Nancy K. Duplechain - Dark Trilogy 01 - Dark Bayou

by Nancy K. Duplechain

  “Don’t sass me.” She got up and started to fix my breakfast. I joined her at the stove just as she was about to crack open an egg to fry.

  “You don’t have to do that,” I said, wishing she wouldn’t go out of her way for me.

  She cracked the egg anyway, and let it plop down in the oil that was already heated. “You need to eat. You’re too skinny.”

  “Are you kidding? I think I put on five pounds since I’ve been here.”

  “That’s not enough. You need at least fifteen more.” She put a couple of slices of bread in the toaster. I sighed and took a seat at the table, next to Lyla, who still avoided looking at me. She looked lost in thought.

  “Do you miss California?” said Lyla, after a minute.

  I looked at her, extremely happy that she was still talking to me. I wasn’t sure if last night was just a fluke. “Some things,” I answered.

  “Like what?”

  “Don’t get her started,” said Clothilde, tending to the frying egg.

  I ignored her. “I miss the ocean and the mountains the most.”

  Lyla was lost in thought again. Clothilde muttered something in French that didn’t sound like approval. There was soon an awkward silence where the only sound was the sizzling egg in the pan. I was relieved when there was a knock on the door. Before I could get up to answer it, Lyla bounced out her chair. “I’ll get it!” she chimed happily.

  The bread popped out of the toaster. As Clothilde buttered it, she asked, “How did you sleep?”

  “Okay,” I lied.

  She let out an exasperated huff. “You didn’t sound fine last night.”

  “Were you checking up on me?”

  “I was checking up on Lyla, and then I heard you talking in your sleep.”

  “Oh.” I worried what it was that she heard exactly.

  Now I could hear Lyla and another child laughing. She soon entered the kitchen, pulling Lucas by the hand. Jonathan followed, giggling. Lucas had a white box in his hand. I saw that it had a couple of wet spots on the bottom of it, and I instantly knew what it was.

  “Anyone want boudin?” he asked, cheerfully.

  “It’s really good!” said Jonathan, comically licking his lips.

  I smiled and Lucas caught my eye. He winked at me. “How you doin’ this morning?” he said, softly, putting the box down on the table. Lyla eagerly opened it and helped herself to a small link of boudin. Jonathan took one, too. I nodded that I was okay. He nodded back and walked over to the stove to kiss Clothilde on the cheek while she took the egg out with a spatula and placed it on a plate.

  “And how you doin’, Miss Clothilde?”

  “I’m good, cher. Here, I’ll make you and Jonathan some breakfast.” I marveled at how he had her wrapped around his little finger. Clothilde did love the charming ones the most.

  “Oh, no ma’am. We ate already, but thank you. We were just stopping by to pick up Leigh.” He noticed Jonathan with the piece of boudin in his hand. “Jon. No more after that. You had enough.”

  Jonathan giggled and stuffed the boudin in his mouth. “Okay,” he managed with his mouth full.

  “What y’all going do?” asked Clothilde.

  Lucas looked at me, his eyes asking if it was okay to tell her. I nodded, knowing that she’d find a way to make a mountain out of a molehill. “We’re going to pick up her car at Carrie’s. The party ended a little earlier than we expected, so I offered to drive her back so we could visit a little more.” I looked at Lucas, impressed and grateful for the lie. He winked slyly at me. “Ready to go, Leigh?”

  “Not until she’s had her breakfast,” insisted Clothilde, putting my plate of egg and toast in front of me with a fork. I sighed and dug in.

  “Don’t forget your boudin!” said Jonathan, a little too loudly. He plopped down a link on my plate.

  “Thanks, sweetie,” I said, and smiled at him. It was impossible to not smile when he was on the verge of giggling. After I ate and Lucas and Clothilde made small talk, I washed my dishes and turned to Lucas. “Ready?”

  He got up and pushed his chair back under the table. “Sure thing. C’mon, Jon.”

  “Can’t I stay here and play with Lyla?” he pleaded.

  “Y’all go,” said Clothilde.

  “You sure?”

  “Ouais,” she responded, which is the Cajun version of oui, which means yes. It came out sounding like way.

  “Yay!” said Jonathan. Lyla beamed.

  “Come! Let’s go play with my toys,” she told him. They ran upstairs together.

  “All right,” said Lucas. “Let’s hit the road. Thank you, Miss Clothilde.” He kissed her on the cheek again.

  “Y’all don’t stay gone too late today. Leigh, I want you back here by three o’clock.”

  “Okay,” I said, getting up and pushing my chair under the table. “Why three?”

  “Because me and you need to go somewhere this afternoon. Lucas, do you think you can take Lyla with you for a few hours this afternoon, and I can send Leigh to pick her up later?”

  “Sure. I’m off today, so it won’t be a problem. And I don’t mind bringing her back myself.”

  “C’est bon,” said Clothilde, meaning that’s good.

  As we left, my mind raced with what Clothilde could possibly have in store. I was sure that whatever it was was the true source of her temperament this morning. And the fact that she didn’t want Lyla with us meant that it was adult talk and I didn’t like that. I still had an aversion to responsibility and, thanks to Lyla’s question, was now missing California again. Lucas’ voice brought me back to reality.

  “So, you’re really okay? I felt bad leaving you last night. You were pretty shaken up.” He concentrated on the road, but every now and then he stole worried glances at me.

  “Yeah. I’m okay.” I couldn’t bring myself to tell him about my dream, especially since he was in it. He had already sounded freaked out last night with the talk of the strange happenings he experienced on the job in the last few months. Telling him that he was one of the stars of my nightmare might scare him. But I couldn’t imagine Lucas being afraid of anything. He was a worrier, though, but not about himself. He was very protective of the people in his life.

  “Mind if we stop off somewhere before we get your car?”

  “Not at all. Where are we going?”

  He groaned softly and rolled his eyes. “I have to stop off at the station to pick up a package someone left for me.”

  “You look a little ticked off.”

  “Well, I don’t want to go down there on my day off.” He perked up a little. “But, hey, it’s not so bad for you. You’ll get to see some of the guys again.”

  I smiled, not really meaning it. If I ran into some officers I recognized at the Lafayette P.D., they’d start in on the questions again. How are you holding up? We sure miss David and Michelle. Are you back in Louisiana for good? I didn’t want to hear any of it. As we drove down highway 167, I started to come up with reasons to wait in the truck while Lucas went in to retrieve his package.

  When we arrived, Lucas got out but I stayed put. I was going to wait for him to get the package and come back, but when I saw him crossing over to my side, I knew what he wanted to do. Before he could open the door for me, I did it myself and got out. He frowned. “I was going to get that for you,” he said.

  “I know. But you don’t have to do that every time,” I said, smiling, hoping not to offend him.

  “It’s how I was raised,” he smiled back.

  I sighed. “I know. I’ll just wait out here for you.”

  He frowned again. “Don’t you want to see the guys?”

  I looked away, past the red brick building that housed the department, past the large oak trees that separated the department from the courthouse lawn. On the steps of the John M. Shaw U.S. court house, in front of the white columns, was a large statue of a head with the skull portion purposely left off. The eyes were covered in a blindfold that draped in a way to ma
ke it look like the skull-less head was wearing an eye mask. I always loved that statue because it seemed too artsy for Acadiana. But I had to applaud Lafayette. In the last few years, the community had really embraced art and culture. It made me smile to pass through downtown and see the beautiful murals painted on the sides of buildings and to see the cute boutiques lining Jefferson Street. There were art walks, music festivals, food festivals and, to my surprise, now a film festival. It seemed like Lafayette was becoming a little version of Austin, Texas.

  “Leigh?” pressed Lucas. I tried to think of an excuse, but before I could, he grabbed me gently by the hand and said, “C’mon! They’ll want to see you again.” I gave up and let him lead me to the steps of the department.

  When we got to the door, he stopped and let go of my hand. I stopped, too. He paused for a minute. “What?” I said.

  “Oh, I’m just waiting for you to get the door yourself,” he smirked.

  I grinned. “Oh, no. Allow me.” I made a grand gesture of opening the door for him. He nodded in approval, and he walked through the door first. I followed, laughing.

  I instantly recognized the middle-aged man at the front desk. It was Lieutenant Roger Chenier. I thought he would have been long retired by now, and I remembered how surprised I was to see him in his uniform at the funeral. He was a well-respected officer on the force and was one to always see the bright side of life. I was relieved that he was the only one I recognized at the moment. It wasn’t crowded and the few who were there were busy with paper work. Before the door could swing shut behind us, Roger was grinning from ear to ear.

  “Look who can’t tear himself away from work!” he said to Lucas.

  “Yeah, yeah. You got a package for me?” Lucas grinned.

  “Sure do.” He reached over to the desk behind him and grabbed a thick, rectangular brown box. As he handed it to Lucas, he grinned at me and said, “Well, hey, Leigh! I thought you were back in Los Angeles. Don’t tell me you decided to move back,” he said, hopeful.

  “No, no,” I said, shyly. “Just needed to take care of some things.”

  He nodded, understanding. “How’s Clothilde and Lyla?”

  “They’re holding up nicely, considering.”

  “Mighty fine. Mighty fine,” he said, still grinning.

  “There’s no postage or return address on this thing,” said Lucas, shaking the package in his hands.

  “It wasn’t mailed. Some old man dropped it off,” said Roger.

  “Did he say anything?”

  “Nah. Just asked if I could give this to you.”

  “Did he say who he was?”

  “Nope. Maybe you know him. He was kind of tall and skinny. White hair.”

  “Mais, I don’t know anyone like that.”

  I felt myself start to panic. It’s the Dark Man. He was here. He knows where Lucas is. I told my mind to shut up. I had no proof it was the Dark Man. And, if he knew where Lucas was, why did he drop off the package at the police station instead of just going to Lucas’ house. I tried to calm myself down before they could notice my reaction.

  “Hey, any of the guys out back? I’m sure they’d like to see Leigh again.”

  “Sure! Why don’t y’all come back ‘round here?” said Roger, as he started to walk towards the locked door that separated the front office from the back office.

  “That’s okay,” I said and Roger stopped in his tracks. “I really need to get my car.” I looked at Lucas, hoping he could see how badly I wanted to leave. He took the hint with a little frown working the corners of his mouth.

  “Yeah. We gotta run. I’ll see you tomorrow, Roger.”

  “Okay. Y’all have a good day. Nice to see you again, Leigh.”

  “You, too,” I said, forcing a smile.

  Lucas and I left. When we got back in his truck, he put the package on the arm rest between his arm and mine. He started the engine and drove off. Seeing the package so close to me was starting to give me an anxiety attack. “Aren’t you going to open that?”

  “I’ll do it when I get home,” he replied, sounding like it was no big thing. But what if it was a big thing? I both wanted and didn’t want to know what was in that seemingly innocent package.

  “So, what was that all about?” he asked after a minute.

  “Hmm?”

  “Why didn’t you want to visit any?”

  I hesitated. “It’s just … a little too much to deal with right now.”

  He nodded, understanding. “You know, you never did say what you were doing back in Louisiana.”

  He waited patiently as I took a couple of minutes to compose myself as we drove through Lafayette, on our way to Snook’s. I was amazed at how much the city had grown since I was there several years ago. There were tall buildings and stores I had never seen before. We came to a stop at a red light, and I noticed there were eight cars ahead of us.

  “Seems like there’s more traffic than I remembered,” I said.

  “Been like this since Katrina. Lot of New Orleans people live here now.”

  “Bet that keeps you busy.”

  “Any time you get a boost in population like that, there’s going to be more crime. But we’re taking care of things. Now, quit stalling.”

  “I thought you weren’t the kind to pry.”

  “Sorry. Didn’t mean to ruffle your feathers.” That was the first time I noticed a hint of anger in him since I’d been back. I certainly didn’t like the feathers reference, either. That made me think of the Man from Bancker’s pet, and how it haunted my dreams. It brought my attention back to the package.

  I nodded at the package. “It might be something important in there.” He glanced at it quickly and put his eyes back on the road as the light turned green again.

  “Speaking of prying,” he said, coyly.

  I rolled my eyes. “Fine.”

  We drove in uncomfortable silence the rest of the way to Snook’s, which was about five miles from where we were. When we got to the parking lot, my black Mustang was one of two vehicles there. The other was a black F-150 truck that looked pretty new. The bar was closed, so I guessed that someone else had to be driven home last night. I’m sure it was because he had one too many and not because he was being terrorized by birds or skinny old, white-haired men.

  “Thanks,” I said as he pulled his truck up next to my car. Lucas allowed me to let myself out. I fished my keys out of my pocket and walked over to my car. He drove his truck around in a semi-circle so that the driver’s side was across from my driver’s side. He leaned out the window as I was about to get into the car.

  “Are you going back to Clothilde’s?”

  “I guess. Unless you have something else in mind.”

  He grinned, his hazel eyes twinkling. “Follow me.”

  Puzzled, I followed him in my car.

  Instead of going back through Lafayette, he led me north, down Ambassador Caffrey Street and we hooked a right to get to I-10 East. We drove for a couple of miles and took the exit that led to the city of Breaux Bridge. I had no idea what he had planned, but my curiosity was thoroughly peaked. I thought he would have gone into the city, but I soon found us driving down an old country road, just outside of the city limits. We were surrounded by a wooded area on the left. On the right, sparsely-placed one-story houses with large front yards whizzed by us as the speed limit picked up to fifty-five. We continued down this road for about eight miles, and then Lucas slowed down. I eased off the accelerator and gently pressed the brake. He put on his right turn signal, and I did the same. We turned right and continued down another country road, this one narrower with fewer houses. There were a couple of farms here and some sugar cane fields. The cane was still young—harvesting time would be in late fall. That’s when the smell would be intense, sweet and earthy.