Leroy shut his cell phone and sat back in his chair, tapping his chin with the end of his pen.  He was frowning as he stared up at the ceiling.

Okay, granted, he'd seen a lot of weird shit in the last several months, and that had to make him re-evaluate stuff he'd sort of tended to dismiss before. One of things he'd dismissed before - rather one of the people - was someone called Bella LaTourneau who was a sort of voodoo queen in New Orleans.

He'd met her when he was in New Orleans attempting to liaise with the ruddy Big Easy cops. They were seldom fun. Mama had provided him some helpful intel on his case regarding what had gone down, not to mention had invited him to one helluva dinner of shrimp etouffe that had been to die for.

So when she'd called him about some weird ass spooky shit going on in New Orleans first thing in the morning, he'd been polite, and friendly-like, and had even promised to look into it a bit. Apparently she'd heard through the grapevine about his new job, which in and of itself was kind of worrying. Even so...

At any rate he'd made a few phone calls, and had been about ready to write it all off to some old dame wanting to call in a marker or two to get the authorities to just let her rebuild after Katrina. Not that he'd have minded helping out.  But then this last call he'd made changed the playing field so much he was up and headed to the boss' office before his brain had caught up with his instincts.

He tapped on the door and waited.

"Come in," Rimes said, waving him to a chair.  "I'm glad you stopped by, Leroy.  I've been meaning ask how you were settling in with the new job and if there was anything you needed."

"I'm good. I'm kinda surprised by the perks, actually. Little Rock PD didn't have many bells and whistles for us."

Rimes resisted the urge to ask him to define perks.  He also made a mental note to ponder what Little Rock's no bells and whistles meant in light of the federal government's commitment to battleship gray, cheap or made by a company owned by some politically correct group currently held to be in need of special assistance to compete.  "Well, I'm glad to hear that Leroy.  And if there's anything you need or anything I can help with just let me know."

"Well, there is something. You got a couple of minutes?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"A couple of years ago I had a case that took me to New Orleans. I don't know how well you know the city, but it's kinda, uhm, weird. In a lotta ways.  Not just the Bourbon Street stuff, but well, there's a lot of history there, you know?  And, well, I just got a call from a woman I met when I was down there. She, uhm, she sorta became a friend and she knew the city in a way that I couldn't hope to, you know?  So, uhm, she called me about this kinda weird sequence of events she heard about. Before I ran into the group at the Refuge, and y'all, I'd just have kinda ignored her.  And I'd have maybe thought this was sorta ravings out of her imagination, you know?  But.. since our brief is weird shit, I thought maybe I oughta talk to you about it."

Rimes leaned back in his chair, settling in for the story.  "Okay, so what's happening in New Orleans?"

"Well, it started out with this dig in some woman's back yard. She was trying to rebuild after the flooding, and well, they found a couple of graves in her garden bushes, and of course the archaeologists got called in when it was determined it might be heritage kinda site. And well, now I guess, things are getting kinda  weird. Which was kinda interesting but not really compelling, until, well, I made a couple of phone calls. It turns out a student who was working on the site has disappeared. So I'm thinkin'..."

"You're thinking it might be Miss Peacock in the library with the rope?"

"Huh?" Leroy asked.

Rimes sighed.  "Sorry, I was attempting a joke but instead managed only to show my age.  So you think the disappearance is tied into the weird events.  What were the events?"

"Well, Mama says Tante Angelique is claiming supernatural stuff. Like ghosts and odd stuff like that. Granted, it might just be some lady drinking too much daiquiri for breakfast, but still... "

"Mama?  Tante?  Tell me these aren't your relatives, Leroy."

Leroy grinned. "Nah. They're uhm, well, Mama at least is a Voudon priestess. I dunno about Tante Angelique, but I'm guessin' that's a yes. Bella LaTourneau has this shop off of Jackson Square. She sells voodoo stuff and does spells and stuff. At the time I figured she was just, you know, hitting the tourists a good one, but, well, maybe not."

"And uhm, Bella and Mama, it is safe to assume, are one and the same?"

Leroy nodded.

"So what you're telling me is that you think there's something to this because a student who was working on the site has disappeared.  You're perhaps concerned that it might be her ghost that Mama and Auntie are seeing.  And, even though Mardi Gras is long over, you think something should be done about this, most likely a site visit to uhm, view matters at a closer range?"  Rimes finished his translation with a grin.

"Well, I've got no idea if the ghost has a thing to do with the missing girl, but well, it does sound pretty weird. And you like weird, right?  And there is a missing girl. And somebody oughta look for her. A lot of kids go missing around NOLA.  Not a lot of folks down there worry much about it."

Rimes steepled his fingers in front of his chest and contemplated his newest hire.   "I wouldn't go so far as to say I like weird.  I am however being paid to exhibit a certain level of interest in it, as are you.  So if you want to pursue this case, that's the angle you need to focus on, not the missing person's case, at least not until you've established a connection or the strong possibility of one.  But that advice is just for future reference."  Rimes considered Leroy again.  "Do you think your contact's reports of supernatural phenomena are credible?"

Leroy made a face and gave it some thought. "I gotta say, at the time when I was down there, I thought she was a total flake. Or on some drug or something. But, that said, when I looked into her background, she has a lot of respect from those who know her. And what she told me, the facts anyway, were on the money. Now she says she called me cuz no one down there gets paid to look into this kind of thing.  If anything, they wanna overlook weird stuff so they don't hurt their tourist dollars. Weird is good so long as no one gets hurt, you know?  So... So on balance, yeah, I think she believes what she's telling me. And since I've actually like seen a ghost, well, maybe there really is one there too."

"You have?" Rimes asked, his interest obviously piqued.

"Uhm, yeah. There was this, uhm, op we did in Grand Isle. Louisiana again. And yeah, there were a couple of ghosts involved. Friends of, uhm, folks at the Refuge."  Leroy was feeling distinctly uncomfortable. He knew taking this job was gonna be tough. There was some stuff he knew the Refuge didn't want Rimes knowing, after all.

"I'm not surprised," Rimes murmured.  "Who do you want to take with you to New Orleans?"

"Any of the Jo's would be fine. They get the southern culture thing. I think they'd be a real asset."

"I agree."  Rimes said.  "Bobbie's working with Coop on that thing in Norfolk and I need Betty so you get Billie Jo.  Just let Mary know I okay'ed it and get a receipt for everything."

"Sure no problem. I'll go give Billie Jo the good news.  We'll head out as soon as she can collect her makeup bag."

Rimes grinned and went back to work.

Luckily Leroy was pretty fast on his feet so he'd avoided getting kicked by Billie Jo when he told her to grab her make-up case, they were heading to New Orleans.  He'd grinned, she'd mock fumed.  He'd slept on the plane, she'd fended off passes by the males within 5 rows of them and shook her head when Leroy failed to wake up to even offer a bit of assistance.

Then finally they had a rental car and Leroy was driving them from the airport into La Vieux Carre. "You been down here before?" he asked, taking the narrow streets slowly, aiming toward Jackson Square. It was evening now and the city was putting on pretty lights. They'd gone by most of the wreckage from Katrina already, and the main portion of the French Quarter looked just fine now.

Billie Jo shook her head.  "Nope, never.  But I've always wanted to come.  You've worked down here before?"

"Yeah, couple of years ago now. Kept in touch with Mama LaTourneau though. Came down on vacation last summer. She's got a little shop here somewhere if I can find the street. Oh, yeah there it is." He turned  onto a side street and began searching for a parking spot. They ended up having to park in a lot and hike over to the small shop that was all made up to look spooky and voodooish.

"Since I met the crew from the Refuge and everyone else, I'm thinkin' maybe I shouldn't have been quite so dismissive of Bella and her abilities," Leroy confessed as he held the door open for Billie.

She laughed.  "I'm sure she'll forgive you."

The shop was purposefully dimly lit. There were a lot of shelves with glass bottles holding stuff with weird names. There were also a few shelves with touristy kinds of stuff on them. Tee shirts with spooky voodooish logos, voodoo kits with stuffed dolls to poke with tiny pins, New Orleans Saints pennants and ballcaps. There was also a somewhat stooped old guy who came into the shop at the sound of the bell over the door. He pushed aside glass beads that separated the area behind the counter from a hallway behind the shop.  He grinned when he saw Leroy.

"Onc'Louie!" Leroy said with a grin. "Still kickin' I see. Mama hasn't turned you into a toad?"

"Oh, g'wan," Louie replied. "You know I cook da best damn gumbo in Nawlins. She ain' gonna turn me to no toad."

Leroy laughed. "This is my friend Billie Jo. I called Mama and told her I was comin' down. She 'round?"

Onc'Louie gave Billie Jo an appreciative once over and a smile. "You a friend of this young feller here, you welcome, cher'."

She dimpled.  "Ah shore am right pleased to meet ya'all.  And this shop is fascinating.  Ya'll know what all this stuff does?"

Onc'Louie grinned. "No, ma'am. I got no clue. Bella's the one what's the witch.  Me, I jes teach."

"You old fake," Leroy commented with a grin and a shake of his head. "You do so know."

"Well, you don' tell Mama that, hear?"

"Not tell me what?" a voice said from behind the beads. Then she was stepping out into the shop and smiling at Leroy. She was tall, far from slender, and wore a sort of colorful caftan and a sort of turban on her head, big hoop earrings and several necklaces. She had cafe au lait colored skin and huge dark eyes. She also had a nice smile.

"Cher' good to see you," she said to Leroy. "And who you brought me?" she asked as she approached Billie Jo.

"This is Billie Jo," Leroy replied. "Watch out honey, Mama squeezes when she hugs."

"Ah don't break sugah, ya'll know that," Billie Jo told him, laughing.  "Ah don't know how ya'll stand him, ma'am, honestly ah don't," she said to Mama, "but it shore is nice of him to introduce me to folks like ya'll."

Mama put her hands on Billie Jo's shoulders and searched her eyes for a long moment. "You are most welcome here, cher'.  And you just kick Leroy every chance you get. He's a good boy but he needs a strong hand now and again."

"Hey!" Leroy yelped in protest.

"Oh honey, ah got other ways of keeping him in line," Billie Jo said.

Mama was laughing as she hugged Billie Jo. "Ah jest bet that you do, cher'.  I jest bet you do. You two come on back into the house. You're stayin' with us, of course. No silly hotel."

Billie Jo looked at Leroy, a faint question in her eyes and then shrugged and followed Mama.  "It's real nice of ya'll to do this for us, and I shore appreciate it," she said.

"Uhm, mama, we aren't, uhm, we're just colleagues. Two rooms."

"Ah. So you say, cher'."

Billie Jo looked from Mama to Leroy and then shook her head.  "Ah sure don't want be any trouble, ma'am.  So ya'll just tell me how I can help and ah'll be happy to do it."

"We'll have some tea, cher', den we talk to Angelique. She comin' for to meet you."

"Angelique?  She's the one who these things have been happening to?" Billie Jo asked.

"Oui, dat her. She's a friend from long back."

"What exactly has been happening?" Billie Jo asked, taking the seat Mama indicated.

Mama fussed with a tea pot and some pastries, which she all but shoved into Leroy's mouth.  "She always dis way?" Mama asked Leroy.  He nodded, his mouth too full to say much.

"What way?" Billie Jo asked.

There was a knock on a door and Mama smiled. "Der she be now, chile. She tell you herself."

Tante Angelique came into the kitchen like a small whirlwind composed of delicate draperies and wispy hair, all in the service of her charm.  She was talking even before she stepped into the room and didn't pause for breath while she hugged Mama.  "That nice Dr. Klein, he's been so upset since Gayle disappeared.  I just know he's not sleeping or eating properly.  The bags and shadows under his eyes, why you just wouldn't believe them.  It's sure is funny about folks."

"Dr Klein?" Leroy asked.

"Oh, yeah. He's the archaeologist who dug up da graves, cher'," Mama explained.

"What graves?" Leroy asked before he took another bite of pastry.

"In Tante Angelique's yard, cher'. Angeliuqe, dis here is da boy what I talked about. Leroy. And dis his girlfriend, Billie Jo."

Billie Jo grinned while Leroy choked on his pastry.  "Ah'm pleased to meet ya'll ma'am.  I'm right sorry to hear about all the troubles ya'll been havin'."

Mama made herself busy doling out tea and then took a seat so that the four of them were all comfortable.

"There is this disturbance, cher'," Mama said. "I felt it when they dug up the graves. There's something wrong, Leroy."

The loss of the accent made her words all that more ominous.

"A disturbance in the force, eh?" Leroy asked. "Uhm, dark side or light side?"

Billie Jo kicked him under the table.  "Maybe if ya'll started from the beginning," she suggested.  "And just tell us what happened as it happened."

Tante Angelique nodded.  "It's my house, you see.  The storm destroyed it and I want it back.  Only when they were clearing the debris they found some graves in the back of the garden and so they sent Dr. Klein over the university.  And he says," she went on, her chin starting to quiver, "he says that until he's sure there's nothing there I can't have my house back.  And now it's been weeks and weeks and then the ghosts started with their pestering me and his nice helper disappeared and now he's looking so poorly he's hardly working at all."

"And so are the bodies gone from the graves?" Leroy asked. "You think they're the ghosts?  Did you ask 'em why they're unhappy?"

Tante Angelique frowned at him, suspecting levity.  "It was just bones they found.  They took 'em all away.  Plus some other bits they found.  Dr, Klein did tell me they think they're 'bout two hundred years old.  But the ghosts didn't start when they took the bones away.  I know what to do when ghosts start.  I live in this trailer near by.  So I had Father Tournedot bless it.  And I keep the holy water there and salt and oil, and blessed candles...pure beeswax and sage.  And I placed the crystals...black ones of obsidian and hematite plus the clear quartz.  I told them real firmly to leave...all of it just like you should.  When that didn't work I called Mama Belle."

"You two should go there tomorrow," Mama said firmly. "Go see what's happening. Feel the place. Den we can talk. Maybe we need to call up them ghosts. Tell them go 'way."

"Did you go over there when she called you?  Or did you just call us?  I mean," Billie Jo asked, "what made you call us?  And how did you know to call?"

"Oh, I been watching Leroy here. I knew he got a new job and that he changed. You know Julian?  He keeps in touch. I know it is hard to believe, but he and I were friends when I was a girl," she added, looking down at her hands. "Long time ago, now. Well, not for him."

"So what made you call?" Billie Jo repeated.  "Instead of handling it like you would any time one of your clients had a problem with a ghost."

"Not sure," Mama said, frowning down into her tea. "This is different. There's a story here. Deep history. A wrong that needs righting. Leroy, he's good at that. He's a good boy. He'll figure it out. You'll help."

Leroy blushed bright red.

"So you don't know anything else, either of you?" Billie Jo pressed.

Tante Angelique and Mama exchanged a look.  "You go over there first, it's not far.  You see for yourself.  Feel it for yourself," Angelique said. 

"We don't want to influence you. Either of you," Mama added. "You tell us if it is what you know and work with."

Billie Jo nodded slowly.  "Alright.  As soon as Leroy's done taking on fuel."

"Hey!" Leroy yelped.

It was pretty creepy in the back yard at Angelique's when they got there. The sky glowed a sickly greenish-gold as the sun was sinking behind them.  Leroy shivered as they stepped into the garden. "This place is pretty eerie even without a ghost putting his two cents in," he announced to anyone who cared to respond.

"There are the graves," Angelique directed them, pointing to the far corner of the garden.

"Odd place for them," Leroy said, dropping into a crouch near the two excavated spots. What was here before? I mean before you knew there were graves here?"

"The garden," Angelique said.  "Acacia and azalea and forsythia bushes.  The storm destroyed them all.  They'd been there for ever."

"So there wasn't like a summer house or gazebo or nothing?"

Angelique shook her head.

"And this wall. This was the back of the garden?"

Angelique nodded.  "Not much left of it."

Leroy was examining the wall. "Looks like maybe ... here.  See it Billie Jo?"

Billie Jo crouched down obediently and eyed the ancient brick work.  "Looks like the bricks have been disturbed.  Maybe while they were digging up the remains?"

"Nah, looks more like something was hidden inside the wall maybe," Leroy suggested. "See, a kinda hole back here. And you said, Angelique, that this all started before they moved the bodies?"

At about that time the vines began to slither around in the breeze.

Angelique shivered and shook her head.  "No, it was after.  They moved the bones first thing.  I thought that was goning to be the end of it, but then they said they wanted to check the rest of the property to see what else was here, they said I had no choice."

"Okay, so maybe the bones are the problem? Is that what you're thinking?  We gotta talk to this Dr Klein," Leroy added with a frown.

Angelique shook her head again.  "The bones were gone for a couple of weeks before anything started happening.  That's what I'm trying to tell you.  If it was just the bones Mama could have said the prayers, laid the spirits to rest.  But it was after."  She shivered again as the wind picked up, making the undergrowth rustle.  "Don't you feel it?" she asked, looking around.  "They're angry They crowd around the trailer at night and whisper to each other and to me.  But when I try to talk to them to find out what they need they just...they just ignore me."

"Okay. Well, tomorrow Billie Jo and I'll go talk to your Dr Klein, and try to figure out who the bones belong to. Maybe he knows by now?  Like who owned this property before you, Angelique?"

"It goes way back," Angelique said.  "It's been in my family since before the war of 1812.  Back to when a rich white man kept a mistress here in the quadroon quarter, it was his second family.  Josephe Menard bought it for Desiree.  She lived here, her and the children she had by him."

"Oh," Leroy said. "I, uhm... That's not good, surely."

Angelique looked puzzled.  "What do you mean, not good?"

"Well," Leroy replied, "A rich white man.  Would he love the kiddies?'

"Of course," she said.  "Or at least most of them did.  They provided for them, often ensured they and their mother were freed, if not while he was alive certainly after his death."

"Really? I wouldn't have thought so. I don't know much about the history here, obviously.  Tell me about Desiree.  She must have been very beautiful."

"Ah, it is said that she was, like the quadroon women were, only more so.  But who knows if that is really true.  Still, it is also said that when she was old enough to attend the balls for the first time she had her pick."

"And she chose Josephe? Was he handsome, or just rich."

Angelique's eyes sparkled like burnished copper.  "He was both and she was young.  To have all the most eligible men in New Orleans dancing attendance on you, it would turn any girl's head.  So perhaps it was that Josephe was the better flirt, though in those days they called it making love.  He would have been charming, well mannered, sending her gifts, murmuring in her ear all the things young girls want to hear.  Like all the others.  But she would not have made the final choice.  Her mother would have.  She would have perhaps consulted Desiree, but the decision and the negotiations would have been kept firmly in her hands."

"Ah. And did she love another maybe? Someone who couldn't afford her?" Leroy asked, obviously interested.

"I don't know but I doubt it.  She was raised to be pliant, giving, utterly submissive to the wishes and desires of the man who was her protector, to live the life of a courtesan.  She would have knownn what to expect.  And love was not one of the things she would have expected.  Instead she would have expected to be supported, that her children would be cared for, that she would be treated with respect."

"Wow. Well, I guess it was better than being a slave on a plantation or something. But the whole courtesan thing is pretty weird to me. But then what do I know," he added with a bit of a self-deprecating shrug. "I was just wondering who might have killed her and why. If she is one of the bodies they found."

Angelique smiled at him.  "You can not imagine a life where a beautiful woman seeks only to please you?  To make you happy and cater to you?  For the quadroon women of the time no matter what it was on the surface, no matter its business like aspects, this man and their children were her family.  Often the men loved these women, cherished them and spent more time with them than with their legal wives.  For other men when they married they ended the relationship, freeing the woman and her children usually, while also making arrangements for their support."

"Uhm, well, no, I can't imagine it. My mama brought me up to respect women. Sorry."  He frowned. "Maybe his wife killed Desiree..."

Angelique ignored the last.  "You misunderstand cherie.  There is no disrespect in it.  It is the fault of the feminists, convincing everyone there is only way for women and men and behaving as if any other way is disrespectful and oppressive.  People want different things, no one is all the same and those things change over time.  Do not judge the life the quadroon lived by what you see around you today.  And do not dismiss all of it out of hand as having no place within the intimate relationship between a man and his lover.  To love cherie...ah that is to want to give to the beloved...to please and make the beloved happy."

"Uhm, right Tante Angelique. I better go find where Billie Jo got off to. We'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Ah cherie, you will learn," Angelique said.  "When you love.  You jus' remember what I tole you."

"I'll do that. We'll see you tomorrow," Leroy called as he got out of dodge fast. "Man, my sister would skin me alive if I spouted that stuff," he was muttering as he headed out the door.