he said, but she only nibbled at the plate of scrambled eggs and grits he set in front of her. Coffee though, that was another matter. She had already had three cups when the clock finally showed it was eight o’clock. “It must be late enough now. Can’t we get going?”
“Yes,” Wolf answered. “But this time we’ll take your pickup.”
“Why, she’s seen that too?”
“Yeah, but at least it fits in down here.”
“Where are we going first?” Charlotte asked once they were in the truck.
“Buster’s. I’ll bet he knows every car and every driver around here.”
When Wolf pulled into the garage, the bay door was open and Buster was already at work. Wolf could see the lower half of his body sticking out from under the hood of a dust covered pickup. “Buster, I need to talk to you for a minute,” Wolf called from outside.
Buster pulled his head out from under the hood and smiled when he saw Wolf and Charlotte. “Is it about your pickup? It’s still sitting out back. I’ve got the new tires for it, but I haven’t put them on yet. I need to finish this first.”
“No something else.”
Buster came out, wiping his hands on the same dirty rag he always used. He frowned when he saw Charlotte’s pickup. “Where’s that fancy red car of yours? I kind of like seeing it drive by.”
“Yeah, you and everybody else, where’re using Charlotte’s pickup today. We will be until mine’s ready.”
“You can have that by the end of the day. That all right with you?”
“Sure, but there’s something else I need to talk to you about.”
“What’s that?
“Renee La Pierre.”
Buster stepped back as if he had been slapped when he heard the name. “Who?” he stammered, but it was too late to feign ignorance. His reaction had given him away.
“Renee La Pierre, you know who I’m talking about. I want to know everything you know about her, including where she lives and what kind of car she drives.”
“I don’t know anything about her.”
“Sure you do. You know every car from here to the delta. Don’t worry, anything you tell us is between you and us. No one else will ever know.”
“I can’t,” Buster told him, and now he was practically whining.
“Sure you can,” Charlotte said, and called Little Wolf out of the pickup. The familiar ran to her and perched on her shoulder where he stared into Buster’s face.
“What the hell is that? Is that a rat?”
Charlotte favored Little Wolf with a kiss before answering. “Not really. He’s what you might call a demon. We, he and I, think you should tell Melvin what he wants to know. Don’t we little guy?”
Little Wolf’s answer was a nod and a growl.
Wolf looked from Buster to Little Wolf. “He can be very ... persuasive if I ask him to. Do you want to see?”
Buster didn’t answer; he just shook his head no.
“Then tell me what kind of car she drives, and where she lives.”
“It’s a black, ’62 Caddie. I don’t know where she lives, but it’s not in Bayou La Pointe.”
“Take a guess,” Wolf told him.
“South of here. I do some work for her once in a while, oil changes and tune-ups. She always comes in from the south.”
Charlotte spoke up next. “Does she pay by check? Her address will be on a check if she does.”
Buster looked from Wolf, to Charlotte, to Little Wolf. “No, cash. Always cash. That’s all I know about her, I swear.”
“All right, I believe you. Have the truck ready this afternoon.”
Buster nodded that he would, and hurried back into the depths of the garage.
“One other thing,” Wolf called after him. “I’ll know if you tell her I was here looking for her.”
He was answered by silence from the garage.
“Now where?” Charlotte asked.
“Mackey’s.”
“Billy Bodie owns Mackey’s now. You know that right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Billy’s been trying to get into my pants ever since you left. He keeps asking me out since I got divorced. I keep telling him no, but he never gets the hint.”
“Really? I guess we’ll have to put a stop to that, won’t we?”
Charlotte smiled when she heard that. “Yeah, I guess we will.”
“Hey, Melvin,” Billy called out when Wolf came into the store. He did a double take when Charlotte walked in behind him. He nodded to her, but he didn’t say anything.
“So, Melvin, what can I help you with today?”
“We need to find someone.”
“Really, who?”
“Renee La Pierre. You know her?”
“I might, it depends on why you want her,” Billy replied, giving Charlotte a look that flew right by Wolf. Charlotte didn’t miss it though.
Before Wolf could answer, Charlotte took his hand and answered for them. “I think I’m pregnant. I’ve heard she can help with things like that. We thought you might know where she lives.” She gave Wolf’s hand a quick squeeze when he started to say something.
Bodie gave Charlotte a knowing look before answering. “I think she lives down in Lavern. That’s what I’ve heard anyway. She stopped in here once and left me a card, told me to call her if I ever saw anything strange going on around here. Said she’d make it worth my while if I did. You want her number if I can find it?”
“Yes, please,” Charlotte answered.
Bodie took a small metal box filled with index cards from under the counter. After thumbing through it, he drew a card out and read off the number. It was the one they already had.
“No address on there?” Wolf asked.
“Nope,” Bodie answered and showed him the card. All it contained was La Pierre’s name and number.
“Thanks Billy, I’ll owe you for this,” Wolf told him as he wrote it down.
“No problem, and good luck with that,” Bodie answered, nodding at Charlotte.
“Oh, I’m not really pregnant; I was just having a little fun with you, Billy. We want La Pierre for something else.”
“Yeah, Like what?”
Wolf put the pen back on the counter and looked Billy in the eye. “Like some of that weird shit she was asking about. You should call and tell her we talked to you. Maybe she’ll make it worth your while.”
Charlotte started laughing when they got back in the pickup. “Did you see the look on his face when I said I was pregnant? I thought he was going to choke.”
“He looked surprised ... I guess. Why did you do that?”
“Like I told him, I was having a little fun with him. Now that he knows I’m with you, maybe he’ll stop bothering me every time he comes into the store.”
Wolf looked at his watch before starting the motor. “We’ve still got a couple of hours. You want to head down to Lavern, or get some lunch before you go to work?”
“Lavern, definitely, I can grab something to eat at the store.”
“Lavern it is,” Wolf agreed, and the three of them, Wolf, Charlotte and Little Wolf headed south to find the witch.
After they were gone, Bodie made the call.
Lobo, I thought he’d call earlier. Maybe they just found my little gift, Renee La Pierre thought when her phone rang. She almos
t didn’t pick it up. Maybe I’ll let him stew on it for a while. But on the fourth ring, she did. She was surprised when the voice on the other end belonged to someone else.
“Ms. LaPierre, this is Billy Bodie up in Bayou La Pointe. Melvin Lobo and Charlotte Arquette were in here asking about you this morning.”
“Really, and what exactly did they want to know?”
“They wanted to know if I knew where you lived.”
“And what did you tell them?”
Bodie replied after a slight hesitation. It was just enough to tell her he was lying. “Nothing. I told them I’d never heard of you.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah. Of course.”
“All right Mr. Bodie, thank you for the call.”
La Pierre was fuming as she hung up the phone. The only good thing about the call was that she now knew the woman’s name ... Charlotte Arquette. She had to assume that, as of right now, they had no idea of where she lived. But that could change if they got lucky ... or found the wrong person. She had to make sure that didn’t happen. She would do that by fanning the fear of the locals who thought she was a voodoo queen. It was an image she had carefully cultivated over the years.
“Come my pet, we have work to do,” she told her familiar. The creature chittered at her as they left the house. “Which of these should we take with us?” she asked. “The cat, the dog, maybe the snake?” All the creatures were dead. They were part of the collection she kept on hand to do her bidding. Her familiar kept her supplied with servants, replacing the old with new on a daily basis as the old one became too rotted to be useful. It was her own personnel spy network. The gators had proved especially useful in keeping an eye on Lobo. In the end, she took the cat. It had decayed the most and would have the greatest effect.
The witch’s first stop was a shack alongside the bayou. The old woman there sold boiled peanuts, pecans and crawdads when she could get them. Renee regularly bought from her, as she did from everyone in Lavern. She wanted people to see her and remember her.
“Ms. La Pierre,” the woman greeted her when she stepped from her car. Her eyes widened when the familiar followed on her heels. She dropped to her knees, crossed herself and started crying when the dead cat fell out of the car and staggered toward her, leaving a trail of matted fur in its wake.