Read Online Fever Moon by Carolyn Haines - Free Book Online Page A

beautifully dressed. The cameo at her throat was expensive; the gold earrings that looped into a cascade of pearls were real.
    “Where is my husband’s body?” She lifted her chin and he saw the Mandeville heritage in her proud stance. What had possessed her family to marry her off to Henri Bastion? Gossip in town was that she’d been sold for a stake in Henri’s empire. Though he didn’t believe the gossip, he knew the reality was that if her parents refused to allow her to return home, she would have no option but to stay with Henri. Marguerite hadn’t been taught the skills of survival as an independent woman, and to the best he could determine, she’d made no friends. In the time he’d been working as a deputy, he’d seen Marguerite in town only on Sunday mornings for church, and Henri had stayed at her side, guarding her contact with others. Perhaps she was a different kind of prisoner.
    He spoke softly. “Doc is doing an examination. I’m sorry, Mrs. Bastion. I know this is hard for you.”
    “I want to lay my husband to rest. It’s barbaric that you keep him so you can cut on him more.” She held herself perfectly erect.
    “There are things we can learn from the body.” He didn’t want to go into the specifics of hack marks and teeth angles, strangulation or evisceration. “Doc is working as fast as he can, but to be honest, he hasn’t had much call to do an autopsy.”
    “Why is an autopsy necessary? Hasn’t Adele confessed to killing Henri?”
    He didn’t want to go into the reasons Adele might be innocent. “Technically, Adele is too sick to confess to anything. Would you mind answering a few questions for me?” He put his foot on the front steps and the child at Marguerite’s side began to cry.
    “Go inside, Sarah.”
    The child clung to her, crying soundlessly.
    Marguerite pushed a strand of hair from her hot face. “Sarah, please go inside. I can’t talk with you pulling at my dress.”
    Raymond leaned down, his intention to talk to the child, to reassure her. The little girl’s eyes widened and she tore free of her mother and ran inside. The screen door banged behind her.
    Marguerite faced him. “Please, ask your questions and leave. My children are upset and need me.”
    Raymond pointed to two cowhide-bottomed chairs that lined the gallery. “Would you mind if we sat in those rockers?”
    “Certainly. I want to help.”
    Raymond pulled out the notepad he always carried. “When was the last time you saw your husband?”
    “When he walked out the door. He said he would be back in an hour. He put his hat on and walked out.” She bit her bottom lip. “I never saw him again.”
    “He was in the habit of walking every evening, wasn’t he?”
    The look she gave him was confused. “He also drank coffee every day and ate a biscuit for breakfast. Why are his habits of interest to you, Deputy?”
    “Sometimes the patterns of a man’s life tell me things. To have an idea of who might want to kill Henri, I need to know his routine. Did he always walk to the same location?”
    “I didn’t question Henri, about his walks or his destinations. Obviously you’ve never been married, Deputy Thibodeaux. It isn’t a woman’s place to ask such things.”
    “Weren’t you even curious?”
    She took a breath. “By the time Henri left on his walks, I’d tended the children all day, cooked our meals, cleaned the house, washed and ironed. I was glad for an hour of quiet to compose myself.”
    “Don’t you have some help?”
    She nodded. “At different times, both Adele and her sister Bernadette have worked here. Believe me, there’s plenty to do for a dozen women.”
    For the moment, Raymond let the matter of Adele rest. “What type of business did your husband do?” Raymond asked the question casually, but he watched Marguerite closely If Adele hadn’t murdered Henri, someone else had, and motive was at the base of his question.
    “He grew cane as you can clearly see. Henri