The Blood Eagle in the Big Easy (4 page)

Traffic was starting to build as people went about their everyday lives, heading to work as if nothing horrible had just happened. Making our way through the back streets near the marina I was careful not to miss one of the trickier turns in this city. Otherwise I would have to circle around again. Russell’s Marina Grill’ backlot was thankfully empty as we pulled into a spot nearest the street. The night sky was turning angry shades of red and black as the sun tried breaking through the heavy cloud cover.

The pretty blonde hostess was just turning on the open sign and unlocking the door as we walked up. She pushed open the door to let us know they were ready to receive guests. Grabbing the door I held it as she stepped back, allowing Gregory to step in.

The young woman blushed as I caught her eyeing me a little too closely. I couldn’t help but smile in return. “Think we could get a table out front?”

She chewed her lip as she blushed again. “Are you sure you want to sit out there? Its still a bit cool out.”

Taking the menu from her outstretched hand I nodded. “I’m sure we’ll be just fine.” I gave Gregory a nasty little look as he chuckled. “We could use the fresh air.”

“If you will follow me, I’ll show you to your table.” She turned and sashayed through the restaurant and out to the veranda. “Your server will be with you shortly. If there is anything else I can do for you please don’t hesitate to ask.”

We took our seats allowing some of the weight of the morning to slide off our shoulders for at least a few minutes. Neither of us could help ourselves as we watched the hostess make her way inside. Once she was out of sight I turned my attention to the muddy waters of Lake Pontchartrain. The wind whipped across the surface of the lake making the waves dance and sparkle in the weak morning light. We let the silence fill the void between us as we tried to let the memories of the morning’s events soften. The seagulls cawed and squawked as they dove into the surf hunting for their breakfast.

Gregory cleared his throat, bringing me back to the here and now as I turned to see a big smile across his face. “So how the hell do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“The cute little hostess was all aflutter over you.” He laughed as he found himself much funnier than I had. “Didn’t seem like you really minded either.”

“Advantage of being single I suppose.” It was a little embarrassing to be called out adn I hated the fact that I was single. “By the way how’s your wife?”

The smile nearly vanished as he straightened up. “She worries about me of course and with this murder happening on my first official day at work she’s a bit freaked out.”

“Speaking of that, I hadn’t heard that the local Marshal’s office was getting a new director till now.” Before he could answer a young man sat two glasses of water in front of us delaying our conversation.

“Morning gentlemen, I’m Ricky and I will be your server today. What can I get you this morning?”

One of Russell’s house specials was a rarity, even here in New Orleans, and happens to be one of my favorite dishes of all time, Crab Cakes Benedict. Using mostly lump crabmeat for the cakes themselves, they are perfectly fried and tender yet juicy, then topped with two of the most delicate poached eggs covered in a spectacularly rich hollandaise sauce. My mouth was already starting to water just thinking about them. Gregory however was feeling less adventurous and ordered a plain cheese omelet. Ricky left us to put in our order and bring us a couple glasses of iced tea.

Gregory checked to make sure we were alone before he spoke. “Well for starters “director” isn’t a term we use at the Marshals office.” He puffed out his chest as he straightened his shirt. “I’m the Deputy Marshal for the Eastern District of Louisiana.”  “And I only got in town yesterday.Today was supposed to be my first day on the job.” He tried to laugh it off but there was a bitter angry tone to it. “Hell of a first impression! My first day here and one of my old WITSEC people show up dead and the other missing.”

“It could be coincidental.” Normally I don’t believe in coincidences and as a rule things tend to happen in a pattern.

“Neither of us believe that.” Gregory smiled as he drank some coffee. “Helena arrived two days ago when I was still in Glynco.” Gregory sat back in his chair, watching the lake. “No, whoever is responsible waited until I got to New Orleans to do this.”

“Yeah I was wondering about that.” I looked out at the lake and took in the beauty of the wind and water intertwined in a majestic dance. “They knew you were in town, and it isn’t exactly a secret I live here. Makes you wonder what else they might know.”

We sat in silence, contemplating that for a few minutes until Ricky brought us freshly made biscuits, my stomach immediately reacting with a loud gurgle. I grabbed one and promptly split it in two allowing the butter to melt before adding strawberry jam. The first bite of food in the morning is always the best. The biscuit was fluffy, rich and absolutely horrible for me. I loved it! Gregory waved me off when I offered him one. All the better for me.

“Are you going to ask?” Gregory turned from the lake to finally look at me. “About Smith?”

Taking another bite of my biscuit biding my time I swallowed. “I figured you would get around to it when you were ready.” I took a drink before looking away from Gregory and back at the lake. “Is there something you want to share?”

“Fuck no!” Gregory forced a laugh as a deep sadness filled his eyes. “But I know you.” He leaned forward placing his arms on the table. “You will look into it eventually. Which means people will ask questions that I don’t want asked.” Gregory hung his head. “So if I tell you I save myself some heartache or at the very least some uncomfortable questions.”

Taking another biscuit from the basket and focusing on it while I asked, “So where do we start?”

Gregory shrugged. “I don’t know really...” He ran his hand across his face as if trying to wipe something away. “Can I ask you something first?”

“Sure.” I continued to focus on my biscuit giving him room to get through whatever was on his mind.

“How is it you look exactly the same?” He looked at me his mouth slightly agape. “It’s been twenty years and you look exactly the same. How’s that even possible?”

“Good genetics I suppose.” Which was probably the truth. Hell I didn’t know much more about it than he did. “Besides you look basically the same, I don’t think I’m all that rare in the scheme of things.”

“You hit the nail on the head when you said basically the same.” He gave me a once over again. “But you look exactly the same. I’m sure I can find some photos to prove it.”

That made me uncomfortable. “Let’s not do that and say we did.” I put the biscuit down as I looked at Gregory. “No one needs that kind of trouble. The truth is I hadn’t noticed.” Which was a bold face lie. “If I look exactly the same we should chalk it up to the many things we can’t explain. Like we did back when we first met. There were many things that didn’t make it into the official reports because they were out of the ordinary.”

“So you’re saying you might be out of the ordinary?” Gregory smiled as he grabbed a biscuit. “Maybe we should look into your life after this is all over to see if we can’t find some explanations.”

“Maybe we should get back to whatever it is you wanted to tell me about Smith. After that maybe we can talk about your fascination with my good looks.” I took a bite of my biscuit, entirely uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation.

Gregory’s face sank. “Alright. It started back in college. We knew each other, hell we were friends, close ones.” Gregory sat back aging slightly as the light touched his face. “We played ball together. After graduation, I headed to Arlington with the Marshals and he was off to the FBI training facility in Quantico. We stayed in touch for a while but we lost contact after about a year.” Gregory was lost in his memories as he spoke. “I was asked to join the SOG (Special Operations Group) and moved to Glynco for special training. We were a rapid response team, ready to move whenever and wherever we were needed across the nation.” A smile wistfully crossed his lips as he spoke. “I married my college girlfriend, who hated Smith I might add. We had a baby girl a few years later. She was two when you and I met in Maine.” Sadness overtook the smile and something weighed heavily on his soul.

“Are you alright?” Sitting my glass down, I listened intently. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want too.” I looked back out at the lake. “I won’t look into it, I promise.”

Gregory waved his hand dismissively. “I need to tell someone.” His voice was full of emotion. “I haven’t spoken to anyone but my wife about what happened.” He sat up and looked me in the eyes. “In 2005 Smith was transferred to DC where I was stationed. Thanks to that little trip to Maine I was on the fast track for promotions. I was in charge of the SOG for the DC area.” He shrugged at me. “Basicly I had Jones job. I was happy! I had a beautiful wife and a smart, if not sassy, teenage daughter Cassandra.” I could see the sadness move in again. “Smith was in DC transferring a prisoner to WITSEC when I met him in the elevator.”

“I take it you two took some time to get back in touch with one another at this point?” I asked.

“He had recently transferred to the DC area from New Hampshire.” Gregory shook his head as he closed his eyes. “I didn’t think much of it at the time. I had him over for dinner several times over the following two years, much to my wife’s displeasure.” Tears formed at the corner of his eyes. “Smith joked a few times about coming to work for me because he was unhappy with the FBI.” He took a deep breath. “I played a hunch and checked with a friend in the Bureau, who let me know he was transferred to the DC office because of rumors in NH about his proclivity for underage girls. The whole thing was swept under the rug since the girl in question died in a car accident before the investigation was complete.”

I blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“You heard correctly. The FBI closed the investigation and shipped him off to DC so they could keep an eye on him.” Gregory took a drink before he steadied his nerves. Anger replaced the sadness. “I immediately cut him out of our lives completely. Cassandra’s teenage angst  was almost more than we could handle and we needed to focus on her. I got word that he was transferred to Arkansas a few months later.” He trembled as emotions swept over him at random. “Then one day I came home to find Cassandra dead in the bathtub with both of her wrists slit. We were devastated.”

“I’m sorry you’ve lost me.” I confessed. “Are the two connected somehow?”

Gregory nodded. “I didn’t see it either, until I got home one night and found my wife crying, holding our daughters phone. Cassandra must have sent a hundred texts to Smith begging him not to leave her because she loved him. He didn’t even respond, not even once.”

“Are you sure? Didn’t you take this to his superiors?” I grasped at something to hold on to.

“Don’t you think I tried?” Gregory growled. “They questioned him, hell I questioned him and he denied anything inappropriate happened. He said she started texting him after we stopped talking, that he had refused her advances.” He shook with anger as he spoke. “He made my daughter out to be some sort of sex crazed slut that he had to fight off, and that’s why he requested a transfer. To get away from my daughter harassing him.” His mood continued to darken as he spoke. “The thing that infuriates me is that I have an official write up in my file because he pressed charges against me for harassment.”

I shook my head. “If I get a chance I will bury that asshole.”

“Get in line!” Gregory growled.

Thankfully breakfast arrived, diverting our attention for at least a few minutes from the pain of the conversation. I took my time and savored the crab cakes even though my appetite had been somewhat dampened given the circumstances. Gregory held it together better than I would have if the tables were turned.

“We should talk about the case I suppose.” Gregory poked at the remnants of his food with a fork. “Is there anything you know that might help us?”

“There are a few people that might help but its going to sound crazy.” I shrugged.

“Crazier than some hooded freak throwing fireballs at me or having my partner turned inside out?” Gregory growled. “I think I got crazy handled just fine.”

“You said it not me.” My smile faded when Gregory glared at me. “Fine, how much do you know about the work I do?”

“You run some sort of private mercenary group?” Gregory threw his hands up as he sat back. “Hell I was never sure what you did to be honest or how you even got involved. Not to say I’m not grateful but you and those men you brought with you to Maine were scary as hell.”

Wincing at the word mercenary, I struggled to get comfortable in my seat. “I hate the term mercenary. It implies I can be bought or rented by the highest bidder, which isn’t the case I assure you.” I leaned back in my chair and looked out over the lake, letting my thoughts congeal into something understandable. “Warden Industries employees a wide variety of people. We have a couple of research and development facilities across the southern United States and several more in Europe and Asia. We manufacture everything from computer tech, to agriculture supplies and even weapons.” A smile crossed my face as pride filled me as I thought about how much the company had grown over the years. It had all surpassed my expectations. “While it’s true we employ the largest number of men and women of any security firm on earth we are not for hire or rent per se.” Turning my attention back to Gregory I could see he was confused. “We supply our goods and people to whoever honestly needs our help, be that governments or Joe Blow down the street.” Pushing my plate aside I leaned my forearms on the table.