Man in Black by Lori Beasley Bradley

Author:Lori Beasley Bradley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: historical fantasy, historical 1800s, historical ficton, historical paranormal thriller
Publisher: JK Publishing LLC

Chapter Ten

Insight

Officer Robbie Benton’s death was written up as an undercover operation gone wrong. Travis and Roy agreed to take the heat for allowing a probationary officer to do this very unusual undercover work without authorization. When Travis privately explained the situation to the Sheriff, he agreed for the sake of the prominent family’s name.

Two weeks after Robbie’s murder, Travis finally had the opportunity to visit Kelly again. She’d gone into Shreveport to assist on a ghost hunting episode and Travis had been too tied up with the fruitless investigation of the six murders. He was now being dubbed The Man in Black in the newspaper after they’d interviewed the witness from the murder at the Grande. The artist’s rendering of the man Miss Harris had seen accompanied the articles, but no more witnesses had come forward. The crime scene investigators found no evidence at any of the scenes. There were no fibers, no hairs, or bodily fluids to test for DNA. Everyone was stumped and families of the victims called the Sheriff regularly, demanding answers. As shit flows downhill, Travis and Roy got the majority of it.

Kelly met Travis at the door with a brief hug and kiss. He inhaled the scent of lilacs in her hair and smiled.

“You look nice this evening, Miss Dubois,” he said and handed Kelly a bottle of Clairvoux sweet red wine.

“Why thank you, Detective Maitre,” she replied with a smile. “This is Aunt Ruby’s favorite and it will go nicely with the steaks.” Kelly took his hand and led him out of the formal foyer into the large but homey kitchen.

Ruby stood at the large marble-topped island pulling apart a head of lettuce for salad. She turned to greet Travis and smiled when Kelly flashed the label on the bottle of wine.

“Young man, you are a true gentleman. Very few honor the niceties any longer. A dinner guest should always arrive with a token for his hostess.”

“Yes, ma’am. My mama taught me manners, if nothing else.” He smiled and set a stack of weathered journals on the island as well. “These are my grandpa, Jean Michele Maître’s, journals regarding our family’s doings regarding the curse of Angelique Clairvoux.”

“I look forward to reading them,” Ruby said and began peeling a cucumber.

Kelly picked up one of the leather-bound journals and opened it. “He had beautiful handwriting.”

“It was a mark of pride for him,” Travis said and laughed. “He always complained that the schools didn’t teach children good penmanship anymore.”

“That’s so very true.” Ruby began slicing the cucumber. “Kelly’s is absolutely atrocious. I can hardly read the notes she leaves me.”

Kelly stuck her tongue out at her aunt and pulled the journal at the bottom of the pile. “It looks like he started writing these in 1945. Wow.”

“Grandpa was almost a hundred when he died twenty years ago. I was really still a kid just out of high school. Dad didn’t want anything to do with the journals so I took them as a reminder of him.

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