Voodoo River (1995) by Robert - Elvis Cole 05 Crais Read Free Book Online

that you meet such interesting people.
    She came back with two plastic tumblers and a single can of Pepsi and the Raid. She put the glasses on her coffee table, then opened the Pepsi and poured most of it in one glass and a little bit in the other. She offered the full glass to me. "Now, what is it you want to know?"
    I lifted the glass but noticed something crusted down in the ice. I pretended to take a sip and put it down. "Mrs. Berteaux said that you're a midwife."
    She nodded, eyes scanning the upper reaches of the room for incoming bugs. "Unh-hunh. Not in years, a'course, but I was."
    "Thirty-six years ago on July ninth a baby girl was born in this area and given up for adoption. Chances are that the child was illegitimate, but maybe not. Chances are that the mother was underage, but maybe not."
    Her eyes narrowed behind the thick lenses. "You think I birthed the child?"
    "I don't know. If not, maybe you heard something."
    She looked thoughtful. "That was a long time ago."
    "Yes, ma'am." I waited, letting her think. Probably hard with all the nerve damage from the Raid.
    Martha Guidry scratched at her head, working on it, and then seemed to notice something in the far corner of the room. She put down her Pepsi, picked up the Raid, then crept across the room to peer into the shadows behind the television. I got ready to hold my breath. She said, "Goddamned ugly bugs," but she held her fire. False alarm. She came back to the chair and sat. "You know, I think I remember something about that."
    Well.
    She said, "There were some folks lived over here around the Nezpique." She was nodding as she thought about it, fingering the Raid can. "They had a little girl, I think. Yes, that's right. They gave her away."
    Well, well. "You remember their names?" I was writing it down.
    She pooched out her lips, then slowly shook her head, trying to put it together. "I remember it was a big family. He was a fisherman or somethin', but they might've cropped a share. They lived over on the bayou. Right over here on the Nezpique. Wasn't no bastard, though. Just a big family with too many mouths to feed."
    A name?
    She looked sad and shook her head. "I'm sorry. It's right on the tip of my tongue and I just can't remember it. You get old, everything goes to hell. There's one!" She raced to a potted plant beneath the window and cut loose with the Raid. Clouds of gas fogged up around her and I walked over to the door, leaned out, and took deep breaths. When she was finished with the Raid I went back to the chair. Everything smelled of kerosene and chemicals.
    I said, "These bugs are something, aren't they?"
    She nodded smugly. "They'll run you out of house and home, let me tell you."
    I heard the crunch of a car pulling off the road. Not in her yard, but farther away. I went back to the door. The white Mustang was sitting across the street by the strawberry stand. I said, "Ms. Guidry, has someone else approached you about this?"
    She shook her head. "Unh-unh."
    "A few months ago."
    She got the thoughtful look again. "You know, I think a fella did come here." She made a face like she'd bit into something sour. "I didn't like his looks. I won't deal with anybody I don't like the way they look. No, siree. You can tell by a person's looks, and I didn't like that fella, at all. I ran 'm off."
    I looked back out the door. "Is that the man?"
    Martha Guidry came over next to me and squinted out through the screen. "Well, my goodness. That's him. That's the little peckerwood, right over there!"
    Martha Guidry charged through the screen door with her can of Raid as if she'd seen the world's largest bug. She screamed, "Here, you! What are you doin' over there?!"
    I said, "Oh, God."
    She lurched down the steps and ran toward the highway, and I was wondering if maybe I should tackle her before she became roadkill. Then the Mustang fishtailed out onto the highway and roared back toward Ville Platte, and Martha Guidry pulled up short, shaking her fist at him. I