Daniel’s anger slowly seeped out of him, replaced by sympathy for her. She was as much a victim as her mother had been, and he understood her need for answers. Hell, he wanted answers, too.
He reached out and took her hand in his. “We’re going to get the person who took your mother’s life,” he said. “I promise you, Miss Santori, we’ll get this killer behind bars.” He squeezed her hand and then released it.
“Please, make it Angelique,” she said. “So, we have a deal. You’ll come to my shanty and fill me in each evening and I’ll stay out of things.” She glanced toward the back door. “I need to get back inside. It’s time we vacate the building.”
Since they were in a courtyard, there was no way he could exit other than walking back inside with her, so together they went back into the building. Angelique’s sisters both rose to their feet as Daniel headed for the front door.
He walked out into the bright sunshine, his head still filled with thoughts of the woman he had just left. Before the murder, he’d seen Angelique around town. He’d always thought she was one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen.
He’d thought about asking her out, but at that time she’d been in a long-term relationship with Jason Webber, and after that he’d heard she was seeing George Trahan, a gator hunter and fisherman. Then the murder of her mother had occurred, and the last thing he needed to do was get involved with one of the victims in the case.
It was a short distance from the community center to the police station. As he walked, he looked up and down Main Street. A sense of pride filled him. The storefronts were all in colors of pink, turquoise and yellow, making the little town look colorful and full of life.
The police station was painted a bright yellow and as he walked through the front door, he smiled at Gus Smith, who sat at the receptionist’s desk. Gus was very close to retirement age and had severe arthritis in his hips, so he was rarely out in the field. Instead, he spent most of his days on desk duty.
“Hey, Chief,” Gus greeted him with a smile.
“What’s up?” Daniel replied with a returning smile.
“Nothing much. It’s been very quiet all morning. Not a single person has come in, and there haven’t been any phone calls,” Gus said. “I assume most of the folks were at the big funeral.”
“Guess so,” Daniel agreed. “And quiet is the way I like it. I’ll just be back in my office.” Daniel walked through the door to the left of Gus’s desk and headed down the long hallway to his office.
Once there, he sat at his desk and checked for any messages that might have come in over the tip line that had been set up for Mystique’s murder. So far, to his dismay, nothing had come in. There was a $5,000 reward for anyone who gave information on the murder that led to an arrest, but so far nobody had come forward with any information. The money had come from several businesses and both town and swamp people had contributed.
He’d only been in his office about five minutes when a knock sounded at his door. “Come in,” he said and then grinned at the tall, dark-haired officer who entered.
“The ceremony was nice,” Detective Clay Caldwell said. Clay was not only Daniel’s right-hand man, but the two men had also been good friends since they were young kids.
“Yeah, and her killer was probably in attendance,” Daniel replied with a frown. “Hopefully Luke wrote a list of everyone who was there.” Detective Luke Madison was somebody else Daniel depended on both as a friend and as a coworker.
“He did. I think he also talked to Angelique about getting the guest book so we can make copies of the people who signed it.”
“Good. After everything was finished, I had a little chat with Miss Angelique,” Daniel continued.
Clay raised a dark brow. “How did that go?”
“Not well, although hopefully I made her see the error of her ways and I got her to agree to stay out of the investigation.” He didn’t mention how attractive he found the fiery woman or that she had demanded he give her nightly reports.
“I can’t believe she interviewed Louis Theriot before we did,” Clay said with a shake of his head.
“And who knows who else she spoke to in the past week,” Daniel replied. “But hopefully that situation is now taken care of.” He definitely hoped she’d keep her word and leave the investigation to him and his team.
“Good. What’s on our agenda for this afternoon?” Clay asked.
“We need to speak to Nola Fontenot again. Hopefully, now that the shock of Mystique’s murder has worn off, she can give us some more names of people Mystique was seeing or who might have had a beef with her.”
“She wasn’t very much help the first time we spoke to her,” Clay reminded him. “I swear, I think she cried as much or more than Mystique’s daughters did.”
“Maybe she’ll have less tears and more information for us this afternoon,” Daniel replied. “According to the Santori sisters, she was Mystique’s best friend. She should know something about Mystique that will help us find the murderer.”
“I’ll bet there are a lot of people in Dark Waters now quaking in their boots, wondering if they’ll be outed for seeing thevoodoo queen under the cover of the darkness of night,” Clay said.
Daniel released a dry laugh. “If she was really a voodoo queen, then she wouldn’t be dead right now, but I’m sure you’re right about people worrying that their secrets will get out. Those are the very people we need to find. Whoever killed Mystique didn’t rob her. The person didn’t stand to gain anything financially from her death, so I’m betting that it was fear that killed Mystique. Somebody was afraid enough to slice her throat…possibly a symbolic act of making sure Mystique didn’t talk.”
“All I know for sure is her murder has really shaken some people up, both in town and in the swamp,” Clay said, a frown furrowing his forehead. “And I have a feeling this isn’t going to be an easy solve.”
“I have a feeling you’re right. One thing is certain, we aren’t going to solve anything sitting around in here.” Daniel rose from his chair. “Get Luke and the three of us will head into the swamp to speak to Nola again. We’ll meet in about twenty minutes at the main entrance to the swamp.”
