Murder In Louisiana Politics

by Jim Riley

  "Baby, where are you? Your mother and I have been so worried." He shouted into the phone.

  "It's been a long time since anyone is called me, Baby. But you're welcome to do so if it makes you feel better," The voice on the other end of the call did not belong to his daughter.

  "Who are you? How did you get my daughter's phone?" He yelled, no longer in control of his voice.

  "How I got it is now irrelevant," the voice answered. "The only thing important to you is I have it. I also have your two precious little girls."

  "Who is this? Why did you take him?"

  "Calm down, Mr. Gill."

  "How do you know my name?"

  "I know a lot about you, Jimmy. I try to learn about people who are trying to kill me," the voice laughed.

  "Kill you? I don't even know who you are. Why would I want to kill you?"

  "That's right." A big sigh on the other end. "You hired someone else and he hired me. He died, but before he did, he told me you said he needed to tie up the loose ends. You may not know my name, but you thought I was a loose end."

  "I–you’re–what the hell are you talking about? I didn't hire anyone. I didn't hire you. I don't know what you're talking about."

  "If that is true, then I apologize for any inconvenience I've caused you. But I'm still not sure you didn't hire the guy who gave me the contract."

  "Contract? Wait a minute. Your Paula Netterville. That's who you are." His voice cringed.

  "How did you know that if you didn't hire me?" Paula asked.

  "Niki Dupre. She said you were responsible for all the murders."

  "You talked to Dupre?"

  "She came over here tonight. She asked me if I knew you. I told her I didn't."

  "Hmm." Paula thought for a couple of seconds. "Maybe we can make a swap."

  "What kind of swap? I've already told you I had nothing to do with whoever hired you. I only want to get my girls back."

  "This might be your lucky day. I was getting ready to feed them to my alligators."

  "Alligators? What–"

  "Don’t worry about that right now. I'm starting to believe you. You really didn't hire me to kill Omar."

  "That's right. So let my girls go."

  "I’d love to, Jimmy. But that goes against my professional ethics."

  "What ethics?" He asked. "You're a killer."

  "I see Miss Dupre has been spreading rumors about me again. What did she tell you?"

  "That you are–uh, a hired gun. That you kill people for money, but you enjoy it, and you're good at it."

  "A compliment from Niki Dupre," Paula chuckled. "I guess I should be honored."

  "I don't care about all that. I only want to get my girls back."

  "Then you will have to do a job for me," Paula replied.

  "What? A job? I don't work for you."

  "But you will if you ever want to see those two precious little girls of yours again."

  "I can't help you," Jim yelled into the phone.

  "You really have no choice."

  "What do you want me to do?" He asked.

  "Kill Niki Dupre."

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  "Who was that, Honey? Any news on our girls?" Diane Gill asked her husband coming out of the spare bedroom. Her red eyes and dark bags told him she had not been able to sleep either.

  "It was a lady who thought she had seen them," he replied.

  “Where? When?” Excitement grew in Diane's voice.

  "I think it was a crank call. Somebody just wanting their fifteen seconds of fame."

  Diane's shoulder sagged. She started to say something, but instead, turned back into the bedroom and shut the door.

  Jimmy was not a drinking man. However, he had a bottle of Jack Daniels Black stowed away in the garage for special occasions. This was not the type of occasion he had envisioned using it, but he needed something to calm his nerves.

  The distraught father took the bottle from the back of the cabinet, and went around to the side of the house. He sat in a lounge chair by the side of his pool. Never had he dreamed of being in a dilemma like this.

  He loved his daughters more than anything else in the world, including his own life. He would do anything for them. At least, he thought so before being asked to trade their lives for Niki Dupre's.

  Gill took a long swig from the bottle. The sharp liquid burned the back of his throat, but he did not notice. It did little to settle his nerves. Another long swig. No help.

  Could he justify taking away the future of Niki Dupre to save his daughters? After all, it was two lives for one. Who could blame him? What father would not take any chance to save his own daughters?

  But on the other hand, what assurance did he have that Paula Netterville would release Tammi and Sammi if he kept up his end of the bargain? Was she not a cold-blooded killer who hated loose ends? Did not Niki tell him she actually enjoyed killing people?

  Another long swig. Then another. He closed his eyes. The next thing he recalled was the breaking of dawn. But at least he was sure of what he must do.

  Gill retrieved the Colt .45 caliber revolver from his gun cabinet. A peek into the spare bedroom showed that his wife was still buried under the covers.

  "I'm sorry, Honey," he whispered before closing the door.

  He went to his office and retrieved the Go-Pro camera the girls had given him for his birthday. He laughed a little to himself. He wondered what they were thinking he would film when they bought it. Surely not what he was about to do now.

  Then he sat at his desk and scribbled out a short note. After reading it, he ripped the script up and tossed it in the trashcan. Then he wrote another. Being satisfied, he carefully folded the paper and put it in his pocket.

  On the way out of the house, he stopped and looked inside the girls' bedroom. Tears welled up in his eyes. He was even more convinced the plan he had chosen was the only one viable.

  Then he cracked open the door of his spare bedroom.

  "I love you, Honey. No matter what anyone says to you, please know I love you."

  Chapter Sixty-Seven

  Wednesday morning

  Central

  Jimmy was strangely calm while he drove across Central. The hard part was making the decision. After that, the choices were made for him. He parked the pickup truck at the edge of the parking lot and waited.

  The sun was now full in the eastern sky, opening the day to reveal God's wonders. Jimmy watched the people, mostly young adults, come out of the townhomes ready for another adventurous day. The ironic smile crossed his lips. Nothing they could imagine about their upcoming day could hold a candle next to his.

  Doubts crept slowly through his mind. Was there another way? Should he have talked this over with Diane? What would she do after hearing the news?

  His train of thought was interrupted when he spotted the strawberry blonde walking toward her brand-new Ford Explorer, a replacement for the one that was blown up at Linda's Fish & Chicken.

  Jimmy's pickup truck was not far from her reserved space. He got out of the truck and trotted up behind the private investigator when she put her hand on the door. The Go-Pro camera captured every move he made.

  Niki heard the pounding of Gill's feet on the hard parking lot surface. She turned when he was ten feet away. Her mouth opened when she recognized Jimmy.

  The man held his revolver in a classic two-hand stance, his left hand supporting his right.

  "Niki, I'm sorry. I have no choice."

  "Jimmy!" That was the last word she said.

  Fire exploded from the end of the barrel. The camera captured the whole scene. Gill fled from the parking lot. An hour later, he uploaded the film to the website he had never visited before. His fingers shook so bad he could barely manage to type it correctly.

  Diane opened the door and poked her head inside.

  "What are you doing?" She asked.

  Jimmy quickly transferred to a different URL on the Internet. His wife had seen him use that one bef
ore.

  "Playing some poker online," he replied. "I can think of nothing else right now."

  "Do you want some breakfast?"

  "Sure. Let me finish this hand, and I'll be right there." He winced a little when he turned, the new pain in his chest becoming more apparent.

  After Diane left to go back to the kitchen, Jimmy finished uploading the video to the website.

  "Forgive me, Lord," he whispered.

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  Wednesday afternoon

  Atchafalaya Basin

  Paula used the power antenna on her laptop to connect. Otherwise, she would have no chance of getting on the Internet in this remote area of the basin. There was a new upload on her website. Her fingers trembled with anticipation when she moved the arrow over the icon and clicked.

  It was more than she could have imagined. Not the quality of the video, but the content. The picture began with Jimmy’s face looking into the camera sitting in his pickup truck. Then it expanded to the parking lot of Niki Dupre's complex and somewhat focused on the lean detective approaching her SUV.

  The shaking hands and body made the film go in and out of focus. When Jimmy jogged across the lot, the camera lost the picture of Dupre altogether. Then when he stopped, the image of the private investigator spoke was clear as it could be. Niki Dupre was staring in horror at the hole in the end of the barrel.

  "Good for you, bitch," Paula hissed.

  She heard Jimmy apologize to Niki and her surprised reaction when stating his name. Then the camera went out of focus at the explosion of the shot. A cloud of smoke momentarily covering the lens.

  Then the picture cleared. Niki Dupre was prone on the surface of the parking lot. A pool of blood formed under her and around the body. The camera remained focused on the dead detective for several seconds.

  Then it turned away and was only inches from Jimmy's face. She saw the look of a man lost to the world, driven by unseen forces.

  Paula played the tape again. Then again. Then again. She could not believe the great private investigator was finally dead. This gave her a feeling the best sex or all the other murders had never come close to.

  Now she had to decide what to do with the twins. They were loose ends. But they had never seen her face, and she had never spoken to them. There was no way for either of them to identify her.

  On the other hand, it would be a blast to watch them struggle as the alligators closed in. She would need to slice one to get the blood flowing to stimulate her reptiles. Then she had another thought.

  Why not film it and send a copy to Jimmy Gill? Better yet, why not do it one at a time? She could force one to watch her twin being eaten alive by several gators. The reptiles would tear the little body apart a leg or an arm at a time, fighting over the best pieces.

  That way, she could film one being eaten and the horror of the twin watching. A special feeling came over Paula just picturing that scenario. It would be great. Not as great as the video she watched for the countless time, but it would rank right up there.

  Chapter Sixty-Nine

  Wednesday night

  Central

  The news reports were filled with accounts of the murder of Niki Dupre. Every local station devoted a full segment to the demise of the most famous private investigator in Louisiana. The whole city was in shock.

  Jimmy and Diane watched the CBS station, Channel 9. Neither said a word until the series of commercials broke at the end of the segment.

  "Hard to believe," Jimmy said.

  "She was in our house yesterday," Diane kept staring at the television. "We both talked to her."

  "She seemed like a real nice lady. It's a shame someone would kill her."

  "Do you think we should call the police?" Diane asked.

  "What good would it do? We don't know for sure who killed her."

  "It's got to be that Paula girl. Niki said she thought that girl was as mean as a cottonmouth."

  "We've got enough going on without getting involved in somebody else's murder," he answered.

  Jimmy's mind raced. What would happen to the twins now? Would Paula Netterville murder them despite his actions? Would Diane ever find out what he did? Did it really matter? Without the girls, his life is over, anyway. What difference did it make if he was thrown in jail?

  A thud sounded against the front door. Jimmy put his hand on Diane's arm. With this right hand he drew the Colt revolver from under the table. Diane's eyes went wide at the sight of the weapon.

  Jimmy motioned for Diane to stay seated. He crept toward the door. He stopped and listened. Nothing but the sound of the television. The reporter extended the coverage of Niki's death into the next segment.

  Jimmy braced the revolver and barely cracked open the door. He saw no one standing there. Then he lowered his gaze to the base of the entryway. His heart leapt to his throat.

  "Honey, come quick," he yelled. "It's the twins."

  Chapter Seventy

  After recovering them from outside the door, Jimmy immediately called for an ambulance. Both girls were breathing, but they were unresponsive to any outside stimulus.

  The short trip to Lane Memorial Hospital in Zachary was the longest of Jimmy's life. He stayed right on the tail of the ambulance for the fifteen-minute trip. He kept pace with the gurneys and stood close once his girls rested silently under the sheets.

  Then the doctors and nurses shooed him away, and made him and Diane wait in the visitors room while they examined the twins. Mayeaux showed up and approached the parents.

  "What can you tell me?" He asked.

  "Not much, Chief," Jimmy answered, his focus still on the double doors leading to the emergency room.

  "Did they say anything?"

  “Not a single word,” Jimmy answered. “It's like they're in a coma.”

  "And they were dumped at your front door?"

  "That's right. We heard a sound, opened the door, and there they were." Jimmy did not mention the revolver he had in his hands when he opened the door.

  "Was there a note or any kind of communication?"

  "None at all, Samson. We just found our girls. That was enough for me."

  "Do you have any idea who dropped them off at your door or where they have been?"

  "No idea at all."

  A nurse approached the Chief and the two parents.

  "We have some good news and some bad news," she announced after coming to a rest.

  Jimmy tensed, and Diane cried. Mayeaux simply turned to the nurse and held a pad in his hand.

  "The good news is that both girls will be fine eventually. The bad news is that it might take some time," the nurse stated.

  "What happened to them?" Samson asked as the parents held each other in a tight embrace.

  "They were both given an exotic tranquilizer. We’re having trouble defining exactly what it is and making sure we give them the right antidote."

  "Exotic? What do you mean?" Samson asked.

  "It's acting a lot like GHB, the date rape drug. But the elements aren’t associated with GHB or any other known tranquilizer in our records."

  "Tell the folks to check for poke salad. I’d be willing to bet a month's salary they get a hit when they do," Mayeaux said.

  "Poke salad? I've never heard of it."

  "You must not have grown up in the swamps around here," Samson chuckled.

  "I moved here from Natchitoches in the northern part of the state. We didn't have any swamps where I grew up."

  "Poke salad is a weed that grows along the banks of the sloughs in a swamp. The locals use it for a variety of things, from food to medicine. Used properly, it can sedate a person for up to a week. The only problem is that one has to know what they're doing when they use it. A bit of an overdose and the patient never wakes up."

  The nurse left muttering poke salad under her breath with every step. She disappeared into the emergency room.

  "Did you hear what she said?" Jimmy was exuberant. "Our girls are gonna be okay."r />
  Two hours later, the nurse returned. She smiled. "All good news. We checked for the weed you mentioned, Chief Mayeaux. I don't know how you knew, but you were spot on. The girls are still a little sluggish, but they'll be normal soon."

  "When can we see them?" Diane stood on her toes.

  "As soon as we move them to a private room," the nurse answered.

  When she returned to the emergency room, both Jimmy and Diane hugged Samson, not one accustomed to being hugged and unsure how to react.

  "Hey, guys," he said. "I didn't do anything but show up at the hospital."

  "But you told her about the poke salad," Jimmy countered. "Our girls will recover."

  "How did you know?" Diane asked.

  "That is what was used to kill Omar Philbin and what Paula Eldon tried to use to kill Donna Cross."

  "So it was that Paula girl who took the twins?" Diane asked.

  "It almost has to be. I don't know of anyone else who uses poke salad as a weapon. To my knowledge, she's the first." Mayeaux explained.

  "Why? Why did she take them?" Diane couldn’t connect the dots.

  "That's what I want to talk to the girls about. From what we've seen, Paula does nothing unless it serves her purpose. I'll find out what her purpose was to kidnap your daughters."

  Jimmy was oddly silent during the entire exchange between the chief and his wife. He was afraid anything he said would reveal secrets that held his future.

  Chapter Seventy-One

  "Did you see who took you?" Mayeaux asked.

  "Nope," both twins replied in unison.

  "Where did she take you?" He asked.

  "She?" Tammi asked.

  "A lady took us?" Sammi followed.

  "We're not positive, but the best information we have indicates it was probably a woman."