Big Easy Murder (The Peyton Clark Series Book 3) Read Online Free Page B

was completely gray and now matched the same ashen hue as his wide but lifeless eyes.
    Just like every other time I’d had the fortune (or misfortune, given his less than cheery personality) to encounter him, he was wearing a floor-length, black, satin cape. His signature black lipstick, black nail polish and heavy dark eyeliner were all in attendance as well. He looked like the ringleader for a nefarious, traveling circus.
    For as dark as Christopher appeared, Lovie was quite the opposite, not only in personality but in her choice of clothing as well. Being on the smallish side, she stood barely five feet tall. Although slightly overweight, she was still beautiful and had the most flawless, chocolate skin I’d ever seen. Even though she didn’t really have very many wrinkles, judging from the scant crow’s-feet around her eyes, I guessed she was probably in her late forties or early fifties. Every time I saw her, she had on a colorful scarf, which she wrapped around her head like a turban. Today, the scarf was bright red. She also always wore a floor-length skirt accessorized by a sort of jingly, hippie belt. Today was no different.
    I crossed my feet at the ankles, being careful not to shift the gris-gris sitting in my lap. Now, before you mistakenly think I was covered in grease, or something along the same lines, the “s” in gris-gris is silent (think gree-gree). And as to the definition? It’s a little fabric bag filled with various bits and bobs, designed to protect whoever wears or carries it from evil spirits. I’d already activated the little talisman by holding it up to my mouth and gently blowing into it, thereby imbuing it with life. That is, of course, according to voodoo lore.
    “Do you feel Adele’s spirit yet, honey?” Lovie asked with a wide and patient smile.
    Gris-gris or not, so far, I had yet to sense Adele’s presence, leaving me without much hope. I was fairly certain I should have picked up some kind of trace of her by now. Seeing as how I was able to interact with the spirit world, I could see and hear the spirits as if they were still corporeal. But I had yet to see or hear anything that might even hint to Adele’s presence. Maybe our little errand would wind up being much shorter than I’d previously imagined …
    “Not yet,” I answered before glancing at Peter quickly. I was hoping he wouldn’t appear concerned or disappointed over that fact. If he were either, he didn’t show it. Instead, he seemed entirely uncomfortable, sitting straight as a board while observing us with an expression of puzzled bewilderment on his face. I figured all this voodoo business must have been alien to him. Of course, since he admitted knowing Guarda, maybe I was completely wrong?
    “Hmm,” Lovie started with a frown as she studied me intently, holding her palms up to my face as if she were trying to touch my aura. “Maybe we need to put a little more work inta openin’ you up to the spirit world.” She placed one of her hands on my knee, offering me some encouragement.
    “I’m game for whatever you think would help,” I replied as I nodded. I deeply inhaled another whiff of incense that Lovie ignited to clear the space of evil spirits. The incense included aloeswood, sandalwood, myrrh and dragon’s blood resin. She placed it on a piece of charcoal on the coffee table in order to fumigate the living room of anything that might do us harm. I couldn’t help wondering what might happen if we didn’t go through all the rigmarole of ensuring our spiritual safety, but concluded it was probably better not to find out.
    Drake, are you still there? I asked in thought; he was unusually quiet.
    Oui, ma minette, he answered immediately, and his deep voice in my head instantly brought me a sense of calm that wasn’t there before. I can sense your anxiety, which makes me feel quite anxious, also.
    I’m sorry, I said, knowing there really wasn’t much I could do to slow the throbbing of my pulse, or