miss fortune mystery (ff) - bloodshed in the bayou (7 page)

A teenage boy in a hoodie stood there. He held out a large envelope, and then vanished from my porch. Fortune closed the door and tossed the envelope to Ida, who opened it.

“It’s from Big and Little,” Gertie explained to me.

“What’s it say?” I asked Ida. Was this information on what my dad was doing here? Where he’s been all these years? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. If it was scandalous, Peggy Sue would have my head on a pike outside of her gaudy mansion.

“They’re very thorough.” Ida Belle murmured as she scanned the pages. Finally, she looked up. “I think you’d better sit down for this.”

I sat. Fortunately, there was a chair right behind me.

“Your father stole five million dollars.” Ida said.

I waited for her to say more. She didn’t. I thought maybe she was joking, but her eyes said otherwise. Then I thought that she should’ve perhaps eased me into the whole thing. Maybe started with where he’d been all these years, what he’d been doing. But she hadn’t.

My father stole five million dollars. That sentence seemed stamped in red across my vision. Great. Of all the things to know about him, this may have been the worst. I knew I didn’t want anything to do with him. Not now. Yes, I understood that he was dead. But it seemed important that I take this stand anyway. Any hopes I’d had that he’d had one shred of dignity went out the window.

“From who?” Gertie asked. “How?”

Ida didn’t answer. Her eyes were on me. She was waiting for it to all sink in before she continued.

“So that’s why he was killed?” I asked.

Fortune nodded. “I’d be willing to bet hat’s why someone broke in here. Because they thought you had the money.”

My voice was not much more than a squeak. “Me? They thought it was here? Don’t you think I would’ve noticed? I mean, five million dollars would take up a lot of space, I’d think!” I started to imagine enormous piles of money sitting in every room. That would’ve been tough to miss.

So dear old dad led them to me. Yet another reason why he wasn’t getting the Father of the Year any time soon.

“Wait!” I jumped to my feet. “What about Peggy Sue? Would they think she had it?”

The four of us looked at each other. Without a word I grabbed my service pistol and headed for the door. I was followed by Fortune, Ida Belle and Gertie and we all piled into Fortune’s jeep before tearing off down the road.

It was still dark when I beat on Peggy Sue’s door.

“Miss Margaret.” Paloma answered the door fully dressed and ignored my gun and armed companions. Did Peggy Sue require her to work twenty-four hours or did the woman sleep in her uniform?

“Is everything alright?” I asked a little breathlessly.

“Of course.” Paloma said, motioning for us to come in. “I’ll get Mrs. Delacroix.”

The four of us stood in the hallway feeling a little awkward. Gertie struggled to fit her machete back into her purse and that provided a little amusement.

“What is going on here?” Peggy Sue appeared in a fluffy, white bathrobe that would put the most expensive spa to shame. In spite of her dress, her hair helmet was in place and her makeup was flawless. Maybe she didn’t sleep either. Maybe it was a household of vampires. I pictured her and the other Catholics bathing in the blood of virgins and struggled to control a smile.

“Is that Ida Belle and Gertie?” My sister said in horror as she looked over Gertie’s Betty Boop jammies. She appraised Fortune silently without introducing herself. That was a strange lack of manners, even for her. But then it was very, very early. And I’d breached social etiquette myself by not calling first. I guess we could call it a draw.

“Can someone tell me what this is all about?” Peggy Sue raised her voice just enough to avoid being vulgar.

Ten minutes later we were all settled in the day room with coffee served in fine china, waiting for Paloma to leave so we could talk.

“You swear everything’s okay?” I asked as I watched the maid finally walked out.

“Really, Margaret! You are being completely ridiculous! We’re all fine! I checked on the children before coming downstairs.”

I noticed she didn’t mention whether she’d checked on her husband, but decided not to mention it. There wasn’t anything to be gained by aggravating her further.

Ida Belle introduced Fortune, and then explained the reason for our, well, visit. Peggy Sue listened and gasped appropriately at the part of Dad stealing money.

“Please don’t let that get out!” Peggy Sue pleaded with Ida Belle. “I’m not sure the Monsignor would agree to do the service!”

Ida Belle assured my sister that the secret was safe with them. And I knew, with their fondness for Mom that it would be.

“That’s why we think the man broke into my house tonight. He was looking for the money. And that’s why we’re here.”

“You think if he didn’t find it at your house, he’d look here?” Peggy Sue said. “Well with our security system and the fact that I sleep with that Dessert Eagle I brought over, you shouldn’t worry.”

Now that I thought of it, Peggy Sue was right. She was far better prepared to deal with a home invasion than I was. Paloma probably packed heat somewhere in that gray maid’s uniform.

“At least Mother is no longer under suspicion. I assume, Margaret, that you’ll be heading out to let her know that.” Peggy Sue said as she stood, indicating that our time was up.

“Thank you, ladies, for your assistance.  Margaret can see you out. I have to get ready for a meeting of the Junior League.” And with that, my sister disappeared, and I led my friends out to the car.

“That’s your sister?” Fortune whistled.

“That’s my twin.” I corrected with a smile.

She shook her head. “Wow. Just. Wow.”

We piled back in the jeep and they took me home.

“I guess I’d better head out to tell Mom. Once I take a nap and a shower.” I said.

“You never told me the whole story about the money Hugo stole.”

Ida waved me off. “I’ll tell you later. Call us when you get back from visiting Sadie. We’ll try to flesh the whole story out then.”

Gertie yawned. “I could use my beauty sleep.”

“It didn’t help forty years ago,” Ida cracked. “What makes you think it will now?”

I laughed and waved as they drove away.  Ten minutes later, I was falling asleep. My gun on my nightstand. Fully loaded.

Chapter 10

My cell woke me up around ten in the morning. Deputy LeBlanc wanted to know if I could stop by. So-So Silas’ mama had showed up with questions about the ticket I’d written. After a quick shower, I hit the road and pulled up at the sheriff’s office in town.

I walked in and waved to Myrtle, who motioned me into Carter’s office where a short, heavyset woman in a muumuu seemed to be at the height of a tantrum. Not many women in Sinful wore muumuus. This one had pictures of crawdads on it.

“I issued So-So the ticket, Mrs. Roach. His boat was leaking oil into the bayou.” I said, taking a chair opposite her.

The woman glared at me with eyes I wasn’t sure I could find in the fleshy folds of her face. “It ain’t his fault! That’s what I told the deputy here! Someone shot that hole in So-So’s boat! He shouldn’t hafta pay a fine when it ain’t his fault!”

I wasn’t surprised by this outburst. The Roach Family, which actually just consisted of So-So, his mama, and his daddy’s cremains inside a taxidermied squirrel, usually argued public fines, no matter how small.

Carter shrugged. “I’m sorry Mrs. Roach. But the law is the law. Now if he remembers who shot his boat, I can press charges.”

Mama Roach frowned…I think… “He don’t know who done it! I told you that! He was just out fishin late one night and someone shot at his boat.”

I suspected that no one was really targeting So-So’s boat. It wasn’t really hunting season but I was usually up to my eyeballs in poachers all year round.

“You know what?” I said getting to my feet and taking the ticket from her. “I’ll forget about it as long as So-So gets that hole patched before he goes back out on the water. Deal?”

To be honest, I just didn’t want to deal with one more thing. I had to get out to see Mom, check in with Ida Belle and see if I could beg that outfit off Peggy Sue again before the funeral services tomorrow.

“Fine!” Mrs. Roach spat, giving me the distinct impression that she was angry she’d had to talk me into tearing the ticket up. I left before either she or Carter could stand and was on the road to Mudbug in no time.

This whole situation was a mess. Not just because my dumbass dad had the bad taste to show up dead after almost thirty years, or that Mom was crazy enough to tell people she did it. But getting involved with mobsters, having my house invaded, and finding out Hugo was a crook was a huge pain in the ass.

Okay, so it wasn’t all bad. I’d probably been more social in the last couple of days than I had in years. And I liked hanging around with Ida and Gertie, Ally and Fortune. I thought about the portraits on the walls going up the stairs. The more Peggy Sue came out of her shell, I’d drifted into one.

Was it a caregiver thing? I’d heard that people who have to take care of a family member become kind of introverted. That’s what I’d been doing all this time. And while I wouldn’t want to make a habit out of hanging out with mobsters and fighting off intruders, it was fun having friends around.

Friends. Was that what these women were? I’d known two of them my whole life but I’d never really hung out with them. And that Fortune. I could tell she’d be fun. Had I wasted all these years by becoming a recluse?

The only people I saw regularly were my co-workers. But we were out of the office more than in. I saw Eleanor Woodruff at the nursing home once or twice a week, but that was just to say ‘hi.’ Huh. I guess I really had hidden myself away.

Well once this was over, I was going to take Ally, Ida Belle, Gertie and Fortune out to dinner in New Orleans. Maybe we could even have lunch regularly or something. My spirits started to lift a little. After all, this would all be over soon. Why couldn’t I have a real life?

My step was a little lighter as I got out of the car and walked into Sunnyvale.

“You look happier than you’ve been in a long time!” Eleanor said with a smile.

“Now that Mom’s been cleared of murder, things are looking up!” I answered back.

Eleanor’s smile faded into a look of confusion and I realized she probably had no idea what I was talking about. I was about to explain when the phone rang and she answered it. Oh well, I thought as I made my way to Mom’s room, maybe I’ll see if Eleanor wants to hang out some time. My social life was definitely looking up.

“Hey Mom!” I bent and gave her a kiss on the cheek, and settled down beside her on the bed. She looked tired. Maybe I shouldn’t bring this all up.

“Margaret.” Mom said as if she’d been expecting me. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”

“What about?” She was probably going to tell me she hadn’t seen Hugo and didn’t remember confessing to killing him. I straightened the covers on the bed and pulled up a chair so I could face her.

“There’s something I should’ve told you and your sister a long time ago.” She said as she looked me straight in the eyes.

“Um, alright. What is it?”

“Your father didn’t really leave us.” Her eyes grew wide and she reached for my hand.

I took it. “Yes he did. He went away and never came back.” Well, until now. “He never got in touch with us. I call that leaving.”

Dammit. Mom had lost it. She’d lost all touch with reality. It finally happened. The doctors had said it would. That she’d think things far in the past had happened only yesterday.

Clearly Hugo’s return was too much for her. Damn that stupid man! Even in death he was screwing up our lives. I wondered if Gertie had c4 in her handbag so I could blow up the casket at the funeral tomorrow.

Then Sadie Ancelet did something I’d never seen her do. She cried. Tears poured down her face and she broke into heavy sobs. I got up and held my mother while she wept. All those years she never once shed a tear over that bastard. Now she couldn’t hold it back. Her sobs turned into keening wails and after a moment or two one of the doctors came running in. I watched in silence as he checked her vital signs.

“I was afraid of this.” He said. “She’s been extremely emotional these last few days and now her blood pressure has sky rocketed.”

I stood aside as he gave her a sedative. Then I held her hand until she finally drifted off to sleep. And I vowed that once Hugo Ancelet was in the ground I would never, ever think of him again.

Fortune answered the door at Gertie’s house. She handed me a bottle of beer.

“You look like you need this.” She said with a wink.

I drained half the bottle before stepping over the threshold. Ida Belle and Gertie were waiting for me in the living room. I finished the rest of the bottle and asked for another before I finally sat down on the couch opposite them.

The whole story poured out of me. I didn’t cry. I didn’t even feel like crying. I just needed to get it out. Every bit of what I’d been worrying about, how my mom had lost it during my visit and how much I loathed my father came gushing out of me. When I finished, there was absolute silence.

The women looked at each other.

“I need to tell you what was in the file.” Ida Belle said solemnly. She reached behind her and pulled out a packet of three letters, wrapped in blue ribbon. “And about these.”

From where I was sitting, I could see that the letters were made out to my mother, with Hugo Ancelet written as the return address.

“So he wrote her three times.” I said as I took a second beer from Fortune. “Big deal. Three letters doesn’t even come close to making up for almost thirty years of abandonment and breaking my mom’s heart.”

“I know.” Ida Belle said as she set the letters on the couch next to me. “But I think you deserve to know the whole story.” Fortune and Gertie nodded. So they knew already. Weirdly, I was okay with that.

I sighed. “Okay. Let’s get this over with.”

“Your father didn’t leave voluntarily. He went to prison.” Ida Belle let that sink in a minute.