Chapter 2 #3
“The message on my mirror appeared only when I had a hot shower, and it steamed the glass. It disappeared when the steam dried.”
“That could be explained,” Gisele said.
“My apartment door was locked. There was no sign of forced entry.”
“The perp is good at picking locks.” Gisele smiled. “What else ya got?”
“The messages I found in the sand near my folks’ boathouse. There were no footprints around it.”
“That can be explained as well,” Gisele said.
“They could have dragged a branch across the sand to hide them. But stop worrying about that for now. We have a job to do.” She leaned close.
“Joyce is our high school principal; it’s her birthday, and she hasn’t been laid since her divorce six years ago. ”
“What are we supposed to do about that? Pay some man to take her to bed?” Holly studied Joyce as she tapped her toe to the beat of the music, her gaze on the couples dancing. The woman was oblivious to her friends’ proposed machinations, which was just as well.
Holly would have hated the idea of her cousin and friends setting her up with a male prostitute.
“No, no, no.” Gisele shook her head. “She needs a little romance in her life. There has to be an available man who’ll treat her right. Someone who isn’t intimidated by a powerful, take-charge woman.”
“Don’t look now, but a man just stopped beside her,” Holly murmured.
The man in question swayed a little as he held out his hand. “Care to dance?”
Joyce shot a wary glance toward the ladies at the table.
Gisele nodded, encouragingly.
Holly shrugged.
Ouida Mae grinned. “Don’t worry about us. We’ll be here when you get back.”
Joyce gave the man a weak smile and allowed him to help her to her feet. Soon, they were two-stepping around the dance floor.
Well, Joyce was two-stepping, while her partner was stepping on her toes and stumbling. After several passes, the man’s movements only got worse.
Holly cringed. “Think we should rescue her?”
“Yeah.” Gisele rose from her chair. “If we don’t do it soon, she’ll be black and blue all over.”
The three women had just started across the floor when Joyce’s dance partner tripped and face-planted on the floor.
Simon and Landry rushed forward, lifted the man by the arms and half-carried him to the exit.
Rene met the men at the door and held it open so they could carry the man out.
While her dance partner was being handled, Joyce stood in the middle of the dance floor, her eyes wide, shaking her head.
Before her friends could reach her, the band started playing again.
A man stepped up to Joyce and offered his hand.
Gisele grabbed Holly and Ouida Mae, stopping them before they stepped out onto the dance floor. “Wait.”
“Is that Mitchell Marceau?” Ouida Mae whispered.
Gisele nodded. “I almost didn’t recognize him. He’s usually wearing an old T-shirt covered in worm dirt or fish guts from working all day at the marina.”
“Dang, he cleans up well,” Ouida Mae said.
“Let’s see if he’s got two left feet,” Holly suggested. “We might still need to rescue Joyce.”
They stood back, watching as Mitch led Joyce around the dance floor, his footwork simple but smooth, all the while talking and smiling at the pretty principal.
“Well, I’ll be gobsmacked,” Gisele said. “I would never have guessed Marceau could dance so well.”
“Me either but look at him go like it’s as easy as breathing.” Ouida Mae smiled. “It’s nice to see Principal Ashcraft having a good time.”
“I think we can take our seats,” Holly said. “She seems to be in good hands.”
As they started toward their table, Holly caught sight of Cody making his way toward her. “Oh, great,” she muttered beneath her breath, ducked her head and pretended she didn’t see him.
“Glad to see Rene let you off early. We can have that dance now.” He held out his hand.
“Sorry,” a deep voice said from behind Holly. “She’s already spoken for.” Simon stepped up beside her, took her hand and led her past Cody onto the wooden floor sprinkled with sawdust.
Holly cast a glance over her shoulder.
Cody’s eyebrows formed a deep V on his forehead as he glared at Simon’s back.
Already back at their table, Ouida Mae and Gisele each gave her a thumbs up while grinning from ear to ear.
“You don’t have to go through with the dance,” she said as he swung her into his arms.
He paused and raised an eyebrow.
Her gaze shot to Cody, standing at the edge of the dance floor. “Well, maybe it would be a good thing to go a few times around.” She lifted her chin toward the disgruntled man. “Cody’s lurking.”
“You might change your mind after I’ve stepped on your toes.”
“I’m sure it would be a lot less painful than being manhandled by Cody.”
Simon led her expertly, keeping time to the music and even twirling her out and back like a seasoned professional.
When the music came to a stop, Holly laughed up at him, breathless and flushed. “You undersold your abilities. Where did you learn to dance?”
He didn’t move to take her back to the table, but kept her in his arms, holding her hand loosely, his other hand still at the small of her back.
“My mother and father loved to dance. They took me with them on numerous occasions. My mother insisted I learn to dance, saying women love a man who can dance.”
“She’s right.” Holly tilted her head, studying the man. “And yet you joined the military…?”
He nodded. “We have a long line of military in my family. My great-grandfather, grandfather, grandmother, mother, father, my brother and me.”
“Wow. That’s some lineage.”
“We might be a military family, but we also know how to have fun.”
“Thank you all for your service.” She glanced toward her friends. “I guess I should rejoin my friends.”
Simon’s hand at the small of her back pulled her a little closer. “Cody’s coming. I can take you back to the table, or we can move right into the next dance.”
She caught sight of Cody making a beeline toward them. “Next dance, please.”
The music started, and Simon swept her away from the oncoming Cody, moving smoothly in a lilting waltz.
It had been a long time since Holly had danced, but with Simon leading, she was able to follow with ease.
Simon glanced down at her. “So, what’s Cody’s deal that he thinks he has a shot with you, when he clearly doesn’t?”
“In high school, Paul, Cody and I were a little friend group. We went everywhere together. After high school, I went off to college to follow in my parents’ footsteps and earned a degree in biology.
When I returned home, our little trio fell back in place until Paul asked me to be his girlfriend.
Cody lost his shit. He was sure I’d choose him.
” She snorted. “I told him I never felt anything other than friendship for him, but he wouldn’t let it go. ”
“Is that why you left Bayou Mambaloa?”
She shook her head, her brow furrowing. “No. I left because of the curse you don’t believe in.”
“Tell me about it. Maybe you’ll convince me to believe.”
She drew in a breath, still moving about the floor to the three-count beat of the waltz. “My folks worked as biologists for the state to help preserve the bayou ecosystem. I worked in a lab, studying samples brought in from different locations around industries on the edges of the bayou.”
When she paused, he swung her out and back, giving her a moment to think of the words that wouldn’t sound crazy to a man who didn’t believe in Voodoo or magic.
“One day, I found a message burned into the bark of a cypress tree near the home where I lived with my parents. It said, in all caps, SECRETS KILL.”
“Messages don’t just burn into tree bark by themselves,” he said softly. “People make those happen.”
“Whatever.” She shrugged. “That night, my boyfriend, Paul, drove into the bayou and drowned. They inspected his car. Nothing was wrong with it. The brakes were functional. It was a clear night. There were no skid marks on the road to indicate he'd dodged an animal or was forced off the road by another driver. He just ended up in the bayou. When they found him, he was still in his seatbelt. No sign of struggle to free himself or try to get out of the vehicle. The Medical Examiner didn’t find any sign of head trauma that would’ve knocked him out. ”
“Could it have been suicide?” Simon asked.
She drew a deep breath and shook her head. “Paul wasn’t the kind of guy who would take his own life. He had a good job and made a good living. He’d just purchased a house and was scheduled to move in a week from that day.”
“And he had a great girlfriend.” Simon stared down into her eyes. “Doesn’t make sense.”
“The curse,” Holly concluded. “A week later, I found another message drawn in the sand near my parents’ boat dock.” She remembered that day so clearly.
“What was the message?” Simon asked.
“The same one on my mirror in Atlanta and the tree at my parents’ house—SECRETS KILL.”
“Again, that sounds more like something written by a person, not a curse.”
“That’s what Gisele says. I found that message the morning my parents went boating and never came back.”
She stumbled a bit. Simon helped her regain her footing. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “Their boat was found. It had capsized out in the Gulf. No bodies. Since the people I cared about most were gone and their only connection was to me, I knew I was cursed. I was afraid to stay in Bayou Mambaloa. I thought about my grandmother, cousins and friends. I couldn’t stay and risk the curse taking them from me.
So, I left and moved to Atlanta, hoping that it was far enough away the curse wouldn’t continue to take more of the people I cared about.
After six months, the official report on my parents’ accident was issued.
It said they were missing, presumed dead. ”
Simon stopped dancing in the middle of the floor. “I’m sorry.”
She looked up into his eyes. “It’s been six months, and nothing has turned up. No bones. Nothing.”
“Then you found the message in the mirror in Atlanta,” he said.
She nodded. “I had to come back. To warn my family members and friends. I don’t know who the curse will target next.”
“Have you thought that maybe you’ll be the next target?”
“I have.” Her eyes narrowed. “If I can’t figure out a way to vanquish the curse. I pray it comes for me. Not anyone else. Then, if I can’t fight back…if I die…maybe the curse will end with me.”