One twist of the handle and it slowly swung open, emitting a loud and high-pitched squeak.
My, but it’s dark inside. I automatically reached for the flashlight app on my cell phone. Once I trained it into the darkness, it pierced the black with a shaft of light. I leaned as far as I could into the opening, since I had no desire to wiggle into the tank and come across a curious marsupial or two.
I waved the phone at the walls, but they all looked perfectly normal to me. A sheet of aluminum covered them, and mineral deposits freckled the surface. The storms last night had added about a half-inch of water to the tank, and a lone ladder stretched from the concrete floor to the roof. Apparently, no one had used it in quite some time, because cobwebs crisscrossed the ladder’s rungs.
Just when I was about to shut off my phone and cry “uncle,” I noticed something navy lying against the far side of the ladder. It looked like one of Darryl’s coveralls, which he must’ve tossed into the tower at some point and forgotten about.
“Interesting,” I said, more to myself than anyone else.
“What’s dat?”
The voice startled me so much, I dropped my cell phone and it lurched toward the water.
“Oh, sugar!” I quickly dove for it. Luckily, my reflexes saved the phone from a watery death, and I scooped it up in the nick of time.
“Ya shouldn’t drop yer phone like dat.” It was Darryl again, who hadn’t moved from his spot behind me.
“And you shouldn’t scare the bejesus out of me.” I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. “Okay, then. Did you find anything in your water tower?”
“Nuthin’ but sum fresh rain and spiders. You?”
“Same. Oh, and you might want to check your supply of coveralls. I think you left one over there.” I pointed my cell into the maw, which illuminated the pile of clothing I’d spotted earlier.
“I don’ keep nuthin’ in here. I gots a supply closet for dat.”
Now it was my turn to look confused. “So, what’s that over there?”
We both reached the same conclusion at the same time.
“Aaaiiieee!” we screamed, the noise ping-ponging around the tower like machine-gun fire.
The moment we finished, our individual instincts kicked in. I moved aside so Darryl could hop into the tower ahead of me. Bravery was one thing, but foolhardiness was quite another, and Darryl knew the towers much better than I did. Once he disappeared into the darkness, I did the same. He bent to inspect the pile of clothes as the rainwater puddled around his ankles.
“Don’t tell me—” I trained the phone lower to give Darryl a better view.
“Yep, it’s da boy ’sposed to be gettin’ married today.”
My heart fell. Of all the horrible discoveries to make, this one took the cake. While I’d uncovered more than my fair share of bodies here on the Great River Road, not one of them was a groom. I could only imagine how Lorelei would feel on what should’ve been one of the happiest days of her life.
Darryl extended his shaking hand to Wesley’s body and placed two fingers against the groom’s neck. When he quickly withdrew his hand, I knew there was no hope.
“Dead?” I asked.
“Yep. Cold as ice.”
“What should we do?” The moment I said it, though, I knew the answer. It was time to call Lance LaPorte, one of my oldest and dearest friends, who served as a detective with the Louisiana State Police Department. Lance would know what to do.
Once again, he’d innocently take my call and breezily ask about my morning, never once imagining I was about to report a dead body. It had happened time and time again. And every time I thought I had found the last one, I’d stumble across another victim.
I wouldn’t blame Lance if he blocked my calls permanently and “unfriended” me from his life.
Chapter 3
Contrary to my opinion, Lance answered my phone call right away, and he sounded pleased as punch to hear from me. “Hey, there. How’re you doing?”
“I’ve been better, to be honest. Lots better.”
“Uh-oh. I don’t like that tone. What’s up?”
“I’ll tell you, but you have to promise a few things.” I quickly composed a mental list of all the worst-case scenarios. “Number one: you can’t hang up. I don’t think I could take that this morning. Number two: you can’t think I’m cursed or anything.”
“I really don’t like where this is heading.” His voice sounded wary, although I couldn’t blame him.
“Okay, here goes.” I took a deep breath and plunged ahead. “I may have found another dead body.”
“What do you mean…may? Either you did, or you didn’t. Which is it?”
“The first. I’m here at Honeycutt Hall. Hey…you’ll never guess who works here now. It’s—”
“Uh, Missy? First things first. Tell me about your discovery.” Like always, Lance switched into cop mode the instant I mentioned a dead body.
“It’s the groom for a wedding here today. His name is Wesley Carmichael.”
“Any trauma you can see?”
“I didn’t really look.” While I didn’t want to sound abrupt, my tone was totally understandable. I had no intention of getting any closer to a corpse than absolutely necessary.
“Is anyone else with you?” Lance had obviously switched tacks.
“As a matter of fact, there is. It’s that employee I started to tell you about. Only you wouldn’t let me finish. Now would you?”
Luckily, Lance and I treated each other like family, and neither of us took offense when the other one became snippy. Although now wasn’t the time, nor the place, for family bickering.
“So, who’s there with you?” he repeated.
“It’s Darryl. Darryl Tibodeaux. Remember him? He was the groundskeeper at Morningside Plantation.” I glanced at Darryl, who stood stock still next to me.
Apparently, Darryl had no intention of moving closer to the corpse, either.
“Of course I remember him,” Lance said. “Could you please put him on the phone?”
I silently handed Darryl the cell. “It’s Lance LaPorte on the phone,” I whispered. “He’s that detective with the Louisiana State Police Department.”
Darryl nodded and took the cell in his left hand. He seemed resigned to answering the questions I couldn’t field.
“Hello?” Darryl waited a moment, and then he glanced over
