Chapter Five
Daniel left Angelique’s with the kiss they’d shared in the forefront of his mind. Her lips had been so soft, so pillowy and luscious. She had tasted delicious and he could have kissed her for hours if a little part of his brain hadn’t intervened.
Had it been wrong to kiss her? She certainly didn’t believe so. Still, the last thing he wanted to do was somehow take advantage of her. Was it her need for answers from him that made her kiss him so passionately?
He didn’t have the answer to that, and in any case even though he’d love to kiss her again, he was determined to rein in his attraction to her.
Surely it was best to keep things strictly professional between them.
Blurring the lines wasn’t a good idea. Still, he’d like to know what man had made her believe that all men lied.
By the time morning came, he was once again immersed in the two cases…
one a murder and one an attempted murder.
He contacted Judge Waylan Frankel to get a search warrant for Pierre Guidry’s shanty.
The judge wasn’t in but his clerk took the message, and Daniel hoped to get the warrant before the end of the day.
At nine, with the sun bright overhead, Daniel took Clay and Luke with him back to the swamp in search of the elusive Jacque LeBlanc, the gator hunter who Angelique had told him about.
Their first stop was at George’s place to see if they could get directions to Jacque’s shanty. “To be honest, I don’t know exactly where Jacque lives. We usually meet up at an old cypress tree down that way,” George said.
He pointed to a narrow trail Daniel had never been on before. “If you take that, you’ll eventually come to a fork. Take the left path and you’ll come up on the huge tree. You can’t miss it, and I would guess he lives someplace right around there.”
“Thanks, George. Hopefully we can find him,” Daniel replied.
The three men headed up the path where brush, vines and tree roots encroached. It was a hot day and humidity hung thick as mosquitoes and other insects buzzed lazily in the air.
They came to the fork in the path and went to the left, where the path was even narrower. Delicate spiderwebs hung in the bushes and trees they passed and appeared to sparkle in the sunlight that managed to peek through the leaves overhead.
Small animals ran on either side of the path, and in a large pool of water they passed several alligators gliding in the dark depths.
They finally came to a huge bald cypress tree. There was no question that this was the tree George had mentioned to them. It rose majestically on the side of a still pool of water, far bigger than the others nearby.
They continued on the path and eventually came to a sturdy-looking shanty tucked deep within the overgrown wilderness. “Jacque LeBlanc,” Daniel yelled out.
He had no idea if this was the right place or not. He was about to holler once again when the door opened and a tall, well-built man stepped out on the porch. “Jacque LeBlanc?”
“Who’s asking?”
“I’m Chief of Police Daniel LeCroix and these are two of my men, Officers Caldwell and Madison,” Daniel said. “We’d like to talk to you.”
“About?”
“Mystique Santori’s murder,” Daniel replied.
“You might as well come on in,” Jacque said and opened his door wide.
The inside of Jacque’s shanty was a bit of a shock. Not only was it neat and clean, but there was a large bookcase against one wall filled with books about a variety of subjects.
Jacque himself was also a bit of a surprise. His dark hair was long and tied at the nape of his neck like most of the men in the swamp. He was clean-shaven and clad in jeans and a navy-blue short-sleeved button-down shirt. He wore the air of the city about him instead of the swamp.
“Please, have a seat.” He gestured them to the dark gray sofa, while he sat in the matching chair facing them. “Now, what can I do for you?”
“Tell us what you know about Mystique Santori’s murder,” Daniel said.
Jacque sat back in the chair and raised a dark brow. “What makes you think I know anything about it?”
“Angelique Santori told us you know a lot about what goes on here in the swamp,” Daniel explained.
“I try to keep my ear to the ground,” Jacque replied.
“So, have you heard anything that might help us solve this murder?” Daniel leaned forward, hoping…praying that the man might know something that would be useful to their investigation.
“I can tell you Mystique’s death shook up most of the people around here. Some of them feared she was powerful enough to come back to life and worried that she would come back filled with a vengeance,” Jacque said. “Most everyone in the swamp was afraid of Mystique.”
“Were you afraid of her?” Daniel asked curiously.
Jacque’s green eyes appeared to darken. “No, I’m not afraid of anything.
Besides, I met Mystique one night not too long ago.
I was fishing in a small pool of water and she was out looking for a particular kind of flower that only opened at night.
She surprised me by sitting next to me on the bank and we chatted for about an hour. ”
“Did she say anything that might help us find her killer?” Daniel asked.
“No, although she did complain about her man, Pierre Guidry. She said she was done with him. She was tired of their constant bickering. She mostly talked about her daughters and how much she loved them. Oh, she did mention that somebody was irritated with her because a love spell didn’t work.”
“Charles Lathrop,” Luke murmured.
“Anything else you can tell us?” Daniel asked.
Jacque shook his head. “I’m sorry I don’t have more to tell you.”
“There was an attack on Angelique. Do you know anything about that?”
“No, I haven’t heard anything about that.”
Daniel stood, and Clay and Luke also got up from the sofa. “I appreciate you speaking with us. Can you continue to keep your ear to the ground and let us know if you hear anything that might help us out in our investigation?”
Jacque also rose to his feet. “I can do that. Why don’t you give me your cell phone number? I don’t go into town much, but I can give you a call if I hear anything that might be useful to you.”
It took only moments for the two to exchange numbers, and then the three lawmen left the shanty. They didn’t speak until they got back to the car.
“Interesting guy,” Luke said as Daniel drove back toward town.
“Did you see all those books? I’ve never known a gator hunter who is a big reader before,” Clay said.
“I have a feeling Jacque isn’t swamp born and raised. I should have asked him how long he’s been there and where he came from, not that any of that matters,” Daniel replied. “One thing is for certain, Charles Lathrop just moved right up there with Pierre as a suspect.”
“I didn’t like that guy the first time we talked to him,” Luke said. “I thought he was very arrogant and more than a little bit creepy.”
“Yeah, it’s no wonder the man needed a love spell,” Clay added. “And apparently even that didn’t work for him.”
“We’ll see if he’s a killer as well as an arrogant creep,” Daniel replied.
The afternoon passed quickly as the search warrant for Pierre’s place came through and after the search was completed, Daniel requested a search warrant for Charles Lathrop’s home. Nothing of interest was found at Pierre’s, so Daniel was hoping they would find something at Charles’s house.
As they waited for that search warrant to come through, the three of them sat in the conference room dedicated to the murder and not only tossed out ideas about Mystique’s murder but also the attack on Angelique.
“It’s too bad Angelique’s sisters couldn’t come up with a single suspect for us,” Clay said.
“It’s too bad Angelique doesn’t have a clue as to who wants to harm her,” Daniel replied. “It’s hard to investigate a case when you don’t even know where to start,” he added in a frustration that was growing far too familiar.
“Hopefully Angelique scared the person away for good,” Luke said.
“I’d like to believe that, but I don’t,” Daniel replied. “My biggest fear is that the perp is going to try again, and next time Angelique might not be so lucky.”
Once again, his head filled with thoughts of the amazingly hot kiss they had shared. Kissing Angelique could definitely become addictive if he let it.
There was just something that made him want to know more about her. She’d shared a little bit about herself the night before, but it hadn’t been nearly enough to satisfy his curiosity.
Of course, in the end it all meant nothing. She was just a beautiful woman who intrigued him, and more importantly, she was the victim in two crimes. But she really wasn’t his type and, in any case, he had no time for romance. He had a murder and an attempted murder to solve.
He couldn’t do anything to save Mystique. She was already dead and gone. But somehow, someway he needed to figure out who had attacked Angelique before the person struck again with potentially deadly results.
ANGELIQUE WALKED THROUGH the swamp with her mother’s knife held tight in her hand. It was early afternoon, and knowing she was cooking for Daniel tonight, she needed to go to the grocery store and pick up a few things.
She had always felt as if the swamp welcomed her when she walked through the junglelike greenery.
Today was no different. A faint breeze rustled through the treetops.
Birds called to each other in a sweet chorus overhead as small animals scurried through the brush.
In the distance she heard the slap of an alligator’s tail against the water.
She had never been afraid here before, but today a new wariness filled her as she walked quickly down the path that would lead her to her car. She kept her gaze focused on the left and the right of the trail with an occasional glance over her shoulder to make sure she wasn’t being followed.