The Seer Renee (21 page)

"That's interesting," Ron
said, leaning back and looking off into the distance.

"I don't understand,"
Grace said. Ron thought it was an interesting puzzle, whereas Grace was
frustrated by the lack of clues to begin the hunt.

"I like it," Jim said,
raising his wine glass in salute.

"Why," everyone said at
once.

"The game will give Renee and me
time to get married and plan our escape. Unless she would rather continue
living in sin." He grinned and winked at me. I understood his clowning. He
was frustrated, worried, and scared. The final chapter of this mystery always
seemed to end in my death—one way or another.

"I'd rather we catch the bad
guys, and you two stay in N’Orleans. But they aren't giving us much to go on.
I'd like to get a trace on all of Angela's communications, but after the FBI
leak we had with Mambo Monique, I'd be concerned about alerting them. Damn,
this is frustrating."

True to her word, Angela was
waiting when I arrived at Woldenberg Park with Jim. She looked ready to run.
"I'm glad you could make it, Angela. I'd like you to meet Jim. Jim this is
the beautiful Angela I spoke of," I said. She had dressed in sweats. If I
were to guess, it was because they were the only loose fitting clothes she
owned.

"It's nice to meet you,
Jim," she said and extended her hand.

"It's nice to meet you,
Angela," Jim said, taking her hand.

"I didn't know what to wear. I
hope..." she said, looking at me.

"I don't know what you are
used to, but these services are very informal. They don't mind spectators. You
can stand with me if you like. I'm still learning, but I might be able to
answer a few questions until Renee is available," Jim said, which I think made
her even more nervous.

"That's a good idea, Angela. Vodou
services are different from most church services. Jim can make some sense of
it," I said, hoping to put her at ease about any possible jealousy issues.
Although it would break my heart, I wish Jim would find someone else. But it
would take a major operation to separate him from me—we seemed to be
sharing one heart. She seemed to visually relax.

"Thank you, I'd like that. I
do feel a bit out of place." Her face lit with her first real smile. I
left them to talk and wandered the sizeable crowd stopping to talk to everyone
that showed an interest. My congregation tended to be growing by one or two
every time. Finally, I entered the pavilion and
began
to draw
the
ve've
for Legba-Papa Labas to open the gates between the Loa and those attending the
ceremony. Then on a whim, I drew the ve've for Danh-Gbwe, the great serpent
venerated as an intermediary of focus of divine power. Then I began the service
by singing an opening prayer to Bon Dieu, the good God, and then continued with
a prayer to Danh-Gbwe. As I sang and danced, I felt the serpent on my arm move
into my arm and travel through my body. Feeling one with the Loa Danh-Gbwe, I
was lost to the world.

* * *

I woke with my head in Jim's lap
and staring at his face and said the first thing that came to mind, "You
have beautiful eyes."

"You almost gave me and Angela
a heart attack. Six others also...fainted. People are saying you're a mambo with
great power. That you evoked the spirits, and they took possession of many individuals.
I don't know about that, but it did get exciting."

When I rose and walked around,
everyone was interested in talking with me, and it was another hour before I
got back to Jim and Angela, who wasn't her normal animated self.

"Mambo Renee, would you help
me learn Vodou. I'm interested and would like to join."

"I'd be happy to. Maybe after
our fortunetelling sessions, and if necessary, we can schedule additional
time."

"Thank you."

"I can see why you like her.
She had a lot of good questions and insightful observations. She's certainly no
dumb blond," Jim said as Angela wandered off into the night. "How do
you feel?"

"I've made a decision, or
maybe the Loa Danh-Gbwe, the great serpent, made it." I pointed to the
serpent on my arm. “They will find that I not only bite but the fangs have
poison."

"Good. When do we get
married?" Jim laughed. I punched him in the arm.

"Soon. Let’s see if Ron and
Grace are up and available."

* * *

It was late by the time we arrived
back at the condo, and Ron and Grace looked ready for bed but livened up when I
wanted to talk about the bad guys. Ron put on coffee, and Grace came out with a
tray of snacks.

"I’ve been feeling sorry for
myself and accepting the fact that the bad guys were going to win. Tonight
during my service, I or the Loa or maybe both of us decided to fight. They know
I can tell the future but not how far into the future. They know I can see a
week but not how much further. The game with Angela is to find out, and that is
why they haven't made a move against me yet."

"How far can you see?"
Ron asked. His curiosity was academic; however, Grace's look tended to be
professional—how could it be used. I trusted these people but no sense
providing unnecessary temptation. A week was interesting but three months or
more opened a world of possibilities.

"Don't know, Ron. I don't
think the Loa are interested in us knowing too much more. Maybe two, but
probably with less specificity," I said, noticing a trace of
disappointment from Grace. I couldn't blame her. It must have been a
tantalizing tool to use to catch bad guys. "Anyway, I want to go on the
offensive."

"How?" Jim said cautiously.
I knew he preferred the
let’s run away
option as less dangerous.

"If we can catch Angela's
contact then maybe we can trap their contact... I'm stupid when it comes to computers,
so I'll need some help, Grace. Angela would give me the one she's using, but I
imagine that wouldn't lead anywhere. But if we could capture Angela's contact,
and she has a computer..."

"That might work, especially
if that person didn't know we were monitoring the signal. We could at very
least get his location. Let me talk to some people at work and get their input.
But how do we catch Angela's contact?" Grace said, leaning forward
excitedly.

"I'll disappear. That should
cause Angela's contact or someone who works for him to visit my shop looking
for clues."

"We stake out your store? That
will require a lot of manpower."

"Yes and no. I suggest we install
a recording camera in my shop. Then either you or Ron review the tape each
day."

"Having a picture of the
person might not lead to finding him."

"Sometime each day I'll look
at your future. I might be able to determine the time and day the person is
going to break in, and you can be ready to grab them." I smiled.

"You just gave me a migraine
headache," Grace said, and Jim nodded agreement.

"I love it," Ron said.
"Since Renee will be able to see my future, she will see when I see the
person breaking into her shop. It will be the future so you can set a trap.
When do we start?"

"It's no wonder these two got along
so well when they met." Grace rolled her eyes at Jim. "Let me see
about getting this set up. I might be able to suggest I believe there are more
people involved with the group I'm investigating and get some FBI assistance,
or at a minimum, support for continuing my investigation. If I
hedge—misrepresent—the facts, I think I can make it look like a
continuation of the old case and keep Renee's involvement as related to her
kidnapping," Grace said almost as if thinking out loud. We decided to meet
again the next night.

* * *

Jim and I spent a leisurely day at
the Barataria preserve exploring and wandering the trails, ate an early dinner,
and arrived back at the condo an hour before Grace arrived. She waited to
update us on her discussion until Ron arrived about an hour later.

"On the camera, they suggested
it appear to be a standard security camera which would allow the thief to
remove the tape and feel secure. However, the camera would send a signal to the
Internet and be recorded for later viewing." Grace paused to sip her wine.
"The laptops probably interface via Wi-Fi with the Internet and would most
likely be routed through several dozen servers which will make it hard to get a
location unless the person trusted who he was talking to. Finding the server is
easier, but determining who signed up for the service may not be easy depending
upon how cautious the person is—alias, false address, etc. But I say if
you're willing, Renee, we have nothing to lose. I got the Director's permission
to expand the investigation without directly involving you. So even if there is
a leak, it should appear related to the Sheriff and his group."

I was scheduled to disappear on
Thursday.

I had barely opened the shop for
business on Tuesday, when a man entered with tools and hauled in a couple of
boxes on a two-wheeled luggage-cart.

"Good morning, Ms. Mathur. I'm
Max, and I'm here to install your new security camera."

"Good morning, Max. If you
need any help, let me know."

"Nah, I will need to go into
your...living quarters." He nodded towards the door. I opened it and led
him look around. “If you don't mind, I'd like to install it in with your books.
We don't really care if they find it, but we need to make it look like we
do." He laughed.

"Wherever you think, Max.
You’re the expert." I went back out into the shop to greet a customer. Max
was done in less than two hours and spent a half hour explaining the system. It
had two separate memories, one for the shop and one for the camera in my living
quarters. I could program it to turn on and off at certain hours or work it
manually. The machine’s memory was good for about five days at which time it
would begin writing over the stored recordings. Of course, it didn't matter
since the recording was being sent via Wi-Fi to another machine which Ron would
review each day.

After I closed for the day, I
locked up and made my way to Jim's condo, which I was beginning to think of as
a second home. He was such a comfortable person to be with. I was afraid to
think too far ahead, but I couldn't help speculating about children and a life
with him.

I stopped at a grocery store on the
way and picked up a couple of pounds of redfish and the ingredients to fix a
dinner of blackened redfish for the four of us.

* * *

"This is excellent,
Renee," Ron said to nodding heads.

"Thank you. Granny never had a
lot of money so she cooked all our meals. A lot cheaper than eating out. And
she started me early learning how to cook which went well with my lessons on
herbs."

"I reviewed the records from
today. The cameras are working fine," Grace said between swallows.
"What's the plan for disappearing, and where are you going?"

"Jim is going to call someone
for me and arrange for him to pick me up and hide me. I'd rather not say who. I
plan to leave Thursday before my scheduled meeting with Angela. I hate to do
that to her, but she will be more convincing if she doesn't know what's
happened to me." Jim and I had discussed it the previous day. He had
called Ellen from the hospital in case someone could examine his cell phone
calls. Ellen had agreed to pick me up at seven p.m. in the French Quarter's
Visitor Center parking lot towards Saint Peter Street and provide me with a place
to stay for a week or two if necessary. An agent would review the tape each
morning and let Grace know if he saw anything. He would give her the tape to
review, and she would share the tape with Ron that evening. We thought it less
likely someone was trying to watch Ron while he was at his office, therefore, I
would meet with Ron there each morning. His secretary would schedule his first
fifteen minutes with me as someone doing research for him. In reality, it
wouldn't take but a few days, since I'd be looking into the future, i.e., if
they were going to search my shop and home it would already be a future event.
I just needed to touch someone who would witness the event or in this case have
watched it on a monitor.

* * *

Wednesday turned out to be a
typical day, with people popping in and out with the most traffic in the mid-afternoon.
At first, I was a bit concerned about having a security camera in the store,
although it wasn't conspicuous, it wasn't hidden. But everyone seemed to ignore
it or took it as normal for the times. As an elderly man, who had purchased
some herbs, left the shop, I rose, getting ready to close, when three young, South
American looking men entered. Like the Locos they were filled with tattoos. One
closed the door, reversed the Open sign to Closed, and leaned back against the
door. One walked in the shop and with his arm walked sweeping things off
shelves and walls onto the floor. The third approached me. Smiling, he turned
his head slightly so I could see the MS666 tattoo.

"Well, bitch, your fucking
future is looking up. You're going be the 666's fortunetelling ho." He
laughed as he reached for me, grabbing my arm and jerking me into him. As I
slammed into his chest, his hand grabbed my crotch and squeezed. I cramped in
pain. His other hand tore at my blouse, ripping it open. Fear had me frozen.
Only years of reflexive training caused me to twist, driving my right elbow
into his temple. Shock, then anger registered on his face before a smile began
to emerge until my left elbow slammed into his eye socket. He staggered
backward but managed to stay on his feet. The man who had been destroying my
shop stopped, and came striding towards me, laughing.

"Julio, I guess you'll have to
take sloppy seconds," he said, throwing a punch towards my face. I rotated
right, blocking with my right while my left fist drove towards his face. As it
hit him in the temple, he jerked around and his right arm lifted me off the
ground and into the wall. My breath exploded out of me, and I leaned against
the wall gasping for air. Julio stood to my right glaring hate at me, and my
second attacker to my left, his face twisted in anger.

"Raul, Julio, we goin’ have to
find you an old lady to fuck. The young ones are too much for you. Let Sabas
show you how it's done." He had left the door and headed for me, knife in
hand. "Bitch, on the fucking floor and spread those legs or I'm goin’ cut
out both your eyes, and you won't be so much trouble." A long switchblade
snapped open. I stared in horror at the approaching monster. Maybe a dream, a
retreat from reality, I felt the python move into me, and my mind began working
again. I had two rings on that were the fangs of poison: on my right hand a tiger-eye
with an extract of moonseeds and on my left hand my onyx ring with an extract
of yew. They both would result in paralysis and most likely cardiac failure.

When he reached me, he ripped off
my halter. "Not much in the way of tits."

I leaned forward and kissed him,
and almost puked when his tobacco stained tongue snaked into my mouth. My arms
went around him, and my left ring smacked into his MS666 tattoo. He stepped
back and pointed to the floor, laughing.

"That's the way you do
iiit—," he mumbled as he fell to his knees, clutching his chest. I
began sliding towards the door to my living quarters.

"Stop her," Raul shouted.
Julio lunged at me with a left punch, which I avoided by turning into him with
an elbow to his ribs. Wrong move. These guys were used to fighting and pain. His
left arm coiled around my neck, and he squeezed as his right fist repeatedly
slammed into my ribs. I lifted my right foot and drove it down his leg and into
the instep of his foot. Bones caved in, but he kept pounding me. I was probably
lucky I didn't hit myself with my ring as I swung it in the direction of his
arm. It was two more punches before he stopped and collapsed.

Raul stood looking at me for a long
time, then smiled. "Let’s see if you're faster than a speeding bullet."
He reached under his shirt and pulled out a hand gun.

We both looked towards the door
when police sirens could be heard coming down the street and seconds later red
and blue light was bouncing off my shop window. He dropped the gun when a
megaphone sounded. "You are surrounded, come out with your hands
raised."

I assume he and his friends had
been there many times before. Better assault and battery than a murder charge.
I staggered to the door, opened it, and fell out onto the sidewalk.

* * *

I woke in a daze and the smell of
antiseptics. I moaned. It felt worse than last time. Although the pain was
dull, it seemed to be everywhere.

"You’re safe, my love." I
heard Jim's voice and made an attempt at a smile. "The man Grace had
monitoring your security camera saw the three enter, and when the fight started
he called 9-1-1. Grace arrived shortly after and took charge saying it was an
ongoing FBI case. Two of the men are dead...how?"

I managed to take off the two
rings. "Jim, lean close to me." When he did I whispered. "Take
these two rings. Be very careful with them. They have a hypodermic needle in
them and probably some poison left on the ring. Soak them in bleach." I
held out my hand. He took them carefully and examined each one.

"I don't see any needle,"
he said as he slowly turned them around. "Oh, there is a hole in the
stone. Clever. So you..."

"Yes. I hope there is no autopsy.
I prefer the fact they were poisoned not be discovered."

"But it was self-defense,"
he said, looking confused.

"With all that is happening,
it might be the difference between me surviving or not—like today."
I smiled. "You need to get me released tomorrow."

"What?" he half shouted.
"You aren't in any condition to leave the hospital."

"My darling, it's perfect.
Disappearing before might have looked contrived and made the bad guys
suspicious. Leaving now makes it look like I'm running from the MS666. It's
perfect." I watched as Jim’s face went through a range of expressions
beginning with defiance and ending in reluctant agreement. Before he left, he
must have talked to the doctor on duty because the nurse injected something
into my IV, which was the last thing I remembered.

* * *

Jim was sitting in a chair holding
my hand when I woke.

"If you're trying to get me to
say 'yes' you win. Yes, I'd love to marry you. My only reluctance has been
involving you. These are very bad people. But I can't seem to get rid of
you." I laughed, then almost screamed, as Jim leaned over to kiss me. He
jumped back.

"Sorry, my love," he said
but he couldn't stop smiling. "Today?"

"No, not today, you clown, but
soon. Let's get through the next few weeks, then we have a lot to discuss and
arrange. For now, you can get me released and back to my shop."

It took a while to get me cleared
for release. If he hadn't been a local doctor, I doubt he could have gotten
approval. He drove me back to my shop. I convinced him to leave right away and
go back to his hospital so as to disassociate him from my leaving if anyone was
watching. He did leave me a large bottle of oxycodone.

I slipped out the back door as soon
as the sun had set and slowly made my way to Dauphine Street sneaking through
alley ways and between buildings. There I caught a cab which I took to Toulouse
Street and had him drop me next to The Shops at Jax Brewery, which was close to
the Toulouse Station in case someone checked. I limped my way behind the Jax
buildings to St Peter's Street and crossed over into the Visitors Center
parking area. I arrived only minutes before I saw Ellen's silver Lexus SUV slowly
coming towards me. I waved and she pulled up beside me. Ellen put my bag in the
back and helped me up into the passenger side seat.

"You look like I should take
you to emergency," Ellen said, giving me a long appraisal. “But I picked
up the wig you asked for. I wish I knew what was going on.”

"It's a long story, and I'm
exhausted. I'll explain later. Let just get away from here." Ellen
remained quiet when I closed my eyes. Everything hurt and every bump and pot
hole sent waves of pain shooting through my ribs up my chest and into my brain
where it scored a perfect ten. I sighed in relief when she stopped.

"We're here, Mambo
Renee."

"Renee, please," I said.
She helped me to the front door where Vicky stood waiting.

"Hi, Vicky," I said
before she could say anything. "I'll explain over coffee."

Vicky and Ellen left me in the
front room in a comfortable recliner and headed for the kitchen. They returned
a while later with coffee and a tray of snacks.

"First, I want to thank you
for putting me up for a few days. I have some people after me because they
believe I can tell the future and want me to help them do something evil. I
need a place to hide while the FBI investigates." I laughed. "The
injuries have nothing to do with that. Three MS666 gang members decided to
punish me for helping another gang avoid being killed by them."

"Fortunetelling can apparently
be a very dangerous business," Vicky said. "I'm glad to help in any
way I can. You turned my life around—saved it."

They talked about Vicky's treatment,
how the prognosis looked promising, and how her business was again showing a
good profit. Seeing me fighting to keep awake, they got me settled in the guest
bedroom and Ellen left.

* * *

I staggered out of bed early, spent
an hour washing and dressing before venturing out into the kitchen where Vicky
was busy eating a bowl of cereal.

"You look better this morning...Renee.
There's cereal, juice, or I'll fry you some eggs if you prefer."

"Cereal and juice will be
good. I'd like to get to my friend’s building by eight a.m. I really do
appreciate you offering to drive me. I had planned to take a taxi, but a car
would be less conspicuous and harder to trace. I'm afraid these are powerful
people."

"The kind that it's worth
opposing. I could never repay what you've done for me..."

"If I've helped you. That is
payment and more."

At my insistence, Vicky dropped me a
block away from the offices of Fontaine, Bousquet, and Allstott, and I walked
the rest of the way to a back entrance. Wearing the blonde wig, I made my way
to the fourth floor and down the hall to the suite the firm occupied. It wasn’t
much of a disguise but combined with keeping a low profile, I thought it was
enough. Ron’s secretary let me into his office and even brought me coffee. Ron
entered around eight fifty-five a.m.

"Renee, I heard what happened.
Grace has a thousand questions—naturally. I’m willing to be your defense
lawyer," he said and laughed as he pulled up another chair next to mine.
"The preliminary autopsy indicated the two died of heart attacks. Grace
has closed the case although she's dying to know how."