Murder in the Marsh (19 page)

Forty-Two

Rachel figured she had been clinging to the tree for over an hour, and there still seemed to be no let up in the ferocity of the storm or the volume of water coming through the breach in the levee. She felt herself growing weary and wondered if she would be able to hang on for much longer. She had to inch higher up the branch as the water slowly crept upwards. Her emotional situation wasn’t improved by the fact that dead animals continued to float by in and among the branches, some getting caught up near her. Several snakes had also found refuge in the tree branches, which she kept a wary eye on.  

Clinging to the branch with her eyes closed to the wind and rain, Rachel suddenly sensed a large presence behind her. She was in no position to fully turn and look, but twisted her neck as far as she could. What she saw was not what she hoped or expected. A fully intact home had come off its foundations and floated slowly, but dangerously towards the oak tree sheltering Rachel. The tree itself was large and thick, but she could see the collision would endanger her. She decided to make her way to the outer edge of the tree opposite to where the collision would occur, and hold on as long as she could to see what the impact would do. If she needed to escape, she could quickly swim away.

              Sliding down the branch, she allowed herself to drop into the water. Grasping one limb at a time, she pulled herself out to the edge of the tree and waited. A few minutes later, the house collided into the opposite side of the tree. Rachel had expected the branches to splinter and crumple under the weight of the house, and that was partially what happened. What she didn’t expect was for the house to gradually push the tree over, due to its waterlogged and weakened root base. As a result, her section of the tree began to drive downward into the water as the opposite side lifted up into the air. Realizing the jeopardy of her situation, Rachel pushed away from the tree. She started floating backwards, but then was suddenly seized on the ankle by something beneath the water. She flailed wildly, but was relentlessly pulled under.

              Rachel had no idea what had grabbed hold of her, and in the murky brown water she could not see. She felt her body being dragged deeper and deeper below the surface and knew she wouldn’t have long. Using both hands, she began feeling down her trapped leg until she came to her ankle. She discovered that her foot was caught in the crook of a branch, which must have happened as she was kicking underwater away from the tree. She determined the direction she needed to pull her foot to free it, and with a couple of strong pulls, was able to extricate herself. She swam towards the surface, colliding with several smaller branches before emerging. Desperately sucking in air, she saw the tree was on its side with the house beginning to rotate and float off in another direction. Rachel looked around for another point of refuge as the wind whipped the waves about her.

              She noticed other homes were floating or partially demolished as well. The flooding had a devastating impact on the neighborhood, and none of the homes would likely be livable again. After struggling to stay afloat for several minutes, Rachel finally identified a small portion of a house protruding up out of the water. It actually was the outside wall that had been turned up on its side, and was motionless in the water. It was neither sinking nor floating, and provided no protection from the wind and rain, but at least it was stationary.

              Rachel fought against the current and gradually began to make headway towards the structure. Reaching it, she pulled herself up its side until she was completely out of the water. She only had a small island of several square feet, but she considered herself lucky. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she wrapped her arms around them and tried to fight off the chill that once again began to sap her body’s warmth.

              As she endured the thrashing of the hurricane in her exposed position, Rachel sensed the deeper spiritual significance of her situation and that of her friends. She remembered that at various occasions in the Bible, storms arose and affected the lives of individuals. Some responded in fright and fear, while others responded in faith. She remembered when Jesus and the disciples were on the Sea of Galilee and the storm suddenly arose, frightening the disciples. She also thought of Paul aboard a ship, who for many days was tossed relentlessly about by a storm and eventually shipwrecked. Though she had taught others the principle of faith in God during difficult times, only now did she begin to truly understand the full meaning. Jesus had chided the disciples about their faith, and Paul had trusted God enough that he had the Roman soldiers cut away the life raft from their ship, knowing that God would save them.

              Rachel began to understand that the hurricane and flooding were opportunities for her faith in the Lord to grow stronger, not something to be feared. Her concerns about her safety and that of Daniel, Adele, Claude, and Michelle should be placed in God’s hands. While each of them could act for their own well being, there was no need to fear because God’s will would be done regardless. She thought she had a stronger faith, but now realized since the beginning of the hurricane she had constantly worried. She recalled the scripture from Romans in which Paul wrote, “
Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into his grace in which we now stand.  And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

              Rachel determined in her heart that she was going to find a way to rejoice in her sufferings and to find peace in her perilous situation. She refused to allow the hurricane to cast further fear in her heart and thus weaken her faith in the Lord. As she sat on the little strip of exposed wall with the water raging about her, she closed her eyes and envisioned each drop of rain hitting her, and each gust of wind buffeting her as refining and purifying her faith in the Lord, drawing her closer to Him.  She prayed fervently for His will to be done and her faithfulness to that will. Then at last, with the fury of the storm swirling about her, she experienced the warming presence of the Lord providing her with a deep sense of peace that overcame all her fears and doubts.

Forty-Three

Daniel and Claude fought against the fierce winds as they walked south on the river levee. At times, the wind became so intense it threatened to blow them off the levee and into the Mississippi River. On both sides, the water from the flooding and the water from the Mississippi River were very high, so they could not use the edge of the levee to take cover from the wind. They held on to one another and measured their slow progress in feet. Several head of cattle had taken refuge on the levee as well and stood stock-still with heads bowed in the face of the wind. Other less fortunate cattle floated in the flooding waters at their feet. At one point, they observed two alligators that had some how found their way between the two levees and were making a meal of one of the dead cattle. Dogs, cats, and a few wild animals also found safety on the high ground of the river levee, often huddling right next to one another. They even passed a couple of wooden caskets floating in the water. The stone lids of the above ground sarcophagi must have been washed off, allowing the delicately carved caskets to float up. He shuddered at the bizarreness of the sight.

              They passed a barge beached against the river side of the levee, its bow pointing upwards as if it were a rocket about to take off. It had damaged the levee, but not enough to cause it to collapse. They also observed that the ongoing flooding had collapsed a number of houses below them, and caused others to float about indiscriminately colliding with one another. This caused them to be more concerned about the fate of the women, and they increased their pace even more.

              The journey of two and a half miles down the levee would have normally taken them less than an hour. But this time it took over two hours, and when they reached the point directly across the highway from the school, they still had to cross several hundred yards of flooded land still being scoured by the hurricane to reach Rachel’s apartment. Realizing that trying to swim, even with their life preservers, would be a dangerous and arduous task, they looked around for anything they could use to help them get across. Walking a little further down the levee, Claude came across a large piece of rectangular white styrofoam, used to support floating docks. Easing down into the water, Daniel moved to the front edge and draped one arm over it, while Claude positioned himself to his rear. They had the extra buoyancy of the styrofoam to help keep them afloat, while being able to use both legs and one arm to paddle forward. The current from the flooding made maneuvering difficult, and the fact that they were heading directly into the wind also impeded their progress. Nevertheless, they were able to traverse the flooded land and make their way down the inundated street towards Rachel’s apartment.

              As they picked their way through the debris, they noticed the Sheriff’s criminal investigative building had collapsed and numerous cars floated randomly about. Power lines also criss-crossed the oily water. Since they had not been electrocuted yet, they figured the power must be completely out. The hurricane continued to savage them, but they found brief moments of respite behind the buildings that lined the street. Kicking their feet in the water and using one arm each to paddle, they neared the apartment building.

              Once they were in sight of where the building should have been, Daniel was mortified to see it was no longer there. He didn’t have to look far, as it rested along the fence of the high school football field. The fact that such a large wooden structure could have moved so far increased his tension and worry. Claude wasn’t sure at first which building housed the apartments, but Daniel pointed it out and the fact that it had floated off its foundation. The good news was that despite some missing wooden siding and roof damage, the apartment building was in relatively good shape and in one piece.

              After a few more minutes, Daniel and Claude reached the building and grew concerned that the whole first floor was flooded up to the second floor window. Daniel also saw Rachel’s Sentra floating rear end up, letting him know the women had at least made it to the apartment. He and Claude became increasingly worried they had been trapped inside the apartment. Though the building was twisted around, Daniel located where the outside door to Rachel’s apartment should have been. It was completely under water, and though he tried to swim down to open it, it was locked. Next they found the windows to the apartment, which were also submerged. Once again, Daniel swam down and found they were covered with nailed up boards. He gave one of the boards a tug, and it loosened fairly easily. He then resurfaced to explain the situation to Claude.

              “The windows are boarded up.” Daniel said. “But I think with a couple of tries we can pull the boards off and possibly swim inside. There might be an air pocket up toward the ceiling.”

              “But if de windows are boarded up and de door is locked, den how would dey have gotten out,” Claude said, sounding frantic that his wife and daughter might have been caught inside and drowned.

              “I don’t know, Claude… Let’s just pray that somehow they’re alright in there.”

              Claude immediately swam down to the window and began jerking the boards off with as much force as he could muster. Daniel gave him a minute, then followed, tapping him on the shoulder to encourage him to return to the surface to get air. Daniel began pulling on the remaining board and managed to remove it before he too returned to take a breath.

              “That’s it… We got it…We can go through now,” Daniel said breathing heavily. “Only one of us should try to go through at a time.”

              “I’ll go first,” Claude stated, eager to find his loved ones.

              “Okay, but save enough time if you need to come back out, if there is no air pocket.”

              Claude didn’t answer, but immediately took a deep breath and swam below the surface. Feeling his way through the broken window, he pulled himself into what once was the living room. Furniture and numerous other household articles floated around him. He kicked upwards, and as Daniel had speculated, he broke the surface to a thin air pocket about six inches wide from the ceiling. He decided to wait for Daniel, as he knew he would be coming. As he waited, he called out for Adele, Michelle, and Rachel but received no response.

              A couple of minutes later Daniel splashed up through the water next to Claude.

“Have you found them?”

              “Ah’v called dere names, but no response.”

              “I’ve been in this apartment once before. I kind of know the layout. You check here in the living room and kitchen area. I’ll try to find the hallway and check out the bedroom and bathroom.”

              “Awright. We’ll meet back here.”

              “Good.”

              Daniel started kicking his way back toward where he remembered the hallway to be. He had to swim around the floating furniture and other objects, but eventually located the passageway. Down the hallway he found the doors to the bedroom and bathroom. He continued to have the benefit of the air pocket, but once in the bedroom, he kicked below the surface to look around. The water was difficult to see in, so he had to feel around as best he could. He felt his worst nightmare would be to place his hands on the lifeless body of the women or Michelle. Discovering nothing in the bedroom, he similarly checked out the bathroom, but with the same results. Convinced the bedroom, bathroom, and hallway were clear, he swam his way back out into the living room. He heard Claude continuing to check out the kitchen and called his name.

              “Claude! Found anything?”

              “Nothing. Ah don’t tink day’re here,” Claude responded not far away. “What about one of de other apartments?”

              “Well, if they’re not here, then they evacuated. If they evacuated, they would be unlikely to go to one of the other first floor apartments. I think it would be best to check out the second floor apartments.”

              “How do we get up dere?”

              “I think there’s a door to the hallway from this apartment, and there must be a flight of stairs leading up to the second floor. I’ll take a look.”

              Daniel started searching for another door and shortly found one in the living room. The door was already partially opened and all they had to do was swim through it. He waited on Claude and both exited the apartment one after the other out into the hall. In the hall, they found another air pocket near the ceiling. The narrowness of the hallway, and the fact that they were in seven feet of water, increased their feelings of claustrophobia and danger, but they pressed on. Kicking and swimming their way down the passageway, they eventually located the open doorway of the stairs. They were able to place their feet on the steps and emerged from the water as they walked upward.

              Reaching the top of the flight of stairs, Daniel emerged first and then Claude right behind him. Looking down the hall, they noticed a huddled mass on the floor leaning against a wall. The next thing they knew, Adele jumped up with Michelle in her arms and flew down the hall into Claude’s outstretched arms. All three cried and shouted joyfully at having found one another again.