Page 81 of Girl Between (Dana Gray FBI Mystery Thriller #5)
“What are you thinking?” George asked as Dana pensively watched him tie up the old airboat.
She sighed deeply. “Nothing you want to hear.”
He straightened, grinning at her. “Try me.”
“It’s more witchcraft theory.”
“You’ve met my family,” he teased. “You know that won’t scare me.”
“Then you know I can’t ignore the connection to your mother’s practices,” Dana said.
“Abigale’s altar?” George chuckled. “You know how many Voodoo altars like that I see every week? They’re more common than a doorway crucifix in Nawlins. But I can tell that’s not all you’re stewing on.”
“Have you heard of The Code of Hammurabi?”
“Sure, it’s the origin of law.”
“Technically, the Code of Hammurabi is aBabylonian documentcomposed during 1755–1750 BC. It is the longest and best-preserved legal text, which much of our current legal system is based on. ”
“Okay, and we’re talking about legal origins in the bayou, because …”
“Because the first mentions of witchcraft can be found in the Code of Hammurabi. Anyone suspected of witchcraft was punished with ordeal by water. This was done by immersing the suspect in water, and if they sank to the bottom, they were innocent, because the water accepted them. If they floated, however, they were guilty because the water rejected them.”
“Enlightening,” George said, still looking perplexed.
“You said it yourself. Voodoo is as prevalent as Christianity here. What if the Goode sisters gave the Harvest Girls trial by water to ensure they weren’t sacrificing one of their own?”
“You think that’s how Sloane escaped?” he asked, catching on.
“I don’t know. But look at this place. How the hell would a terrified sixteen-year-old find her way out on her own?”
George didn’t offer an answer.
“I want to talk to your mother,” Dana said. “Ask her if she knew what kind of magic the Goode sisters practiced. And if trial by water fits in anyway.”
“Why do you think my mother would know anything about the Goodes?”
“They’re around the same age. And, it’s common practice in witchcraft to know what other crafts your magic might encounter.”
“Keep your friends close, enemies closer?” George hedged.
“Sort of,” Dana admitted. “Would you be okay with me speaking to her?”
“If it helps quell whatever thoughts I can see running around in that pretty head, sure. But it’s not enough to convince me the Harvest Girls have any connection to our current case.”
Dana bit at her thumbnail. “I hate that today was a waste.”
“It wasn’t. Excluding evidence can be as important as discovering it.”
Dana knew that. The trouble was she wasn’t sure excluding the Harvest Girls was the right move.
They hadn’t uncovered any new evidence, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that they were connected to the bodies that had been found in the cemeteries.
And beyond that, she wanted closure for the three broken families who’d been left behind, forever tormented, not knowing what happened to their daughters.
“What about the families of the three missing Harvest Girls?” Dana asked. “You said they still live here. Maybe we could talk?—"
George was already shaking his head. “No. Not without new information. They need whatever peace they can find after what they’ve been through.
Can’t imagine how they still find the strength to hang onto hope after all these years.
You know I read in an interview a few years back saying each one of the girls’ parents made a pact not to move because they wanted the girls to know right where to find them if they ever returned. Can you imagine?”
Suddenly, Dana was thirteen again, gazing out her grandparents’ kitchen window while she washed dishes, eyes trained on the end of the long dirt driveway. Heart in her throat each time headlights approached, only to be crushed all over again when they kept driving.
She’d been at her parents’ funeral. Seen their bodies. Stood by their graves. But still she hoped.
Even now, even after solving their murders, Dana’s heart skipped a beat whenever she saw a woman with auburn hair or a man in a tweed jacket. She would forever be that little girl hoping for her parents’ miraculous return.
That’s what happened when the natural order of things was irrevocably disrupted.
Children would always search for parents taken too soon.
Just like parents would never recover from outliving their children.
Sometimes, clinging to false hope was the only way to cope.
George’s voice pulled Dana from her memories. “It’s just too sad. I can’t drag them back through it without reason.”
“You’re right,” Dana agreed. “No one deserves that.”
Somber silence surrounded them as they returned to the Range Rover.
They were buckled in and had driven a mile down the dirt road before George spoke again.
“Today doesn’t have to be a total waste.
Why don’t we head to the station? See if we can help Shepard and LaSalle expo those files for the Feds. ”
“Sure,” Dana said, without her usual enthusiasm.
Which George picked up on. “Did I mention the station is right next to Café Beignet?”
Dana shrugged. “I’m more of a Café du Monde girl.”
George feigned shock, dramatically clutching his chest. “Just when I thought I’d found the perfect woman.”
Dana laughed.
“Have you even tried Café Beignet?” he asked.
“Of course. I’ve tried beignets from every place in the Quarter. Purely for research, not because I’m addicted to powdered sugar,” she added, grinning now.
George shook his head. “I should’ve known you’d conduct adequate research. It’s too bad you’re so heinously wrong.”
“It’s fried dough. There’s no right or wrong.”
“Well, that’s the problem right there!” George replied with too much excitement. “You haven’t tried Café Beignet’s red beans and rice.”
“They serve more than beignets?” Dana asked.
“Girl!” George looked ready to launch into what was sure to be an amusing dissertation of her inadequate research of New Orleans cuisine when his phone rang, interrupting him.
“It’s Cadie,” he said before answering it.
“Yeah … Yeah, okay … She alright? … Well, that’s good …
Oh … Well, is that a big deal? … Cadie, it’s just a wedding. ”
Dana grimaced as George yanked the phone away from his ear to protect his eardrum from the sudden onslaught of high-pitched screeching on the other end. When he looked at Dana for help, she was already shaking her head.
“You can’t say that to a bride days before her wedding,” she whispered to George.
“Noted.” He put the phone back to his ear. “Yeah. She’s with me now … Cadie, I don’t know …” he trailed off. “Fine.” He looked at Dana apologetically and handed her the phone. “She wants to talk to you.”
Dana took the phone, tentatively. “Hello?”
“Dana! Oh, thank God! I’m having a wedding emergency!
Brandi just went into labor today even though she’s not due for like six more weeks so now I’m a bridesmaid short and it’s throwing everything off because she was supposed to walk down the aisle with George because she was my only non-sister bridesmaid and none of my sisters will walk with George because that’s just weird so I need a replacement pronto or everything will be ruined, so will you do it? Please, please, pleeeeaaasssseeee?”
“Um…” Dana looked at George who gave her a bewildered shrug. Dana wasn’t sure Cadie had even taken a breath during her long and unnecessarily detailed monologue, which made it hard to follow. To be sure she understood, Dana asked, “You’re asking me to be a bridesmaid?”
“Yes! And if you can get to Wedding Belle’s in the next hour, they said they can alter Brandi’s dress to fit you. I already asked them to get started letting the hem out since you’re taller than her.”
“Oh, um, well,” Dana stammered, baffled. “Cadie I’m flattered but …”
The telltale sniffle that preceded tears crackled over the line and then Cadie dissolved into hysterical sobs. “I can’t - sniff - believe - sniff - my wedding - sniff - is falling apart!”
“Cadie …” Dana pinched the bridge of her nose, then exhaled, shocked at the words that tumbled out of her mouth next. “Text me the address to Wedding Belles.”
“Omigod!” Dana pulled the phone away from her ear to avoid going deaf. Cadie’s exuberant voice filled the car. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! You’re the best. I’ll meet you there. Ask for Stephan. Bye-eee!”
Shell-shocked, Dana handed the phone back to George. “Is that what having a little sister is like?”
George laughed. “Try having five of them. You didn’t have to say yes, ya know? ”
“I know.”
“Why did you?”
Truthfully Dana wasn’t sure. Maybe it was because she wanted an excuse to stay in New Orleans.
Maybe it was because they’d been talking about the hole the absence of family leaves.
Maybe it was because she was craving female companionship after losing the two women she’d been closest to.
Or maybe she was just a pushover. “I don’t know,” Dana admitted.
“Well, I’m glad you did,” he said, flashing that dazzling grin of his in her direction.
“It looks like I’m going to owe you another raincheck though. Can I drop you by the station? I need to see a man about a dress.”