“To me, yes. When I first had a reading from her, she was all smiles and charm. Once she discovered I was there to see what I could find out about Leroy’s murder, our relationship went down a steep hill.”
“Was she any good? Did she give you a reading?”
“She did. I think people who go to her are desperate and will probably believe anything she says. I definitely didn’t have the feeling I was in the presence of an enlightened person or someone who could tell me anything about my life that I didn’t already know.”
“I haven’t thought of this in several years, but when my daughter, Tiffany, turned twenty-one, I took her to the Biltmore Hotel in Santa Barbara,” Judy said. “She went to the university there and was always talking about how fancy the hotel was and that someday she’d like to stay there.”
“That’s a pretty nice birthday present, Judy. The Biltmore is not known as a place to go if you’re trying to save money.”
“I know, but what the heck? You only turn twenty-one once. Anyway, we walked out on the pier and there was a fortune teller near the end of it. I thought it would be fun on Tiffany’s birthday for her to have her fortune told. She agreed, but only if I would have mine done as well.”
“And I’m assuming you did.”
“I did, and it was the biggest waste of twenty dollars I’ve ever spent. The fortune teller took my hand and told me that I didn’t do any kind of manual labor.”
“Well, you don’t,” Liz said, reversing the minivan onto the pavement.
“No, but she was supposed to have this gift, and anyone could tell from holding my hand that I don’t do manual labor.” Judy held her hands out and wriggled her fingers. “Come on. I’ve got acrylic nails, a French manicure, and a couple of large diamond rings. You don’t need ESP to immediately know that about me. Like yours, it went downhill from there.”
“What about Tiffany? Did she receive any words of wisdom from the fortune teller?”
“Oh yeah. The fortune teller told her she would fall in love with a handsome stranger and have a good life. That was about the total sum of our experience. What a rip-off. I still get mad when I think about it.”
“I can see why. I felt the same way about Madame Dika, although Seth obviously still believes in her.”
“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me,” Judy said with an exaggerated sigh. “No, not in the least.”
CHAPTER 8
Liz spent the rest of the day getting ready for her trip to New Orleans. Judy had been able to reschedule the spa treatments she’d planned for the following day for that afternoon. Liz was going to drive her minivan to the airport and park it in the long-term lot. Their flight left at 9:00 a.m., so they decided to leave Red Cedar Lodge at 5:30 a.m. Traffic getting to the San Francisco airport could be brutal on a weekday morning at that time, and they didn’t want to miss their flight.
When Liz finished packing, she lifted her suitcase off of the bed, and put it on the floor for any last-minute packing she’d need to do in the morning. She carefully took the voodoo doll that Seth had given her, as well as the two Judy had given her, out of her purse and put them in her suitcase.
I hope I can find something out about these things. Surely, in a city that’s known for black magic and things like that, there must be someone who can tell me about them. And I still don’t understand why someone would want to kill Nicole. It just doesn’t make any sense to me.
She was looking in her closet to see if she’d missed packing something she’d regret not taking when her cell phone rang. “This is Liz,” she said, noticing that no name had come up on the cell phone’s screen.
“Hi, Liz, it’s Maddie. I just got off the phone with Cody.” Liz could hear Maddie swallow. “Oh, Liz, it was so sad. A friend of his has a son who does some intern work in the coroner’s office, and he’d met Nicole when Cody had brought her over to the house to meet his father and mother. He just happened to be there to pick up something. Anyway, he had his father call and break the news to Cody. He sounded heartbroken, legitimately. I feel so sorry for him. He told me they were planning on getting married.”
“When a murder has been committed,” Liz said, “I’m told the textbook standard is to look at the people who are emotionally close to the victim, but from what you’re telling me, it sounds like he didn’t have anything to do with the murder.”
“I know nothing about all of this,” Maddie said. “As a matter of fact, Nicole is the first person I’ve ever known who was murdered. I just feel for Cody. Anyway, I told him about you, and he’s expecting your call. He did tell me he had no idea who would do something like this.”
“You did a very good job, Maddie, thank you. He probably doesn’t know anything, but I’d like to talk to him anyway, particularly since I didn’t know Nicole. I’ll give him a call in a few minutes.”
“Well, thanks again for lunch. I don’t think there’s anything else I can do for you or for poor Nicole, but if something comes up, would it be okay if I called you? Maybe I’ll hear something at work.”
“Yes, please feel free to call anytime if you hear anything. Even if it doesn’t mean anything to you, it might be the link we need to help solve her murder. Again, thanks for taking the time to have lunch with us.”
“Enjoy New Orleans, and I hope you find out something that will help Nicole, although I guess nothing can change her fate now.”
“Again, many thanks for your help. I need to call Cody and take care of a few more things that need to be done around here.”
*****
A few minutes later, Liz heard a man answer her call and say, “Hello, this is Cody Evans.”
“Mr. Evans, my name is Liz Lucas. I believe Maddie Sanders mentioned that I would be calling you regarding Nicole Rogers. I understand you had a relationship with her, and I want to tell you how sorry I am for your loss.”
Even though it was quiet on the other end of the phone, Liz was pretty sure Cody was crying softly. She thought he might have placed his hand over his phone to mask the sound.
Liz felt like she was intruding on his grief. “I won’t keep you long, Mr. Evans, but I would like to ask you a couple of questions. Would that be all right?”
He let out a deep sigh and replied in a shaky voice. “Yes, if it would help find out who did this horrible thing, I’m happy to help, but I don’t think I know anything.”
“First of all, I understand that Nicole had a sister. Did she ever mention her?”
“Yes, she often talked about how she really had no family other than a sister who she hadn’t spoken to in years.”
“She actually told you she hadn’t spoken to her in years, is that correct?”
“Yes,” Cody said. “I’m really certain about it because we were having dinner in San Francisco. I’d taken her down there because she always told me how she loved Creole food, but Red Cedar was too small to support a Creole restaurant. While we were eating at one that I’d found on the internet, she told me about how her sister had gone over to what she called ‘the dark side’ several years ago, and she hadn’t spoken to her since that happened. She told me her sister had legally changed her name to Marie Leveau, because she’d become a voodoo practitioner.”
“Do you know if Nicole was involved in the practice of voodoo?”
“Definitely not.” Cody said emphatically. “She told me that she grew up in a poor parish outside of New Orleans where the practice of voodoo was pretty common. She said it might appeal to some people, but she thought it was pretty much a lot of hocus pocus, or words to that effect.”
Liz knew what Nicole meant. She’d always thought the same thing herself, although recent events were beginning to make her question if maybe there wasn’t something to it. “Did she ever mention she was having problems with people at the bank where she was the manager?”
“One time we were talking about people we worked with, and she mentioned that she had to fire an employee when she first took over as manager. She said the woman was really
angry at first, but it had a silver lining, because the woman moved to Colorado, met the man of her dreams, and was even able to get a good job because of Nicole’s recommendation.”
“I hate to ask you this Mr. Evans, but do you have any enemies who would want to hurt you by murdering a woman you were seeing?”
“Liz, please call me Cody, and I was more than seeing Nicole. Last week I asked her to marry me, and she agreed. We were planning on getting married next spring. As far as someone who would want to hurt me through Nicole, I have no idea. I can’t think of anyone who would hate me enough to do that.”
“What about relationships with other women? When you became involved with Nicole, did you break off any relationships? Were you involved with someone prior to her?”
He was quiet for several long moments, and then cleared his throat. “Yes, I was dating a woman, but we weren’t exclusive. She wasn’t very happy when I told her I was ending our relationship because I was seeing another woman, and that relationship was getting serious. Actually, she was furious, but I think it was just a momentary thing. I haven’t spoken to her since.”
“Does she live in Red Cedar?” Liz asked.
“No, she lives in Bodega Bay. We met about a year ago when she inherited some money when her father died. She was looking for an investment adviser, and I was recommended to her. One thing led to another and we started seeing each other.”
“What can you tell me about her?”
“Well, she owns an insurance agency which she inherited from her father. I guess she started working there when she was in high school, so it was a pretty natural career for her.”
“What’s her name, and what does she look like?”
“Her name is Candace Norgan. She has long blond hair, a nice complexion, and dark blue eyes. I suppose a lot of people would find her attractive. I did once.”
Liz immediately thought of the woman in Gertie’s photograph taken in the diner. The one with the voodoo doll on the table.
“Did Candace know Nicole’s name?” Liz asked.
Cody was quiet, then he said, “I don’t know if I told her Nicole’s name, but I do remember telling her that Nicole was the manager of a bank in Red Cedar. I suppose she could have found out, since there are only three banks in town. Why? Do you think she might have had something to do with the murder?”
“I have no idea, but I’m trying to look under every rock. Cody, I’m leaving for New Orleans in the morning, and I need to do a few more things before I go. Let me give you my cell number, and if you think of something, please call me.”
“All right. I hope you find out who did this horrible thing,” he said with a catch in his voice.
“Cody, I promise you, I’ll do my best.”
CHAPTER 9
After Liz ended the call with Cody, the little voice in her head started in. “Don’t get involved in this. There are darker things in this world than you know about, and this is way out of your comfort zone,” the voice said.
Well, it’s too late now, Liz thought to herself. I’m committed, plus Cody sounds like he’s a very nice person. Maybe I can help.
“No, Liz, not without hurting yourself,” the voice said. “Walk away from this.”
Liz shook her head and was thinking about what the voice had said when her cell phone rang. She noticed Cody’s name flash up on her screen and said, “Hi, Cody. Did you remember something?”
“After you called I was trying to remember if there was a link between Candace and Nicole.”
“Since you called, I’m assuming that you found one,” she said evenly.
“Well, I have no idea if it’s important, relevant, or even worth mentioning, but I decided to let you be the judge of that. Here’s what I remembered. On the day I told Candace I was going to break up with her, I went to her office to tell her I no longer wanted to see her, that I had found someone else. I didn’t think it would be right to do it over the phone.”
“That was a very thoughtful thing to do.”
“Yeah, well who knows? Anyway, I walked into her office, and she was sitting at her desk reading a magazine. I asked her what she was reading, and she said an article about Creole food and the whole New Orleans voodoo thing. I told her that was a coincidence, because I had just been to a Creole restaurant in San Francisco the evening before. We talked about it and then I told her I was sorry, but I no longer wanted to see her. She was furious and asked if I’d taken some good-looking Cajun woman to the Creole restaurant, and if she’d cast some sort of voodoo spell on me.”
“That must have been a very difficult conversation, Cody,” Liz said.
“Believe me, it was. I told her no, the woman was a manager of a bank. I’d taken the woman there because she was from Louisiana. I still don’t remember giving her Nicole’s name, but I’m sure she could have easily found that out given that she was the manager of a bank and from Louisiana. I rather doubt that either one of the other two managers of the banks in town are from Louisiana,” he said with a bitter laugh. “Anyway, for what it’s worth, there it is. I have no idea what you can do with it, if anything, but wanted to let you know.”
“Cody, I don’t have any idea either, but I’m glad you told me. As I said, you never know what will prove to be important. Did Nicole ever mention anything to you about finding voodoo dolls, like someone had been putting them in different places where that person knew Nicole would find them?”
Liz told him about the doll falling out of Nicole’s locker and also about the doll that had the word “Bacalou” written on it and the skull and crossbones. After she told him, he was silent and said, “No, she never mentioned anything to me about that. It sounds like this was well thought out by whoever left the dolls. I just can’t imagine who would want to deliver scary voodoo dolls to Nicole.”
“Nor do I, Cody, but I plan to look into it while I’m in New Orleans. Again, if you think of anything else, please call me.”
“I will, and thanks for trying to find out who murdered Nicole. I know at some point I’ll have to grieve for what might have been, but right now I’m beginning to feel angrier than I have ever been in my life, and it’s not a feeling I like.”
“Cody, there are different steps involved in the grieving process. Don’t try to rush it. I know it’s a trite saying, but time is a great healer. Give yourself some time.”
“Yeah, I’ve been there and done that. When I was twelve, we were living in San Francisco. My mother was walking out of a drugstore when she got hit by a stray bullet fired by some gangbanger and died.”
“Oh, Cody, I am so sorry. This must be like déjà vu for you. No one should have to go through something like that even once, let alone twice.”
“I agree. I know time heals, but this one’s going to take even longer. When you’re twelve you’re a little more absorbed by yourself than you are at thirty-one. I just hope I can make it through this, but there are moments I have my doubts.”
“Cody, I’ve got a big shoulder to cry on and I always have an open ear. If you ever feel like talking to someone, please call me. I don’t have answers, but I sure can listen.”
“Thanks, Liz. You don’t even know me, but I appreciate your offer, and I just might take you up on it.”
*****
When the last of the guests had left the lodge that evening, and the continental breakfast Bertha would fix in the morning was fully prepped and ready to go, Liz walked downstairs, let Winston out, and got ready for bed.
Her thoughts turned back to Nicole and Cody. Even though she hadn’t met him, she liked him through the conversations they had shared by telephone. His grief seemed genuine, and while she knew it would take a long time for the pain of Nicole’s death to go away, she hoped she could find the killer and at least have him feel that justice had been served. That, on top of having your mother murdered when you were only twelve, was enough to break anyone.
She wished she could stay in Red Cedar and look for Nicole’s killer, but since she really had
no personal involvement in the case, other than the fact that she and Judy had been the ones to find Nicole, she couldn’t justify staying. She hoped Seth would be able to find the murderer, although given her conversation with him earlier when she’d called to see if he had found out anything, along with seeing him at Madame Dika’s, she doubted it.
Seth had told her that as soon as he finished filling out his traffic forms, he’d get to it. She was still amazed that the good citizens of Red Cedar had elected him as their police chief, not just once, but several times.
Knowing it was going to be a short night, after she let Winston in, Liz quickly fell into a deep sleep. The last thought she had before she fell asleep was I hope I can find something out about voodoo. Surely, in a city that’s known for black magic and things like that, there must be someone who can tell me about them. And even more importantly, maybe they can even tell me who killed Nicole. As she slept through the night, her dreams were populated with voodoo dolls and black magic symbols.
CHAPTER 10
The next day, the van occupied by Liz and Judy pulled up to the Desiree Richarde antebellum mansion in New Orleans’ French Quarter. Liz had read that the house was named for the wife of a well-known Louisiana senator who, prior to the Civil War, had scandalized the society of that time by marrying a Creole woman. The photograph in the brochure had shown a beautiful woman with a pale caramel complexion, jet black hair, and adorned with jewels.
The story in the brochure said the senator had become enamored of her when he’d attended a quadroon ball. White men attended these balls and often became a benefactor for a woman who then became his concubine. He died shortly after marrying her, leaving all of his property to her. She spent the rest of her life helping free people of color, particularly women, and to this day her name invoked awe and devotion for what she had been able to accomplish.
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