Chills & Thrills Paranormal Boxed Set Read Free Page B

as intensely as she disliked
Maddie, nothing justified what she'd said. And it scared the hell out of her that
she'd said it. She suspected that somewhere in her morass of deliberately
buried memories she might discover similar incidents. That scared her even
more.
    Everything about Port Chatre frightened her, in fact. The
memories it held. The flood of suspicion and fear directed her way. The
possibility that the false life she'd built for herself would be exposed. Even
the potential risk that listening to these gently slurred accents would cause
her to slip back into the speech patterns of her girlhood.
    She didn't want to go back. Didn't want to remember. Which
was why she'd vowed that nothing would ever make her return to Port Chatre.
Nothing, that is, but her mother's funeral.
    An event she'd somehow never taken into account.

Chapter Two

 
 
 
    Zach-ar-ree For-tee-ay." Frank's drawl boomed across
the large room as he walked in Zach's direction.
    Doc Allain nudged his elbow. "Go ahead, see what I'm
saying. Meantime, I'm checking out the eats."
    The doctor faded into the crowd, leaving Zach to wait while
Frank came forward with his huge hand extended.
    "Frank," he said warmly, taking the man's hand and
shaking it firmly. "How're you holding up, pay liter? I'm sorry about
Ellie."
    Frank's face sagged as he whispered. "Oui. La
maladie malefique ."
    "That's as good as anything to call it. Though the
doctor calls it a stroke." Zach surreptitiously scanned the room. His
knees were quaking and the air felt thick, but hiding his true feelings came
naturally to him.
    "Men of science know nothing," Frank countered,
then went on in the same conspiratorial voice. "Ankouer come for Ellie—he
take her breath and freeze her blood."
    The remark caused Zach to turn on his zoom lens and focus it
on Frank. Bloodshot, slightly crazed eyes. Disheveled appearance. So the doc
had been right. Frank had taken a dive off the deep end. Finding himself a
little at a loss for words, he mumbled something about never knowing.
    He could hear fragments of conversations that let him know
that others were aware of Frank's delusions. Some voices held fear, some pity.
Some were downright scornful. Well, grief did odd things to people, and Zach
didn't necessarily think the man's behavior revealed a guilty conscience.
    He found himself unable to keep his attention honed the way
he usually did. He'd come back to Port Chatre looking for Jed's killer. Instead
he'd found . . .
    "Is— I mean— Izzy, I heard she's here."
    " Oui . She come and say good-bye to her maman ."
    "Frank, I—" He hesitated. How did you ask a man
such a question on the day he'd interred his wife? "I'd been, that is,
well, I'd been told Izzy was dead."
    "A body washed up in the bayous, yes, and they told us
it were Izzy. Mistake of identity. She were up in the Saint Louie all
along." He gravely made the sign of the cross. "For them other poor
souls who was grieving for their daughter when the truth came out," he
explained.
    The quaking in Zach's knees spread like wildfire through his
entire body. Why didn't you tell me? he wanted to shout. Why? Instead he asked
for a drink.
    Frank's eyes lost their wild edge as they drifted to Zach's
visibly shaking hands. "That I can do, yes."
    It only seemed like seconds later when Frank pressed a
tumbler into Zach's hand. Zach swallowed quickly, demanding his heart to stop
racing, demanding his lungs to inhale. After downing half the glass, he asked,
"Where is she?"
    "On the galerie , I think I seen."
    "Thanks." Zach finished the rest of the glass and
put it down on a nearby table. "I'll go look her up. Nice talking to you,
partner, and hang in there."
    "I do my best."
    Turning slowly so as not to betray his eagerness, Zach
headed for the open doors that led outside. He saw a slender figure looking up
at Richard Cormier. Her shoulders were slightly bent as if they bore a great
weight, but she listened in apparent fascination while Richard talked