Murdered by Superstition Read online

  “What are you talking about? That stuff is all mumbo-jumbo. Also looks like a lot of people are getting rich off of selling these voodoo things to gullible people,” the dark-haired man who clearly loved to eat said. The jowls on his chin wagged as he spoke with his mouth full of the mini savory crackers that were laid out in bowls which were spaced around the room. “I mean, think about it. In today’s world, do you really think anyone believes that stuff? From what I hear it’s nothing more than old wives’ tales and witchcraft.”

  “Well, not gonna’ argue with you,” the woman said, “jes’ tellin’ you if you ever see a dead black cat in your path, better find a gris-gris doctor real fast. Woman across the street from us walked out to get her paper one mornin’ and there was a dead black cat in her driveway. She died the next day. Sir, some things jes’ is. Don’t need no intellectual explainin’.”

  The room was pin drop still as everyone in the room was intent on hearing what she was saying about voodoo. It was a very opportune time for Martine to announce that dinner was being served in the dining room. And what a dinner it was – one that Liz knew she’d remember the rest of her life. It was absolutely exceptional and over the top.

  The Desiree Richarde mansion had a large garden in the back yard beyond the courtyard. Fresh fruits and vegetables from the garden were served at every meal and tonight was no exception. A bright green frisee salad with a warm bacon dressing started the meal followed by classic French onion soup prepared in the Creole fashion with spicy herbs and freshly made croutons along with slices of crusty bread.

  I should stop right here. I’m full and anything else I eat will go directly to my belly and hips, Liz thought, immediately forgetting about it as the waiters brought in the entrée – shrimp étoufée over grits with collard greens. I wonder where I can get collard greens in Northern California. This is a first and absolutely not a last! The étoufée and the rest of it I can do, the collard greens – may have to substitute something else. The meal ended with bananas foster crepes.

  The students pushed their chairs back from the large mahogany table which shone from years of daily waxing. The light from the large teardrop chandelier hanging over it had been dimmed. After several glasses of wine and sated from dinner, in the soft light everyone looked wonderful. It was evident that the students were thoroughly enjoying the cooking school. Friendships were made and food devoured – who could ask for more?

  I could ask for more, Liz thought. I could ask that I never see a dead black cat in my path. I hope this whole voodoo thing ends pretty soon. It’s beginning to make me nervous.

  Martine pulled Liz aside as she left the dining room. “Got a call from Jean Baptiste a few minutes ago. His son’s gonna’ bring some things here for you tomorrow mornin’ ‘bout seven. I’ll bring ‘em up to you. He’s says to tell you to be very careful and call him if you need him. Here’s his phone number.” She handed Liz a folded piece of paper.

  Liz tucked it in her pocket. “Thanks, Martine. I really appreciate your help. See you in the morning.”

  “Good thing you’re going home,” the little voice said. “You tell Cody you can’t help him. Give him the gris-gris pouch and tell him goodbye. When a gris-gris doctor tells you to be careful, you better listen.”

  CHAPTER 16

  The next day the Delta Airlines pilot easily landed the big jet Judy and Liz had flown in at the San Francisco airport. They easily found their luggage and rode the shuttle bus to the long-term parking lot. A little over an hour later they pulled up in front of the Red Cedar Lodge and Spa. Judy walked to her cottage, and Liz walked into the lodge, glad to be home.

  There was a message from Jonah on her answerphone telling her he’d be there about 6:15. She opened the sliding glass doors in their apartment that overlooked the ocean and began to air out the downstairs. Better call Roger and tell him I’ve arrived safe and sound.

  “Hi, Roger. I’m back at the lodge, safe and sound. I touched base with Jonah, and he’ll be here about 6:15. What time do you think you’ll be here?”

  “Count on about the same time, unless I get stuck in a traffic jam leaving the city. Missed you and I’m really looking forward to seeing Jonah. It’s been too long.”

  *****

  Promptly at 6:00 there was a knock on the door. Liz opened it and looked at Cody who was standing there, looking disheveled. “Cody, have you gotten any sleep?”

  “Liz, I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. To be honest, I’m a nervous wreck, and I’m scared to death,” he said, walking into the great room of the lodge. “I don’t think I’m very good company right now. I’ve found out a lot of information and none of it makes me feel any better.”

  “Well, tell me quickly, and I’ll ask questions later. My son and husband will be here in a just a few minutes. Here’s a pouch a gris-gris doctor prepared for you. It should help. You need to put those things in it that I told you about on the phone. Now tell me what you found out.”

  Liz listened intently, understanding why Cody was having trouble sleeping and eating. Nothing he said made her feel any better about the situation.

  “We’ll talk more tomorrow. Looks like my son and husband just drove up. Try and get some sleep. I’ll call you in the morning.”

  *****

  The hostess at the steak house just outside of Red Cedar seated Liz, Jonah, and Roger at a window table overlooking the ocean. Jonah was the first to speak, “Mom, how was the cooking school? I know you were in New Orleans, but that’s about all I know.”

  Liz looked at Roger, silently sending him a message to say nothing about voodoo or black magic. He winked, acknowledging the unspoken message. She turned to Jonah, “It was wonderful. The people are so gracious and the food – well, the next few dinners I prepare at the Red Cedar Lodge are definitely going to be based on Cajun – Creole cooking. The food was everything food should be.

  “The school was located in the French Quarter in a magnificent old house called the Desiree Richarde mansion. It was really something. It looked like you could get everything from cheap Mardi Gras beads to really high-end antiques in the French Quarter, and it’s still as beautiful as it must have been in the 19th century.”

  “I’m glad you enjoyed it, Mom, but why did you come home early? Roger told me you weren’t coming back until later tomorrow.”

  Liz tried to keep her voice light and cheery, although having just seen the state Cody was in weighed heavily on her mind. “That was the original plan, but a couple of things came up here that I needed to tend to. Nothing important, but I thought they better be taken care of.”

  Liz thought she’d gotten away with it, but when they were finished with their meal, Jonah pushed his knife and fork together on his plate and leaned across the table to squeeze her hand. “Mom, I may have inherited a little bit of your ESP powers, because I would bet about everything I own that you’re not telling me something. What’s going on?”

  “If I felt it was something I needed to tell you about, I would. You’ll have to trust me on this, Jonah. It was time for me to come home. I’m fine. We can talk about this later.” She looked up at the waitress who had walked up to their table. “I can’t speak for the two gentlemen, but I would like some coffee. Would you both care to join me?”

  “Mom, I’ll have a coffee, but you haven’t heard the end of this. Are you sure you’re all right?”

  “Yes, I’m sure.”

  “Like I said, Mom, this is not the last you’re going to hear of this. I’ll be back in a minute. I promised a client I’d call him. It won’t take long.”

  When Jonah was out of earshot, Liz turned to Roger. “Did you tell him anything?”

  “Not a thing. What would I tell him? Quite frankly, I don’t know anything, anyway, he’s just very perceptive. Rather doubt he got to such a high-level position without being perceptive, but I definitely think you owe him the courtesy of an explanation. He’s obviously sensed something. Who knows? He might be able to help. And quite frankly, I’d like to
know what’s going on as well.”

  “The last thing I want to do is involve you or my son in some voodoo thing,” she said. “I’m really tired. Why don’t you pay the bill, and I’ll go find Jonah? He can have a cup of coffee when we get home.”

  Roger had just finished paying the bill and was putting his wallet back in his pocket when he heard Liz scream from outside the restaurant. He ran to the door, opened it, and saw Jonah and Liz staring at the ground.

  “Roger, get a trash bag from the waitress and bring it out here.” Liz said with an urgent tone in her voice.

  Moments later Roger joined Liz and Jonah who were standing next to Roger’s car. Jonah had pushed Liz behind his back. “Mom, just stay there. I’ll take care of this. Roger, would you please hand me the trash bag?”

  “Jonah, what’s going on? What do you need it for?” Roger asked.

  “Looks like some poor cat chose the space next to your car as the place for it last breath. I’ll get rid of it.”

  “Wait, Jonah,” Liz asked. “What color is it?”

  “It’s black. Why does that matter?”

  Roger took two steps over to Liz and put his arms around her, feeling her body quiver. “Liz, what’s wrong?”

  Liz could barely get the words out. “I’ll tell you when we get home.”

  A short while later the three of them were sitting in the lodge’s great room, Liz visibly shaken by the sight of the dead cat. Jonah was the first to speak. “Mom, what does it mean?”

  “I don’t know who it was meant for. Possibly me. The people in New Orleans are pretty superstitious, and dead cats are very high on their superstition list. They believe it’s an omen of danger, or worse yet, death, for the person whose path it’s in. I think someone is sending me a warning.”

  “I knew it, Mom, I just knew it. Tell me everything,” Jonah said, glaring at her.

  Liz spent the next hour telling Jonah and Roger everything that had happened, even what the woman at the cooking school had said about black cats. She also explained about the gris-gris pouch she’d given Cody just as Roger and Jonah had arrived at the lodge earlier that evening. When she finished, there was silence, each of them deep in thought.

  “I suppose the good thing is that Cody didn’t find one. Hopefully, he’s done what he was supposed to do and the spell the gris-gris doctor prepared for him is working,” Liz said.

  Roger had been very quiet and then he said, “Liz, you know how hard it is for me to believe any of this stuff, but maybe you better call the gris-gris doctor tomorrow and tell him about the black cat. Maybe he can do a spell for you or tell you something you can do. I’m really concerned, and this is something I know nothing about.”

  The little voice interrupted him and said, “Liz, get over to Cody’s house now. He gave you his address. Take Roger and Jonah with you. Do it! You’ll never forgive yourself if you’re too late.”

  CHAPTER 17

  Liz stood up suddenly. “Roger, Jonah, come with me. We don’t have a second to lose. We’ve got to get to Cody’s before it’s too late. Hurry,” she said, half pushing and dragging them out the front door.

  “One sec, Mom,” Jonah said, running into his bedroom. He returned almost immediately with his jacket on.

  “Roger, you drive. I have his address. Let me get directions to his house off the GPS on my phone.”

  “Mom, what is going on?” Jonah asked. “What made you decide we have to go there right now?”

  “Jonah, remember me telling you about the little voice that tells me things? We’ve talked about it before. Well, it was very adamant that we get to Cody’s right now, or it might be too late.”

  Jonah looked out the back window and to the sides. “There’s no one following us, and I guess that’s a good thing. Should we call the police?”

  “Yeah, and say what? That a little voice told your mother to go to someone’s home because of a dead black cat, a pouch, some wet salt, and a note. Oh yeah. Knowing Seth, I’m sure he’d make that a priority,” Roger said sarcastically.

  “Mom, there’s something I better tell you,” Jonah said. “You know how I always travel in a private company plane? Well, that’s because I’m always armed, and I wouldn’t be able to get through security if I flew on a commercial flight. My job is really high paying, but there’s a down side to it. I’m a target in a lot of the places in the world, and the company I work for is always worried that it might extend to safer places. The reason I’m telling you this is because I didn’t want you to come unglued if you ever saw a gun in my hand.”

  Liz raised a hand to her chest. “Jonah, you never told me that. I thought your job was perfectly safe, and that you simply traveled to different financial institutions all over the world.”

  “Little more to it than that, Mom. We can talk about it some other time. Think we need to make this guy Cody our number one priority at the moment.”

  “Roger, from the addresses I’m seeing on the houses, he must be in this block.” Liz glanced up from the GPS on her phone and gestured out the window. “There, that’s got to be his house, the one with the porch light on. I recognize his car from when he was at the lodge earlier.”

  Roger pulled over to the curb, and they rushed out of the car and up to the front door. Roger banged on the door. Jonah reached under his jacket, and Liz saw the gun in his hand. Just then they heard Cody’s raised voice. “Who is it?”

  “Open up, Cody. It’s me, Liz.”

  In a moment, the door swung violently open. “Oh, thank heaven you came. Someone, I’m sure it was a woman, had her arm wrapped around my neck and was trying to strangle me.”

  “Which way did she go?” Jonah asked, interrupting him.

  “Out the sliding door to the patio. When you knocked on the door, she released me,” he said, his voice shaking with fright. Liz put her arm around Cody and led him to a couch in the front room.

  Roger and Jonah headed for the patio. Jonah bent down and took a second gun, a small pistol, from inside his sock and handed it to Roger. “Do you know how to use this?” he asked Roger, as they scanned the patio and the grassy area behind it.

  “It’s been a while, but yes. Looks like his backyard slopes down to a street. You take the right side, and I’ll take the left.”

  They walked down the slope to where it ended at a street, but they saw nothing. Both of them scanned the area to either side and in front of them. Jonah motioned for them to return to the house.

  “Let’s go room to room. Maybe whoever it was opened the slider as a ruse,” Roger said. Several minutes later they returned to where Liz was sitting with Cody. “Whoever it was is gone. Are you all right, Cody?”

  “Yes, but I’m very, very lucky. I don’t know how someone got in. I have an alarm system, and I know I set it before I went to the lodge earlier.”

  “Well, you can’t stay here tonight. Go pack a bag and you can stay in one of my cottages. We had a cancellation earlier, so there’s an empty one and the lodge is very secure,” Liz said. “I have an excellent guard dog that you can take to your cottage and have him stay with you. Believe me, nothing bad happens when Winston is with you. And if you should hear him growl, just call me at the lodge. From the guns I see in both Jonah’s and Roger’s hands, I think all of us will be safe. Even if you called the police, I don’t think there’s much they could do.”

  Roger spoke up. “Cody, I’m going to call an attorney in my firm who specializes in criminal law. Liz has had dealings with him before, and he understands about her whatever it is, the knack she has of a little voice warning her of danger. Maybe if you and Liz could meet with him and tell him everything, he could come up with something. I can’t promise anything, but it’s a place to start.”

  “All right. Let me pack a bag. I’ve got a dog, but she’s a sweet little girl, not a guard dog. She was probably licking the hand of whoever it was. She’ll be okay to stay here by herself. I’ve got a doggie door for her, and I’ll come back in the morning to feed her.”
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br />   Jonah walked behind him to his bedroom, gun drawn. “Know it looks a little melodramatic, Cody, but you’ve had enough surprises for tonight.”

  Roger took out his phone and called Matt, one of his partners at his law firm in San Francisco. “I know it’s really late, but I need your help. Liz has managed to get herself into another situation, and I wondered if you could come to the lodge first thing in the morning.” He was quiet for a moment. “Thanks. Here’s the address. See you then.”

  He turned to Liz. “Matt has friends in the police department and elsewhere that can run some computer checks on some of the people you told us about. He’s also going to get in touch with Sean, the private investigator I use at the firm.

  “I know you trust Sean, and he’s been a huge help to you in the past. It might help us figure out who’s a possible suspect and who isn’t, plus you and Cody will only have to tell your story once. By the way, Matt respects your whatever after it saved the lives of all of those people in Bellingham, Washington.”

  “Tell him everything. You and Cody need all the help you can get. I told you not to get involved, and now it’s too late. If it hadn’t been for me, Cody would be dead. In the morning call Jean Baptiste and ask him to cast a spell on whoever put that dead black cat next to Roger’s car.”

  CHAPTER 18

  Matt Jones was at the lodge at 8:00 a.m. the next morning. He parked his car, got out and shook Roger’s hand. “Matt, I don’t think you’ve ever met Liz. This is her son, Jonah Lucas, and this is Cody Evans, a friend of Liz’s. Come on in and make yourself comfortable.”

  A few minutes later, Matt said, “Please tell me everything that’s happened, so I can get an idea of how I can help, and trust me, as a criminal attorney I’ve heard it all.”