Chapter Two #2
Was her idea really that crazy? She grabbed hold of one of the lanterns and went into the small third bedroom.
This room held a compact round table and two chairs.
It was here her mother would meet the clients who would come to her at night, seeking a spell or something else to heal them or somebody they loved.
One wall was covered with a dark blue scarf with the sun and the moon on it. A dark purple scarf also covered the top of the table. A bookcase held bottles and poultices, pieces of swamp plants and flowers and a variety of other items Mystique had used in her spells.
There was no question that her mother sometimes liked to play up her role as the voodoo queen, but her real power was in her knowledge and understanding of people and what they needed to feel better.
Dominique sank down at the table where her mother used to sit and a new, deep grief filled her.
At the time of her death, Mystique was in perfect health and should have lived another thirty or forty years.
She should have been at her daughters’ weddings and held her grandchildren.
Dominique and her sisters had been robbed of their mother’s presence… of her love and support.
Mystique had been a spontaneous, free-spirited kind of woman.
She was not a traditional parent, but she’d still been a wonderful mother who had always told her daughters how much they were loved by her.
The only way Dominique knew to keep her mother alive in her heart was to live her life just like her mother had.
The grief suddenly transformed to a deep anger. She wasn’t about to give up on her quest to see Pierre behind bars. She had promised Luke she wouldn’t go back out tonight to trail the man she believed killed her mother.
However, tomorrow night she would be back out there again, shadowing the gator-hunter in the darkness of the night.
“WE HAVE A big problem,” Luke said to Clay and Daniel the next morning. The three of them were once again seated in the murder room.
“What kind of a big problem?” Daniel asked.
“A Dominique Santori problem,” Luke replied, and then proceeded to explain to the others about Dominique coming to his apartment the night before and the discussion she’d had with him.
“I told her it was a dangerous idea and that she should leave the investigation to us, but I knew she wasn’t listening to me.” He continued to explain about going out and finding her crouched down in the darkness in front of Pierre’s shanty.
“Damn, something like that could get her killed,” Daniel replied with a deep frown. “If you recall, initially Angelique tried to meddle in the investigation.”
“Yeah, but all she was doing was questioning potential suspects and you got her to stop. I’m not sure if anything will stop Dominique,” Luke replied with frustration. “I tried to reason with her, but she’s adamant that her plan will get us the evidence we need to get Pierre behind bars.”
“We aren’t even a hundred percent sure that Pierre is the killer,” Daniel replied.
“Dominique is certain,” Luke replied. “And she’s also certain at some point in time he’s going to dig up the book that he presumably stole and that will be the proof we need to arrest him.”
“Well, we need to figure out a way to stop her,” Daniel said.
“Good luck with that,” Luke replied drily. “I got her to promise she’d stay in last night after I left her place, but I’m afraid she’ll be back out there again tonight.”
Daniel reared back in his chair. “The first thing I’ll do is have Angelique talk to her. Maybe big sister can get her to stop with this crazy idea of hers.”
“And if that doesn’t work?”
Daniel eyed him for a long moment. “Then maybe you should partner up with her and see if you can keep her out of trouble and alive.”
Luke stared at his boss in stunned surprise. “You’re kidding me, right?”
“I’m not kidding. I would never forgive myself if something bad happened to my soon-to-be sister-in-law. Legally, we can’t stop her from doing what she’s doing, so the next best thing we can hope for is with you by her side she won’t come to any harm,” Daniel said.
Luke’s head reeled as he considered what his new assignment would entail. “It’s going to be difficult for me to be up half the night with Dominique and then show up here in the mornings for my normal shifts.”
“We can arrange your shifts differently,” Daniel replied.
Luke frowned thoughtfully. “I’ve got two weeks of vacation time coming to me. Why don’t I just take it now so I can devote whatever time necessary to keep up with Dominique’s nighttime activities?”
“I don’t expect you to take your vacation time to work,” Daniel protested.
“I don’t have anything else planned, so I’ll just take it and do a little bodyguard duty.” The worst thing about this was the knowledge that he would have no set schedule. Normally, he was a stickler for structure but most of that would have to go out the window for now.
“Hopefully, Angelique will be able to talk some sense into Dominique and none of this will be necessary,” Daniel said.
“Let’s hope so,” Luke replied. If Angelique couldn’t turn her sister around, then Luke would be spending his vacation time babysitting a headstrong woman…albeit a beautiful one.
“I’ll speak with Angelique as soon as I get back to my office and we should know how the wind blows soon after that,” Daniel said.
“What do you really think about all this?” Clay asked him the minute Daniel had left the room.
Luke released a deep sigh. “I’m not sure what to think. On the one hand, I just want to do my normal job with the normal hours, but on the other hand, I don’t want to even think about Dominique being out there in the dark all alone spying on a potential killer.”
“Sounds to me like the Santori sisters are definitely a headstrong trio of women,” Clay observed.
“I don’t know about Monique and Angelique, but I can definitely say that Dominique is willful. I tried and tried to talk some sense into her last night, but she was having nothing to do with it.”
Luke couldn’t help but think about how beautiful she had looked the night before, with her dark brown eyes flashing and her chin thrust upward in stubborn defiance.
“At least her idea isn’t a bad one,” Clay said. “If we can tie that missing book to Pierre then that would be enough evidence for us to make an arrest and get him prosecuted for the crime.”
“It might not be such a bad idea, but she definitely shouldn’t be the one out there in the dark with a potential killer,” Luke said.
Daniel returned to the room and sank down. “Okay, so I spoke to Angelique, who was positively appalled by her sister’s plan. She was going to call Dominique the minute we hung up.”
It was twenty minutes later when Angelique called back to tell Daniel that she’d been unable to make any headway with her sister.
When Daniel hung up from that call, he looked at Luke once again. “I would suggest you take off now and get some sleep before your bodyguard duties begin.”
It was definitely a duty Luke didn’t particularly want, but he would do it to the best of his ability, knowing that a woman’s life could be at risk.
He got up from the table. “Then how about I officially take my vacation time starting now?”
“You know you don’t have to do that,” Daniel protested.
“I know, but it will actually make things a little easier on me,” Luke replied. This way he wouldn’t have to worry about working sporadic hours during the day. Hopefully, he would still be able to keep a routine of sorts. After the chaos of his childhood, routines were very important to him.
Minutes later, Luke left the police station and headed back home. Once there, he sank down in his recliner with the intention of catching a nap, but sleep was the furthest thing from his mind.
Instead, it was Dominique who took up residence in his thoughts.
The woman was not only beautiful, but she’d smelled amazing, too.
Her scent was one of mysterious spices and hints of florals.
He had found it extremely attractive. He’d always thought she was gorgeous but he’d never asked her out on a date.
He’d instinctively known she wasn’t the type of woman he would want as a wife, so what would be the point in dating her?
He must have nodded off, for he awakened just before four. He stripped off his uniform, took a shower and then changed into a pair of jeans and a navy-blue T-shirt.
At six he fixed himself a sandwich with a handful of chips for dinner, and by six-thirty he was ready to leave the house and head to Dominique’s shanty. It was plenty early enough that he knew she wouldn’t have left for her spying duties yet.
Maybe it was possible he’d be able to distract her with conversation long enough that it would be too late to shadow Pierre. That might work for one night, but it certainly wouldn’t work every night.
Perhaps she’d tire of this. After all, surely an attractive woman like her had better things to do with her time in the evenings. He had no idea if she was dating anyone, but if she was, undoubtably that person wouldn’t want her out there putting her life at risk.
It didn’t take him long to get to the area where the people living in the swamp kept their cars. He parked and got out. The swamp entrance itself was like a giant maw of dark greenery and tangled brush. It did not look inviting, but rather appeared forbidding.
Luke headed in. He carried with him a flashlight, although at this time of the evening it was unnecessary. He wore his shoulder holster and gun but he hoped he wouldn’t have to shoot anyone before the night was over.
He walked quickly on the narrow path, dodging low-hanging tree limbs and Spanish moss. The air grew slightly cooler as he went deeper in where the sun couldn’t shine through the thick leaves overhead.
Finally, Dominique’s shanty came into view. He went across the bridge and then knocked on the front door. She answered the door and gazed at him in obvious surprise.
“Luke…what are you doing here?” she asked.
He forced a smile to his lips. He suddenly had a very bad feeling about all this. “You asked for a partner, so here I am.”