serious?â
âYes, sir.â
âWell, thatâs just great. Especially if the local news gets hold of it. Cause of death determined?â
âNot sure about that yet. Her hands and feet were bound. Sheâs was severely beaten.â Claire hesitated. âHe sewed her eyes and mouth shut with some kind of heavy-duty thread.â
âYou sure itâs connected with voodoo?â
âZee and Nancy think so. Weâre all here and getting ready to bag her. Is that okay with you?â
âYes, go ahead, but let Nancy oversee it.â
âThe victim lives in New Orleans. Do we have permission to go up there and search her house?â
âYes. Put a call in to Rene Bourdain. You know him, donât you?â
âYes, sir.â Rene Bourdain had been Bobby LeFevresâs partner at NOPD when Claire lived with Bobby and Kristen, but she hadnât known him all that well and she hadnât seen him since she came back. It would be good to connect with him again, though. He had always been nice to her, way back when.
âOkay, call him. Get permission. See what you can find out. And keep it as quiet as you can.â
âYes, sir.â Claire punched off. âOkay, letâs take her in. Zee, we need to get over to New Orleans before dark and check out her address. If she is Madonna Christien, we need to notify her next of kin.â
Notification of kin was not Claireâs idea of fun and games. An entire family was going to be shattered by this. Theyâd never be the same again after they saw the crime scene pictures of what some monster had done to their baby. She hoped they would elect not to view them.
âZee, you worked at NOPD, right? Do you know how to get hold of Rene Bourdain? Thatâs who Sheriff Friedewald said to contact. Weâve got to get permission to search this address.â
âSure, Rene and I are pretty tight. We worked together in narcotics, but now heâs headinâ up the detectives over there. Heâs a good guy. Heâll get us in.â
While Zee moved away and talked to Rene, Claire tried to remember exactly what Rene Bourdain looked like. He had visited the LeFevreses often when sheâd lived there, but only a vague recollection of his facial features came rolling up out of that misty memory fog. Which happened a lot since sheâd come out of that pesky coma. Black told her that sheâd remember most things, but that other memories might never come back. She could think of more than one horrible thing she wished she couldnât remember, but Rene Bourdain didnât meet that criterion. Most everything was coming back, slowly but surely, including that short but happy time sheâd spent with the LeFevres family when she was around ten years old.
Zee hung up and turned around. âReneâs gonna meet us there.â
Claire turned to Nancy. âYou coming back with us or going in with the body?â
âIf youâll bring the Tahoe back to the office, Iâll go in the van with the body. Better to document the transfer myself.â
âOkay, letâs go, Zee.â
Zee spoke up. âThis has gotta be a crime of passion, Claire. Beating her up like that, and all. Thatâs what I think.â
âWho knows what motivated this lunatic? Jealousy or revenge, probably. Or maybe, itâs just one of those If-I-canât-have-you-nobody-can kinda things. Whatever, I want to get him off the streets.â
âWell, if I was you, I sure wouldnât hang around out here by myself anymore. He may be nuts, but I bet he put your face on that doll for some crazy reason.â
Claire shrugged. âYeah, probably. Weâll find out soon enough. Nancy, wait until I get to the morgue to do the autopsy, okay?â
She and Zee walked through the house, descended the front porch steps, and headed for Nancyâs Tahoe. The midday sun was warm on Claireâs hair and felt good