Mardi Gras Two Step by Barry M. Vass

Author:Barry M. Vass [Vass, Barry M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery/Suspense
Publisher: Whiskey Creek Press LLC
Published: 2014-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Like both of them, Lieutenant Beauchamp was shocked by the news of Bobby LeCroix’s death. It seemed impossible; he was so young, so vital. It didn’t fit in with what he thought life should be. What to make of it?

He was also seemingly puzzled by what Broussard was telling him. What kind of mold or fungus or virus could produce such horrific results, and so quickly? After ten minutes or so the lieutenant called down to the bullpen and asked Bautista to join them.

The two men were silent as he walked into the office, both apparently absorbed in their own thoughts. Lieutenant Beauchamp was slumped in the chair behind his desk while Broussard paced nervously around the small room. Bautista pulled up a chair without being asked and sat down.

“I can’t believe it,” the lieutenant said finally. “LeCroix was younger than all of us. And to go this fast… I tell you it’s scary.”

Broussard grunted.

“How old was he?”

“He was twenty-seven.”

“And you say he coughed up some sort of green discharge?”

The big homicide detective stopped pacing. “I don’t know if coughing is the right word. His wife said he threw it up, and pretty forcefully. Sort of like, uh, projectile vomiting.”

The lieutenant was making notes on a legal pad. After a moment he glanced over at Bautista. “And you think this virus, this mold, has something to do with it?”

Bautista shuffled his feet. “Yes, I do. I mean, think about it logically. Both LeCroix and Fontenot had unprotected contact with at least one of the bodies. A week later they’re both dead.”

“How do you know that about Fontenot?”

“Well I don’t, not really. Let’s call it an educated guess. I’m assuming he had his mask and gloves off at some point during the autopsy.”

Beauchamp nodded and made another note.

“Bautista and Fontenot were close,” Broussard offered. “Fontenot once told him that he didn’t like to wear a surgical mask during procedures.”

“Okay.” The lieutenant was studying his notes. “Tell me again about the significance of the claw and the leg.”

Bautista thought back. “Both were found at the scene of the third murder down by the river.”

“And how do you think they connect to the crime?”

“Well, we’re not sure. But the discharge from both was green. Our thinking now is that there has to be a connection.”

“I’ll go along with that for the moment. What did the lab report say?”

Broussard walked over and sat down. “We never got a lab report on that. They were stumped. I finally called them and the only thing they could tell me was that both were silicon-based. And that they contained some sort of strange mold.”

“Mold,” Beauchamp murmured, underlining something on his pad. “What does it mean, silicon-based?”

“All life on Earth is carbon-based,” Bautista said. “If it’s silicon-based, our best guess is that it’s from somewhere else.”

The lieutenant was staring at him. “Meaning what? That these things came from another planet or something?”

“Well…”

“Ah, come on! What kind of a crazy fuckin’ case is this?”

“It’s where the evidence takes us.

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