Chapter 14 #2
They stood together, holding each other for a long moment. Then they washed, rinsed and turned off the shower. After drying off, they ate the food from the Crawdad Hole, brushed their teeth, and climbed into bed.
All normal, boring things that meant more to Lissette than raging passion that could burn out in a day, a week or a month. They were themselves—all damaged feelings, insecurities and flaws.
She’d never felt this sense of belonging as she did with Xavier and likely never would again. Her heart ached at the thought of him leaving soon, but she wouldn’t let it spoil the time they had left together.
He pulled her close, spooning her with his body, his breath stirring the hair drying at her temple. “Sleep, Lissette. We’ll find her.”
They’d fix everything the next day, Lissette told herself, knowing it wasn’t going to be easy.
But for the moment, she was safe in Xavier’s arms.
She slept.
Lissette woke before dawn. Before Napoleon crowed. The sound of rain beating against the roof gave her a sense of urgency, making her desperate to get up and start the day.
“Awake?” Xavier’s chest rumbled against her back.
“I am,” she said. “Is it too early to get going? It’s not even light outside.”
“The clouds have thickened. The sun is up but cloaked by the bands of rain on the leading edge of the hurricane. Do you hear it?”
She rolled over to face him and stared into his eyes. “We’re going to find her today and get her back.”
He nodded and brushed a strand of her hair back behind her ear. “We are. I think there are eggs and bread in the kitchen downstairs. By the time we finish breakfast, it should be time to head over to the boat factory.”
She smoothed her hand over his face, loving the coarseness of the stubble. There wasn’t much she didn’t love about this man.
Love.
The word and the feelings terrified her. She’d avoided it ever since her mother had abandoned her. Although, had she really?
She loved her grandmother, even though she'd pushed her away for all those years. The woman hadn’t ever given up on her.
She’d grown to love her cousins, Gisele and Holly, during their sessions learning their grandmother’s ways.
She hadn’t known it, but she’d left her heart open when Xavier had walked into her life. Or had he opened it with his kindness and acceptance of her and all her flaws?
Those kinds of thoughts were too deep for early morning. They had a lot of hard things to do that day. She’d do her best to focus on them, not falling in love with her protector.
“Do you want different clothes from the ones you wore yesterday?” he asked. “I have another pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt.”
She shook her head. “As hard as it’s raining, it won’t matter what I wear. It’ll be wet and probably stay wet the rest of the day.” She rose and pulled on the same clothes she’d worn the day before.
His lips twisted, and he got up. “Yeah. Might as well embrace the suck.” After a good stretch, he pulled on jeans, a T-shirt and his jogging shoes.
As she pulled his brush through her hair, Lissette said, “I hope they’re keeping my grandmother warm and dry. Her ankle has to be hurting since she lost her boot.”
“She’ll be okay,” Xavier said. “That woman is like Napoleon.”
“A tough old bird?” Lissette laughed. “I’m sure she’d like that analogy.”
“No.” He shook his head. “Feisty. She’s feisty and won’t let much get her down.”
“She is that.” Lissette secured her hair in a ponytail at the base of her neck and pulled on her shoes.
Downstairs, in the kitchen, they worked together making omelets and fed Napoleon pieces of bread.
“I’m sure Gerard and Bellamy have some chicken feed at their place,” Xavier said. “I’ll ask him to bring some on his way through town.”
Jacques and Anton joined them, opting for coffee and toast. They were heading back out into the bayou.
A couple of hardheaded men had refused to leave their homes.
They’d give them one more shot at leaving with them, then head back to town, where they’d hole up in the boat factory that had been hardened when they’d remodeled it for use as headquarters for the Bayou Brotherhood Protectors.
They all left the boarding house at the same time, running out into the rain to climb into their vehicles.
Jacques and Anton headed for the marina.
Lissette went with Xavier to their headquarters.
Remy was already there with Beau and Landry, who’d dressed in rain jackets.
Lucas and Remy were fitting them with body cameras similar to those worn by law enforcement officers.
The difference was that these would provide a live feed of their meeting with Odette.
Lissette could observe from within her ankle-monitor safe zone.
After they’d secured the cameras over their jackets, they tested the feed on the computer. Beau and Landry stepped out into the boat factory portion of the building while Lucas, Remy, Xavier and Lissette observed what came into the cameras’ range.
Once they were certain the cameras were working, Beau and Landry, armed with the addresses of Odette’s home and business and a list of questions, stepped out into the rain.
To conserve the batteries, they wouldn’t turn the cameras on until they found Odette.
For the next forty-five minutes, Lissette paced the conference room, returning to the blank computer monitors, willing them to go live.
At one point, Remy received a text. “She wasn’t at her home. They’re heading for the business address.”
Ten minutes later, Remy came to stand next to Lissette. “It’s quite possible she left under the mandatory evacuation order.”
Lissette shook her head. Odette had to be there. They needed answers, and she might be the only one who could provide them.
The two monitors blinked to life. The view was one of heavy rain with the outline of a building barely visible through the downpour.
“They’re live,” Lucas announced and turned up the volume.
“We’re outside the business address. It looks like a small warehouse,” Landry said. “There’s a pickup parked in front of it.”
He stood back while Beau approached the door and knocked. After several seconds, he knocked again. When no one answered, he opened the door and called out. “Hello! Anyone home?”
Landry had followed Beau to the door. “We hear a voice inside. Sounds female.”
A woman appeared in Beau’s camera feed. “Hello. Oh dear, do come in out of the rain.”
The woman Lissette remembered from her visit to the Mamba Wamba hurried toward Beau with a warm, friendly smile. “I was just packaging some items I just can’t leave to chance with this hurricane. Can I help you?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Beau said. “I’m Beau, this is Landry,” he pointed back at Landry. “We’re with Bayou Brotherhood Protectors. We’re looking for some information. Could you answer some questions for us?”
“Of course. If you don’t mind, I'll keep working while we talk. Come with me.” She smiled and led the way into the warehouse, stopping in front of a crate full of items already rolled in packing paper.
She picked up what looked like an urn-like vase, wrapped it in packing paper and placed it gently in the crate. “What is it you’d like to know?” She waved toward one side of the building. “Would you like some coffee?”
“No, thank you,” Beau said. “We don’t want to hold you up.” He pulled the list of questions out of his pocket and spread it out.
“My, my. You came prepared. What kinds of questions do you have on your list?” She rolled an ornate box in more packing paper and laid it in the crate.
“Ms. Prejean, have you heard about the cemetery near Bayou Mambaloa?”
She blinked at Beau. “Oh, dear, yes. Such a tragedy. All those tombs vandalized, damaged and looted. The families must be beside themselves.” She smiled at Beau. “What can I do to help?”
“She seems so nice,” Lissette said. “I wish they’d get to the real questions.”
Xavier touched a hand to her back. “They will.”
“Ms. Prejean, your company supplied an antique shop with three of the reliquary boxes that were stolen from those tombs. Would you tell us more about them and how they came into your possession?”
Odette’s hands stilled halfway through wrapping another urn-shaped vase. She didn’t speak for several seconds.
Lissette drew in a breath and held it.
The woman’s hands moved, going through the motions of rolling the vase.
“You seem to know a lot about me. Did you know that I’ve spent the past forty years collecting, restoring, cataloging, and protecting tombs and items found inside them?
The families don’t care. The only time they go in the tombs is when someone dies.
They don’t visit; they don’t cherish the time and effort people before them put into the reliquaries placed there to protect them.
I offered some of my findings to museums only for staff to lose them.
I’m the only person who wants to keep and protect them.
I’ve collected and stored items because I’m the only one who appreciates their value. ”
She took another item from the table and wrapped it carefully.
“But it all costs money to rent storage space and pay for utilities and the cost of getting the items from the sites to a safe location. When a man came to me, looking for reliquaries that could help give him the protection he knew they could provide, I knew I’d found someone who could appreciate the true value of the items. He said he’d pay me a lot of money for them. ”
“Was that man étienne Benoit?” Beau asked.
Odette nodded. “He came to me a frightened man. He knew because of the work I do that I would understand his fear and why he needed the protection reliquaries. He said three men in five years had taken the lead of his organization. The first, his grandfather, died in jail because a Gautier testified against him. He figured that was the beginning.”
Lissette’s heart stuttered. Vincent Benoit, the man her testimony had sentenced.
“The man who took his place died when his car was forced off the road and ran into a telephone pole.”