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

excelled at farming.”
    “He had no other business interests?”
    Marguerite frowned. “He was a planter, Mr. Thibodeaux. Is there something I should know?”
    “Veedal Lawrence is your overseer?”
    “That’s right, since before I married Henri.” She looked out toward the fields. “He isn’t my choice, but Henri trusted him.”
    “Is Veedal responsible for the prisoners?”
    “Yes. He’s in charge. Henri never allowed me to interfere. Henri said the state prisoners were difficult to motivate, and that Veedal had total authority.”
    “With Henri gone, the burden of the prisoners falls on your shoulders, Mrs. Bastion, but I’ll check with the overseer on my way out.”
    “Thank you, Deputy Thibodeaux. There’s so much for me to figure out how to do now, without Henri. Your help is appreciated.”
    “You said Adele worked for you for a time. What did she do, and why was she let go?”
    “Last year she came for the gathering of the summer crops and the cane harvest. She helped me preserve the vegetables to see us through the winter.” Her hands smoothed the arms of the rocker. “She worked beside me, a strong, efficient worker, maybe a little peculiar. She kept her own counsel.” She gave him a look of puzzlement. “And now she’s killed my husband. I don’t understand why.”
    “Did you fire Adele or did Henri?”
    “She simply didn’t return to work one morning. I discovered later that she’d come down with morning sickness. She was pregnant.”
    “Who was the father?” He pretended to write in his notebook but his attention was focused on Marguerite. Bernadette had claimed that Adele was fired, but it was possible Henri had fired her without telling Marguerite. He was getting a picture of a man who seldom confided his reasoning to his wife.
    “Who can say? Adele was often down in the stables where we keep the prisoners. She was lonely, I know that. For some reason she couldn’t find a man to love.” Her smile was sad. “It’s difficult here for a woman, Deputy. So many men have been killed in the war.”
    “Was there one particular convict she fancied?” He held the trump. Armand Dugas. It would be interesting to see if Marguerite revealed the man’s name.
    “Veedal said she flitted from one to another.”
    “And what did Veedal say she was doing in the stables, exactly?”
    “She had some homemade salve and mumbo-jumbo herbs. She organized baths.”
    “Your husband allowed this?” Raymond couldn’t cover his surprise.
    “Henri said Adele could do no harm. He knew she was a little off, but he certainly never thought her dangerous.”
    Raymond stood up. “Thank you for your time, Mrs. Bastion.” He walked past her and down the steps. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the little girl standing behind the screen door. She held a glass figurine of a horse in her hand, one that matched those in Bernadette’s home.
    When he was at his car he turned back to Marguerite, who’d stood and walked to the door. “There was never any particular convict linked with Adele?”
    “If there was, Henri never told me.” She let the screen door bang behind her as she entered the house.
    Raymond drove the hundred yards to the stables. The men were in the field, and he hoped the foreman was, too. When he entered, the stench nearly made him gag. He crossed to the small office and walked straight to the desk. He felt no hesitation as he began to go through the papers until he found what he sought.
    The prisoner inventory list from the previous year showed one Armand Dugas arriving at the Bastion farm in February of 1941. Dugas was serving a life sentence for murder. No additional information was given. Raymond scanned the other papers. There was no mention of Dugas being returned to Angola. Either he was still in the field, or he was dead.
    “What the fuck do you think you’re doin’?”
    Raymond looked up to find a tall man, freckles burned to a burnished copper across his face, red hair