Between Dusk and Dawn (16 page)

“
He does,” LaShaun plunged
in, and gave him a pointed look. “What legend are we talking
about?”

“
Rougarou. <<
Rougarou or Loup Garou - a mythical creater with the body of a
human and the head of a wolf said to prowl the Louisiana
swamps>> Mrs. LeJeun described the behavior of her...
patients, and I may have hastily extrapolated to reach a
conclusion. I didn’t mean to suggest that--”

“
That I’ve been consorting
with evil, and helping a pack of rougarou prey on the innocent,”
Joyelle said. She sobbed quietly into the bunched up tissues in
both her hands.

“
Don’t be silly, dear,”
Miss Clo said quickly, and put a consoling arm around her
friend.

“
I’m sure Pete said no such
thing, did you?” LaShaun said, her voice strained.

“
Oh no, I just said that
the behavior of the individuals sounded like local stories!” Pete
protested.

“
Joyelle insisted we talk
to Mr. Pete because he’s an expert on history in the parish.” Miss
Clo looked at Pete who shrugged.

“
I knew he had a lot of old
books and diaries from long ago. When I was a girl, my monmon told
stories about her granddaddy. He was a famous traiteur. He prayed
over this man, and he was a rougarou.” Joyelle made the sign of the
cross. “Protect us Holy Father.”

“
You don’t really think
Patsy is roaming around because she’s a werewolf, do you? We all
know she ran off with Tommy Daigle.” LaShaun put calm and reason
into her tone.

“
And he’s dead,” Pete said.
He winced when LaShaun glared at him. “But there is something
distinctly human about the whole story. Faithless wife and angry,
jealous husband. Or maybe Tommy wanted to return to his wife and
Patsy became enraged. The sheriff will figure out what happened.”
He broke off from rambling and cleared his throat.

“
We have no reason to think
this is anything but a lot of horny young people behaving badly,”
LaShaun quipped. “Pete’s right. Between the sheriff’s office and
the state police all the dirty details will be sorted out
soon.”

Joyelle stared at LaShaun steadily.
“Have you seen anything, you know, with your extra
sight?”

“
Nothing,” LaShaun replied
promptly. She walked over to Joyelle and put a hand under her
elbow. Joyelle stood, and LaShaun glanced at Miss Clo who followed
her lead. “Why don’t you ladies do a bit of shopping and then have
a nice lunch. It’s a beautiful day. Sunshine and blue skies will
chase away those nerves over old fairytales.”

“
You don’t believe in
rougarou?” Joyelle asked.

“
In the old days people
didn’t understand strange behavior. They had to explain things some
kind of way. My grandmother told me a lot supernatural stuff was
just people acting crazy or being mean on purpose.” LaShaun
laughed.

“
Exactly what I was going
to say after I mentioned the rougarou thing,” Pete put in. He
smiled and nodded at the two older women.

Miss Clo squinted at him and then
glanced at LaShaun. “Right.”

“
Our competent sheriff and
her deputies are making sure the parish is well protected,” LaShaun
said. “I’ll walk y’all out.”

“
Let me visit the ladies
room first,” Joyelle said demurely. She sniffed and wore a shy
smile. “I do feel a bit foolish getting so upset. The truth is my
grandmother admitted great-great grandfather Landry told a lot of
whoppers, and he enjoyed moonshine a bit too much. I’ll be back in
a few, Clo.” She laughed and went down the hall.

Miss Clo watched her friend disappear
around a corner to the ladies restroom. She faced LaShaun and Pete.
“Now you two quit spinning that bull, and tell me the real
deal.”

“
There aren’t any
werewolves roaming around Vermillion Parish,” LaShaun said quietly,
looking over her shoulder.

“
But you do have a clue
that
something
more than just bad behavior is at work. That wasn’t a
question, young lady,” Miss Clo said sharply when LaShaun opened
her mouth to reply. “I’ve heard the rumors about that man at the
hospital acting crazy. Somehow this all ties together.”

LaShaun sighed, exchanged a glance
with Pete and nodded. “He’s human, Miss Clo.”

“
But I believe you’re going
to find out soon enough, and no, I’m not claiming to see the
future,” Miss Clo whispered. “But I agree we shouldn’t say anything
more in front of Joyelle.”

“
I’m can’t promise,”
LaShaun started, but footsteps on the tile floor caused her to
break off.

“
Well, I’m ready to go.
Thank y’all so much for humoring a jumpy little old lady,” Joyelle
said with a chuckle.

“
Not at all,” Pete said
beaming at her. “You ladies have wonderful day.”

“
Thank you. You do the
same.” Joyelle waved goodbye.

LaShaun walked with them to Joyelle’s
Pathfinder. “Bye, now. And don’t you worry.”

Miss Clo pulled LaShaun close to
whisper. “I’ll be calling you later, Missy.”

“
C’mon , Clo. We can get to
the store early, and then beat the lunch crowds at the restaurant,”
Joyelle called out.

“
Goodbye, LaShaun,” Miss
Clo said in a normal voice volume.

She glanced at LaShaun and pointed a
finger at her to emphasize she’d be in touch. Then Miss Clo got in
the car, buckled up and started chattering as though they hadn’t
only moments ago been discussing demonic half animal/half human
predators. LaShaun waved goodbye and put on her best cheery smile.
Then LaShaun marched through the museum as Dotty and Nyla stared.
She entered Pete’s office and shut the door firmly. When she spun
to face him, Pete stuttered.

“
Joyelle’s imagination took
over. Okay, maybe I did go on about some local legends, but of
course I wouldn’t put any stock in those old stories.” Pete gave a
nervous laugh and then sighed. “Thank God you came in. Weeping
women scare me worse than any werewolf ever could.”

LaShaun rubbed her eyes and let out a
slow breath. “Joyelle is on edge with Reverend Fletcher all but
saying that she’s ‘consorting with the devil’.”

“
Don’t get me started on
that nincompoop,” Pete said. He dropped the heavy book he still
held onto the round table in the corner of his office. “She’s got
more Christian charity in her pinkie finger than that so-called man
of God has in his entire body. I hope to never meet that man in
person. I probably would be ex-communicated.”

“
You haven’t attended any
church on a regular basis in several years, and aren’t you
Unitarian anyway?” LaShaun helped him put away more
books.

“
Let me. Some of these
volumes are heavy.” Pete took one large tome from her. “Knowing
Fletcher he’d try to get me thrown out of any and everything, even
have my car club membership revoked.” He laughed hard at his own
joke.

LaShaun stood at the window as Pete
continued to go on with sarcastic comments about Reverend Fletcher.
She looked out at the tree lined street. Going west it led back
toward the picturesque business and shopping district of Beau
Chene. South it became a small two lane road that connected to
Highway 35 leading into swamplands.

“
Hmm,” LaShaun said as he
kept talking. His voice sounded like a steady buzz in the
background. Finally she heard her name repeated.

“
Sorry to go on a rant but
intolerance galls me. Let‘s have some hot chocolate to wash away
the bitter after taste.” Pete bustled out and came back with a
ceramic pot. “Filled this up with the delicious brew. Oops, better
not say such things too loudly. Some of Fletcher’s congregation
might think we’re having a witches’ conference.”

“
Hmm,” LaShaun repeated,
still taking in the country autumn scene.

“
Things go better with
chocolate, eh? Come on, LaShaun. No more brooding,” Pete said. He
walked over to her carrying both dark green mugs with the museum’s
name on them in gold. He handed her one.

“
Thank you,” LaShaun
mumbled as she took it.

“
Now, my friend, why did
you come to see me?” Pete smiled at her and sipped hot
chocolate.

“
To discuss an
infestation,” LaShaun said and held the mug without drinking from
it.

“
Are we talking about
termites, ants, or nutria?” Pete chuckled.

“
Werewolves,” LaShaun
replied.

Pete choked and sputtered hot
chocolate down the front of his sweater, then fell down.
Fortunately for him the wide window seat broke his fall.

*****

Two hours later LaShaun left Pete, who
was by turns excited and terrified. LaShaun helped him sober up
from dreams of becoming a superstar historian. She reminded him of
victims ripped to pieces. Pete decided his research would turn to
wiping out the creatures. Still he also wanted to preserve at least
one specimen, he insisted; preferably dead with no chance of coming
back again. That was just fine with LaShaun. Now she faced the task
of telling Chase. That vow to always be honest with him was about
to bite her on the butt. She could only imagine his reaction. She
drove to his house after calling him.

Chase had been walked through two
crime scenes again, this time with state police forensic techs.
Both were located on the country back roads of the parish, which
meant he could easily drive out to his house for lunch. He opened
the door to LaShaun with a delighted grin. She was about to ruin
his good mood.

“
Hey, babe. Nice break
after looking at weird photos and then the real thing.” Chase
kissed her firmly on the mouth then let her go ahead of him to his
kitchen. “At least we have cool weather with low humidity. No
fighting off flying insects the size of model airplanes trying to
bite my butt.”

“
I don’t blame them, nice
butt,” LaShaun quipped and winked at him.

“
I accept your admiration,
the bugs not so much. I’ve got sliced smoked turkey, beef and a
selection of cheese for po-boy sandwiches. You get the chips and
soft drinks.” Chase pulled out a French loaf from a bread box.
Minutes later he had mustard, mayo and sweet relish on the counter.
“How’s your day been?”

“
Interesting I guess you
could say,” LaShaun replied. She found a bowl and poured corn ships
into it.

“
Yeah, well mine was boring
and routine. But it’s the kind of police work that solves crimes,”
Chase said as he sliced bread for their sandwiches.

“
Hunting for evidence to
crack a case sounds pretty exciting.” LaShaun went to the stainless
steel fridge and grabbed two dark brown bottles of ginger ale made
in Louisiana.

Chase licked mustard off one thumb.
“No matter what folks see on television, real police work is a lot
of sweaty, unpleasant stuff that goes on for hours. We end up
sorting through garbage of one kind or another a lot.”

“
So those sites in the
woods have anything helpful?” LaShaun got the answer she
expected.

“
Nothing I can talk about.
But don’t expect any breaking news reports, I’ll tell you that
much. Lots of paper baggies full of icky stuff you wouldn’t want to
discuss over lunch. All of it is off to the lab. At least once we
collect it we’re done. The lab guys have to pick through it, stare
at it and jiggle it for more hours. I thought about going into
forensics, but changed my mind.” Chase grimaced. “I’ll stick to the
field work.”

“
So no big breaks, huh? No
clues why those folks were in the woods?” LaShaun watched him
finish spreading condiments generously on one set of slices. “Ease
up on the mayo for me. Gotta watch the hips.”

Chase looked around at her and let out
a low whistled. “I’m watching ‘em for you. They’re doin’ just fine
from this man’s point of view.”

“
Thank you, sir.” LaShaun
blew him a kiss. “Too bad you guys can’t wrap up this case soon.
I’m sure M.J. feels the same.”

“
Yeah. The longer this
drags on, the more Reverend Fletcher can whip up a Salem witch
trial mood around the parish. Thank the good Lord we haven’t found
any voodoo dolls or farm animals with their throats cut. Still it’s
freaky.”

“
What?” LaShaun kept her
tone casual. She filled two large glass mugs with ice and put them
on the center counter.

“
People getting their kicks
running through the woods at night. First we have Patsy sneaking
out at night, and tales of her coming home with leaves and grass
stains on her clothes. I mean, dang, girl. Get a cheap motel room
like normal folks cheating.” Chase laughed as he put plates with
the sandwiches on the counter and sat down.

“
Yeah, freaky.” LaShaun
watched him crunch on a handful of chips and then wash them down
with some of the ginger ale.

“
Then we have this last
couple romping around the sticks in the dark. We don’t have a full
moon for nothing this fall. I tell you that much.” Chase dug into
his sandwich.

They ate in silence for another few
minutes. Chase made most of the small talk between mouthfuls.
LaShaun took a few nibbles. Food wasn’t on her mind. She tried to
think of a way to lead into telling Chase her latest theory. She
absentmindedly turned on the radio and searched for some music.
Chase subscribed to a satellite channel so there were plenty of
choices. A snatch of news report came on and Vermillion Parish was
mentioned. Though she tried, LaShaun wasn’t quick enough changing
to another station.