Sweet Mystery (35 page)

“Cher, I know.”

“They’d say ‘What can you expect, that’s one
of Lucien kids.’ But I never let any of them tell me who I was or
was not going to be,” Rae said in a fierce voice.

All the bitter memories of her childhood came
flooding back. The snickers when she walked past after one of
Lucien’s famous drunken tirades about his father. The way girls
like Toya whispered lies that made boys think she was promiscuous.
Anger welled up inside at how much she’d had to endure. By the time
she was fourteen, Rae had decided to strike back.

At sixteen, all those girls secretly envied
her. Boys fell over each other just to have her smile at them. They
even began to defend her when the girls made nasty remarks. Rae
would lure a boy to her, enjoying the game of making him lovesick,
and then toss him aside without a backward glance. Yes, revenge
became my weapon of choice. Now that weapon seemed to have blown up
in her face.

“You got caught in your own trap. Ain’t that
right, cher?” Tante Ina spoke to her in a soothing voice, full of
sympathy.

Rae opened her mouth to deny it, but her
voice would not work. A fist of anguish closed around her throat.
Yes, it was true. Her first thought had been to make Toya burn with
jealousy. Her little plan had not taken account of falling in love
with Simon so hard or so fast.

“Okay, so I did get sorta attached to him.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t live without him,” Rae said, her
voice rising. “He just wants the best of both worlds – staying all
up under Toya and her grandfather to keep his business afloat. It’s
sickening.”

“You think so?” Tante Ina looked dubious at
this explanation. “I hear he paid Mr. Henry’s loan back several
years ago. Got his own reputation now. Why folks from all over
Louisiana call him to–”

“Oh, who cares?” Rae burst out. “Can’t we
talk about something else?” She jumped up. “I’m going for a
walk.”

“All right, cher. It’s a fine evenin’ for a
walk. Nice breeze, mais, yeah.” Tante Ina clucked like a mother
hen.

“And stop looking at me like that,” Rae said
with a puff of frustration.

“Like what, sugar sweet?” Tante Ina put a
comforting plump arm around her shoulder.

Rae’s lip trembled at the old endearment; one
Tante Ina always used when she tried to ease the most painful hurts
brought to her by one of her brood.

“Tante Ina, I wish I’d never come here. Wish
I’d never heard of Simon St. Cyr.” Rae put her head on her shoulder
and let the tears fall for the first time.

“I know, I know,” Tante Ina said in a soft
voice just above a whisper. “Come on and sit down. You gonna stay
here with me for a while.” She held Rae in a maternal embrace and
let her pour out the grief.

* * *

“You fools!” Marius paced back and forth
across the concrete floor of the old garage. “I told you to make
sure it looked like Rae Dalcour did it. Now they’re saying it could
have been accidental.”

Scruffy beard scratched his face. “Look, you
wanted the place to burn. We done that. Ain’t I right, Sly-Man?” He
glanced at his partner.

“Yeah, Tyrone is right. We earned our money.”
Sly-Man grinned at Marius. “Time to pay up.”

“The job isn’t finished until they accuse Rae
of arson,” Marius snapped. “Now what are you going to do about
that?”

Sly-Man’s grin never faltered as he advanced
on Marius. “Looka here, one way or the other, we gettin’ our money
today.”

“I don’t think so,” Marius said in a tight
voice.

“Oh yeah? What’s it gonna be, slick?” Sly-Man
held up both hands and took a menacing step forward.

Marius pulled out a small, automatic pistol
from inside his suit jacket. “I’ll tell you what it’s gonna be.” He
mocked Sly-Man’s uneducated speech. “You two have half of what I
agreed to pay, which is a helluva lot more than you’re worth, by
the way. You were paid to make the evidence lead to Rae Dalcour.
Finish the job or they’ll be digging up your bones on my family’s
property years from now.”

“Aw man, you mean that dude they just
found...” Tyrone’s eyes grew even bigger as he stared at the gun.
“D-damn!”

“Say, looka here, ain’t no need to be gettin’
all hostile and stuff.” Sly-Man stood frozen in place, careful not
to move in any way that might make Marius feel threatened.

“Uh-huh. Don’t mess with me, all right?”
Marius looked like he knew exactly how to use the gun and would not
hesitate to do so. “We’ve worked well together before, but I expect
results.”

“Yeah, sure, man. We know.” Tyrone seemed
eager to please.

“We can’t go back over there now!” Sly-Man
protested. “Between the sheriff’s deputies and the firemen, there’s
always somebody hangin’ round there.”

“He got a point, man,” Tyrone agreed.

Marius gave a short grunt. “You’re the
so-called professional crooks. You figure it out.”

Sly-Man shrugged. “What do you care anyway?
She’s havin’ money trouble. Insurance man givin’ her the runaround.
I can tell ya, they’ll tie up payin’ so long, she’ll be broke.”

Tyrone’s head bobbed up and down. “That’s
true, too.”

Marius was unconvinced. “They’ll have to pay
if there’s no real proof she did it.”

“And by then it’ll be too late. I’m tellin’
you, they ain’t payin’ nothin’ as long as their investigators ain’t
satisfied. They gonna hold out long as they can.” Sly-Man did not
look nervous now. He watched Marius digest his words.

“Maybe, but I need some insurance myself.”
Frowning, Marius stared past the two men. “If I can get that
property, the old man will give me control.”

Sly-Man stole a quick sideways glance at
Tyrone. “Hey, Rone, didn’t we hear somethin’ ‘bout her leavin’
town?”

“Huh?” Tyrone looked dumbfounded. He blinked
at his partner. When Sly-Man nodded at him, he perked up. “Oh,
yeah, right. Sure did.”

“Man, you could be gettin’ that property
sooner than you think,” Sly-Man said in an ingratiating voice. “You
sure did plan this one right.”

“On target, that’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout.”
Tyrone was now into the game. He watched his partner for a cue.

“She ain’t for hangin’ round here no more is
the talk. Ain’t that what you told me, Rone?” Sly-Man moved closer
to Marius.

Marius stared out a grimy window behind the
two men, deep in thought. “Grandfather won’t forgive or forget the
way Darcy ignored his wishes. I’ll make a bundle with my own deal
with one of those companies.”

“Sounds like you all ready movin’ ahead. You
smart,” Sly-Man said.

Tyrone looked at Sly-Man and then fell to the
floor. Marius turned fast to point the gun at him, but Sly-Man
dealt a sharp kick to his arm. The gun flew from his hand and
clattered across the concrete. Tyrone bounced up and punched Marius
in the stomach three times in quick succession until he bent over
double, groaning in pain.

Sly-Man leaned against the rusty shell of an
old, yellow Ford Fairlane. He waved the gun in his hand. “Now, I
think we can talk better. Don’t you?”

Marius spluttered for few moments. “I ought
to–”

“Looka here, I’m gonna be reasonable ‘bout
all this. Maybe we can do somethin’ to tighten up this job.”
Sly-Man lifted a shoulder.

“Say what, Sly-Man?” Tyrone shook his head
with vigor.

Sly-Man motioned for him to keep quiet. He
wore a predatory smile. “Hold up now. I got me an idea how to do
it, so we don’t have to stick our necks out. Course we need some
more of what they call incentive.”

Marius was still on his knees, but he didn’t
look the least bit intimidated. “No more money. Remember, I know
where you boys live. You’re going to jail next week if you don’t
pay up six thousand dollars of back child support.” He pointed at
Tyrone.

The man looked outraged. “How you know ‘bout
that? Gettin’ all up in my business!”

“And Sly-Man, Pookie DeLarousse won’t be
happy when he finds out you’ve been making a profit at his expense.
He’s not the forgiving type. Anything happens to me, he gets a
phone call.” Though he was still in obvious pain, Marius smiled at
the look of fear in Sly-man’s eyes.

“What you gonna do, man?” Sly-Man licked his
thick, dry lips.

Marius stood up slowly with a wince. “I’m
going to forget this little incident in the spirit of goodwill.” He
reached out his hand and waited.

Sly-Man gave him the gun. “Especially since
we can bust your ass about several jobs in the last four years,
including the one over in Morgan City.”

“Only if you fellas live to tell the tale.
Remember Pookie?” Marius tapped his temple with a forefinger. He
chuckled. “Now that we’ve established that it’s my world, tell me
this idea you have.”

Chapter 17

“Rae, I gotta tell ya...” LaMar sank down
into one of the chairs on her front porch. “I just don’t think
we’re going to find out exactly what happened to your grandfather.
It’s been too many years.”

“Nothing, huh?” Rae put down the tray
containing glass mugs of root beer. “That’s my luck these days.
Seems everything I do comes to nothing.” The stab of pain she felt
had more to do with Simon than her grandfather or the dance hall.
She pushed thoughts of him away.

“If they went to Trinidad then I can’t find
them. They could have gone anywhere in the Caribbean, east or west.
Not to mention all of South America.” LaMar took a deep gulp of his
cold soft drink.

Rae sat down in the chair next to him. “Well,
thanks for giving it your best effort.”

“I’ve got one more lead that could–”

“Forget it, LaMar. It doesn’t matter,” Rae
broke in. “I’ve got enough dealing with the present, much less
digging into the past.” She stared off at the bright green foliage
that lined the rural highway.

“Yeah, running a business can get hectic.”
LaMar took another sip of soda.

“Especially when it’s been torched and the
sheriff thinks you did it,” Rae said with more than a trace of
bitterness.

LaMar’s dark eyebrows went up. “What? Tell me
the details.”

Rae was reluctant, but, at his urging, she
described the events that had taken place since their last meeting.
LaMar interrupted her several times to ask questions. He wanted to
know all the details of how she’d opened the dance hall, the offers
to buy the family land and her relationship with the locals.

“So, that’s about it.” Rae rubbed her eyes.
“It’s just as well you’re ending the search. I’m just about
broke.”

“Not to worry. You paid me for at least two
more weeks.” LaMar was silent for several seconds. “I’ve got an
idea. Let me look into the fire.”

“What?” Rae looked up at him.

“I could keep investigating what happened to
Vincent, but finding out anything more is a long shot. You’ve got a
more immediate problem. I’m paid for, so why not?” LaMar rubbed his
hands together. He was all ready processing what he’d been told
about the fire.

“But, well...” Rae wondered truthfully if she
should just get the money refunded. She might need it soon in the
worst way. “The arson investigators are looking into it now.”

“If they find evidence that seems to point to
you, they’re not likely to look much further.” LaMar wore a slight
frown. “And it sounds like there are several people who might
definitely profit from the failure of your business.”

Rae shrugged. “I didn’t feel a lot of
pressure to sell.”

“Maybe they had a plan B.” LaMar sat with his
elbows on both knees, looking straight ahead. “It’s possible.”

“Yeah, possible…”

LaMar cleared his throat. “More than one
person is interested in buying your land, right? Simon St. Cyr
approached you first.”

LaMar seemed to be suggesting that Simon’s
main interest was to get his hands on Dalcour property. Could he
have been using her all along? Rae did not want to believe that
she’d been so gullible. Had her vanity blinded her? Had they played
on her desire to get back at Toya? It seemed entirely possible that
Simon, Toya and Darcy had coldly calculated how to use her need for
revenge. What an idiot she had been! All her life, she’d known that
upper-class Creoles were notorious for sticking together.

“Until this moment I hadn’t seen the
obvious.” Rae felt numb. This new pain was too much for her senses,
but there were no more tears. “Simon showed up the night someone
spray-painted the dance hall. I should have been suspicious when he
didn’t bat an eyelid after I wouldn’t sell him our land.”

LaMar watched her face for several moments.
“Is there something more you need to tell me? This seems to have
hit you pretty hard.”

Rae steadied herself. “Simon St. Cyr and I...
We were... seeing each other,” she said in a strained voice.

“Damn! Look, I’m sorry. I could be off base
here.” LaMar’s expression said otherwise.

“Or you could be on target. I let my ego and
a little down home charm from a good-looking man fool me.” Rae
thought of how Simon had rushed back to the Joves after Mr. Henry’s
stroke. “The ties that bind…” Rae barked out a laugh that was more
contemptuous of herself than Simon.

“Tell me what you want me to do.” LaMar
waited with no sign of impatience or intent to sway her
decision.

“I’m not going out like that,” Rae said. She
looked at LaMar with a hard expression. “Nobody is going to force
me out of Belle Rose. We’ll look into the fire.”

“Good deal.” LaMar started making notes at a
furious pace.

“If it was arson, I’m going to grind the
bastard responsible into the dirt, whoever he is.” Rae blocked out
all feelings, except the need for retaliation.

For another hour, LaMar questioned her in
depth about everything that had happened since her arrival in Belle
Rose for her father’s funeral. The more she talked, the more
certain she became.