Vieux Carré Voodoo (17 page)

“Okay, the money’s there.”

“I am sure I don’t need to tell you to be very careful.
These people we are dealing with—they have absolutely no problem with killing.
As your friend Dr. Garrett found out.” She hung up the phone.

I sat there for a moment, and placed the phone back into its
cradle. Working with Colin again.

I was in the kitchen getting another cup of coffee when
there was a crash that shook the entire building. “What the hell was that?” I
almost dropped the cup, but grabbed it in time—still, coffee splashed all over
my counter.

The crash had come from my gallery.

I crept over to the French doors leading out there. There
was no roof on my gallery—Levi’s apartment didn’t have a gallery. I pulled the
curtains aside and looked out.

The sun was coming up in the east, and the gloom of the
night was burning off. There was a man lying in the middle of the balcony, face
down.

He wasn’t moving.

I opened the doors and cautiously walked out there. I
reached for his wrist. No pulse, and his skin was cold.

I looked at the face, and my blood ran cold.

It was Levi.

THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE, REVERSED

Luck has deserted the seeker for the moment

He was dead, no doubt about it.

I backed away from the body and stumbled back into my
apartment.

Was his killer still up there on the roof?

I took it all in as quickly as I could. His clothes were
soaking wet. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a Saints jersey. His hair was
also wet, plastered to his scalp. There’d been no pulse, and his skin had been
so cold. I shuddered.

I looked up at the sky and tried to remember. It had rained
yesterday evening, and sporadically through the night, but I couldn’t pin it
down to times. I remembered it raining while I was trying to sleep. I stood up
and remembered the noise I’d heard on the roof when I was coming out of his
apartment.

Had the killer been up there then?

I swallowed and closed my eyes, holding down the panicky
thoughts.
No sense freaking about it now, and besides, you don’t know how he
was killed, or when. All you know is he’s dead, and his body is on your
balcony—and it had to have been thrown off the roof. So the killer has to still
be up there.

I wondered if Colin was still down in the courtyard.

Or did he throw the body down to my balcony?

I hurried back into the house while hitting the speed dial
on my cell phone for Venus. I went out my back door, and sure enough, Colin was
still sitting down there in the courtyard at the table. I waved at him,
beckoning him to come up as Venus answered my call. “Casanova.”

“Venus, this is Scotty Bradley. I’m not sure how to tell you
this, but there’s a body on my balcony.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone, and then
she let out a huge sigh. “I might have known this was going to happen when you
turned up at my crime scene. It was just a matter of time, I suppose,” she said
with an air of long suffering. “We’re on our way.”

I hung up the phone just as Colin let himself in my front
door. I was about to snap at him that henceforth he needed to knock, but I
wasn’t in the mood to get into an argument with him. “What’s up?” he asked,
yawning. “I don’t think Levi’s coming back.”

“Oh, he came back all right.” I gave him a brittle smile.
“His body is out on the balcony right now. Didn’t you hear it land? The whole
building shook.”

I could hear a police siren in the distance, and smiled to
myself. There was no getting out of this one for him. It’s not like I could call
them back and tell them not to come. His face remained expressionless. “You’ve
called the police?”

“Yes. They’re on their way.” The siren was getting louder. I
was expecting him to make his excuses and get away as fast as he could. He’d
talked Mom out of calling the police last night, but there was no way out of
dealing with them now. In a way, I was sorry I’d told him I’d already called
them.

It would have been interesting to hear his rationale for not
reporting the body to the police.

He gave me a funny look and hurried over to the balcony
doors. He opened the doors. “Don’t go out there—it’s a crime scene,” I called
out after him. He turned around, his face an expressionless mask. “Venus
wouldn’t like it. And you remember what she’s like when she’s pissed.”

I expected some reaction from him. His face didn’t change.
All he did was nod. “You’re right. We shouldn’t disturb the scene.” He closed
the doors again.

“You weren’t up on the roof last night by any chance, were
you?” I asked. I kept my voice casual even though my heart was racing.

“The roof?” He shook his head. “I didn’t leave that chair in
the courtyard all night—except for when it rained. I sat on the stairs until it
stopped. Why?” Realization dawned in his eyes. “You think I killed him, don’t
you?”

I shrugged. “It’s not like it would be the first time.”

He looked at me for a few moments without saying a word. His
shoulders sagged a little bit, and his head drooped forward almost
imperceptibly. He nodded, biting his lower lip. “I think”—his voice was very
muted—“it’s probably better if I wait outside.” He gave me a wide berth as he
walked past me on his way to the front door.

“Angela called me back,” I said when he was halfway down the
hall. “She told me about the uranium.”

He stopped walking, but didn’t say anything or turn around.

“I’m not entirely sure I trust you—or her,” I went on. “But
I’m mixed up in the middle of this, and I might as well get paid for it.” I
gritted my teeth. “If what she told me is true—well, I guess it’s my duty to
help you. But I still don’t understand why you—or Angela—think you might need my
help.”

“You knew Benjamin Garrett. You knew him well. He was
practically a member of your family.” He turned around and folded his arms.
“You—and your parents—interacted with him a lot over the last forty years. You
might know something without even knowing you know it.”

“All right. That’s believable. I’ll work with you, all
right?” He started to say something but I held up my hand. “But that’s all it
means, Colin. I’ll work with you. It doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you, and it sure
as hell doesn’t mean I trust you.” I walked over to my desk and sat down at my
computer. “You said Levi was twelve? Angela also confirmed that. But why didn’t
you mention there was a son, Matthew?”

His facial expression didn’t change. “Matthew Gretsch is
dead.”

“It’s right there in
The Carthage Courant.
Survived
by a son, Matthew.” I folded my arms. “What else have you lied to me about?” I
gestured to the bandage on his arm. “Was that self-inflicted?”

He walked over and leaned over my keyboard. He clicked on
the search engine, and typed
Matthew Gretsch, Carthage Ohio
into the
search box. He hit the Return key. After a few moments, a new list of links
popped up. He clicked on the first one, folded his arms again, and took a few
steps back.

I looked. It was a death announcement for Matthew Gretsch,
dated two weeks after his father’s. He’d been killed in a car accident.

I felt cold. Coincidence?

Before I had a chance to think of anything to say, the
buzzer rang. I pressed the Open button and went out the door to wait on the
stairs for the cops. It was two uniforms I didn’t recognize. I introduced myself
to them, told them where the body was, and sat down on the steps to wait for
further instructions. Colin came out and sat down next to me. “Scotty,” he said
in a quiet voice. “I would tell you the truth about your uncles if I could, but
I can’t. You have to believe me when I say I didn’t kill them. I was trying to
keep them alive.”

“You failed.” He put his hand on my arm, but I jerked away
from him.

“I know I did.” He went on, “I failed, Scotty. And it almost
cost Frank his life, and it could have cost you yours. Don’t you think I know
that?” He swallowed. “I couldn’t allow my cover to be blown, and so I had to get
out of town. I thank God every day nothing happened to you and Frank—that you
made it through that okay. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself…” His
voice trailed off. “It killed me having to leave you and Frank, but the job
wasn’t done yet, and I couldn’t allow my cover to be blown. So I had to leave
the way I did.” He swallowed. “I hated doing it. I hated letting you and Frank,
the whole family, think I was a murderer, that everything about me was a lie.
That everything we had was a lie. It wasn’t, Scotty. You have to believe that.”

“I don’t know,” I replied. It sounded good. It was what I’d
wanted to hear for three years. How many times had I thought about this very
moment, when he would come back and explain everything? I wanted to believe him.
The Scotty I’d been three years ago
would
have believed him without a
single question. That Scotty would have thrown his arms around Colin and kissed
him, gladly welcomed him back into his life.

But I wasn’t that Scotty anymore. That Scotty was gone, and
no matter how hard I tried, no matter how much I wanted him to, that Scotty
wasn’t ever coming back. Too much had happened. Part of that Scotty had died
during that awful Mardi Gras. A catastrophic man-made flood had killed another
part of him just five months later.

“I want to believe you,” I finally said as the silence grew
between us. “You have no idea how much I want to believe you.”

“Mom and Dad believe me.” His voice was husky with emotion.

“I’m not them.”

“I was so worried about you both when I heard about the
hurricane,” he continued. “I was scared for you both, for the whole family. But
I got word from some of the first responders that you were all okay. If I
hadn’t, I’d have been on the next plane here, you can be sure of that. I wanted
to come anyway. Angela said it was a mistake.”

“Angela,” I replied. I put my head down on my knees. “Of
course, she’ll back your story a hundred percent. And you’ll back hers.”

“I guess I can’t blame you for not trusting me.” He
swallowed.

“Good.”

“But do you think maybe that someday you might be able to
again?”

I didn’t know how to answer that. Fortunately, I was spared
from answering by the timely arrival of Venus and her partner, Blaine Tujague.

Venus was wearing a gray wool pantsuit over a blue silk
blouse. She looked like she hadn’t slept, and she was holding a cup of coffee
from CC’s. Blaine looked like he was sleepwalking. He covered a yawn with the
hand not holding a cup of coffee. His hair was messy, and he hadn’t shaved. His
clothes looked rumpled, like he’d been either wearing them a long time or slept
in them.

“Well, well, well, look who we have here,” Venus said,
shaking her head as Colin rose. She held out her hand. “I didn’t think we’d ever
see you again, Agent Golden.”

Whatever I was expecting to happen, that wasn’t it. That
small part of my mind that I didn’t like had been hoping to see her cuff him,
read him his rights, and lead him off to jail. I just stared at her, my mouth
open.
What the hell did she mean by calling him
Agent
?
“Wait a
minute. Aren’t you going to arrest him? Isn’t there an outstanding warrant for
him?”

Venus and Blaine looked at each other first. Venus looked at
me like I had just started speaking in tongues. Blaine smothered a smile. They
both gave Colin a quizzical look. He just shrugged. “I’ve been trying to tell
him. He won’t listen to me.”

“Not my problem,” Venus said as she pulled out a notebook
from her jacket pocket. “So, what’s going on here? A body on your balcony?” Her
voice was all business, but I got the distinct impression a smile was tugging at
the corners of her mouth.

“Remember me telling you last night about Levi Gretsch, my
upstairs neighbor, and how he’d hired me?”

Venus’s face turned to professional stone. “The one whose
grandfather was killed in a similar fashion to Benjamin Garrett? The one we came
here last night to talk to?”

I nodded. “That’s who it is, Venus. I was online, drinking
some coffee when I heard a loud crash from the balcony. I went and looked, and
saw Levi’s body.” I took a deep breath, and told her about finding out from
Colin—who didn’t say a word, just let me talk—that the
real
Levi
Gretsch was only a child. “So, we came back here to check on Millie and Velma—I
hadn’t seen them all day, and we found them bound and gagged in their
apartment.”

If she weren’t a cop, I think Venus would have gladly
throttled me right then and there. “And you didn’t call me?” Her voice was
dangerously low.

“Millie and Velma didn’t want to,” Colin interrupted.
“They’d been tied up all day, Venus, and they were worn out.” He shrugged.
“There wasn’t anything you could have done about it last night anyway. Velma had
to be in court this morning. They decided to go to bed and decide what to do
about it in the morning. Since Levi had a set of keys, we thought it would be
best if I just stood guard down in the courtyard.”

“You two wait here,” Venus said, motioning to Blaine. “We’re
going to take a look at the body.”

“I’ll make some more coffee,” I offered, and Venus gave me a
grateful, if out-of-character, smile. Colin and I followed them back into the
apartment. Blaine gave me a funny look as they moved out to join the uniforms on
the balcony.

I walked into the kitchen and started the coffee. Colin sat
down on the other side of the counter. “You’re sure you never went up to the
roof?” I hissed at him. “Because if you did, now’s the time to come clean.”

He raised his eyebrows. “I most certainly did not.”

“And you’re sure Levi didn’t come strolling along last night
while the rest of us were sleeping?” I shot back. “You didn’t see or hear
anything?”