What passed for a smile tugged briefly at the old woman's mouth. "It is a different spell, requiring different charms. But your ultimate fate would have been the same, once we were through with you. When our efforts did not go as planned, it was decided that you could best serve our purposes by dying, thereby robbing the evil one of a strong right hand."
"So you sent those fellas to put a giant snake in my room."
"Many creatures obey my commands," said Marie Laveau, "not merely those that are human."
"What made you change your mind?"
"This one," said Marie Laveau, pointing once again at Claudette. "As I told you, once I had spoken with her, I knew there was more to you than there appeared to be, M'sieu Parker. Now that you are here, I am more convinced than ever. You are not an evil man. Why have you allied yourself with one?"
Longarm took another deep breath. So much of the puzzle that he had found in New Orleans had been cleared up here in this unassuming little house by an old woman who looked like she would fall over if somebody breathed hard on her. Under the circumstances, he supposed it was time to tell the truth.
"I'm a United States deputy marshal," he said bluntly. "My real name is Custis Long. I came to New Orleans to find out who was responsible for murdering another federal lawman who was trying to break up some smuggling rings."
Claudette stared at him, wide-eyed with surprise. Marie Laveau merely nodded, as if his words came as no shock to her at all.
"The man in the bayou," she said. "I heard of the fetish made to look like him which was placed outside the door of the chief marshal's office. It angered me greatly to think that someone would bring voudun into their petty criminal activities."
"You and your folks didn't have anything to do with that?" asked Longarm.
"Your law has nothing to do with us, we have nothing to do with it," said Marie Laveau. "We wish only that the evil one be stopped."
"Do you know someone named Royale?"
Once again that faint semblance of a smile appeared on Marie Laveau's gaunt face. "I know the name," she said.
"Is Royale smuggling slaves back to the West Indies too?"
"The one you call Royale does nothing to harm my people. That is all I care about."
Longarm wasn't sure why he believed the old woman, but he did. The friction between Royale and Millard was an added complication for him, but it had nothing to do with the voodoo angle. Which meant, he supposed, that the finger of guilt was pointing straight back at Millard again--and Paul Clement. Even though Millard professed to hate voodoo and want nothing to do with it, that didn't mean Clement felt the same way. Clement could have been the one responsible for placing the voodoo doll outside the chief marshal's office, in an attempt to muddy the waters and throw a false trail into any investigation of Douglas Ramsey's murder. The theory made sense, Longarm realized as he turned it over in his mind. The whole voodoo business had certainly had him guessing and coming up with some wild ideas, when once again, as usual, the motive all came down to money. He wondered how many other sugar plantations in the West Indies were being supplied with slave labor by Millard and Clement, and how high the price was.
But no matter how much those other plantation owners were paying, the price in human misery was even higher.
Marie Laveau steepled her bony fingers in front of her and asked, "What are you going to do about this matter?"
"I'm going to bust up that slavery ring good and proper," declared Longarm. "I'm convinced now that Mill-that the evil one and his partner are responsible for the murder of that other lawman. I'm going to call in some reinforcements and throw the whole lot of 'em behind bars."
"You can do this?" asked Marie Laveau.
Longarm thought about how that special prosecutor would react when he heard the password "Pikes Peak" and then Longarm laid this whole mess on his desk. He had a hunch Captain Denton and the other honest policemen in New Orleans would soon be paying a visit to the Brass Pelican and also to the Clement mansion on Chartres Street. Once again, he hoped that Annie's involvement in the affair had been slight or even nonexistent.
"I can do it," he promised Marie Laveau.
The Voodoo Queen nodded, evidently satisfied with his answer. "Then go. Put a stop to the evil one's crimes. But if you do not... then I will deal with him."
Jasper Millard didn't know it, thought Longarm, but he ought to be hoping right about now that the law caught up with him first.
Longarm clasped Claudette's hand as they were ushered out of the house and back into the carriage. "We will take you back to the hotel," said the leader of the gunmen, none of whom drew guns again now that they and Longarm seemed to be on the same side.
"Much obliged," said Longarm. He glanced over his shoulder one last time at the cottage. "That's a mighty scary old woman in there. No offense."
The man smiled thinly. "Only a fool would make an enemy of Marie Laveau."
"I reckon you've got that right, old son," Longarm said as he helped Claudette into the carriage.
Once Longarm and Claudette were rolling back through the streets toward the St. Charles Hotel--alone this time since the other men rode atop the carriage--Longarm lifted Claudette's hand and pressed his lips to the back of it. "Thank you," he murmured. "If the Voodoo Queen hadn't been so impressed with you, I'd still be in the dark about what was behind everything."
"I was so frightened, me," she said. "But I knew I would be all right as long as you were with me, Custis. If I had known you are a lawman!"
"Sorry. I was keeping that under my hat until I got everything sorted out."
"You were nearly killed, you bet, because folks think that you were really workin' for Mr. Millard. Guess it's good I didn't stay at the Brass Pelican after all, me."
Longarm nodded. "Yeah, I'd say so. You can stay in my hotel room if you like, until I get everything cleared up. Then I'll take you back down to the bayou country, if that's what you want."
Claudette leaned back against the seat of the carriage and gave Longarm a wanton smile. "That would be most nice, but I'm thinkin'." She grew more serious as she went on. "You be careful, you. Don't forget those men who try to kill you at the Mardi Gras parade last night."
"Those were Royale's men," said Longarm. "They won't be a threat to me once I've arrested Millard and Clement and it's obvious I don't work for Millard anymore."
"You know that? You sure that this Royale send them after you?"
"Who else could have done it?"
"Somebody else who don't trust you, maybe?"
Longarm frowned. She was right, of course. He had just assumed that Royale had sent the would-be killers after him.
But maybe Millard had grown too suspicious after finding Longarm in his office and decided that it would be easier all around to get rid of his new employee--permanently.
"I reckon that'll all get sorted out too," said Longarm. "But I'll be careful, you can count on that."
"You had better, or I come after you. I guarantee."
They left the carriage in the courtyard behind the St. Charles and went in the way they had left, through the back door. There were no guns pointed at them this time, of course, and Longarm was thankful for that. Marie Laveau's men drove off with the carriage, and if he never saw them again, that would be perfectly all right with Longarm. He had had enough of snakes and zombies and voodoo. All that was left now was rounding up some good, old-fashioned crooks and killers.
Claudette sat down on the bed as Longarm buckled on his gunbelt. The mattress bounced a little underneath her, and the sound made Longarm think wistfully of what they had shared earlier. There was no time for a return engagement now.
But once Millard and Paul Clement were either behind bars or dead--depending on how they took to being arrested--then there would be plenty of time for Claudette.
He shrugged into his coat, bent over, and kissed her forehead. "I'll be back as soon as I can," he promised.