American Heroes Series - 03 - Purgatory (23 page)

“Are you really okay with it?”
she asked softly. “I mean with me and Nash. He’s a good man, you know.”

Alec nodded. “I’m okay with it. I
think Dad would like him.”

Elliot fought off a sudden surge
of tears. “Do you really think so?”

Again, Alec nodded. “Yes,” he
said quietly. “You need to be happy, Mom. Dad would want that the most. Nash
seems to make you really happy.”

“He does,” Elliot said softly. “I
love him very much. He’s such a sweetheart.”

Alec just nodded, looking
uncomfortable with his mother speaking of being in love with another man.
Although he liked Nash a great deal, still, he was still trying to adjust.

“He’s pretty cool,” was all he
would say.

Lip quivering, Elliot hugged her
son, feeling very emotional on a day that had been packed with emotion. She and
Alec watched the rest of the news in silence as the sun set outside and the emergency
room grew bright with fluorescent lighting. 

Finally, the curtain surrounding
Penelope’s gurney opened again, this time admitting Penelope dressed in green
hospital scrubs. Her hair was all wound up in a green surgical mask to keep it
off her face and a round, white nurse was next to her.  Penelope smiled wanly
at her mother and brother, falling into her mother’s soothing embrace.

“She’s all set to go home now,”
the nurse said, handing Elliot three vials of pills.  She pointed to each one.
“This one is an antibiotic, this one is naproxen if she’s sore, and this one is
the morning after pill. She’s already had a dose and she needs to take another
one tomorrow. She’ll cramp up and bleed, but that’s normal. The doctor wants
you to call in on Monday and let us know how she’s doing. Any questions?”

Elliot felt rather sick looking
at the instructions on the morning-after pill. “Is… is this just
precautionary?”

The nurse nodded sympathetically.
“Yes,” she said quietly. “It can’t hurt.”

“So what now?” Elliot asked
softly. “When will we know the results of her… tests?”

“The police will be in touch with
you regarding those, honey,” the woman said. “Those will take a little time.
For now, take her home and baby her. She needs some of her mama’s lovin’.”

Elliot thanked the woman and left
with her children all huddled around her. It was dark outside in the parking
lot, the moist evening air laying heavy across the land. The mercury vapor
lamps buzzed furiously overhead as they made their way to the two cars they had
left parked in the parking lot, thousands of bugs fluttering madly about the
white lights overhead.

Alec made it to the Jeep first,
noticing a business card tucked under the windshield wiper. He pulled it free,
read the front and the back, and then made a snorting noise. Elliot turned to
see him with his lips pursed, making a rude sound. He extended the card to her.

“This is for you,” he said.

Elliot took the card. It was
Nash’s business card and she flipped it over. He had written three words on the
back.

Love you much
.

She smiled, feeling warm and
comforting feelings fill her at the mere thought of the man. He was so very
sweet. She snorted at her son, who decided he wanted to drive the white Nissan
home while Elliot and Penelope got into the jeep. After driving through
McDonald’s to get a deliciously unhealthy dinner, they made their way back to
the dark and mysterious plantation known as Purgatory.

***

Three Sorrento police units, one
Sorrento detective unit, two sheriff units and Nash’s plain clothes car made an
imposing caravan as they left the Sorrento Police department and drove east
along John Le Blanc Boulevard, passing Purgatory, on their way to the Loreau
homestead. They made it up to Fontenot Road and hung a right, traveling about a
half mile down the road until they came to the scrubby, tree-shrouded driveway
that led to The Bottoms.

It really couldn’t even be called
a driveway.  It was a road in the literal sense, deeply grooved and
unmaintained. Entering it was like emerging into another world, where the
creatures chirped in the darkness and fireflies danced through the heavy
strains of long Spanish moss. It was eerie and unsettling. The uneven road gave
the low-chassis police cars difficulty as they drove up to the house.

The cars came to a halt a
distance from the house, not wanting to get too close given the situation. They
wanted a clear and wide view of the entire area. The Bottoms had once been a
beautiful home two hundred years ago, with a big porch that stretched all the
way around the house. The house was of Creole design, which meant the living
quarters were all on the second floor while storage and kitchen were on the
bottom floor.  There was an outside staircase between the porch and the balcony
because back in the day it was built, the Spanish Crown would tax the
staircases built inside the homes. Therefore, The Bottoms had a big, ungainly
staircase right in the front of the house, covered with dogs and debris.

Nash climbed out of his cruiser,
his gaze riveted to the house, not entirely sure what he was feeling at the
moment. All he knew was that the attack on Penelope was as good as an attack on
his own flesh and blood. He couldn’t describe it any other way.

The Sorrento police were serving a
warrant on William, Nicholas and Edward Loreau based on the testimony of
Penelope, and Nash had asked to come along.  He wanted to be on hand when the
brothers were arrested, if only for his own sense of personal satisfaction.
Truthfully, maybe he wanted to get in a lick or two. Sorrento P.D., being that
Nash was an elected law official with a good deal of clout in the State of
Louisiana, agreed with some reservation to let him come along.

The group of two detectives,
three Sorrento police officers, Ken Havereau, Steve Pitot and Nash approached the
house. A couple of the dogs barked but that was about the limit of any external
activity.  They could see people moving inside of the house and hear
high-pitched female voices. The two detectives motioned to the Sorrento
officers to spread out a bit in case the suspects inside decided to rabbit as
one of the detectives approached the front door.

 The heavy-set detective who was
still in the wrinkled beige suit knocked heavily on the door.

“Y’all open up in there,” he
yelled. “Sorrento Police. We have a warrant.”

Nash stood in the driveway in
front of the house, watching the entire area, listening to the chatter going on
inside. He could hear male voices now, too, and he lost his cool. Marching up
onto the porch, he stood next to the detective and banged on the door.

“Will Loreau!” he boomed. “It’s
Sheriff Aury. Open the door or I’ll kick it in!”

The Sorrento detective looked at
Nash, shocked, and then shook his head in resignation.  Already, this was not
going well with the Sheriff being personally involved. They could hear more
scuffing and whispering inside. The door suddenly shifted as someone threw a
bolt and the old, warped panel slowly creaked open.

A very small, old woman with jet
black hair stood in the doorway, her black eyes glaring at Nash and the
detective, but mostly Nash.  She was dressed in a surprisingly clean house coat
given the condition of the property she lived in. After digesting all of the
law enforcement personnel on her doorstep, her beady eyes focusing in on Nash.

“Nash Aury,” she spat. “I don’t
care if ya are the sheriff, y’all is not welcome here.”

Nash stayed calm. “Evenin’, Ms.
Biffy,” he said. “We’ve come for the boys.”

Ms. Biffy Loreau scowled. She was
a mean woman with a foul streak in her, just like the rest of the family, and
even though she had one son, she had never married Femmie’s father which was
why the man, and his sons, carried the Loreau name. It had been another scandal
in a family that was full of them.

“Y’all can’t have ‘em,” she said,
waving her hand as if to shoo them away. “Now, get.”

“We can’t do that, ma’am,” the
fat detective said. “Now, Ms. Biffy, y’all just stand aside and hand over the
boys. We have a warrant.”

“Warrant?” Ms. Biffy demanded. “A
warrant for what?”

“Their arrest, ma’am,” the
detective said patiently. “They are identified as having attacked a young girl
this afternoon and she’s pretty banged up.”

Will suddenly emerged from the
shadows, materializing in the stench and dirtiness of the interior of the
house.  In torn up jeans and his John Deere cap, he made sure to stay behind
his grandmother.

“We didn’t do nothin’,” he spat,
jabbing a finger at Nash. “You ain’t got no proof!”

Nash’s jaw ticked. “Please give
me a reason to come in there and beat the hell out of you for resisting
arrest.”

Will took a step back, still
pointing a finger at him. “You killed my father and now y’all tryin’ to kill
me,” he said angrily. “This is nothin’ more than the Aury family trying to beat
down the Loreaus again. Y’all is always trying to put us in a bad way.”

“Are you going to come
peacefully?”

Will shook his head, his dark
stringy hair dusting his shoulders. “I ain’t goin’ nowhere with you, Aury. We
didn’t do nothin’!”

“My boys didn’t do nothin’,” Ms.
Biffy took up the cry. “Y’all kilt my son and I haven’t stopped weepin’ over my
boy.  Y’all kilt him!”

Nash’s expression remained
passive. “Ms. Biffy, I am sorry for your loss, I truly am, but Femmie got
himself killed. I had nothing to do with it.”

“Murderer!” from the dark central
hall of the house emerged another figure, this one surreal in an old stained
nightgown and a big cane in her hand. The woman was as wrinkled as an old shoe,
her white hair wild about her head. She was gnarled and smelled strongly of
urine as she approached with her cane lifted. “Nash Aury, y’all is a murderer!”

Nash watched Ms. Leon Loreau
swing her cane at him in slow motion.  He easily dodged it but it didn’t stop
her from bringing it up again and trying to hit him. The two Sorrento
detectives stepped into the house to try and regain some control as the entire
family seemed to go after Sheriff Aury.

“Ms. Leon, don’t be hittin’ the
sheriff,” the fat detective moved in between them. “Y’all can’t be doin’ that.
Now, we need the boys or we’re gonna arrest the lot of ya for obstruction of
justice. Do you understand?”

Ms. Leon lifted her cane and hit
the fat detective in the mouth when he wasn’t looking.  Nash grabbed the cane,
pulled it from her grip, and tossed it.

“Enough,” he snarled. “Will, you
and your brothers get out here. You’re under arrest.”

Nash didn’t see the flying fist
until it was too late as Ed Loreau came out of the dining room and charged him
from behind. The fist caught Nash in the jaw and sent him off balance, but Ken
and Steve, standing on the porch, saw the attack and burst into the house. In a
flash, the situation deteriorated into bedlam.

The women were screaming as the
police and sheriff deputies quickly took down Will, Ed and Nicky. Nicky smashed
a lamp over Ken’s shoulder, tearing him up pretty good until two Sorrento police
officers managed to subdue him. Nash had Ed in a headlock as a Sorrento
detective cuffed him while Will, underneath a pile of battling cops, howled for
his life.

It was a short fight. As quickly
as it started, it was over. Nash had Ed by the hair as he and the detective
escorted the man out to the police cruisers, followed shortly by Will and
Nicky.  Will was still kicking and screaming, refusing to cooperate, as Ms.
Biffy and Ms. Leon stood in the doorway and cried. All of it was directed at
Nash.

“God will punish y’all, Nash
Aury!” Ms. Biffy was hollering. “You took my son and now y’all are takin’ my
grandsons!”

Nash didn’t answer as he shoved
Ed into the back of the detective unit. He was brittle and edgy, perhaps more
than he had ever been in his life. This had nothing to do with the two hundred
year old family feud and everything to do with the attack against Penelope.
What he did, he did for her and for Elliot and for Alec.

 He had always been willing to
accept the Loreau hostilities against himself and his family, but now that it
was shifting to include Elliot and her children simply because they had
purchased Purgatory, there was no way he was going to stand for it.  He was
going to hit and hit hard. No one would touch any of the Jentrys and get away
with it, not while he had breath in his body.

Will was kicking at the
detectives who were trying to get him into the car. Finished with Ed, Nash
walked up to Will and, in a completely uncharacteristic display, cold-cocked
Will in the jaw and knocked the man silly. With Will dazed, the detectives were
able to shove him into the back seat of the car and slam the door.

With the suspects subdued for the
moment, the fat Sorrento detective turned to Nash. Huffing and puffing, the man
pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat off his face.

“Sheriff, I can’t say that went
too well,” he said. “I’m not sure you were much of a help. If anything, your
presence around the Loreaus seems to upset ‘em.”