Little Black Girl Lost 4 (16 page)

Chapter 46

W
hen Lieutenant Avery refused a second time to acknowledge that Louis was murdered as well, Aubrey wanted to strangle him; nevertheless, he took a deep breath and maintained his composure—his life hung in the balance too. If he let it slip out that he was a Sodomite, it would be all over for him. Instead, he paced the floor back and forth, searching for a solution to support his theories. None came to him.

Avery was right, he thought. If Joshua had killed Beaumont and Louis, it made no sense to run only as far as Chateau Tresvant. That was either the act of an innocent man, or the act of an incredibly stupid man. As much as he hated to admit it, Joshua, for all of his flaws, was far from stupid. That meant someone from the big house may have committed the murders and implicated Joshua. He wondered, as he paced, who would do it? His mind was suddenly flooded with questions.

“You're very well informed, Lieutenant Avery,” Aubrey said. “Tell me, how were you able to get such meticulous information, if not from the killer himself? The
murders
were committed sometime last night, yet you are here without an invitation, parceling out specific details.”

“The slave you and several other men nearly killed this morning told us everything,” Avery said. “Is that true? Did you and the housemen here assault him and the woman he was with?”

Aubrey lowered his eyes, but remained quiet.

Walker said, “It turns out that the slave who told us this knew that Joshua had been sneaking off to my plantation at night for some time now, sporting with one of my servants. He told the man you pummeled this morning all about it, which is why you caught him in bed with a woman that Joshua stopped seeing a long time ago.”

Aubrey silenced himself and started pacing the floor again. He knew that he and the other men were in serious trouble now. First, their benefactor was dead and gone, never to return. That left them in the hands of a power-hungry woman who felt slighted by the man she married to get the power she craved. Now she had it, and all the housemen's lives were in her hands.

He believed that if Joshua didn't do it, Tristan and Cadence did, but he couldn't accuse a white woman of killing her own husband, not because he was effeminate, but to garner power. Who would ever believe that? He was desperate now. He had to do something he didn't want to do—accuse Lauren, who he didn't believe for a second had committed the crime. But it was either her or him. She had only been there a day. He didn't know her that well and owed her no allegiance.

Cadence said, “If Joshua didn't kill Beaumont, who did?”

Lieutenant Avery said, “One of you did it. There can be no doubt.”

Aubrey hated himself for what he was about to do, but it had to be done if he and the other men were to live. Without conviction, in a soft, almost inaudible whisper, he served her up to them. “What about Lauren? She just got here. She may have done it.”

Lauren frowned when she heard Aubrey implicate her in a brutal double murder. Only yesterday he had said he wanted to be her friend; he wanted her to trust him and build an alliance. He had even asked her to be his spy, so that he could gather information on Cadence. Now he was throwing her to a different form of man-eater. The last words that Joshua had said the day before rang in her mind: “Whateva you do, don't you trust them fancy-talkin' niggas up there on the hill.”

“You can't be serious,” Lieutenant Avery said.

“I most certainly am serious,” Aubrey blurted out angrily. He had to tell it all now. His life depended on it. “Monsieur Bouvier tried to force himself on her yesterday. I can get you the dress he nearly tore off her. Maybe he tried again and was successful the second time. And Louis insulted her moral sensibilities by prancing around her nude like he wanted to violate her as well. She could have waited until he and Louis were most vulnerable and killed them both.”

Lieutenant Avery rolled his eyes and said, “For a moment or two, I thought I was talking to a learned intellectual, being a slave notwithstanding. Now, however, I see that you have no reasoning skills whatsoever. I'm told that both men were in bed together, engaging in unlawful, salacious activity.

“I don't believe a girl could do such a thing to two men. Nevertheless, we'll leave no stone unturned. Where's the girl? Bring her out here and let's see if she has the strength to subdue two men.”

Lauren stepped out into the foyer when she heard the lieutenant's request. She glared at Aubrey. She was glad she hadn't confided in him. He had sold her out in a matter of minutes to save his own skin. No real warrior would ever put himself before a friend. If she had the steel mallet at that moment, she would have buried it deep inside his head and proudly stood before a firing squad for doing so.

“I'm Lauren, sir.”

Lieutenant Avery looked into her eyes and was immediately enraptured by them. After a few seconds of wanton gazing, he looked the girl up and down skeptically. She was rather tall, but he didn't believe for a second that she could have subdued two men and killed them. He kind of laughed and said, “Surely you don't think this delicate flower had the wherewithal to commit this wretched crime.”

Aubrey shrugged his shoulders and said, “Well . . . somebody had to have killed them. I can't imagine that any of us did it.” He was referring to the housemen, not Cadence.

“Show me where the body is . . . now!” Avery said.

Marie-Elise took Cadence's advice and stayed behind while the housemen, Lauren, Walker, and Avery made their way up to the second floor and into Beaumont's bedroom. They lit several lamps so they could see. Beaumont and Louis remained exactly as they were, in a sixty-nine position. Their plows sat side by side on the nightstand.

Avery looked at Aubrey and said, “Do you still maintain that either Joshua or Lauren here did this?”

Aubrey looked at the floor and without passion said, “I do, sir.”

Avery shook his head. “Aubrey, tell me then, if you can, why would Joshua leave the murder weapon that would be easily traced to him, and yet, not flee New Orleans altogether? And if Lauren did this, how was she able to kill them both while they were awake? And if she were able to somehow kill them both in their sleep, does she have the strength it would take to arrange two dead men in such a fashion as this?”

Aubrey said, “Well, someone killed them, sir. Who did it?”

Walker said, “My money's on you, fancy pants.”

“Me? Why would I do such a thing? I have nothing to gain. You, on the other hand, do.”

Chapter 47

W
alker Tresvant looked at Aubrey. Pity and compassion enveloped him. The man was grasping at straws now. It made no sense. Why would he not only come back to the scene of the crime, but bring a regiment of French soldiers? In order to commit the crime and hope to get away with it, he would have had to have known that Joshua was staying at his plantation that particular night and that he wasn't going back to Bouvier Hill. He would have had to have been able to find his steel mallet in the darkness, as he dare not light a torch and risk attracting the attention of the people he was going to kill. He then would have had to sneak into the mansion, up the stairs, kill Beaumont and Louis without making a sound, and get back out of the mansion without being seen.

Walker ran his hand down his face and said, “Now that we've exonerated two of your suspects, you aim your guns of judgment at me? For what reason would I do this?”

“Money and property. Bouvier money and property. That's what you said downstairs. I submit that you knew about Joshua and your servant all along, didn't you? You waited for the right time, and when you saw him go into your servant's quarters last night, you came over here, grabbed his mallet knowing it would implicate Joshua, killed your brother-in-law, and tried to escape. But Louis saw you, and you had to kill him too to shut him up.

“Then, to cover your tracks and implicate Joshua in the grisly deed, you cut off their plows and stuck them in their mouths, because you knew of Joshua's, and perhaps your own, hatred of our
perceived
inclinations and preferences. If Monsieur Bouvier's will leaves significant money to his sister, you would be in a position to take over Bouvier Hill, which was why you married her in the first place, right Monsieur Tresvant? Isn't that the real reason you came over here? Bringing a regiment of French soldiers and Lieutenant Avery is nothing more than an elaborate ruse to throw suspicion off you and onto other innocent parties. Isn't that so?”

Lieutenant Avery watched Walker closely to see his reaction to Aubrey's accusations. He was unmoved by it—outwardly anyway.

Walker applauded and said, “Touché, Aubrey. Touché. You probably would have made a great attorney, or swordsman. You've managed to implicate two people who could not have done it, so you then accuse the only man with what you think is real motive—money and property. The only problem is that I spent the entire night at Madam Nadine's brothel playing high stakes poker with the mayor and several planters, all of whom will vouch for me.

“Besides, I'm already rich. Why would I risk everything to take over Bouvier Hill; especially since Beaumont, in all likelihood, didn't leave Marie-Elise a dime because of his disdain for me? I have no idea who he left his enormous wealth to. I would think he left his fortune to either his wife or his brother, not my wife.

“Now . . . what do you have to say to that? Who are you going to accuse next? My wife?”

“If you believe that, dear sir, why did you mention money and property when you entered Bouvier Manor?”

“One can always hope. I'd be lying if I said I didn't hope he left Marie-Elise a significant portion of the Bouvier fortune. If we combine our wealth, we could absorb the smaller plantations and become the biggest sugar producers in Louisiana. You do the books, Aubrey, don't you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then you know it's the right move, right?”

Aubrey nodded.

“Can you think of a good reason why I'd jeopardize the possibility of Tresvant and Bouvier Sugar consolidating?”

Silence filled the room.

“What about . . .” Aubrey thought better of who he was about to accuse and stifled himself.

“What about what, Aubrey?” Walker asked.

“Nothing, sir. I'm at a loss as to who may have committed the murders.”

“Come on, man, speak up,” Avery said. “We know you know something.”

Soberly, Aubrey said, “I've accused three people who did not commit the murders; I will not accuse a fourth party, sir.”

Avery looked at the housemen and Lauren. “None of you heard anything last night? Nothing?”

Silence.

“I'd like to apologize to you, Monsieur Tresvant, and to you, too, Lauren. I suppose I've allowed grief to get the better of me on this tragic day,” Aubrey said. “Someone killed the master of this house, and I don't know who. I'm afraid it is one of us. Who else could have found Joshua's mallet in the darkness?”

They all went downstairs. Cadence and Marie-Elise came out of the sitting room to find out what they learned.

Avery said, “Mrs. Bouvier, I'm afraid we're no closer to solving this crime than we were before we went upstairs. One thing we all agree on is that somebody living here killed your husband. My suggestion is that you pick one or two of your niggers and we'll shoot them before we leave. You might get lucky and pick the guilty party, or not, but someone will have paid with their lives for the crime. Or you can hope that someone confesses later. It's up to you. At this point, I can't do any more than that.”

“So you want me to pick one of my servants so you can shoot him. And that will solve the crime?”

“It won't solve the crime, Mrs. Bouvier, but it will bring a bit of satisfaction. Pick one that gives you problems. I really don't care. I have other duties to perform at the garrison. The city beckons. We must take our leave. What's it going to be?”

Cadence looked at all the housemen and said, “One of you killed my husband, and one of you will pay for his death with your own life.”

She walked up to each one and looked into their eyes, hoping to find a reason to accuse them by something she saw or thought she saw in them. When she came to Aubrey, she smirked and made sure he saw it, so that he would know that she had orchestrated the whole thing. What was he going to do, cast suspicion on the wife of the deceased; a white woman in mourning, no less, who had just been given authority to have him shot to death?

When she was sure he knew that it was her all along, she said, “Lieutenant Avery, I want to you take Aubrey outside and shoot him in his head.”

“No, please, Mrs. Bouvier. I'm innocent,” Aubrey said. “I would never do something like this. Not to Monsieur Bouvier. I wouldn't. Please, you must believe me.”

Lauren knew what Aubrey knew or at least believed, but she couldn't say either. They had seen Tristan and Cadence talking in the library. They did not want to be disturbed. As far as she was concerned, they were the likely suspects. As much as she wanted to bail Aubrey out, she couldn't. Aubrey was finished at Bouvier Hill, just as he had said the day before. If they didn't believe a black girl could commit the murders, they certainly weren't going to believe a white woman, the wife of the deceased, no less, and her brother-in-law did.

Besides all that, she had only been on the plantation for a day. She didn't know Aubrey. She wasn't about to stick her neck out for any of them. Since Aubrey accused her of killing Monsieur Bouvier, she felt no obligation to say anything about the affair that Mrs. Bouvier was having with Tristan or the children they made together. As far as she was concerned, they killed Beaumont.

To save Aubrey, one of the housemen lied and said, “I did it, Mrs. Bouvier. Aubrey had nothing to do with it.”

Then, one by one, all the housemen confessed to the crime none of them committed. They had hoped to forestall Aubrey's execution by adding even more confusion to the mix, but they had all terribly miscalculated Cadence's ruthlessness.

To the series of confessions, Cadence said, “Fine. Take them all out and shoot them in their heads.” Their confessions were an unexpected godsend. She was going to get rid of them anyway. Getting rid of the housemen was the only way she would have felt safe sleeping in her own house. “Before you execute them, I want them to dig graves for themselves and for my dearly departed husband. When they finish, shoot them so that they fall into their graves. I'll have the other servants cover them up afterward.”

By the time they finished digging their graves, the roosters were crowing and the sun was up. All the slaves were made to watch the execution of the house slaves. Walker Tresvant and Marie-Elise were still there, waiting to see them die. Lauren stood next to Cadence, watching and hoping she wasn't next. The French soldiers lined Aubrey and the others up in front of the graves, seven in all.

“Shall I give them blindfolds, Mrs. Bouvier?” Avery asked.

“No. I want them to see it coming,” she said. “They killed Beaumont without mercy. They shall receive the same, without mercy.”

“Ready!” Avery called out to his men.

They prepared to fire.

“I didn't kill nobody, Mrs. Bouvier,” one of the men shouted. “None of us did!”

“Take aim!” Avery commanded.

“Men of Bouvier Hill,” Aubrey said loudly. “We will not whine and will not beg for our lives. We are Romans, and we shall die like the Romans we are.”

The housemen stood up straight and stuck out their chests like soldiers.

“Fire!” Avery commanded.

Their bodies jerked and contorted in response to the bullets that entered them. Some of them grabbed their faces as they fell back into the graves.

“Reload!” Avery shouted.

The men reloaded and stood over the graves.

“Fire!”

Smoke filled the air.

“Reload! ”

The men reloaded a second time.

“Fire!”