As before, a little translation of purely Cajun expressions or words is necessary:
Parlangua: Half-man, half-alligator swamp monster
Rougarou: Werewolf, can be kept out of the house by laying 13 beans or small objects across the door; the rougarou can only count to 12, so it can’t count all the beans, and will stay there all night counting the beans until dawn drives it away.
Gre-Gre; Magic spell
Marie Laveau: Notorious 19c Voodoo Practitioner
Fifolet: Swamp Light; a burst of Marsh Gas seen at night in the swamps, similar to the European ‘Corpse-Candle’; said to lure travelers to their deaths in the swamps.
Pere Malfait: Lit. ‘Father Bad-Deeds’; swamp-dwelling boogeyman or vampire made of twisted vines, moss, and thorn-branches, who preys on travelers lost in the swamps.
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Two days after arriving back in Louisiana, rested and relaxed after their short stay with Tante Amice, Johnny’s aunt, they were pulling-up outside an anonymous townhouse shaded by a large cottonwood on Englewood Drive in Lafayette; it was a nice house, but nothing stand-out compared to the other, more luxurious homes of the neighborhood. Justine was agog with curiosity, and not a little apprehension at the thought of meeting these shadowy ‘trustees’ who’d apparently been an intimate part of her life since she was a young girl.
Johnny looked around carefully, then herded Justine up to the front door, keeping himself between her and the street as much as possible as he hustled her inside and quickly closed the door behind him, clicking-on the deadbolt and flipping down the door-stop.
Justine was still trying to take everything in as he led her into a large family room, with a long polished table in the middle of the room, and several people already seated around it. Justine recognized Jerome Baxter, but then her jaw dropped as she suddenly took in who the other female occupant of the room was. Jerome grinned at her expression as she sat down in a daze.
“Johnny, Justine, glad to see you made it here in one piece! Justine, I’d like you to meet…” but Justine blurted out her name before he could say further.
“Moonbeam O’Shaughnessy, Oh my God…!” she breathed, awestruck and almost paralyzed with hero-worship at being in the same room as the world’s most instantly recognizable teen supermodel, or, as she referred to herself, the oldest fourteen year-old in the world.
“Relax, Justine, you’re among friends, and besides, I’m just like you, really!” smiled Moonbeam, “And call me ‘Moon’, please; everyone else does.”
Awestruck at even being addressed by such a celebrity, Justine hardly noticed the other people drifting into the room and smiling at her as they seated themselves around the table, but a few things began to trickle through the haze, and a bell began ringing ‘dead-slow’ in her head as certain clues started to add-up; when she turned her head to take her first real look at the room’s other occupants, her stomach flip-flopped as the faces in front of her suddenly snapped into focus.
Johnny grinned as he took her hand, squeezing it reassuringly.
“Minou, these here people are your friends, and they been lookin’ out for you since your defan papa passed away; Mama and Mister Jerome and these good people made sure everything you got stayed safe an’ protected while you growin’ up. Now it time to meet them, OK? Jes’ be calm, Minou, ain’t no-one here gonna bite you.”
With that, he looked at the beautiful, dark-haired girl sitting across the table from them, one of the biggest movie stars in the world. Justine’s mouth sagged open as almost total shock set in.
“Justy, this here Miss Kelly Delano, I guess you-all likely know of her; she been one o’ your trustees since mama passed away. That man sittin’ over there, his name Robin, Robin Matthews, an’ the blonde lady nex’ to him, she your lawyer, an’ his wife; her name-…”
But Justine cut in, her eyes wide and shocked.
“Cassie Matthews, I saw her in the movies… oh my God…” When another blonde woman walked in from the kitchen carrying a tray of cups and a coffee-pot, Justine slumped back in almost total shock.
“Johnny, Johnny, look, oh my fucking God, that’s, that’s… it’s, it’s, oh God, Johnny, it’s Angel Graves-…” she stammered, but Johnny hadn’t finished.
“An’ finally, las’ but not least, this here gentleman’s Tommy, Miz Angel’s husband, an’ your chief financial wizard; he an’ Miz Cassie the main reasons you still got everythin’ your daddy left you, and then some.”
Justine said nothing, her expression one of dazed shock as her eyes flicked from one face to the next, each one more famous than the one before, until finally coming to rest on Johnny’s calm, smiling face.
“Johnny… why… how… what’s going on, baby? Why are Angel Graves and Kelly Delano, and Moonbeam O’Shaughnessy here? What have you done…?”
Johnny could see the shock and confusion in her eyes, so decided to give it to her straight.
“Baby, I already tole you some o’ this; when your daddy pass away, mama and Carlo’s daddy, Mister Bruno, converted all his assets to cash, sold all the businesses, an’ put the money in banks aroun’ the world; Bahamas, Cayman Islands, St. Lucia, Luxembourg, any place they could find to keep it safe. Mama made me your trustee, an’ because Mister Jerome advised mama Jane an’ used his contacts to help mama Jane hide what was yours an’ keep it safe, mama made him ‘nother trustee, ‘long with Mister Bruno; he love your daddy, they was boyhood frien’s, closer than brothers, an’ he wanted to make good an’ damn sure no gold-diggin’ fortune-hunter come along and take it away from you; even his own son…”
Johnny paused, his eyes far away.
“When mama… taken from us, me, an’ Mister Bruno, and Mister Jerome, too, we started lookin’ for people we could trust to help keep what was yours safe for you, an’ that was when Mister Jerome asked Tommy to lend a han’; o’course, where Tommy goes, Miz Angel go too, an’ her bestest frien’ is Miz Cassie; she a lawyer, so now she’s your lawyer. I trust them, Minou, an’ so should you; they and Miss Kelly’ve been doin’ a right good job of keepin’ a close eye on what’s due you.”
Johnny paused to take a breath, obviously gathering his thoughts, while Justine watched, hardly daring to breathe, still mind-blown that her Johnny-Bear knew these people at all, let alone that he had become so close to them; that she was even sitting in the same room as these people still seemed like some kind of surreal fantasy…
Johnny glanced at her shocked expression, a ghost of a smile flitting across his lips as he continued speaking.
“Carlo’s daddy once tole me, just ‘fore he passed away, not to trust Carlo, ever; imagine, his own daddy tole me that, but then, I ‘spose he know his son better’n anyone else. Miz Cassie, she your lawyer since mama passed away, she make sure everythin’ we done all legal an’ above board, ‘cept the parts that ain’t, but I’ll let Tommy explain that, he’s good at doin’ stuff no-one understand ’til it bite them in the ass…”
Justine followed with rapt attention as the tale of how and why Johnny knew such people, what they had to do with her, and what they were doing here right now, unfolded. It was a story of deceit, deception, legal jiggery-pokery, and downright chicanery, all designed to do one thing; protect her inheritance from Carlo and others like him.
Justine tried to take it all in, but her head was spinning as Johnny, with help from the others, laid out how they’d played the pea and shell game with her finances. She listened as long as humanly possible, but the questions bubbling inside her finally wouldn’t be stilled any longer.
No matter how fascinating the deft sleight of hand and smoke and mirror shenanigans Tommy, Cassie, Johnny, and even Jerome had been indulging in, apparently for years, there were still huge blanks, gaps that needed filling.
“Johnny, why is Kelly Delano here? No offense, but she’s like, Hollywood, she’s… she’s… how the hell is she part of this? And Moonbeam O’Shaugnessy? Really? And OK, I know why you say Cassie Matthews is here, but, really? Cassie Matthews, THE Cassie Matthews is my real, actual, no shitting me, lawyer? Again; really? And how about explaining to me again, real slow, just what in the Hell Angel Graves has got to do with me? What’s really going on?”
Johnny took her small hand in his big paw and patted it, idly lacing his fingers between hers.
“Minou, Miss Kelly my oldes’ frien’ in New York, I know her from when I was still jes’ deputy back to home, we kind of fixed some trouble down in New Orleans, an’ we been keepin’ in touch ever since; she one of Baxter-Harkoff’s clients too, jes’ like Miss Moonbeam, and’ when she in New York, I take care of her too; no-one got any sense gonna try anything with her while I’m around!”
He grinned at Kelly, who smiled back, before continuing.