Night Magic (26 page)

"Yeah, they steady plottin'. Already plannin'
what to do next." A woman spoke with scorn misunderstanding the
look of concern on Savannah's face as she watched the men.

"Yeah, but they gone hafta do up some
schemin' to get outta this one." Mr. Gaston, another member of the
committee, gave a sharp laugh.

"Didn't get a chance to say nothin' to Paul,
huh?" Antoine said as they walked back to the shop.

"Just as well."

*****

While Savannah went about the shop dusting
shelves that did not need it, rearranging already perfectly
arranged merchandise, Antoine gave Tante Marie and T-Leon a
detailed account of the events at the courthouse. Savannah finally
went into the office.

“We plannin’ a celebration, child. Miss Lou
done already called us before y’all even made it back here gettin’
the menu lined up.” Tante Marie sat heavily in the chair across the
desk from her.

“That’s nice.” Savannah began to shuffle
papers in front of her.

“You can’t enjoy ‘cause of breakin’ up with
Paul. An’ quit rattlin’ them papers. You didn’t come in here to do
no work.”

“Look, it’s over between me and Paul, I was
angry--“

“And hurt, too.” Tante Marie broke in.

“Well he did say some things that hurt my
feelings, but I’ll get over it. Life goes on.”

“Maybe instead of tryin’ to pretend you gone
get over him, you oughta try to meet him half way and work it out.
I watched y’all; there was something powerful between you. Reminded
me of Antoine and Therese.”

“No! We were nothing like that,” Savannah
said, her voice raspy with emotion.

“Cher, you listen to me--“

“No, Tante Marie. I have no plans to spend my
time feeling bad about some man who doesn’t care enough about me to
trust me. Now, let’s not waste any more time talking about it.”

“All right, Miss Know-it-all. I guess you
know what you’re doing.” Tante Marie gave a short snort before
leaving.

“As a matter of fact I do.” Savannah jerked a
large accounts book to her and plunged into the figures.

Savannah was still sitting at the desk
several hours later when the jingling of the bell brought her out
into the shop. Devin stood smiling as he leaned against the
counter.

“I wanted to--" Devin began.

“Gloat? Those little scenes you acted out in
front of Paul at the courthouse were worthy of an Oscar
nomination.” Savannah gave him a fierce stare.

“Act? I didn’t have to pretend, sweet. We did
have dinner. It isn’t my fault you got caught.” Devin, wearing a
smug grin, shrugged.

“I didn’t get
caught
because I wasn’t
doing anything wrong,” Savannah said in a voice taught with
fury.

“Then why didn’t you tell him we were going
out to dinner?” Devin gave her an amused look.

“I did mention we might--,” Savannah falter
acutely aware of her own complicity in giving Devin ammunition.
“That’s none of your business. You deliberately behaved as though
there was something between us,” Savannah snapped.“Isn’t there?”
Devin looked her up and down with a leer. “There was a time--“

“Yes, was, past tense. There was a time I
thought you were someone I could care for and trust. You even came
close to convincing me that sabotaging my work was all Karen’s
idea. Seeing you in action now, you know what I think? I think you
used us both so you could be the only senior associate left when
Clayton and the other senior partners decide on a new partner.”
Savannah glowered at him. She was convinced Karen’s troubles at the
firm came from Devin’s machinations.

“Seems losing your engineer has not only made
you bitter, but paranoid. I guess dinner before I leave for
Shreveport is out?” Devin cocked his head to the side as he
regarded her. Seeing her wrathful expression, he gave a theatrical
sigh. “I suppose so. Well, it’s goodbye then.” He turned to
leave.

“Goodbye. And Devin,” Savannah called causing
him to hesitate at the door. “With any luck the Trosclairs won’t
take it out on your career because you were their lawyer when they
lost a big case that could cost them a billion dollars. Oh, maybe
not. Maybe at his age, Claude Trosclair’s famous long memory is
failing. So long.” She smiled maliciously.Blinking rapidly, his
smug look faltered as anxiety took hold. Her glee at shaking his
composure was short-lived. Once again she thought of Paul. Somehow
she had to take hold of her emotions and go on without him in her
life. She forced images of his face from her mind. Frightened that
stronger memories would plunge her into a paralyzing sadness,
Savannah went back to her work with grim determination to think
only of the tasks.

*****

“Girl, what are we going to do? That devil
woman is bad news. Now my Auntie Mae has got some really good
potions.” Charice ignored the large half eaten po-boy lay ignored
on her plate for once as they had lunch one Saturday.

Since the end of the trial several weeks ago
there had been a few more acts of vandalism directed against
members of the committee. But even more unsettling, Savannah had
begun to be a particular target. Her tires slashed, a dead black
cat left hanging on her bedroom window, and more gris gris.

“That’s a joke, right? Besides, we don’t know
it’s LaShaun. Plenty of people are mad at us for helping put the
future of Big River on the line.” Savannah nervously stirred her
salad.

“This has got that witch’s name written all
over it. And no, this is no joke. You gotta fight fire with
fire.”

“You’re starting to talk like Nenaine and
Tante Marie. Hoodoo, voodoo, and hocus pocus?” Savannah stabbed her
fork in the air for emphasis.

“Oh yeah, well there must be something to
this stuff.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look at you.”

“At me? There’s nothing the matter with how I
look.”

“So sorry, but as your loving friend I have
to say you look like death on a soda cracker. You’ve lost weight,
you’re jumpy as hell, and you have that `I got the
low-down-my-baby-done-left-me-blues’ daze on your face. Girl, you
ain’t been taking care of yourself!” Charice shook her arm.

“Thank you for that little pep talk.”

“You claim it’s not because of Paul, but who
do you think you’re fooling? I bet Morticia put the hex on that,
too.”

“Will you get up off that kind of talk? Paul
and I were never solid, especially when it came to his working for
Trosclair. I’m telling you, it wouldn’t have lasted anyway.”

“Y’all looked pretty solid to me for awhile
there. But I have to agree, being on opposite sides of that fight
didn’t make for smooth sailing in the tunnel of love. So maybe it
was inevitable.” Charice shrugged.

“Well, at least you’ve finally agreed with me
on that.”

“Yeah, especially seeing as how you were
always provoking him on the subject.”

“Say what?” Savannah sat up straight in her
chair for the first time in weeks.

“Lord knows, maybe I could have helped had I
gotten to you two wonderful kids in time. And now, seems like I’m
going to have save you from the voodoo queen.”

“Why you--“

“Now, now. No need to say how thankful you
are. Hey, I’m here for you.”

“Gratitude wasn’t what I was about to
express, you can believe that. And you save me? You still jump
three feet when I come up behind you and yell `Boo!’ the same time
every year on Halloween night. Damn, won’t you ever catch on? It’s
me, fool!” Savannah gave her a swat with her large napkin
laughing.

“Shoot, you keep catching me off guard.”
Charice howled with glee. For the next several minutes, they fought
to regain control. After reliving more silly memories they were
able to speak without spluttering incoherently mid sentence.

“Thanks for that, girlfriend. You could
always say the right thing, no matter how foolish--" Savannah made
a face.

“Wait now. You started out okay.”

“You know what I’m saying.” Savannah put an
arm around her friend’s shoulders. They didn’t need to say
anymore.

“Serious though, you and Paul are finished?”
Charice stared straight into her eyes as if the read the truth
there rather than in her words.

“I’m afraid so. We said some things that I
don’t think we can take back.”

Charice took a deep breath. “With everything
else you’ve got to deal with now, I hate to bring it up but...”

“Well?” Savannah prodded her after a few
seconds of silence.

“LaShaun. That woman has got to be dealt with
head on.”

“I think that would play right into her
hands, Charice. This psyche she is trying to put on me won’t work
if I ignore it.” Savannah began twisting her hair.

“You are still having serious questions about
what happened between your mama and her mama. You telling me that
deep inside you don’t believe something evil went down?”

“People can commit evil without voodoo being
the cause. Tante Marie told me some of what happened, but Poppy
could tell the whole story. I’m sure of it.”

“Yeah, but do you really want to know?”

“What are you talking about? I’ve wanted to
know more all my life.”

“You say that but remember that old curse; be
careful asking for what you want, you just might get it.”

“I need to know the truth, all of it. No
matter how bad it is, it’s worse not knowing.”

The next day Savannah rose early to attend
mass with Antoine and Tante Marie. The church was filled with
friends and neighbors. She was delighted with the changes the new
young priest had made in the service since he’d come six years ago.
The choir was filled with young people whose voices were robust and
rich. Drums, a guitar, and an electric piano had been added to the
old organ as accompaniment. Along with traditional hymns, the
church was filled with the sounds of hand-clapping, foot tapping
gospel songs.

“Hey, Miss Savannah. Hey, Mr. Antoine.”
Crystal and Nikki chimed sweetly in unison. Crystal wore a pink
jumper, Nikki a pale blue one. Each wore a crisp white blouse
underneath with lace around the collars and the cuffs of the
sleeves.

“Hey, sugar dumplings. Don’t y’all look
pretty this mornin’.” Antoine bent down to speak to them.

“Hello, you cute things. You sure do.”
Savannah smiled at them.

“Thank you.” The girls stood holding
hands.

“Don’t let ‘em fool you, they haven’t been
the little angels they’re pretending to be now.” Charice shook her
head in affectionate exasperation.

“I like high spirited girls, they the
sweetest kind.” Antoine tickled them both and was rewarded with the
bright tinkle of little girl laughter.

“Good morning, everyone. My, what charming
kids.” LaShaun appeared suddenly from the crowd. The old woman
holding onto her arm glowered at Antoine but said nothing.

“Good morning, LaShaun. How are you, Monmon
Odette?” Antoine faced them.

“You ain’t been in dis church too regular,
Antoine. I know ‘cause I be here most Sundays even wid all my
ailments.” Monmon Odette’s voice was surprisingly strong, her heavy
Creole accent an indication that she felt more comfortable speaking
the patois. Her frail body seemed shrunken from old age and
arthritis yet her eyes were bright and alert to her
surroundings.

“No. Been comin’ more since my daughter come
home. How’s your health?” Antoine spoke in a respectful tone.

“Well as can be expected at my age. You
lookin’ spry youself. Now this girl of yours, she kinda pale like
she ain’t too well. What’s wrong wid you, child?”

“I’m just fine, ma’am.” Savannah returned her
stare boldly.

“Look like your maman. She was a good lookin’
child, too. A little nervy though. You get to feelin’ too poorly,
you come see Monmon Odette. She’s got some old herbs that will fix
you right up.” The old woman cackled as she patted Savannah’s
hand.

“Yes, come by to visit,” LaShaun grinned. “I
don’t think you’ve ever been to our house.”

“Mornin’ Monmon Odette, LaShaun.” Tante Marie
joined them along with Nenaine Shirleen. Nenaine Shirleen said
nothing, but her sour expression spoke volumes.

“Marie, how you doin’?” Monmon Odette
squinted at the two older women, her expression losing its
humor.

“We all doin’ good. In fact, we doin’ even
better since old Trosclair been put in his place.” Tante Marie drew
up her shoulders with pride.

“Better be careful who you cross. Mr. Claude,
he don’t like nobody messin’ up his business. Then too, plenty
folks got somethin’ to lose if that plant got to shut down.” Monmon
Odette cocked her head to one side.

“I ‘spect you right.” Tante Marie raised an
eyebrow at her. “Got to be real careful ‘bout who you cross.”

“Yeah well. Best we get on home, girl.”
Monmon Odette nodded curtly to them before turning to leave.
LaShaun sneered unpleasantly at them all. They slowly made their
way to a large dark blue Cadillac Seville. They heard the beep of
the car alarm being shut off. With much care, LaShaun got her
grandmother settled in the front seat.

“Will you look at their car? That thing is
loaded.” Charice’s eyes were wide with admiration.

“They get a new one every two years or so.
Monmon Odette got money. How she got it, well I’d rather not say in
front the church.” Nenaine Shirleen grunted in disapproval.

“You ought not to repeat old nasty gossip.
Monmon Odette ain’t nothin’ but an old woman got left well off by
her husband--“ Antoine spoke sharply.

“More than one.” Nenaine Shirleen was
undaunted by his scolding.

“And you should feel sorry for her. She never
did get over Francine dyin’ like that. Losin’ somebody you love
sudden is hard.” Antoine left them, his shoulders hunched as if he
walked against a strong wind.

“Why is Mr. Antoine being so generous about
that old--. Crystal, Nikki, y’all go say bye to Father Trahan.”
Charice stopped short seeing her two young ones were all ears.