by Eva Pohler
French Quarter Clues (Mystery House #3)
Eva Pohler
Published by Green Press
Copyright 2018 Eva Pohler
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Eva Pohler is a USA Today bestselling author of over twenty novels for teens and adults.
To learn more about Eva and her books and to find freebies and frequent giveaways, visit her website at http://www.evapohler.com.
For free ebooks from Eva Pohler in both young adult fantasy and adult mystery/suspense please visit: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/e4o8n7.
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Return to Tulsa
Chapter Two: Tanya’s Demon
Chapter Three: The House on Chartres Street
Chapter Four: Priestess Isabel
Chapter Five: Of Snake and Bone
Chapter Six: Marie Laveau
Chapter Seven: The Lower Ninth Ward
Chapter Eight: Maria Nunnery
Chapter Nine: The New Orleans Profiteer
Chapter Ten: Interrogations
Chapter Eleven: The Search
Chapter Twelve: Louis Lalaurie
Chapter Thirteen: Jeanne Blanque De Lassus
Chapter Fourteen: Special Rites
Chapter Fifteen: A Paranormal Investigation
Chapter Sixteen: Delphine Lalaurie
Chapter Seventeen: Curses
Chapter Eighteen: The Fire of April 10, 1834
Chapter Nineteen: The Peace of Heaven
Chapter Twenty: Reconstruction
Chapter Twenty: Reconstruction
Chapter Twenty-Two: Reunions
Chapter One: Return to Tulsa
Tanya’s long, thin form lay horizontally across the hotel bed. “Like this?”
“Hang your head over a bit more.” Sue moved her short, round body closer to Tanya. “And keep it turned at a forty-five-degree angle.”
Tanya followed Sue’s instructions, her blonde hair nearly touching the carpet.
“What’s this called again?” Ellen asked.
“The Epley Maneuver,” Sue said.
Ellen’s son, Nolan, who was in medical school, had suggested it at dinner earlier, explaining that the airplane ride that morning had likely dislodged a crystal in Tanya’s inner ear, causing the vertigo.
“I really hope this helps,” Tanya said.
Ellen hoped so, too. She’d been looking forward to this trip for months. She and her friends planned to drive their rental car from Oklahoma City to Tulsa the next day to lunch with Sue’s daughter, Lexi. Sue’s mother, Jan, had sent an anniversary gift with them for Lexi. They were all dying to see what was in the box that Sue had had to lug around two airports, two planes, and a shuttle. Jan had said it was a surprise and wouldn’t budge, not even with a hint.
“A few more seconds,” Sue said as she pushed her dark bangs from her eyes.
After their lunch with Lexi, Ellen and her friends were to attend a scholarship awards ceremony at the Greenwood Cultural Center, which was the main reason for their trip.
From Tulsa, they were going to drive up to Pawhuska, to lunch at the Pioneer Woman’s Mercantile and to tour the lodge where her cooking show was recorded.
“Now what?” Tanya asked.
“Turn your head to the other side,” Sue said. “For another forty seconds or so.”
Ellen studied Tanya over Sue’s shoulder. “I thought her eyes would be fluttering back and forth.” That’s what Nolan had said, anyway.
“They aren’t?” Tanya asked.
Ellen bent over and looked more closely. “No.”
“Let’s just finish the maneuver and see if it helps,” Sue suggested. “Now roll over on your side and hold that position for another forty seconds.”
“If it doesn’t help, you two go on without me,” Tanya said as she rolled over.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet,” Sue said.
Ellen said a silent prayer, asking for Tanya’s healing. She’d hate for her to miss out on the fun.
“Okay, now sit up,” Sue said, as she and Ellen helped Tanya to a sitting position.
“How do you feel?” Ellen asked.
“I don’t know yet,” Tanya said. “I think it may have helped. I’m not sure.”
“Can you make it through a movie?” Sue asked.
Ellen slipped on her shoes. “It won’t make much difference whether you rest here or in the theater, will it?”
“I guess you’re right,” Tanya said, though she didn’t seem convinced. “I’ll just use the restroom, and then I’ll be ready to go.”
Sue grabbed her purse. “As often as the two of you had to pee during the flight, I think we may have to hook you both up to catheters.”
Tanya made a face at Sue before she disappeared behind the bathroom door.
Ellen laughed. “Why don’t you ever have to go, Sue? What’s your secret?”
Sue opened the hotel door and stepped into the hall. “I guess I don’t have a bladder the size of a thimble.”
Ellen laughed again, but, when Tanya rejoined them in the hallway, her friend seemed quiet. Ellen hoped she and Sue weren’t pushing Tanya too hard by taking her to the movie. The Epley Maneuver hadn’t seemed to be the miracle cure they’d been hoping for.
Once inside the darkened movie theater, where Sue had smuggled in a can of Cherry Coke and a chocolate muffin, Sue made them move twice. Although Ellen had preferred their original seats in back, she had to admit that she, too, had noticed the horrible smell that had prompted Sue to want to move. But, even now, as they settled into their seats closer to the screen, the odor lingered.
“Did you step in something, Tanya?” Sue, who preferred the aisle seat even though she had the better bladder, whispered to Tanya.
Tanya, in the middle seat, checked the bottom of her shoes. “I don’t think so. Do I smell bad?”
Ellen didn’t reply, because she’d come to suspect that Tanya had been the cause of the odor all along. Maybe she had a sour stomach and bad gas.
“They say your nose adjusts eventually,” Sue commented as she cracked open her Cherry Coke.
“Is it really that bad?” Tanya asked, her cheeks turning red. “I don’t smell anything.”
“Evidently, your nose already adjusted,” Sue added. “I guess your skills of adaptation are superior to ours.”
“Oh, Sue,” Ellen scolded.
That night, Ellen was awakened in the hotel room by a shriek. Tanya, sleeping in the bed opposite her, was crying out. Ellen flipped on the bedside lamp and sat up.
“Tanya?”
Tanya turned onto her side toward Ellen. “Huh?” She blinked several times.
Ellen was shocked by the very dark rings beneath her friend’s eyes and by her pale, pasty complexion.
“Are you feeling okay?” Ellen asked.
“Just tired,” Tanya said as she closed her eyes. “Bad dream.”
But Ellen was worried and felt like Tanya might need medical attention. She wished Sue was there to give an opinion. Both Tanya and Ellen had told Sue that her snoring didn’t bother them, but she had reserved her own room anyway.
Ellen crawled out of bed and inspected Tanya’s face beneath the light of the lamp. Deciding not to waken Tanya a second time, Ellen climbed back beneath her covers and flipped off the light. She lay there, worrying, for many hours.
Ta
nya slept in the passenger seat for most of the trip to Tulsa, as Ellen drove and Sue navigated from the back seat. Ellen had hoped her friends would trade places, so she and Sue could visit and make the drive go by faster, but they were afraid Tanya would get carsick in the back. Plus, Sue preferred the back seat, because she didn’t have to wear a seatbelt.
When they were still a half hour away from Tulsa, Sue leaned toward the front and said, “Tanya? You awake?”
Tanya didn’t move.
Then, to Ellen, Sue said, “I’ve been Googling her symptoms.”
“You don’t think it’s her inner ear?” Ellen asked.
“If it were, the Epley Maneuver would have worked.”
“Maybe we didn’t do it right.”
Sue frowned. “I followed the video exactly.”
“What does Dr. Google say then?” Ellen asked, secretly wishing Sue would sit back in her seat and wear her seatbelt.
“Well, we know she’s not diabetic,” Sue said. “Her doctor would have caught that last month when she had her annual checkup.”
“True.”
“And we know it’s not her thyroid, because she just had that checked when they removed that tumor from her parathyroid in Houston a few months ago, right?”
“But it could be related to that, couldn’t it?”
Sue lowered her voice. “Ellen, brace yourself.”
Ellen glanced at Sue’s reflection in the rearview mirror.
Sue whispered, “I think it’s a demon attachment.”
Ellen narrowed her eyes at Sue in the mirror. “Seriously? What makes you think that?”
“You didn’t think something was strange about the nightmare she had last night?”
At breakfast, Tanya had told them about a horrible dream in which Tanya had murdered them in their sleep and had gorged on their blood. Tanya hadn’t been able to eat breakfast because she had still felt nauseated from the experience, which she’d said had felt disturbingly real.
“It was just a bad dream,” Ellen insisted.
“Here are some of the symptoms of demon attachment: Severe nightmares or night terrors, strange lingering odors, depression, fatigue, personality changes, blackouts in memory, and abusive behavior.”
Ellen laughed. “Tanya is the last person on earth who’d be abusive. And those symptoms apply to at least a dozen health issues I can think of right off the top of my head.”
“Maybe, but I think we should be on the lookout, just in case. I’ve been sensing something unusual lately. It went away when I was in my own hotel room, but it came back when we met for breakfast this morning. Also, my phone keeps dying when I’m around her. It’s fine in my own room, but when I’m with you two, the battery drains.”
Ellen had learned not to assume that every claim Sue made about her “gift” was based purely on her imagination. While Ellen tended to be a skeptic first and foremost, she’d seen enough to be a believer, too.
And Ellen had been having a problem with her phone battery, too.
She glanced at their friend sleeping in the passenger’s seat beside her. Tanya’s pale complexion and the dark circles beneath her eyes continued to worry Ellen.
“You have to admit we’ve been a little careless with our use of the Ouija Board and other occult practices,” Sue added. “We may have invited something in.”
Just then, Tanya opened her eyes and met Ellen’s gaze.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Tanya asked.
Ellen gasped, suddenly nervous. “I was just checking on you. How do you feel?”
“Does it really matter?” Tanya snapped, as she closed her eyes and turned to face the window.
Ellen glanced at Sue in the rearview mirror.
Sue’s brows were lifted as she mouthed, “Demon attachment.”
After Ellen had parked the rental in front of the Mayo Hotel in Tulsa, Tanya lifted her head and looked around.
“Are we here?” Tanya asked sleepily.
Ellen turned to her friend. “What did you mean when you asked if it really mattered how you felt? We care about your feelings and don’t want to push you, if you can’t handle the trip.”
“What are you talking about?” Tanya asked.
Sue leaned forward. “I’m sure she didn’t mean it, Ellen.”
“Mean what?” Tanya asked.
“Ellen asked how you felt, and you said, ‘Does it really matter?’”
“I didn’t say that,” Tanya insisted. “I would never say that.”
“We both heard you, Tanya,” Ellen pointed out.
Tanya’s cheeks turned pink. “I must have been talking in my sleep.”
Later, Ellen and Sue met Lexi for lunch at the Greek restaurant across from the Old Lady on Brady. Tanya had decided to stay behind at the hotel and rest.
As they waited for their food, Lexi opened her present from Jan.
“It’s Grandma’s cuckoo clock,” Lexi said.
“Oh, how nice!” Sue’s face lit up. “She must have had it repaired. It’s been in the family for decades, you know. I always wished she’d given it to me, but I’m glad she’s given it to you.”
“It’s beautiful,” Ellen said, admiring the intricate details. “No wonder she didn’t want to ship it. It’s so delicate.”
“This little bird will slide from the house and tweet on every hour,” Sue said.
“Every hour?” Lexi asked. “All through the night?”
“You get used to it,” Sue said dismissively, but Lexi looked concerned.
“It cost a fortune to fix, I’m sure,” Sue added. “Be sure to write Grandma a thank you note.”
“Mom,” Lexi complained. “I’m not a kid anymore. I know I’m supposed to write thank you notes.”
“Well, your lunch is on me,” Ellen said, “and I’m expecting a thank you note, too.” Ellen gave Lexi a wink, to show she was only teasing.
Sue laughed. “I’m still waiting on my thank you from Nolan for his high school graduation gift from, what, eight years ago?”
Ellen shook her head. “I have a feeling you’ll be waiting a lot longer for that one.”
“Do you have time to come see what we’ve done to our new house?” Lexi asked them.
Sue had bought Lexi and Stephen a new house with some of the oil money. It was the only extravagant thing any of them had done. They were hesitant to spend too much of it while they still weren’t sure how long the well would produce. More importantly, they had agreed that Greenwood deserved more than ten percent of the oil money, since the ghosts of their past had been responsible for helping them to find it.
“I wish we could,” Sue said. “But we’re worried about Tanya. Maybe we can come by before we head back to San Antonio.”
After lunch, Ellen and Sue said goodbye to Lexi and then walked across the street to the Brady Theater to check out its recent renovations. Jared was working the box office and seemed glad to see them again as he showed them the new flooring, seating, and repairs to some of the interior art deco architecture. Ellen took pictures with her phone to share with Tanya, but when they returned to the hotel, Ellen and Sue were shocked with what they found: Tanya was lying with her legs stretched up over the headboard, her hips on pillows, and her head hanging over the side of the bed, her eyes closed and ringed with black circles.
“Tanya!” Ellen cried as she rushed to her friend’s side.
“Don’t touch her,” Sue warned. “You don’t want the demon on your back, too.”
Tanya opened her eyes and blinked several times before she swung her legs from the headboard and tried to sit up.
“Tanya?” Ellen said gently.
“What’s wrong?” Tanya asked, disoriented.
“You were sleeping upside down,” Sue explained.
“I, what?” Tanya blinked.
“We need to take you to a hospital,” Ellen said. “Something’s not right.”
“I’m not sure a hospital will do her any good,” Sue whispered.
“She
’s dehydrated and delirious,” Ellen argued, but she, too, worried that a hospital might not be the solution they needed.
Although the scholarship ceremony at the Greenwood Cultural Center that evening had been rewarding, Ellen hadn’t been able to enjoy herself, because she’d been worried about Tanya. Ellen could tell Sue was feeling the same way as they left the reception to return to the hospital.
Hooked up to an IV, Tanya was awake and watching television in a private room when they arrived. Her complexion was no longer pale, the dark circles were significantly reduced, and she was even smiling.
“You were right, Ellen. I was dehydrated,” Tanya said cheerfully. “They couldn’t find anything else wrong with me.”
“And you feel better?” Ellen asked.
“You look better,” Sue commented.
“I feel fine,” Tanya said. “They’re keeping me overnight for observation, but I should be ready to leave tomorrow. How was the scholarship ceremony?”
Ellen and Sue recounted how impressed they’d been with the six recipients. One would be attending Harvard, two Yale, and three OSU. Although Ellen and her friends had lost their case against the state of Oklahoma and against the city of Tulsa for reparations owed to the descendants of the 1921 Race Riot victims, the oil money was being put to good use in helping repair the damages done to Greenwood.
“Will you be up to touring the social club tomorrow, do you think?” Sue asked Tanya.
“Definitely,” Tanya said. “I feel fine.”
Ellen exchanged a worried glance with Sue, doubting their friend was out of the woods yet. If a demon had attached itself to Tanya, saline through an IV wouldn’t be enough to get rid of it.
Chapter Two: Tanya’s Demon
As they stood in line outside of the Mercantile in Pawhuska in the blazing summer sun, Ellen said, not for the first time, “I’m so pleased for Simol.”
