The Ghosts Of New Orleans (A PARANORMAL RESEARCH AND CONTAINMENT DIVISION (PRCD) CASE FILE) (19 page)

Eloise looked around and saw a
grouping of Cyprus trees that were covered by Spanish moss nearer to the bank.

“Let’s hide out over there and see
who’s in such a hurry.”

They guided the canoe into the
hiding spot and waited.  A few minutes later an airboat glided into the main
channel.  The driver slowed the craft and maneuvered the boat in a slow
circle. 

“It’s Big Al,” Sally whispered.

They sat very still, hoping that
the Spanish moss provided them enough cover.  They watched as his boat came
closer to their spot.

“Duck,” Eloise whispered.  She and
Sally bent over in the canoe and waited.  They heard the soft whir of the
propeller within several feet of their canoe.  The ripples caused by the boat
sloshed against the side of the canoe sent the canoe slowly drifting forward. 

Eloise reached out and grabbed hold
of the nearest tree and held on, trying to pull the canoe back into place.  
The tip of the canoe was only a half an inch from the curtain of moss that
protected them. Eloise fought against the force of the ripples, her fingers
digging into the moss-covered bark of the tree, her palm scraped by the rough
surface.

She breathed a sigh of relief when
she heard the airboat throttle higher and move further down river. Sitting up, she
grabbed her oar and pushed it against the tree to move the canoe back a few
feet.

“Let’s just sit here for a few
minutes, to make sure Big Al doesn’t turn around,” she said.

“El,” Sally whispered from behind
her, “I think something’s on me.”

Eloise turned to see a four-foot
snake crawling across Sally’s shoulders. The snake had a brown background color
with a darker chain pattern along its back.

Eloise swallowed and bit her lower
lip. “Well, Sal, you’ve got a snake crawling on you.”

Sally froze, her eyes remaining on
Eloise’s.

“So, what does it look like?” Sally
asked.

“It’s tan with black diamonds,”
Eloise answered, “It’s about four feet long.”

“Okay, tell me about its eyes,”
Sally said.

“It’s eyes?”

“Poisonous snakes have vertically
elliptical pupils, like cat’s eyes, and non-poisonous snakes have round eye
pupils,” Sally explained slowly.

“Oh. Oh! It has round eyes, not
like a cat,” Eloise said.

Sally exhaled swiftly. “Okay, then
take your paddle and scoop and toss.”

Eloise lifted her paddle, slid it
under the snake and tossed it out of the boat.

“El,” Sally said, wiping her arm
across her forehead, “I’m not real crazy about swamps.”

Eloise nodded. “Me either, let’s
get out of here.”

They reached the little store
safely and, after some promised shopping, they set out for base camp. The drive
back was considerably subdued, both women lost in their own thoughts.  Finally
Sally couldn’t contain herself any longer.

“We’ve got two days to save the
world. I don’t think I can handle that kind of responsibility.”

“Well, let’s look at the positive
side of things,” Eloise said, trying to come up with something positive, “At
least the feast day isn’t tomorrow.”

“Oh, yeah, that makes me feel much
better,” Sally retorted.

“Besides, I know that I have the
power to defeat her,” Eloise said.

“Is it your power or is it the
combined power of you and Paul?” Sally asked.

“Sally, we are not bringing Paul
back here,” she said.

“Yeah, he’s much better off in
Washington D.C. to enjoy the last days of the world.”

“We are not going to let her win,”
Eloise said, “We can’t let her win.”

Sally was silent for a moment.

“What if she can’t get her stuff?”
she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, all this stuff Mary Margaret
said that we need to call Agwe, doesn’t Delphine need stuff to call Yemanja? 
What if she can’t find her stuff?”

Eloise thought about it for a
moment.

“You know, that’s brilliant,”
Eloise said, “I wonder where she keeps her stuff.”

“Well, we didn’t check out the east
wing,” Sally said, “If we can burn her stuff, at least we’ve slowed her up a
little bit. And if we can’t find her stuff, we could always just burn down the
whole house.”

“And perhaps there’s some more
information in her journals, we haven’t totally exhausted those yet,” Eloise
added.

“I’ve nearly finished scanning the
last one,” Sally said, “I’ll get on that tonight.”

 “Then tomorrow I’ll take Bert or
Ernie with me to the plantation.”

“Wait a minute,” Sally said, “I’m
going with you.”

Eloise shook her head. “No, you’re
not,” she said. “You need to keep researching those journals and any other lead
you can come up with.  If something should happen to me you are the only one
with enough information to stop Delphine.  Besides, do you actually think that
Bert and Ernie are going to let us go there alone?”

Sally shook her head and sighed.
“Damn, I liked it a lot better when we were just dealing with nice dead
people.”

Eloise chuckled, “Yeah, me too!”

When they got back to the base,
Eloise continued reading the journals, searching for clues and Sally continued
to scan each page.  Finally, several hours past midnight, Sally looked up from
her work.

“Okay, we’ve got a little problem,”
Sally said. “This is a to-be-continued.  We don’t have the final journal.”

“So tomorrow I’ll find the last
journal,” Eloise said, stretching her arms over her head. “The only place that
we haven’t checked is the east wing.”

“Or the cellar,” Sally added.

“Well, if it is in the cellar we’re
going to have to do without the last journal,” Eloise said. “There’s no way it
survived the flood.”

“In the meantime, I’ll start
running searches on the information I have,” Sally said.

“Great,” Eloise responded.

“Um, El, I did another quick search
when we got home this evening,” Sally said.

“Yes?”

“I did a search on Mary Margaret Ebenezer,
missionary,” Sally said, “You remember those old photos on her bureau?”

“Yeah, the ones of her ancestors?”

Sally shook her head. “Uh, no, the
ones of herself.”

“What?”

“Well, she was born in 1840, in Dublin, Ireland.”

Eloise shook her head. “No, that’s
impossible, that’s just…”

Sally shook her head. “I checked and
double checked.”

“But she wasn’t a ghost, I would
have been able to tell,” Eloise said.

Sally shrugged, “I’ve read about
immortals, those really good people who ask to remain here on the earth in
order to help others.  Just never met one…before.”

Eloise shook her head, put down the
journal she was reading and stood up.

“You know, this world just keeps
getting stranger and stranger,” she said, “I think I’m going to try to get some
sleep.”

Sally stood up and nodded. “Me too,
it’s been one weird day.

“So, are you going to call him?”

Sally didn’t have to say Paul’s
name to Eloise because they both knew he had been in her thoughts all night
long.

Eloise shook her head. “Yeah, you
know, maybe I will.”

Sally smiled. “Good for you! Goodnight.”

Eloise walked into her room, sat on
the bed, reached over for the phone and punched in Paul’s number.  The phone
rang four times and then she got his answering machine. She looked over to the
bedside clock. It was after two.  D.C. was an hour ahead. Where was Paul at
three o’clock in the morning?

The image of pushy Marilyn flashed
into Eloise’s mind.  She slammed the phone down. “Go to hell, Paul Grimes.”

Eloise woke to a stormy morning,
which matched her mood perfectly.  She dressed in jeans, a sweatshirt and
hiking boots.  She pulled her hair back in a long ponytail and grabbed a
slicker and her equipment.

She started towards the door when
Sally walked out of her bedroom.

“What no good-byes?” she asked.

“He didn’t answer the phone last
night. It was three in the morning. In my book that can only mean one thing,”
Eloise growled.

“Hmmm, let me guess,” Sally said,
“That Delphine was able to get past Maria’s protection and Paul is laying dead
somewhere?”

Instantly Eloise panicked. She
dropped her gear and charged across the room to Sally.

“Sally, did someone call?” she
asked, grabbing hold of Sally’s shoulders, “Did Turner or Anderson tell you
something?”

Sally disengaged Eloise’s hands and
shook her head.

“No, but you should be ashamed of
yourself,” Sally said, “So quick to believe the worst about Paul.  What
happened to faith?”

“I’m such an idiot,” Eloise said,
walking slowly to the door and picking up her gear, “Thanks for the shock
treatment, I needed it.”

Sally grinned. “No problem.  And
for the record, you’re not an idiot, you’re in love.”

Eloise shook her head. “No, I’m
pretty sure I’m an idiot.”

Sally laughed and called to Eloise
before she walked out of the motor home. Eloise turned and Sally tossed her a
protein shake.

“Don’t forget your super shake;
you’re going to need it today.”

Eloise grabbed the shake. “Yeah,
thanks, you’re right.”

She opened the door to two soaking
wet Marines guarding the motor home.

“Good morning, gentlemen,” she
said, “I’m going to need one of you to accompany me this morning. I have to go
out to an old plantation in the wetlands and try to recover some information.”

“I’ll go,” Sergeant Anderson
responded before Sergeant Turner could open his mouth.

“Is this a necessary trip?” Turner
asked, looking pretty skeptical.

Eloise nodded and looked him
straight in the eye. “Sergeant, this trip is probably one of the most important
assignments I will ever do in my life.”

Turner looked into her eyes and saw
the commitment and determination in them.

“Thank you, ma’am,” he said, “Is
there anything that I can do to help?”

“Why don’t you go inside and see if
you can help Sally,” she suggested. “We pretty much are working on a 24-hour
deadline at this point.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Turner said, moving
past her into the motor home.

“Let’s take the SUV,” Eloise said,
pulling the keys out of her jacket, “You can drive and I’ll do a little more
research.”

“Yes, ma’am,” replied Anderson walking with her to the vehicle.

Turner walked into the motor home and
saw Sally frowning into the screen.

“Is there something I can help you
with?” he asked.

Sally jumped and then turned to
Turner, “Sorry, I didn’t hear you come in. No, I don’t think you can help me
with this, unless you happen to be an expert on genealogy.”

Turner nodded, “Yes ma’am, I’m a
Mormon.  I’ve got all kinds of experience in genealogy.”

Sally motioned him to the seat next
to hers.  “Great, I’ve got two names we’ve got to run, Marie Francois and Camille
Blanque, Delphine Lalaurie’s daughters.”

Eloise and Sergeant Anderson headed
south on the highway toward 624.  The rhythmic slap of the windshield wipers
provided a soothing background to Eloise’s confusing thoughts. She opened up
her notebook and started jotting down notes from the past few weeks.

First she listed all of the events
that had occurred with
Delphine
,
from her first encounter to the last. Then she listed the similarities and the
differences.

“Why did the Mormon Tabernacle
Choir stop her the first time?” she wrote on the first page, then listed all of
the attacks and dreams. She felt like she should be seeing something, but it
just wasn’t clear yet.

She started to review all of the
conversations she had since the first attack.

Cindy had told her that she could
conquer Lalaurie, but she had to have courage and faith.  But, what was it that
Cindy had added when Eloise had assured her that she was brave – it wasn’t that
kind of bravery, she had to face something that had scared her.

Maria had told her that she could
conquer Lalaurie, but she too said that Eloise needed to seek the power within
to do it.

Even Delphine had referred to her
power – how it had rested on her and protected her.

So, where was she lacking courage,
where was she lacking faith?

Sally’s comments of that morning
came back immediately, “What happened to faith?”

“I’m such an idiot,” she muttered.

“Excuse me, ma’am?” Anderson questioned.

“Nothing, Sergeant, nothing at
all,” she said.

“Well, ma’am, we’ve arrived,”
Sergeant Anderson said, pulling up in front of the plantation.

Eloise shook her head. “But how did
you know where to go?”

Anderson
looked uncomfortable for a moment, then he replied, “Well, ma’am we placed a
GPS tracking device on your car the other day. So, we watched where you went.”

Eloise stopped for a moment, hadn’t
she heard Paul give them that order the evening after they had gone to the
plantation?  Well, perhaps they had done it before he issued the order.

“Well, I suppose I should be
grateful.  Who knows where we would have ended up if you hadn’t known where to
go?  Thanks, Sergeant.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Back at base, Sally watched in
amazement as Sergeant Turner researched her information on the web. 

“You’re really good at this,” she
said.

“Thanks, ma’am, I helped my
grandmother research our whole family line on her side,” he explained, “I guess
I got bitten by the genealogy bug.”

“Lucky for us,” Sally said.

“Hey, well isn’t this a funny
coincidence,” Turner laughed.

Sally immediately felt a pit form
in her stomach, she did not believe in coincidences, funny or not. 

“What?” she asked, looking over his
shoulder.

“The family tree has the name Anderson in it.  Just like Sergeant Anderson,” Turner said.

Turner looked up and saw the fear
in Sally’s eyes.  He immediately shook his head.

“No, he wouldn’t be involved in
something like this,” Turner said.

“Turner, what’s Anderson’s middle
name?” Sally asked.

Turner thought for a moment. “Don’t
know, except it starts with an L.”

“Crap,” Sally said, panic rising in
her. “Can we check some of his personal effects, just to verify that he isn’t
part of this?  I’d really feel much better if I knew his middle name was
Larry.”

“Sure, sure, let’s go over to the
tent and look at his stuff.”

 They ran out into the pouring rain
and slid all the way to the tent.  Turner opened the flap and they entered the
space.  Anderson had a small locker box next to his bunk.  They both knelt in
front of it and Turner opened it up.  On the top was his military
identification.  Sally’s heart froze as she read the name, “Mitch Lalaurie Anderson.”

“Oh no, we just sent her back to
the plantation with the great-great-grandson of Delphine Lalaurie.”

Turner shook his head. “This
doesn’t mean that he knows anything about what’s going on.  Maybe Lalaurie is a
popular name.”

Sally searched through the locker
box and pulled out the missing journal. “Now, I know that she’s in trouble.”

“Who’s in trouble?” Paul asked,
walking into the tent, rain water dripping from his hat.

“Dang, you’re like the Calvary,”
Sally cried, “We just learned that Sergeant Anderson is Delphine’s great-great-grandson
and he’s the one who took Eloise back to the plantation this morning.”

“When did they leave?” Paul asked.

“About two hours ago,” Turner said.

“Did you put the GPS tracker on the
SUV?”

“Yes sir, you can track them,”
Turner said.

“You two go find some local
authorities and meet me there.”

Paul turned and ran out of the tent
to his vehicle. Sally heard it speed down the road.

“How did he know to be here?” Sally
asked Sergeant Turner.

“Well, I’m not quite sure, ma’am,
but I think it had something to do with the photo of Ms. Parker he asked me to
take yesterday morning,” Turner said. “He thought it was pretty odd he dreamed
of her with a scratch on her face.”

“The man’s got a head on his
shoulders,” Sally said. “Okay, let’s go get the reinforcements.”