Big Easy Escapade (19 page)

Lazare tugged at the door, which opened a
crack. He stumbled backward, turning his head and gagging.

Vivian threw her hand over her nose from the
stench.

He got up, pulled the door open more and
peeked inside. He walked away from the tomb and covered his nose
and mouth with his shirt. “We need to call the police.”

They moved down a few rows, trying to escape
the stench emitting through the partially open door of the tomb.
The scent was burned into Vivian’s memory forever, no matter how
far away she walked.

Lucy sat down on the grass and leaned against
a stucco-covered grave. She put her head in her hands, then looked
up at Kate. “Do you think that was Daisy?”

Tears welled in Kate’s eyes and she started
to say something, but her voice caught. She shook her head.

The sight of Kate crying got to Vivian, and
she started crying, too. This experience was traumatic, but Vivian
was an empathetic crier anyway. She could see a stranger crying in
a restaurant, and she’d start in, too.

“What did you see in there?” Wendy asked
Lazare.

He ran his hand down his face, then did the
sign of the cross. “It was dark, but it was a body that didn’t
belong. It wasn’t properly entombed.”

Vivian cringed and heard sirens in the
distance.

“I’m going to meet the police at the
entrance,” Lazare said. “Are you okay staying here?”

“We’ll be fine,” Wendy said, though two out
of the four were still crying.

As he walked off, Vivian sniffled and said,
“We’ve got to go see Jason. He’s going to be devastated.”

“Hold on, Viv,” Wendy said. “We don’t know
for sure that’s Daisy in there.”

Lucy wiped a tear. “But Kate’s dream brought
us here. It’s got to be her.”

Kate let out a long sigh. “I don’t know. I
don’t know.”

Lazare returned along with two uniformed
police officers and explained what happened. “I do this every day
and this isn’t part of the regular tour, but she,” he pointed to
Kate, “noticed an odd smell and led us over here.” He walked over
to the tomb where the door was ajar. “This is it,” he said, then
walked back over to the girls.

Vivian watched between the rows and saw one
of the officers pry the door open a little more. He threw his arm
over his face and backed up. Not wanting to see inside, she turned
away.

Two other officers arrived shortly, then a
few more. A female officer walked over and got names and ID.

The girls were moved toward the entrance and
sat there about 30 minutes before Antonio walked past them toward
the tomb. A little while later, he approached the girls. “Tell me
what happened.”

Vivian explained, Lazare by her side
confirming what she said. She grabbed Antonio’s arm. “Is it
Daisy?”

“We’re still waiting on the medical
examiner.”

She nodded.

“Come over here with me,” he said, and led
her a few rows over. “Listen, Adrienne told me about what happened
in Mexico and now you’re around another murder? It doesn’t look
good, Vivian.”

She was shocked. “I didn’t have anything to
do with Mexico! And Kate’s the one who found this poor person. I
was just here!”

He looked skeptical and didn’t respond, so
she continued. “What are you trying to say?”

He stepped closer. “I’m not saying anything,
but this is not normal.” He ran his hand down her arm and stopped
on her elbow. “You need to lay low and stay away from this
investigation.”

“We were on a cemetery tour! Thousands of
tourists do this every year!”

He looked down at the ground and shook his
head. “Dammit. You’re frustrating, but you’re cute!” He grinned,
then led her back to the group. “Everyone’s given a statement,
right?”

All the girls and Lazare nodded.

“You can go, but stay around town, and
please,” he looked at Vivian, “stay out of trouble.”

The girls left the cemetery and stood outside
the arches to regroup.

“I’m going to call Jason and find out where
he is,” Vivian said. When he picked up she tried to pull herself
together and sound normal. “Hey there. How are things?”

“Good here. We’ve already distributed almost
5,000 flyers and I just got a call from the local ABC affiliate.
They’re coming to the hotel soon to interview me and Daisy’s
parents.”

“That’s awesome, I’m happy to hear it.
Listen, the girls and I want to come by, if that’s okay.” The lump
in her throat was growing and her eyes began to water.

“Yeah, sure. I’m at the Marriott on Canal,
1422.”

“Okay, see you soon.” She clicked off and
wiped a tear from her eye.

Wendy handed her a tissue. “Are we going to
tell him about the body?”

“No way,” Lucy said. “Nothing has been
confirmed. For all we know some stupid tourist got drunk, passed
out and died in there.”

Vivian put the tissue in her pocket. “I’ll
pull it together before we get there. I just feel like we need to
go.”

As they made their way to the hotel, Vivian’s
phone rang.

“What’s this I hear about y’all finding a
body?” Adrienne asked.

“Kate’s nose led us to it,” Vivian said. “But
we didn’t actually see it. We were too chicken to look inside.”

“Just your luck.”

“I know. We’re freaking out thinking it might
be Daisy. We’re headed over to Jason’s hotel.”

“You can’t tell him!” Adrienne yelled.

“We know that. We just want to be there for
him if something bad goes down.” Vivian switched ears. “He said
he’s got an interview with a local news station.”

“Good. Al’s been working on that. Sounds like
he’s making some headway.”

“Let us know if you hear anything from
Antonio,” Vivian said.

“I will. ’Bye.”

They arrived at the Marriott and went up to
Jason’s room. Kate knocked on the door.

Jason answered holding an energy drink. He
smelled of soap, his bald head was sleek, and his eyes were clear.
“Come in, come in.”

Two suitcases were on the floor beside the
dresser. One was open with a dress and high heel hanging out. There
was some paperwork on the dresser, and Vivian couldn’t help but
notice it said “Marriage Certificate.”

“My parents and hers are downstairs getting a
quick bite to eat before the reporter gets here.” He opened a
cooler. “Anyone want a drink? I’ve got beer, water, more of these.”
He held up his caffeine bomb.

“No, thanks,” Lucy said.

Jason pushed a pizza box off one of the two
beds. “Here, sit. Sorry it’s such a mess. I haven’t let
housekeeping in.” He noticed Vivian looking at the papers. “Yeah, I
went and filed for a marriage certificate today. Only one of us had
to be there, and I had her driver’s license and her mom helped me
get the birth certificate and social security stuff. That way, when
I get her back, we’re ready to move forward with our life
together.”

Vivian sat on the edge of the bed, a knot in
her stomach. She tried to smile at him, but couldn’t. “We saw Harry
today. He was at Harrah’s. He was pretty torn up, looked like total
crap. We called the police and they showed up. Detective Leffall
was there, so I’m sure they got him.”

“Finally that piece of shit has been found. I
can’t believe the cops haven’t called me.” He pulled his phone out
of his jeans pocket and checked his call history.

Vivian
looked over at Kate, who looked down at the floor. Wendy quietly
cleared her throat and gave a slight shake of her head. Lucy’s eyes
portrayed a silent message to Vivian.
Don’t!

Jason noticed the exchange. “What the fuck is
going on? What aren’t you telling me?”

Vivian couldn’t help herself and started
crying. He turned pale and clenched his soda can.

After a moment, she took a deep breath. “We
took a cemetery tour this afternoon and there was a body in a
grave.”

He looked confused. “It’s a cemetery. There
are going to be graves with bodies in them.”

Kate walked over to him and touched his arm.
“This body wasn’t buried. It was just inside one of the tombs.”

He wrinkled his brows. “What?”

“It wasn’t buried, Jason.”

He stared at Kate, not blinking, then he
looked at Vivian. His face was no longer just pale, it had gone
white. “Was it Daisy?”

Before anyone could answer, he threw his hand
over his mouth, ran to the bathroom and slammed the door.

“We don’t know!” Vivian jumped off the bed
and yelled through the door. “We never saw who it was.” She heard
him retching on the other side, so she sat back down on the
bed.

A few minutes later he emerged, shirtless,
covered in sweat, eyes bloodshot. He sat in a chair next to the
window and stared out.

“I’m sorry we upset you,” Vivian said.

Wendy went into the bathroom and came back
with a cold washcloth. “We don’t know who that was, it could have
been any — ” She was interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

Jason put the washcloth on his head and
showed no sign of getting up, so Lucy answered it.

Antonio scowled as he walked into the
room.

A
ntonio
stopped in front of Vivian, who still sat on the bed in Jason’s
hotel room. “What have you told him?”

“I didn’t mean to, I just couldn’t keep
anything from him.”

Jason stood, a little uneasy. He grabbed the
chair for support. “Was that Daisy? Tell me the truth.”

Antonio turned to face him and kept a
professional demeanor. “The ME needs to do a complete autopsy, but
initial findings are that the victim has been dead at least a week,
maybe longer. It’s not Daisy.”

Jason started crying and sat back down,
rocking back and forth, covering his face with the washcloth.

“Thank god!” Lucy said.

Vivian went to Jason, looking at the Wizard
of Oz characters tattoo across his back. “This gives me hope we can
still find her.”

Jason nodded and sighed, using the washcloth
to wipe away tears.

“I need to talk to him alone, so if you don’t
mind.” Antonio waved his arm toward the door.

“Jason, call us if you need anything. We’re
here for you no matter what.” Vivian hugged him as he sat almost in
a trance.

The girls left the room and walked outside.
The streetlights on Canal flickered, then blinked on.

“I feel so bad we upset him,” Kate said.

“I didn’t mean to go there,” Vivian said. “I
just couldn’t keep it in.”

“Let’s go find Vikki’s brothers’ house,” Lucy
said. “We need to keep up the hunt.”

“I agree,” Wendy said. “I’m just so relieved
it wasn’t Daisy. I feel bad for whoever it is, though.”

Kate held her hands up. “Are we sure this is
the best plan? These guys could be murderers.”

“We’re just going to look around,” Vivian
said. “You can be our lookout. And I’ll let Adrienne know where
we’re going to be, just in case.”

Kate shifted from foot to foot and hesitantly
agreed. “Fine, I’ll keep watch, but I may be half a block
down.”

Lucy pulled up the map to the brothers’
house. “We need to hop on the Canal streetcar. Who’s got ones? We
need six bucks.”

“Me,” Wendy said.

They walked a few blocks down Canal, just in
time to meet the oncoming streetcar. Wendy fed the meter while the
others crowded in with commuters on their way home from work and a
few touristy folks.

The streetcar made several stops along Canal.
Since the weather was nice, most of the windows were down. As it
passed a two-story pink house that had been converted into a
restaurant, Vivian got a big whiff of something good. “Holy crap,
something smells delicious.” She tugged on the chime cable. The
streetcar stopped two blocks down and they got off at
Carrollton.

“This was our stop anyway,” Lucy said,
putting her phone into her purse.

Vivian was already walking back the direction
they’d come toward the Pepto pink house.

Lucy caught up to her. “Guess we’re checking
out the brothers’ house after you satisfy your taste buds.”

“Yes we are,” Vivian responded, tummy
rumbling. “All this emotional stress is driving me to eat.”

A red neon sign that read Mandina’s lit up
the front windows and made the pink house glow a little red. A
hostess greeted them and led them past a long wooden bar to the
upstairs dining area.

A waitress went over the specials, then
mentioned the bottle of Sangiovese as a pairing.

“I may need a whole bottle to myself,” Vivian
said, and they ordered one.

After perusing the menu and tasting the wine,
Wendy ordered the house special, Trout Meuniere, Kate got the
Grilled Shrimp Pasta Bordelaise, Lucy ordered Miss Hilda’s salad,
and Vivian got the fried chicken with two sides of mashed potatoes,
hold the vegetables.

“They have green beans,” Lucy pointed
out.

“It says ‘string beans’ and in my mind, it
ain’t the same. I’m not risking it.”

Kate offered a toast. “The cemetery mirrors
didn’t quite work out the way I was hoping, but at least it wasn’t
Daisy.”

They touched glasses and polished off the
first bottle before dinner was served and ordered a second. The
meal was remarkable, Vivian shared her mashed potatoes, and even
Lucy was glad she’d gotten two scoops. Wendy insisted everyone try
the Meuniere sauce, including Vivian, who didn’t like fish but had
a bite anyway.

“Mmmm. That sauce could make anything taste
good.” Vivian winked.

They finished dinner and their second bottle
of wine but passed on dessert.

“I may be feelin’ beignets later,” Kate said
and tugged on her expandy pants. “I’ve got room.”

They paid the bill and Vivian pushed her
chair back. “Can we take a cab? I had too many mashed
potatoes.”

“It’s only three blocks,” Lucy said. “You can
work off 20 calories of fried chicken.” She led the way and they
slowly walked by Kevin and Devin’s. They stopped a few houses down
and Vivian texted Adrienne where they were, then put the phone in
her pocket. The girls watched the street and the house for a few
minutes.