To Murder a Saint (Saints Mystery Series Book 1) Read online

  I pointed to rolled up mask man and said, “See, I told you not to shoot him. He’s older than you and me put together.”

  Banyan set me on the step and wrapped the blanket around me. After he caught his breath he propped up my bad side with his body so I could walk. “You don’t want to see your leg, Fanchon. Just keep your eyes forward.”

  As I hobbled out of the house I noticed that all of the aquariums were now completely destroyed, and there were shards of light in the reptile room coming from bullet holes in the plastic.

  “How did you know I was here?” I asked, my voice scratchy. “Was it Madame Claire? I spoke to her down there. If I had known that would work I would have done it a lot sooner.”

  He laughed. “We did not know you were down there. I didn’t even know you were here. I told you I wouldn’t stop looking, and I kept my promise.”

  “You figured out it was Jason who killed Josephine then?” I said.

  “It all came together today. I remembered Josephine put the words alligator fanatic in her profile?”

  “Okay.”

  “Well, your profile was her profile, and I thought that was significant somehow. I kept trying to figure out why. It finally occurred to me to see if there were other alligator fanatics on the dating site. The company agreed to do a description search for us. And after we filtered out all of the people who were talking about Florida football we were left with three gator fanatics in New York: you, Josephine and Jason Stepwald. That didn’t get me all the way there. This afternoon I got this flash of that god awful Icarus statue at the airport, and it made me think of the man using animal parts for wings. He couldn’t fly so he used an animal’s feathers. I could stop thinking about it. I wondered what the people who found Icarus’ dead body would think surrounded by all of those feathers. If I arrived on the scene, would I think a bird killed him? I know I wouldn’t. That’s when I thought it could be a man using the teeth of an animal.”

  “Did you think about that just before the sun went down?” I asked him.

  “I did.”

  “I think our minds must be connected, Banyan. I had the same thought at the same time, but I was not as clever as you about what it meant.” At that moment, glass broke behind me, and I jumped thinking Jason was about to lunge out at me. When I turned around I saw an officer had stumbled over one of the broken aquariums. “What happened to Jason?”

  “He was gone when we got here, Fanchon, but we have check points all over all the exit points and at the bridges. We will catch him,” he said as he stepped into the back of the ambulance.

  “You’re safe, Fanchon, and that’s what’s important right now,” he said. “I forgot. I have some other news for you.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah, your dress was cleared as evidence when we thought it was an alligator. I remembered when I saw your matching wrap in Jason’s snake box. Unfortunately, we won’t be releasing your wrap for a while so you are going to have to wait to wear it.”

  I cleared my throat but still could not get my voice louder than a whisper to respond. “I am pretty sure I told you to burn it.”

  He smiled. “Get some rest, cher.”

  “Au revoir, Banyan.”

  “Bonjou, Fanchon.”

  What’s next for Fanchon?

  In book two of the Saints series the police exhume Lisette’s body and find a second body in her grave. A new mystery is in play on the bayou and Fanchon needs to decide if the big apple is in her future. 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.

  About the Author

  Nicole was born and raised in Michigan. She currently resides in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. She writes from her home about her adventures with parenting in a column called, “The Starter Mom.” She also writes regular features for the Bucks County Courier and Intelligencer, both greater Philadelphia daily newspapers. She is an amateur pianist and an avid reader. She first learned about New Orleans from reading Anne Rice novels and experienced New Orleans first hand when her brother moved there after Hurricane Katrina.