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Jake put a hand on Marie’s shoulder. “Nobody’s using the C word here.”
“Let’s get you over to Ms. Elise’s house so you can settle in. Last night she served her famous stuffed crabs with the most delicious potatoes. She made a point to save you some.”
“I haven’t had a decent meal in years. And that’s the God’s truth.” Marie declared this in such a solemn tone that I wanted to cry for her and with her.
“Well, I can assure you that’s about to change. You’ll be staying with one of the best cooks in Cypress Bayou. I don’t think I’ve ever entered her house when there wasn’t something bordering on amazing to eat.” I said this with certainty and truth.
“I’m ready to go.” Marie’s tone was firm.
“I can attest to what Carly said about Nana’s cooking. And I just got your discharge paperwork finalized. Someone will be here with a wheelchair any minute,” Jake said.
“Marie, where are your things? Do you remember?” Tanner asked.
“Things? What things? Your daddy sold all my things, along with my house in Leesfield. And he laughed while he did it. He couldn’t wait to tell me that all the money he’d gotten would go to pay his guardian fees and to pay the hospital for my care.”
The rage emerged again. “That asshole! Somebody should punch him in the face.” I couldn’t control my anger or my words. I literally had the urge to punch Carson. Maybe I wasn’t cut out to be an attorney.
“I get to go first.” Lisa’s expression showed a murderous intent. “How is this man still walking free?”
“We’ve asked ourselves that for years.” Jake shook his head. “I hope you’ve gotten enough proof to finally bring him up on charges.” Jake directed this statement toward Tanner.
“We are doing it right. Carson won’t get off no matter how connected he is. There’s too much proof and too many people know what he’s done. Once we get him behind bars, I’m hoping those he’s wronged will have the courage to come forward and make statements for insurance to the case against him.”
*
Tanner
Tanner left thehospital with a clear idea of what had to be done now. Alan Litrell was meeting him out of the office in case the moles around the courthouse were on high alert. They were both headed to Alan’s fishing camp on Lake Breaux a few miles off the highway. Alan would bring his administrative assistant, Jeff, whom he trusted completely, and with whom they’d worked throughout this entire process.
When Tanner arrived at the small cabin, the DA and Jeff were already there.
“Thanks for meeting us out here. I realize it’s unorthodox, but we’re so close to nailing Carson for his crimes against the citizens of this town. I’ve called in the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation. They will be arriving shortly to set up a task force. I’m not taking any chances of this falling into some good old boy network and getting dropped due to straight-up political sleaze.” Alan was more serious than Tanner had ever seen him.
“Thanks for taking this seriously. And for involving the LBI. If enough people know about it and it goes through official channels, even Carson won’t be able to squeeze out of it.”
“The fact that he essentially kidnapped Marie Trichel and that we have witnesses, and a paper trail allowed the LBI to become an investigative partner in our case. This isn’t going away.” The Louisiana Bureau of Investigation was the state branch of the FBI. They were virtually impervious to local corruption, as their agents were brought in and trained at a federal level. The agents answered to the FBI. DA Litrell worked under the umbrella of the Louisiana State District Attorney and there was a lot of information sharing at the state level between the two entities. As much power as Carson and Judge Keller might have within their own communities, it meant very little when the larger state and federal agencies got involved.
“Lisa is meeting me at the office to do a recorded call with her adoptive parents as soon as she gets Marie settled at Elise Porter’s house. Marie will be staying there for a while until we can figure out what to do about her finances. Carson sold all her possessions and paid himself and Pine Hill. There’s a money trail there, but that will take some time to unravel.”
“We’ll make it a priority by putting a forensic accountant on it. That’s something I can do under the umbrella of investigation. The more evidence we have against CarsonandArthur Keller the better.”
“We don’t know exactly how involved the Henrys, Lisa’s adoptive parents, were in what happened to Justine Chaffin, but Lisa believes they are our best opportunity to get some honest answers to all this before they lawyer up and refuse to cooperate.”
“You say she’s headed over to your office to call them? Make sure you get a clean recording. And have her ask as many questions about their relationship with Carson and Keller as possible. Hayes Henry is a prominent attorney in New Orleans, and he knows not to go down with the sinking ship. Throwing those two under the bus will be his only way out of this if he’s involved.”
Tanner nodded. “That’s what I figured. I’ll go over it all with Lisa before she calls them.”
“In the meantime, I’ll go over the recording of your interview with Marie Trichel and have Jeff transcribe the conversation so I can send it over to the LBI task force. Carson has holed up in his house, and so far hasn’t made any calls that we know of. Unless he’s got another cell phone that we’re unaware of, which is likely because he knows we’re watching him.”
Tanner left the camp feeling a little better about the handling of things now that he knew the LBI had a task force involved. Before, he’d had a gnawing fear that this would end up going nowhere. When Carson was involved, one never knew.
Carly’s and Lisa’s vehicles, along with Imogene’s, were parked in the lot when Tanner arrived. Just the sight of Carly’s car gave Tanner a little kick in the gut. A nervous kind of thrill, even with all the other stuff happening.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Carly
We’d just setup the conference room for Lisa’s FaceTime call with her parents when Tanner arrived. Lisa was pacing and was on her second cup of coffee. So, yeah, she was a little nervous at the idea of confronting her parents about what might be the most impactive thing they’d ever discussed.
