Chapter 14
Noa
When I left the cemetery visiting Vivienne’s grave and talking to Ezekiel my head was banging.
I had THE worse migraine and was pretty much done for the day.
All I could think about was the letter I received and Ezekiel insinuating that I should leave Magnolia Graves and it had me feeling so conflicted.
Part of me wanted to haul ass and go back home, reset and go back to my life before all of this happened.
Then there was part of me that just couldn’t walk.
Me walking away would be no different than what my mom did and I refused to let this town defeat us both especially after knowing that my dad was killed.
Even though I was starving, I decided to go straight to the hotel instead of stopping to get something to eat.
The fact that my life was in jeopardy here, yet I was just starting to get to the nitty gritty of everything made me feel as though leaving Magnolia Graves wasn’t an option.
At the same time, I really had to think if it was worth my life.
As I parked in the garage at the hotel, I stopped trusting the valet, I headed straight inside and right for the elevators. All I could think about was taking a long hot bath and ordering a big juicy steak from food service.
Making it to my room, I slid the keycard in the door and as soon as I opened the door my heart nearly stopped. Seraphine was sitting at the desk in the room reading something.
“Just what the hell are you doing in here!” I shouted then stomped over to her. “And why are you going through my things!?”
“I haven’t touched anything in here that’s yours. I’m just going over the things I put in this folder for you.”
“What did you bring me?”
“Before I get into all of that, I owe you an apology first. I should’ve told you I was a Dubois, but I didn’t want you to be all weird acting and guarded with me. We hit it off at first sight, and I really like you Noa. You’re like I sister I never had.”
“Not gone lie, had I known you were a Dubois I wouldn’t have shared none of what I shared with you.”
“My point exactly. I can’t help the family I was born into and because of who I am I’m handled as such. I didn’t want that with me and you. I’m bigger than being a Dubois and all that family stuff that they got going on I have no parts in it. I want you to know you can trust me…”
Seraphine got up and handed me a mauve colored folder.
“What’s this?”
“Consider it a peace offering,” she responded then gave me a hug. “You just have to promise me this one thing before I explain to you what all of this is.”
“What’s that?”
“Don’t tell a damn soul where you got this from. If you do, they will cook my goose without a second thought.”
“They as in your family.”
“Exactly…Now, when my aunt and your father died, I was very young…but the biggest mistake people make is that kids don’t know shit. I remember the night my aunt died because it happened at our estate.”
My eyes got big as I inhaled at the news she was giving me.
“So, your family killed her?”
“I saw the whole thing… but I’m not to utter a damn word of it so I can’t tell you who did it.
One, it’s too hard to talk about and two, some of it I have blocked purposedly to keep from going insane.
But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t just as curious as you are.
Her death haunted me over the years and with all the sneaking and snooping I was doing I was able to piece together some of what she was threatening my family with. The biggest threat is right here.”
Seraphine pointed to the folder, then opened it up and pulled out a packet of paper. It was deed paperwork on the Baptiste land ownership that was signed over to the Dubois.
“The Dubois brought the Baptiste land?”
“More like stole it. Them signatures at the bottom do not match Momma and Poppa Baptiste’s signatures.”
The bottom of the paperwork was also signed off by Whitmore’s. I was beginning to see why my dad was looking into them. Thumbing through the packet at the end were some death certificates.
“Are these your grandparents?”
“Yes, and if you look the cause of death says natural causes. Round here, nobody dies of natural causes suga. If you ever receive a death certificate that says natural causes DO NOT believe it.”
I got so sick to my stomach that I got up and ran to the bathroom to throw up.
My mom’s death was sudden, and her cause of death was listed as natural causes…
was it just a coincidence or am I tripping.
I had to be tripping because my mom left and never turned back.
She didn’t have any dealings with anyone here.
I had to be tripping, and it HAD to be a coincidence.
“Suga, you okay?” Seraphine asked as she held my braids while I threw up in the toilet.
“This is just all too much.” I replied as I stood up, then washed my face and brushed my teeth.
“Listen, I’ma need you to pull it together. You came here looking for this so suck it up buttercup cause the night still young and we just getting started.”
I followed Seraphine back into the room and we sat back at the table.
“Now these are some of Bishop’s financials. He would kill us both dead if he knew we were looking at this. Ion know what much of this means but I know it means something.”
As I skimmed the papers it showed how he was moving money from accounts within the church, there were some family trusts accounts listed and land ownership transactions. And there were pictures of unmarked graves at the cemetery.
“Whose graves are these?”
“I have no clue. But you can go to the church archive room and look them up to see for yourself. I know this looks like a bunch of mumble jumble, but this should help you make better use of your time while you’re at the church instead of just looking wildly at a bunch of stuff.”
“Why are you helping me? You’re basically snitching on your family.”
“Because it’s time for the truth to come out and there is no better person fit for the job than you.” Seraphine responded matter of factly. “Now get yourself together so you can go to the church.”
“I do believe it’s closed.”
“And I do believe I have a way to get you in. It’s better that you do it now while no one is there. The quicker you can get what you need, the sooner you can leave and the safer you’ll be.”
Seraphine handed me clear detailed instructions on which door from the back of the church I could enter along with a key.
She told me to make sure that no one sees me, and she even told me about a backroad I could take so that no one would be able to see me from the main road.
Not one time did I think to question anything she told me.
If anything, I was filled with gratitude that she felt compelled to give me all this information.
She too must have known that my life was in jeopardy and the fact that she was willing to help me, meant the world to me.
Once Seraphine left, I wasted no time grabbing my leather camera case and headed out not even thinking twice about ordering food. Food was the absolute last thing on my mind.
As I drove down the backroad leading to the back of the church, my heart was beating so fast I had to slow my breathing down.
Once I got closer to the church, I turned my headlights off, just in case someone was still there…
especially with Ezekiel popping up everywhere cause he was the last person I needed to see after he’d just told me to take heed and leave.
How would I be able to explain snooping around the church at night after the conversation he and I had earlier.
When I pulled into the lot, I saw Solomon standing outside near his Denali talking to an older man.
They were so deep in their conversation, and they didn’t even notice my SUV in the distance.
I parked away from the building then walked the rest of the way.
When I reached the door Seraphine told me to use, I unlocked it with the key she gave me and went inside the church.
A cold chill crept down my spine and I shook it off. The church was much scarier at night than it was during the day. It could be that no one else was here for one and two, I had no business being here, but I was too close to turn around and leave now.
I used the map she gave me, and it led me right to the archive room.
Just as I was about to go inside, I heard footsteps and I swear my heart stopped for a few minutes.
I pressed my body against the wall and prayed that whoever it was didn’t come my way.
The footsteps got closer, then they pivoted and started to go in a different direction.
Taking my chances, I peeked and that’s when I saw it was Ezekiel.
Instead of going into the archive room, something told me to follow him, so that’s what I did.
I made sure to keep distance between us and followed him as he took some stairs to a level lower than the basement then watched as he walked up to a wall.
He knocked on it three times then the wall opened like a door.
I watched him walk inside, but what surprised me was he didn’t close the door.
I tiptoed to the door and peeked inside, and he was sitting at a desk.
As I watched him intently my phone started vibrating and I hauled ass as fast as I could back to the stairway.
Taking two at a time, I went to the archive room then quietly shut the door.
While I tried to get my breathing in order, I saw that it was Julian calling so I texted him that I was about to get into the shower and would call him back once I was done.
I sat there contemplating leaving and just coming back in the morning when it was more appropriate for me to be here. But that idea quickly went away when I thought about the letter I received earlier and the conversation, I had with Seraphine.
She basically confirmed that her family were the ones that killed her aunt and I had to find out if they were responsible for my dad’s death as well. I had good reason to believe it, but I needed all the proof I could find in order to prove it.
Knowing I shouldn’t have been there, I got myself together and started my search.
The sooner I found what I needed the quicker I could leave.
I found a file cabinet that contained a bunch of articles about missing people and the dates they came up missing were close to the death dates on the unmarked graves in the picture that Seraphine gave me.
I took pictures of the articles, then tried to find what I could on the Baptiste family.
I found a file on the Baptiste that included family photos and the marriage certificate for Mr. and Mrs. Baptiste.
Then the birth records for their kids and it confirmed that Delphine Dubois and Vivienne were sisters.
Then there were church files on the christening of the Dubois children and there were pictures taken of each christening. Seraphine, Ezekiel and Solomon were all christened I just couldn’t tell which child was which because they all had on long dresses.
But the picture that stood out the most was the one with my mom and Vivienne.
They were standing in front of the church with their arms around each other.
They were around the same age, so like Dessa Mae said they had been friends for a long time and that made me sad.
Two people that my mom knew and cared about were murdered over lies and secrets.
Just as I snapped a picture of that photo, I thought I heard a noise. It sounded like the door had creaked open.
“Who’s there?” I called out but no one answered.
I got up from the table and walked toward the door, but no one was there, and the door was closed but not shut all the way.
Something felt off and I no longer felt safe.
I headed back to the table to gather my things but first I noticed a photo on the floor and when I went to pick it up it was a picture of my dad and Vivienne, alone, in the park on a bench.
It looked like she was handing him a file. The picture must have dropped when I was carrying the files over to the table in the room. I heard another noise that sounded like a footstep and my heart started racing.
Scared to move I called out again, “Who’s there?”
But no one said anything. I tried to shake it off as my nerves but knew that I needed to get up out of there and fast. I saw Solomon outside and I knew Ezekiel was in the building…what if he walked past and noticed the light on in the room. But if it was Ezekiel, why isn’t he saying anything.
My nerves were getting the best of me as I slowly walked back over to the table, making sure to check my six on the way there and the closer I got to the table, the more I could smell a familiar sent that was a mixture of cedar, sage and cologne.
But when I got to the table no one was there.
I turned around a couple of times to check behind me, but I didn’t see anyone.
The room was big, and it was dimly lit. The light in the room wasn’t very bright and the distance from the table to the door wasn’t too far from each other so if someone came into the room I would’ve seen them by now.
Just as I tried to convince myself that it was my nerves getting the best of me, I looked down at the table and my heart dropped.
My leather camera case and camera were missing, sending me in an immediate state of frantic.
I quickly started searching around the table because the camera was sitting on the table next to the case.
I wouldn’t have put the case on the chair or the floor because it contained my mom’s remains, so I never put it low to the ground like that.
I never even sat the case on chairs except for when it would be on the passenger seat in the car.
But just to be sure, I checked to see if I put it on the chair that I was sitting next to or on the floor, so I bent down to look but it wasn’t there.
When I stood back up and looked down at the table again, I noticed my cell phone was missing along with my keys, and just as I turned around a strong, unwelcoming smell engulfed me from behind, just as a large hand clamped over my mouth and before I could put up a fight, seconds later darkness swallowed me whole…
To Be Continued.