Secret Of The Big Easy

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Secret Of The Big Easy - book excerpt

Chapter 1

The speaker’s voice droned on in Marie’s head, and her chin slipped off the palm of her hand. She instinctively touched her throat out of habit, remembering the feel of the cord around her neck. How in the world was she going to make it through this conference if she kept falling asleep in the first seminar and replaying the nightmare of that tragedy in her head? She needed a cup of coffee, and she needed it fast.

Quietly slipping out of her chair, she headed to the back of the conference room where the catering had laid out a buffet earlier that morning. She spotted the caffeinated pot and quickly poured a cup. As she stirred the cream into her coffee, she admired the beautiful poinsettias aligning the floor around the base of the magnificent Christmas tree standing tall against the back corner of the room with an opulent golden fleur-de-lis resting at the top. The red and gold bulbs twinkled against the string of lights as the beaded gumdrop garland draped the tree in majestic contrast. Christmas was Marie’s favorite holiday, and she couldn’t wait to see the city decorated New Orleans style.

She felt her hip pocket vibrate, and she casually pulled her cell phone out and smiled, reading the text message from the man in her life, Cory Miller. What are you doing now? She sent a text message back saying, trying to wake up with a cup of coffee, lol. Her cell phone vibrated again. Can’t wait to see you Friday. Marie replied, I’ll be at the airport at 4:30 sharp, gotta go, ttyl.

Marie tucked her cell phone into her pocket and made her way back to her seat. As she tried to look interested in the speaker discussing advances and controversy in small animal endocrinology, she drifted off to the weekend plans of picking up Cory, Gale Winters, her best friend, and Tim Haines, Gale’s beau, at the airport. They planned to spend the next week sightseeing in New Orleans. It was perfect timing to plan a little vacation after the National Veterinarian conference. They decided to stay at the same hotel as the conference, Le Maison de New Orleans hotel. And why not, it was the ideal spot right in the heart of the French Quarter.

The seminar broke for lunch, and Marie grabbed her materials and decided to head to her room to make some calls to her clinic. After two months of interviewing candidates, she finally hired another receptionist. It was the longest and saddest two months she ever had to endure. Trying to replace Tina Johnson was an impossible task, but Loretta Stone seemed to be fitting in well and was very organized.

Marie looked down at her name tag and read the fancy script lettering, Dr. Marie Bartek. She remembered back in June how her past came back to terrorize her, her friends, and the town of Sullivan’s Island, SC. She couldn’t fathom how a childhood friend could fixate on her and begin hanging women on the island. Who would have thought poor Tina Johnson would be one of the victims?

Marie was still trying to recover from that horrible hanging spree. She again woke up at night with the same recurring nightmare of the noose being wrapped around her neck and feeling the chair kick out from beneath her. It had also been a while since she had seen the spirits of the little boy and woman without a face, her guardian angels. Things had quietened down a bit. But the greatest thing to develop out of that horrible experience was having Cory in her life and organizing the Sullivan’s Island Paranormal Society, SIPS. Their phones rang off the hook with people wanting investigations. There was even an article written about how they assisted in finding the serial killer in a Charleston, SC newspaper.

Marie’s cell phone vibrated again, and the text message from Cory said, hate to tell you this, Bailey ate one of your shoes. Marie began to laugh and replied, which one? The returned text message read your favorite flip-flop. Marie shook her head and typed back, that’s okay – I needed a new pair anyway.

Bailey was Marie’s adorable chocolate Labrador retriever and a present from Cory after her recovery from a coma while in the hospital. After all of these years being a veterinarian, she never had an animal of her own. He certainly helped fill a void in her life and loved chewing on everything in sight in her beach house. She and Cory decided to let Mimi Rawlings, one of the SIPS team members, watch him while they were in New Orleans. If anyone could help train him, it would be Mimi.

Marie reached over and grabbed the phone to order room service when she felt a shocking jolt through her arm and a flash of light blinded her. She felt dizzy, and her eyes began to blur. She quickly rubbed them and realized she wasn’t sitting in her room anymore. It was pitch-black, and there were images of people dressed in dark robes with hoods over their heads. Her heart began to beat to the sound of chanting that rang in her ears. She noticed the smell of sandalwood wafting in the air, which tickled her nose and made her feel listless and sleepy. Suddenly a high-pitched shriek rang out and in the middle of the group was a woman dressed in a sheer white gown trying to pull away. The images looked distorted as they danced and swooned in Marie’s mind. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a raised hand in the air holding an athame. The group moved back and there at the helm was a man wearing a ram’s head. His hand struck down and stabbed the screaming woman in the heart. Before Marie could see what took place next, she was back to reality, sitting in her hotel room with the phone receiver in her hand.

Marie’s shirt had become soaked clear through, and her head was pounding. She got up and went into the bathroom to splash cold water on her face. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw the dark circles under her emerald eyes. Her hands were shaking as she raked her fingers through her long golden hair. “What was that? I think I’m going to have to call Myra.”

The roar of the plane engines bellowed overhead while Marie waited in the short-term parking for Cory, Gale, and Tim. She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of KT Tunstall’s Black Horse and a Cherry Tree. Marie glanced in the rearview mirror and spotted Gale sashaying in front of Tim and Cory wearing a tight khaki skirt with a matching tight, bright red spandex shirt. The wedged high heel shoes she wore gave her at least five inches of added height to her already tall frame and her jet-black hair was lightly pulled back in a red silk scarf. The minute Gale spotted Marie, she began to run toward her, giving the appearance of an awkward ostrich approaching the car.

Marie got out of the car and hugged Gale. “I’m so glad to see you.”

Gale kissed both of Marie’s cheeks. “You and me both sistah. How are you? You look like you have dark circles under your eyes.”

“That’s another story. We have a lot of catching up to do.” Marie felt like a dwarf next to Gale, even though she stood five foot eight.

Gale replied, “You’ve only been gone a week.”

Marie walked over to Cory as he approached the car and kissed him hard on the lips. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”

Cory cupped her chin in his hand. “Ditto, how are you doing? Have you had any more visions?”

“Visions? What visions?” Gale grabbed Marie’s elbow and turned her around.

“I told you we had a lot of catching up to do.”

Tim approached the opened trunk and began loading the luggage. “Why don’t we continue this conversation in the car before Marie gets a ticket?” He shut the trunk. “Hi, Marie, how are you? Thanks for picking us up.”

“Hello, Tim, I’m fine, and you’re welcome. Aren’t you, the gentleman?” Marie stuck her tongue out at Gale.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Come on, let’s go. I’m dying to see this hotel. The pictures on the website were amazing.” Gale jumped in the backseat and yanked her skirt down before it rode up to her waist.

Tim slid into the back seat next to Gale and snapped his seatbelt. “I have to say, this was a great idea.” His navy baseball cap was pulled down over his brown military style haircut which gave the facade he had hair. His T-shirt clung to his swelled biceps, and his head hit the roof of the rental car. It was quite a different look than the fire chief uniform he usually wore.

Cory sat up front next to Marie. “I have always wanted to come to New Orleans. I met one of the police officers on the force here.”

Marie winked. “Of course you did, and I suppose that comes with you being a police chief.”

She loved the way Cory’s brown curls cuddled over the tips of his ears. His mocha brown eyes matched the button-down shirt he was wearing, as his knees jammed against the front glove box.

Gale leaned forward and looked at Marie in the rearview mirror. “Okay, now what is this all about you seeing visions?”

Marie first glanced in the side view mirror and pulled out of the parking spot and then caught Gale’s eyes staring back at her in the rearview mirror. “Well, it was the first day of my conference in my hotel room. I was going to order some room service when I felt this shock shoot up my arm as soon as I touched the phone receiver. There was a quick flash of light, and then the room became pitch-black.”

Marie signaled to get into the passing lane and made her way onto the ramp toward the highway. “The next thing I know I’m sitting in my room, but it was as if I was in another time zone. I heard this chanting and smelled incense.”

“Didn’t you say something about people wearing black robes or hoods, and some woman got stabbed?” Cory took off his sunglasses.

Marie sighed. “Yeah, it looked like a satanic ritual. The woman was in this long sheer white gown, and she was screaming at the top of her lungs. Then out of nowhere, there was this figure at the head of the group wearing a ram’s head.”

“A what? Are you serious? Was it a real ram’s head or a costume?” Gale sat back and grabbed Tim’s hand.

“I couldn’t tell. But the scariest thing was the man with the ram’s head raising his hand in the air holding an athame. And the next thing I saw was him slamming that athame right into the screaming woman’s chest. Then everything disappeared, and I was back sitting alone in my room.”

“Okay, I’ll ask, what’s an athame?” Gale looked over at Tim’s smirk. “What, you’re going to tell me you know what that is?”

“As a matter of fact, I do. It’s a satanic ceremonial dagger that has a double-edged blade, and it normally has a black handle. I think it’s used in the Wicca religion or something.” He caught Gale’s surprised expression and shrugged his shoulders. “I watch a lot of science fiction shows.”

Cory turned back toward Tim and Gale. “He’s right. I remember reading about some occult going on a killing spree that took place in Wichita using an athame. There are a lot of psychos out there.”

Marie sensed their silence and tried to make light of what they were all thinking. “And we all know about psychos, right?”

Cory chuckled and rubbed Marie’s shoulder. “Yes, I think we do.”

“Well, I have some interesting news. I met a gentleman at the conference by the name of André Danél. He belongs to the Big Easy Paranormal Society, BEPS for short, right here in New Orleans. He remembered seeing our photo in one of the newspapers down here and thought it might be fun to have us go along on one of their investigations.” Marie blew the horn at a driver cutting her off. “What do you think? Would you all be up for that?”

“Are you kidding me? Doing an investigation in New Orleans? Hell yeah, we’re up for that.” Gale sat up in the seat and almost choked herself on the seat belt. “Wait, we don’t have any of our equipment.”

“That’s okay I think we’ll be able to use theirs.” Marie looked over at Cory. “Would you be interested in tagging along?”

“Sure, I think this paranormal stuff is starting to grow on me.”

Gale looked out the rental car window. “We’re here, look, there’s the hotel. Wow, it is amazing. The balcony has a garland made of poinsettias. It looks like a palace with its grand scale and tall windows. Look at all of the Christmas lights decorating the trunks of the palm trees along the street.”

“I read there were a few movies filmed here. Plus, quite a few famous authors have stayed here. I also heard it’s haunted.” Tim peered over Gale’s shoulder.

Marie pulled into the parking lot and parked in the space marked for her room. “So, what exactly do we want to do after we check you all in? I was thinking of having dinner alfresco style. A couple of us from the conference ate right down the street at a remarkable place that served a mouthwatering chocolate torte.”

“That sounds good to me. I’m starving.” Tim wrestled with Gale’s suitcase and almost dropped it on the ground. “What exactly did you pack for this trip? It feels like there are boulders in this thing.”

“Ha, ha, very funny. It contains all of my essential needs, which you will soon be delighted I packed.” Gale winked at Tim and kissed him on the cheek. “Marie, did you happen to talk to Myra about this vision?”

Myra Cummings was a psychic medium and one of the SIPS team members… and Marie’s mentor. She was solely responsible for helping Marie channel her newfound psychic ability.

“Funny you should ask that, yes I did. I called her right after it happened because this never happened to me before. She called it psychometry, often referred to as object reading. Individuals with psychometry abilities can pick up certain vibrations on an object and get a vision or feeling once they have touched the object. These vibrations are remaining energy residues from the person who owned it. Through these energy residues, a psychic can perceive information about a place, person, or event by touching an object associated with that person, place, or event. I’m obviously learning to channel my ability better, and my meditation is helping. But it still freaked me out.” Marie helped carry some of Gale’s luggage and headed toward the hotel lobby.

Cory grabbed Marie’s hand and squeezed it hard. “I know you’re pleased that you’re channeling your ability more, but I get worried about all of this. Are you sleeping any better?”

Marie stopped and smiled. “A little better, I maybe only have a nightmare every other night. I’m fine. But thank you for asking.”

“Hey, before I forget. I picked up your mail and left it in your dining room, but I brought along a package your mom sent.” Gale wrinkled her nose at Marie’s annoyed look. “I didn’t open it. But can we open it soon? What did she send you?”

Marie laughed and pushed the button for the elevator. “I think it’s the photos of my family ancestors. I had asked her to go through them and then send me any photos of a woman or a little boy when I came home from the hospital. She said she found quite a few in the attic from both sides of my family. We’ll go through them after dinner. I want you all to try some Cajun food first.”

“Aw, okay. I guess I can wait. But I need to take a quick shower.” Gale squeezed her bag against Tim. “Tim, don’t you need a shower, also?”

Tim smiled at Gale and kissed her nose. “Normally, I would say yes to that, but I’m starving, and we don’t have any time for showering.”

Gale pouted and shrugged her shoulders. “Suit yourself. But I may not be in the mood for showering later.”

The elevator doors opened, and Marie shoved Gale out into the hall. “I think we get the idea of what shower means. Is half an hour enough time to freshen up?”

“Works for me, I smelled Cajun food the second we stepped out of the plane.” Cory rolled his suitcase over to Marie’s room and slid the card in the key slot.

“We’ll be there on time. I’ve been dreaming about chicken gumbo.” Tim stopped short at Gale’s frustrated look.

“If you bring up chicken gumbo one more time, I think I’ll scream.” Gale opened their hotel room, rolled her suitcase inside, and let the door slam shut.

Marie looked at Tim. “What was that all about?”

Cory answered first. “Let’s just say Tim obviously likes chicken gumbo and repeatedly reminded us of it during the entire flight.”

Tim shrugged his shoulders and knocked lightly on the door. “Gale, please let me in. I don’t have the keycard.” The door opened for a split second and Tim slipped through before it closed on him.

Marie started to laugh and followed Cory into their room. “I guess we don’t have any time for a shower, either.”

Cory pulled Marie into his arms. “Oh, I think we have plenty of time. I’m not as hungry as Tim.”

Marie giggled and propped her chin on Cory’s chest. “I like the way you think, Chief Miller.”