Fatal Cajun Festival (A Cajun Country Mystery) by Ellen Byron

Author:Ellen Byron [Byron, Ellen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781643851297
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Published: 2019-09-09T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Maggie’s screams brought her family running. Tug and Ninette burst out of the manor house while Gran ran from the cottage, Lee on her heels. “Maggie, what happened; are you okay?” Tug, winded from running, gasped for breath at the end of the sentence.

Maggie, heart racing, pointed inside her car. Tug peered through the window, and the snake reared its head with an angry hiss. Ninette and Gran shrieked as Tug stumbled away from the creature.

Lee strode over to the car. “Lemme take a look and see what we got.” He rapped on the window, eliciting fury from the snake.

“For the love of God, Lee, be careful,” Gran cried out.

“It’s all right, Charlotte. Our friend here can hiss all he wants, but he can’t break through the window.” The eighty-something mechanic studied the reptile. “My family had some land where we farmed sugar cane. Think it was part of Belle Vista way back in the day. When I was a kid, I’d help my great-uncles harvest, and they trained me on what critters to watch out for. This fella’s not a copperhead or a cottonmouth, which you’re most likely to find around here. Doesn’t look like any kind of rattler either.” He turned back to the others. “I think he’s an import.”

Maggie stared at him, not comprehending. “What do you mean? Like, he’s from another country?”

Lee nodded.

“Then what’s he doing here? And in my car?”

The look on Lee’s weathered face was grim. “That, chère, is a good question. Someone best give Pelican PD a call. And Animal Control. Make sure they send a snake wrangler, not a dogcatcher.”

* * *

A half hour later, officers Artie Belloise and Cal Vichet had joined the Crozats and Lee in the family’s parking area. The group watched as a snake-removal expert coaxed the unwanted guest into a trap. “Maggie, you sure you didn’t leave a window open?” Artie asked. He stood a safe distance from her car.

“Positive. Also, I keep my car locked, but the driver’s-side door was unlocked.”

“Downside of a vintage auto like yours. I could pick that lock with my pinky nail.”

The snake expert, a tattooed man in his fifties who looked straight out of a wildlife reality TV show, held up the trap. “Got him.” The others gave him a wide berth as he sauntered over to his van and secured the trap inside. “Love to know how a Mexican pit viper made its way to these parts.”

“Could it have gotten here by itself?” Cal asked.

The expert shook his head. “Not likely. Probably smuggled across the border by an exotic animal dealer to sell in the States.”

Maggie put her head in her hands, trying to make sense of what was happening. “So, someone put a venomous snake in my car. To scare me? To kill me?”

The man shrugged. “Maybe both.”

After a brief confab with Artie and Cal, the snake handler took off. “We need to interview all of you and whoever else is here,” Cal said. “Find out if anyone saw anything suspicious.

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