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CoCo patted her grandmother’s hand. “Mr. Williams, I—”
“Please, call me Dwayne.”
She smiled. “Dwayne, I’ve lived with my grandparents for thirteen years, and this business about signing over the deed has never been mentioned before.”
“It’s easy enough to check out. If this did happen, there’ll be a claim on file down at the courthouse. A matter of public record.”
“So, what do we do?” CoCo held her breath and waited for his reply.
Dwayne sat straight in his chair. “I’ll be honest with you. The main reason I took this case was because it involved Beau Trahan. I’m investigating him in an unrelated issue.” He pressed his lips together for a moment, pausing before dropping the pen. “I’m inclined to believe Mrs. LeBlanc.”
“That Mr. Beau had my grandfather sign something he didn’t understand?”
“Yes.” He held up a hand. “I’m not accusing Mr. Trahan of anything—not yet—but I can see something like that happening.”
“Isn’t that illegal?”
“Yes, it is. However, I’ll have to research it more fully. I’ll start by going to the courthouse and filing a motion against this eviction notice. At the very least, that should buy us an additional sixty to ninety days.”
“And then what?” How could they prove Beau Trahan pulled such an underhanded scam on her grandfather?
“What we discover will determine how we’ll proceed.”
“Mr. Williams,” Grandmere interrupted, “your words are all good, but what’s this gonna cost us?”
He smiled, his white teeth flashing in contrast to his smooth, black skin. “If you’re interested in me representing you in this matter, how about a one-hundred-dollar retainer and a balance of nine-hundred dollars?”
CoCo grabbed her purse. “That sounds fine. Should I pay that retainer now?” A thousand dollars to make this whole thing go away sounded a lot cheaper than the fee she’d imagined on the drive over. Thank You for Your provision, Lord.
“You can pay my secretary on your way out.” Dwayne smiled again. “I’ll need to get some more information from you before I can proceed.”
Luc ran a caressing touch over his saxophone as he placed it back in its case. Playing the horn always brought him inner peace. Not as much as his daily prayer, but for midafternoon it held its own. Now that he’d finished the big consulting job he’d been working on for the past month, he had two weeks free. Felicia’s wheelchair bumped against the sitting-room doorframe. He swiveled to stare at her.
“He didn’t mean it.” She maneuvered her chair across the gleaming wood floor.
“I think he did.” He straightened, lifting his sax case.
“He’ll calm down. You’ll see.”
How he wished he could believe her. “I need to find him, talk to him. Try to make him understand how I feel.”
“Luc, when has he ever cared about what any of us feel?” Big tears welled in her crystal blue eyes, and she ducked her head.
“Hey.” He set the case on the floor and crossed the room to squat before her. “What’d he say to you?” He patted her bare knees.
“Nothing.” She sniffed and wiped away her tears.
“Then why are you crying? Come on, Boo, when have you ever not been able to tell me everything?” He crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue, a trick he’d used to cheer her up since they were children.
She let out a small giggle. “I talked to Frank this morning.”
“And?” He waggled his eyebrows.
“It seems Grandfather paid him a little visit yesterday.” She hiccupped. “He told Frank to s-s-stay away from me if he didn’t want to end up in f-f-financial ruin.” Fresh tears pooled in her eyes.
Luc let out a low whistle. “He sure was a busy man yesterday.” He held his sister’s hands. “What’d Frank say?”
The smile she flashed sparkled and brightened the entire room, even more so than the floor-to-ceiling windows along one wall. “Frank said he told Grandfather that he could drop dead.”
“Good for him.” Frank Thibodeaux seemed to be good for his sister. He’d never seen her look happier.
“Luc, you know how Grandfather is. He’ll set out to ruin Frank if I keep seeing him.”
“He can’t hold us under his thumb forever.” Luc straightened, staring out the large windows overlooking the bayou. The afternoon sun reflected off the water, casting prisms of light and color across the marshland.
He turned back to stare at his sister. The large room appeared to swallow her small form. The white paint on every wall in the house screamed purity, always reminding him of Felicia. “You just keep seeing Frank if he makes you happy. I’ll figure something out.”
“Frank’s so mad, it scares me.”
Luc glanced at his sister, laying a hand on her shoulder. “Scares you how?”
“He’s so angry over the way Grandfather treats me. He says Grandfather isn’t allowing me to get new and inventive treatments that could maybe help me. He says there’s a surgery that could let me walk.”
His sister shook her head. “I don’t know what to think. All my doctors are ‘Grandfather selected.’ I’ve never questioned it before because he’s paid all the medical bills. If what Frank suggests is true…”
Luc ground his teeth. “We can look into it.”
“How? Grandfather controls everything we do, who’s in our lives, how we live.”
“And it’s going to stop now.”
She stared up at him with such hope and trust in her eyes it almost physically hurt him. “How? What can we do?” She lowered her head. “Maybe Mom’s right. We should be grateful for all he does for us.” Her voice cracked on a sob.
“Stop that. It isn’t true and you know it.”
“I think Grandfather’s threats have pushed Frank into making a decision.”
“What kind of decision?”
Felicia stared back up at him. This time, her smile twinkled in her eyes. “I think he’s going to propose soon.”
“That’s great, Boo.” Happiness filled Luc’s chest, but a bitter sting of remorse fell like lead to his gut. At one time, he, too, had been thinking of marriage, had even presented a ring. A life with CoCo. The knife in his heart twisted at the thought of what he’d had…and what he’d thrown away. If only he’d been able to forgive….
“I’m scared if he asks me and I accept, Grandfather will retaliate.”
“That settles it. I’m going to find him and talk reason to him right now.” Luc lifted his case.
Felicia’s hand stopped him. “What are you going to do if he won’t listen to you?”
“Then I’ll think of something else. If I have to, I can move away and get a more permanent job, buy a house for you and Mom. With this last job, my reputation is solid enough now that any accounting agency would be thrilled to hire me on full time.”
“Don’t be silly. I know you prefer consulting. If Frank proposes, then you don’t have to worry about me. I don’t want to be a burden anymore.”
“You’re not a burden. You’re my sister, and I love you.”
“I love you, too.” Her hand moved to squeeze his. “You shouldn’t have to fight my battles as well as your own.”
“It’s high time someone stood up to him.”
“And you think that person is you?”
He squeezed her hand back. “Who better?” With God’s guidance.
The purple hue of the setting sun nearly stole CoCo’s breath. She jerked her gaze from the window and laced her boots with haste. Only a few minutes of daylight remained, and she still needed to track two of the gators on her list. If she could prove they were multiplying at a less-than-normal rate, she could get more grant money for research from the Wetlands Preservation Center. And if her theory was correct, it could reduce the limits during hunting season. If only the cooyon from the State Wildlife and Fisheries would listen to her explanation.
Hunters…just the thought of them made her spine turn to grits. They weren’t supposed to hunt any of the yellow-tagged gators, yet four were still unaccounted for since a month ago. Tracking these reptiles was her life’s work—why she’d gone to college and graduated with a degree in environmental protection. She’d loved the bayous and swamps she called home and felt compelled to do her part to save them. She still did.
CoCo shut her bedroom door and whisked down the hall. Her fingers itched to fire up her airboat and get on the water. She made the turn at the top of the stairs, gripped the banister and then took the first step.
Whispers halted her movement. Coming from her baby sister’s room.
She backtracked up the step she’d just taken and moved to Tara’s door. Pressing her ear against the wood, CoCo held her breath and listened.
She recognized the mumbled words. An incantation of a gris-gris. Icy fingers tickled down her spine.
Jerking the door open, CoCo glared at her sister.
Tara sat cross-legged in the middle of her bed, a voodoo doll held in one hand, red paint dripping from a brush in the other. The doll already had two streaks across its body.
“What’re you doing?” CoCo placed her hands on her hips.
Her sister didn’t even bother to try to hide her actions. Instead, she lifted her chin and met CoCo’s stare. “What you’re too scared to do.”
CoCo inhaled through her nose, biting back the acidic retort stinging her tongue. “Tara, I’ve told you not to do this.” “I’ve told you—I’m twenty-four years old and you can’t tell me what to do anymore.” She tossed her long hair over her shoulder. Being outside in the summer had lightened it with streaks from the sun. “Besides, you’re just mad because Grandmere pays attention to me now.”
Guilt at Tara’s even being exposed to voodoo nearly strangled her. “That’s not it at all. You know better. She’s only teaching you because I refused to learn anymore.”
“You’re just jealous.” Tara’s words might have sounded angry, but CoCo detected the hurt behind them.
“Oh, Tara.” She sat on the foot of the bed, her fingers absentmindedly tugging at loose threads in the pink coverlet. “I stopped learning because I know it’s wrong.”
“Because the god you found told you it’s a sin.” Tara leapt off her bed and set the doll and brush on the oak desk. “Goody for you, but you aren’t going to take this away from me. I won’t let you.”
CoCo fought to get her legs to support her. “I’m not trying to take anything away from you. I’m trying to save you.”
Tara let out a harsh laugh. “Save me? That’s rich.” She narrowed her eyes and waved her hands. “Just go. Get out of my room and let me take care of things.”
“I’ve got it under control.” CoCo gestured toward the doll. “You don’t need to do this.”
“Yeah, hiring an attorney gets it all under control. Who’re you trying to fool? Old man Trahan has all the lawyers in these parts in his hand.”
Her words stung CoCo, just as if she’d been slapped across the face.
Maybe she should have called Alyssa. At the very least they could provide a unified front. Their stance against voodoo was about the only thing CoCo and Alyssa agreed on.
Dear God, show me how to reach Tara. Call her to You as You called me.
“Go, CoCo. Go play with your alligators.”
“It doesn’t have to be like this.” If she could just help Tara see…
Tara shook her head and held up her hand. “I said get out of my room.”
When had Tara grown to be so rebellious and bitter? Had she failed her sister when their parents died?
“I said, go!” Tara slapped the blue doorframe hard. A framed photo of their parents dropped to the floor. Tara’s eyes widened. “The picture fell off the wall. That means someone will die, CoCo.”
“That’s just superstition.”
“Go!”
Without another word, CoCo turned and strode from the room and then down the stairs. She needed to get on the bayou, to be alone, to find peace. Her steps were quick as she made her way to her airboat. She untied the rope from the live oak stump.
A vehicle rattled down the gravel driveway.
CoCo turned, her heart and stomach switching places.
Luc Trahan skidded to a stop. What was he doing here? Through the windshield, his gaze met hers. Her betraying heart leapt.
She tossed down the rope and marched toward the truck. Luc got out, smiling as if he hadn’t crushed her heart and dreams. “What are you doing here?”
“I just wanted to let you know Grandfather’s acting on his own with this eviction thing.”
He looked good—too good. She stiffened her spine. “Doesn’t matter. I’ve already retained an attorney to fight him.”
“Look, I think we—”
CoCo held up her hand. “There is no we anymore. You made sure of that, Luc.” She crossed her arms over her chest to hide her trembling. “I think you’d better leave.”
“But…”
“No anything. Just go. I want you to leave. Now.” Please, please just leave. She couldn’t allow him inside her heart again. It’d taken her too long to regain her emotional footing.
He moved toward her, closing the distance between them comfortably.
She backed up a step. “I said to go, Luc.” Her heart thundered. “Please.” She hated herself for pleading, but knew the tears would come soon. She refused to give him the satisfaction.
As if he could hear her thoughts, he nodded, got into his truck and slammed the door.
