Midnight Saints: Saints Mystery Series Hallwen Short Story Page 4

  “You’re right,” I said. “And maybe it’s happening again.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “I don’t think that blonde man or Angie took that necklace. I think the necklace was there right up until the minute Stan went upstairs.”

  “Then where is it?” Josephine asked.

  I was lost in thought. Stan wouldn’t put it in his own car if he was thinking of calling the police because they might check there. He wouldn’t have it on him, because that would be too dangerous if he were searched. Also, I wondered why would Stan risk a good job for a necklace and a pair of earrings. They couldn’t be worth enough to jeopardize a good job in bayou country. So, I looked to Josephine and said, “I think he must have stolen more than just the jewelry tonight. It doesn’t make sense that he would steal these little trinkets worth a few hundred dollars, a thousand at best, and risk his job and jail. I think something bigger is missing.”

  She looked to me and said, “I think you’re on to something, Fanchon. It’s not about the necklace or the earrings. I know what it’s about. Getting’ rid of me. I caught Stan diddlin’ one of the girls from the clean-up crew a few weeks ago in Ms. Stewart’s closet. I told him I wouldn’t say boo about it, but it looks like he doesn’t trust that. If I say anything against him now it will just look like sour grapes. He couldn’t have known all that trouble with the fire and how much I’d fight to stay away from the police. He just wants me fired.”

  “If it’s not about money, just getting rid of you, then I know where the jewelry is.”

  I grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the house and onto the main path that connected the slave quarter homes. From our perch in the dark we could see the lights of a police cruiser in the parking lot.

  “Shoot,” I said. “We might be too late.”

  We stood in the dark for a moment. Then I said, “Let’s go to the graveyard. See if we can find one of the boys to do us a favor.” We ran through the woods towards the back end of the graveyard. We came out near the edge of the woods where we had seen the lantern. The smoke machines had been running so long the fog was now waist deep. We stepped into the fog and it circled up around us allowing almost no visibility. I reached out and held her hand as we walked together through the cemetery.

  She shouted for her soldier and I shouted for Jori. We walked almost halfway through the cemetery and neither saw or heard a thing.

  “I can’t tell if we’re coming or going,” she said, standing still.

  I could see just a hint of red and blue light off to our right and knew we were still facing the path and told her so. We took a few more steps and then heard the sound of a twig breaking not but a few feet from us.

  “Hey,” Josephine shouted and we saw the outline of a tall figure move towards us. She waved the smoke away from her face and saw Beau smiling back at her.

  “Oh, thank heavens,” I said.

  “What are you doing out here?” Josephine asked.

  “Lookin’ for you two. We need to get out of here, cuz. People are saying you stole from dat house, Josephine. And you me both know we don’t want the cops takin’ your prints, nuh uh.”

  “We can do better than that, Beau. We need to clear her name. Can you run to your truck as fast as you can and search it for a silver necklace with a black ornament on it, and a pair of earrings? We need you to sneak it up to the Lavender Room and hide it in one of the drawers.”

  “No problem,” he said.

  I replied, “You do know if you get caught with this you are going to be the one busted for stealin’?”

  “I said no problem,” he replied without a bit of apprehension and ran off into the fog.

  Josephine yelled after him, “And if you see a price sticker on the bottom of an old oil lamp peel that off, too.”

  “What do we do now?” I said. “I suppose you’re in the clear. Beau doesn’t seem to mind being caught. I imagine he’d take the fall for you without question.”

  “It’s not right, Fanchon. It’s not right that people do these things. Stealin’ and lyin’. I flirt a little, but that don’t do anyone no harm.”

  “What about people like Mrs. Vallencourt, when you are flirting with her husband?”

  She pushed the fog away from my face and looked into my eyes. “You are dead right, Fanchon. I’ve got to have some sort of moral code from here on out. My mama always says if you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything and I’ve been fallin’ for all sorts of nonsense. That stops now. We can’t let Stan get away with this,” she said.

  She stepped back into the dark of the woods and with purpose marched towards the house. We looked on at the scene near the main house and saw a young officer taking a statement on the back porch from one of the women wearing a dress made of curtain fabric. We moved around to the front of the house and hid behind one of the oak trees and watched Beau climb into the window of the room from the balcony. From our perch we could see the top of the stairs and watched the officer and Stan ascend the stairs and turn the corner into the main hallway. They stopped for a moment to talk and I could feel Josephine and me collectively urging Beau to get out of the room. We held our breath as they approached the door, and then we saw Beau jump out the moment the door swung open. As soon as he was out the window he ducked. The two men in the room looked out the open window and then shut it. As soon as they were gone Beau jumped up and crawled over the railing of the balcony. He lowered himself down over the edge and jumped five feet to the ground as if it were nothing. As soon as he was on the ground he lit up a cigarette and strolled through the front yard. Josephine and I moved from tree to tree until we were close enough to Beau to get his attention.

  “I put that necklace in the room,” Beau said. “Weren’t no earrings though. And ain’t nobody talking about a pair of earrings.”

  “Hmm,” Josephine said. “I wonder if the earrings went the way of that twenty thousand dollars?”

  I watched the two of them exchange a knowing glance.

  “What are you guys talking about?” I asked.

  “Let’s go for a walk,” Josephine said. And we went into the woods again and started for the cemetery.

  “You know we have a lot of money right, Fanchon?”

  I nodded and said, “We’ve been saving that money for years and years.”

  “We sure have. Though, it’s a bit more than it ought to be, sugar, and I have had to be real careful about my accounting practices.”

  “We earned it Josephine,” I protested.

  “You’re half right, you earned your share. And the money I put in the bank I earned. But the money I spend, well that comes, for lack of a better explanation, out of thin air.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Remember how I told you there was twenty thousand dollars missing from that room at the Vallencourt house?”

  “You didn’t?” I said in shock.

  “Oh, I most certainly didn’t steal that money from that room. But I thought, what a curious thing to have somebody say that much money was missing from an empty room when I knew that money was never there. How would somebody prove they had that much money in the first place? I thought well there must have been a withdrawal and somebody was double dipping, trying to claim that money was gone and keep it to boot.”

  She looked at Beau who smiled. “Well, when Beau and I put our heads together and we had a long think on where that money might have snuck off to we got a few ideas. We thought it must be outside the house, because the person who hid it wouldn’t know if the fire could be contained. Nobody would risk burying that much money in the ground or hiding it unprotected. So we figured it must be in plain sight, out in the open where it could be watched. I sent Beau out for a walk in the gardens and told him about the maze filled with gargoyles. Such an odd choice we thought to throw a bunch of gargoyles in a beautiful garden. Beau walked around and gave each of them a good knock, till he found one that didn’t quite match the others. It was light
and hollow. Beau picked it up, carried it out of the garden and nobody thought nothin’ about Beau stealing a gargoyle from a party. He walked right past Mr. Vallencourt and the police.”

  The two of them laughed, and Beau said, “Vallencourt turned pale as a ghost as I walked past him. He opened his mouth to say something. I walked right up to him, face to face and asked him what it is dat he wanted to say. He knew he couldn’t make a fuss about it. It was all sealed up. He couldn’t accuse Josephine of making a statue with money sealed up in it in one night. So, I just stared at him and said in front of the cops, ‘You don’t mind if I borrow this do you?’ Then I pretended to stumble a bit, nearly dropped the statue at his feet and he ‘bout fainted. He agreed through gritted teeth that I could take it with me.”

  Josephine added, “Everybody had a laugh as he hefted it up onto his shoulder and tied it down in the back of his truck. When we got it home, we cracked it open, and found the cash. And ever since, I’ve been careful to sneak it out a little bit at a time.”

  “Shouldn’t you return it?” I said.

  “To who?” Beau asked, “That crook. Plus, who they gonna think took it?”

  When I thought about it there was no good way to give the money back or good person to give it back to.

  “Well, let’s donate some of it. At least let some good come from that money,” I said. Josephine told me she couldn’t think of a better use for it than sending us to college.

  “So, what does this have to do with where the earrings went?” I asked.

  The two of them pointed to the lantern from the back of the cemetery and in unison said, “In plain sight.”

  Beau ran to it, opened the door in front of the lantern and nodded his head. He walked back to us and gave the lantern to Josephine. He said. “I’m going to run up to the house and have a quick talk with Stan. You girls wait here a spell, then come up to the house after me. And Josephine, bring the lantern with you. Make sure Stan sees it.”

  We watched him leave, kicking up fog in his wake as he ran towards the house. We waited, then walked through the graveyard. We emerged from the fog and walked towards the house. As we approached we saw Stan and the police officer near the pavilion and beyond them was Beau sitting on the back porch of the main house in a rocking chair, smoking and smiling. He nodded his head in Stan’s direction.

  I spoke to Stan first and asked, “What’s going on?”

  “You don’t know?” he yelled angrily.

  “I have no idea. We’ve been out in the cemetery,” I said pointing to Josephine.

  The officer stepped forward and said, “There was a report of a missing necklace, but it seems to have turned up. When we searched the second floor we discovered there was also a missing set of sapphire earrings. A few people mentioned they saw you two girls in the upstairs bedrooms tonight. Do either of you have anything you want to tell me?”

  I shook my head, pointed to Josephine and said, “Do you have anything to share?”

  She held the lantern in front of her and gently rocked it back and forth, making sure Stan saw it.

  “Where did you get that?” he asked.

  “We grabbed it when we were out in the cemetery,” Josephine said. “After the hunt was over we thought we’d help you clean up.”

  Stan’s eyes went wide then he patted the front of his jacket and looked at Beau sitting on the porch, who waved and winked at him.

  “Well, where do you think those earrings went, Stan?” Josephine asked. “I know I didn’t take anything. Go ahead and search me.”

  She lifted her arms and let the officer pat her down. I did the same. Then we offered up Beau’s truck, but he said he’d already searched it.

  Then we both looked to Stan, who said, “Never mind. I’m sure the earrings will turn up. Just like the necklace. They must have been misplaced.”

  The officer took a step to him and he instinctively reached for his breast pocket.

  “Sir, can I check your pockets?”

  Stan turned and said, “No, you may not.” And started for his car.

  The officer followed him, asking him to stop, but he continued on without looking back.

  Josephine and I didn’t follow them, but the woman who had been talking to the police officer was on the Plantation’s charity board and we overheard her say, “I don’t like the way he handled this whole night. Calling the police before the guests were gone. I’m going to mention this at the next board meeting.”

  Josephine turned towards her and said, “And the police said he wasn’t being cooperative. What a shame.”

  “Indeed,” the woman said.

  The party was dying down and nearly all of the guests had gone. Josephine and I called Beau over and the three of us strolled the back walkway towards the gift shop.

  “We need to ease Angie’s mind,” Josephine said. We found her locking the door to the gift shop. When she turned and saw us the look of anguish on her face told us that she needed to know she was out of trouble.

  “It’s taken care of,” I said.

  “I owe you girls a favor. You name it,” she replied.

  “Ca c’est bon,” Josephine said telling her in our native tongue that we were even. “Cajun’s stick together.”

  “You girls go home and get some sleep,” Angie replied. “It’s after midnight. And well past quitin’ time.”

  We looked out at the parking lot filled with lines of cars.

  “We can wait until some of those are gone,” Josephine said.

  I added, “Plus, I need to say good night to Jori.”

  The two of them rolled their eyes so hard I swore I could hear it. We made our way to the graveyard, where only a thin blanket of fog remained. The machines had been turned off, along with all of the lanterns. The only light that was cast on the stones was from the moon. We walked through the cemetery, which seemed small without the benefit of the smoke effects.

  “Jori,” I called, but our quick search didn’t find any of the boys remaining from the hunt. I turned back to Josephine and Beau.

  “You guys want to try to catch a rougarou tonight?”

  “No, way,” Josephine answered. “You heard Adalaide. My luck is clean out.”

  She joked but the look on her face told me she was worried about the prediction.

  Beau noticed it too and came to her side. “I’ll give you some of mine, cousin.”

  I walked to her and said, “Mine, too.”

  She stared up at the full moon, which looked like it was hanging too low in the trees to be natural, and Beau and I looked on with her.

  “I’ve got big dreams,” she said. “Dreams too big to keep me here. I just know I’m going to be somebody. I can feel it. Everything is going to get better from here on out. We’ve got graduation coming up, the big end of the year parties, and college. It’s going to be a great year. I just know it.”

  We stayed in the graveyard until most of the cars were gone, and then walked back towards the main house. I looked up at the Lavender room and saw the light on again. I pointed to it and said, “We never did figure out who the blonde man was. Or the woman in black.”

  The light was flickering again, just like the oil lamp. Josephine noticed too and said, “But it’s broken.”

  “Want to check it out?” Beau asked.

  “No,” we shouted in unison. We walked across the parking lot back to our car. I saw the reflection of the Lavender Room window in Beau’s truck mirror. Then I caught sight of a dark figure looking out at us. I gasped and swung around, but I found the window was empty and the light out again. I felt the skin of my arm cover in goose bumps.

  Josephine turned, looked back up at the building and shrugged her shoulders. “Looks like that got sorted out.”

  I crawled into the car next to Beau and asked him if I could hold his hand for the ride back. A proud look crossed his face. He wrapped his fingers around mine and said, “Anytime.”

  What’s next for Fanchon?

  There are currently thre
e other books in the Saints Mystery Series which follow Fanchon and her life in New York, New Orleans and the bayou. In “To Murder a Saint” you can learn what happened to Fanchon when she finally follows her dreams to New York City, where she learns to be careful what you wish for. In “All Saints Secrets” you will learn that the bayou holds dark secrets which hold the power to change Fanchon’s life if they come to the surface. In “A Masquerade of Saints” Fanchon goes on the run at Mardi Gras. As always she finds a little romance and a lot of danger.

  For special announcements or to read more by Nicole Loughan you can visit her Facebook Page or be added to Nicole Loughan’s mailing list by clicking on the link provided.

  Up next from Author Nicole Loughan - The Divine Hotel

  For two street wise kids time is almost up. Their short lives at the Divine Hotel have been crumbling just like the once majestic hotel. Unbeknownst to them they are at the center of a decades old struggle between good and evil for which they were never properly equipped. Help is on the way, from a woman who has the power to re-set the clock, too bad the switch is all the way back in 1964.