Page 53 of Kidnapped in Dark Waters
“I really don’t believe that the women I interviewed had anything to do with the murder,” Luke said. “The only connection Helene Benoit has is that Jacob Benoit is her brother, and that’s connected to Dominique’s case and not the murder.”
“What about the men you interviewed in the afternoon?” Daniel asked.
“I spoke to all of Mystique’s closest neighbors to find out if they saw or heard anything on the night of the murder. None of them did,” Luke said with frustration. “Of course, Mystique’s nearest neighbors aren’t all that close to her shanty.”
He sat back and listened as Clay gave his report. He had spoken to several of the fishermen in the swamp and he’d come up with nothing as well. Somewhere in their small town, a murderer was hiding and they were going to have to work hard to ferret him out.
There was also another man probably hiding in plain sight. He was a man besotted with Dominique and he wanted her badly. Two criminals and they couldn’t find squat on either one of the cases. It was so damned frustrating.
“I hate to do this to you, but I want both of you to look at the crime scene photos again and see if you can find anything we missed.” Daniel opened the file folder in front of him and began to pull out the crime scene photos.
The photos were gruesome and hard to look at, but it was part of Luke’s job to thoroughly dissect them for any anomalies they might have missed. Thank God, Dominique hadn’t seen any of them.
Dominique. It felt as if it had been forever since he’d seen her, although it had only been four days. It was certainly not long enough for his heartbreak to ease.
They spent the morning going over the various photos, but the pictures gave up no further information than they’d already gleaned from them.
It was just after one when they stopped working for their lunch break. Daniel went to Angelique’s store where he was going to have lunch with her. Clay went home where his girlfriend had lunch ready for him.
Even though he knew it was probably a bad idea, Luke headed to the café. He didn’t know if he hoped Dominique would beworking or if he hoped she wasn’t working the mid-shift. But it was silly to avoid the one decent place to eat in town just because he was a lovesick fool.
She was the first person he looked for when he walked through the café door. Apparently, she wasn’t working this shift for he didn’t see her anywhere.
He settled in at a two-top near the window and smiled at Glenda Wright as she appeared to take his order. “How are you this beautiful day, Officer Madison?”
“I’m doing just fine,” he replied to the older woman. “What about you?”
“Oh, I can’t complain. Now what can I get for you?”
He ordered a cheeseburger, fries and an iced tea and then stared out the window once Glenda left his table. Going over the crime scene photos that morning had reminded him of how heinous the crime against Mystique had been.
Had she been murdered by somebody who was afraid of the voodoo queen and wanted her dead? Or had it been one of the people who came to her for help?
There was no way Luke believed they had identified everyone who had visited Mystique. If they had her client book, then the investigation might have been much easier. However, without it they were just flailing in the wind.
Secrets… Mystique had dealt in secrets. She knew things about people that nobody else knew. Ultimately, was that what had gotten her killed? Had somebody been afraid that she would spill their secrets?
He continued to think about the murder as he ate his cheeseburger. Funny, it was easier to think about a crime rather than think about Dominique.
He finished eating, paid and then walked to his patrol car parked at the curb in front of the café. He was at his driver’s side door when Sunny came running out of the building.
“Officer Madison,” she called and ran toward him.
“Hey, Sunny.” He looked at her curiously as she stopped short in front of him. “What’s going on?”
“I was hoping you could tell me. Have you spoken to Dominique this morning?” she asked.
“No, I haven’t. Why?” Luke’s heartbeat began to race as a furrow of obvious concern fluttered across Sunny’s forehead.
“She was supposed to be here today to work the mid-shift, but she didn’t show up and she didn’t call in, and that’s not like her at all.”
“Maybe she’s sick? Or overslept?” Luke grasped for a logical explanation.
“To make matters even more confusing, her car is parked in the back lot.”
Luke stared at her for a long moment as his stomach churned and his brain whirled with suppositions…all of them bad. “I’ll check it out,” he finally said.
As Sunny headed back into the café, Luke raced around the building to the parking lot. He checked out all the cars and finally spied Dominique’s blue Honda parked by the dumpster.
