How Deep The Roots Go ( Book One)

Chapter 42

The meeting was concluded, and all members began to quietly discuss him once he was dismissed. His mother was still seated when he walked past her to the exit, the sound of his boots on the pine floor echoing as he parted from their company. He knew that his mother would stay to listen in as well, she always had. She thought it was her duty to see that the men didn't screw up, as she so kindly put it. She would probably call him later to fill him in. He started his jeep up and got on the freeway. His place was on the outskirts of town, a good fifteen minutes from all the hustle and bustle of the city.

It was a quaint home, situated on a little over five full acres. It was far off the path where there was nothing but the clamorous quiet to keep him company. He liked the solitude. He enjoyed being in his home with his own thoughts. The sound of the bayou made him feel comforted and separated from the complications that daily life and duty seemed to harbor.

Meanwhile, miles away from him and his thoughts, Temperance and Violet were near home, a good ten minutes away.

"You've lost your damn mind," Violet was persistent, and her head was boggled down with Temperance's crazy idea. "Or what is left of it, I might add."

"Do me a favor," Temperance asked, her hands on the wheel, and her eyes not breaking from the freeway.

"Will you call Gaige?" she asked. "I need to know what is going on with my mother's tomb."

That seemed to distract Violet for the moment. She was already scrolling through her contacts for Gaige's number.

Temperance had a ton on her plate, and a lot to figure out, but once she heard about how this was being handled with the defilement of the tomb, she could move her mind to another task.

"It's ringing," Violet said aloud.

"Please ask him what is being done."

Temperance swallowed hard, as she remembered the demon laughing contemptuously on top of a tomb. The brief memory sent spikes of fear cutting into her soul again.

Gaige answered, and Violet placed the phone on speaker.

Answers were given, and it was as she had expected. Fingerprints were taken on the tarot cards, all six hundred and sixty six of them, and the tomb would be cleaned appropriately. The department had a lot of cases, and although this was bizarre, it was New Orleans, a lot of unexplainable and rather odd things happened here.

"They will be further investigating, Temperance. We will try to find the bastards that did this," Gaige said heartily.

Temperance and Violet looked at one another, both knowing that the police would never find the culprit.

"What about the blood?" Violet asked, her leg now over her knee, moving it nervously.

"What about it?" Gaige asked, his voice fading out for a moment. Violet could hear that there were other voices in the background. He was muffling the phone speaking to someone else.

"Never mind," Violet sighed out. "Probably some freak, right?" She said it because she knew that they were up against more than a criminal.

"Maybe chicken blood or something?" The latter part of her sentence, drifting softly from her.

He was heavily muffing the phone again, and Violet was becoming irritated.

"Sorry about that, babe. Just tell Temperance that there is a case open now. It's in a file and under investigation. But don't forget where we live. Some people are just crazy. It was probably a bunch of kids playing around with hoodoo or something."