Murder with a French Twist:



A Mystery

By Karen J. Gallahue

American detective Dan Elliot and his wife, Caroline, have traveled to Nice, France, to witness the wedding of their special friend, Kate Kennelly, and the wealthy Jack Boulanger. Caroline's daughter, Ruth Mannering, is serving as the maid of honor for this elegant wedding. But when Ruth and Kate don't arrive at the church for the start of the service, concern sets in.

Hours later, Ruth regains consciousness on a seedy side street in Nice, and she's able to alert her parents that Kate has been kidnapped. From the moment the two women disappear, someone taunts and terrorizes the groom and his family. The culprit is called the "hyene" because of the childish song and nursery rhyme parodies that have been sent to Jack.

Dan and Caroline share their unique crime-solving expertise with France's premier detective, Emile LaGrange. When kidnapping escalates to murder, Caroline does not let her disability hold her back as she, Dan, and LaGrange seek to reveal the identity of the kidnapper and murderer. Tension escalates as other deadly incidents unfold, and the detective trio must determine if this case revolves around ransom, jealousy, or revenge.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Apr 27, 2008
• ISBN: 9780595905379

Karen J. Gallahue

Karen J. Gallahue is a former occupational therapist who now satisfies her overactive imagination by writing stories of suspense. She lives in Naperville, Illinois,with her husband,Greg. Her previous book is Murder with a French Twist.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

The bride was stunning. The photographer straightened a fold of Kate Kennelly’s wedding train and angled her face for the last individual portrait shot. Kate’s glossy black curls were tamed into a stylish chignon laced with pearls and white stephanotis, with only a few dark tendrils left to frame her face. Her strapless, white satin bridal gown floated around her as she posed in the elegant hotel room in Nice, France. Her violet eyes sparkled, reflecting the diamante beads shimmering in the bodice of her dress.

Caroline Elliot sat to the side in her wheelchair, taking a proprietary interest in the young woman who had become like an adopted daughter to her during the past year. Kate had been Caroline’s occupational therapist after the car accident that smashed Caroline’s right arm and leg eighteen months before. Unfailingly intuitive, Kate had always known when to push Caroline and when to stop during therapy

After the photographer’s last shot, Kate rolled her shoulders to relax them and grinned at Caroline. When I was jumping off our dock in Brainerd, Minnesota, I never dreamed I’d be getting married at the French Riviera, she said. I still can’t believe that this is happening to me.

Don’t forget that your background in Brainerd contributed to the charming and intelligent woman that Jack fell in love with, replied Caroline.

It’s a good thing I love Jack so much. This new lifestyle is sometimes difficult for me, said Kate.

You’ll manage. Caroline rolled to Kate’s side and patted her hand.

At that moment, Kate’s maid of honor, Ruth Mannering, entered the room. Caroline gave her daughter by her first marriage a searching look. Ruth had called off her own wedding six months ago, and Caroline hoped that participating in Kate’s wedding wouldn’t be difficult for her. When Ruth looked at her and winked, Caroline breathed a sigh of relief.

The bridesmaids left without a hitch, said Ruth. The press is out in full, but there’s a battalion of extra security people who are keeping them away from the cars. She turned to her mother. Your limo is next, and your husband is patiently waiting for you in the lobby.

I’ve never known Dan to wait patiently, laughed Caroline. I’d better leave now.

As she wheeled herself to the door, she took one last fond look at Kate and Ruth. The two shapely women were the perfect foils for each other: dark-haired, violet-eyed Kate and blond Ruth, whose emerald green eyes caught fire from the Provence blue of her gown. Caroline waved to them and left.

*    *    *    *

Charles DelaHunt, co-owner of the LaLune hotel, along with the groom’s father, arrived to escort Kate and Ruth through the elegant, white marble lobby of the hotel and out to the curb of the palm-lined La Promenade des Anglais, where their sleek black limousine waited. The two women blinked as they stepped into the brilliant sunlight. Beyond the street, the bright blue waters of the Mediterranean glistened.

As Kate and Ruth exited the hotel doors, they heard the shouts.

There she is!

Look over here, Kate!

Give me a big smile!

A few wolf-whistles pierced the air.

As DelaHunt reached the curb, he said, It has been a pleasure to escort two such beautiful women. I will see you next as you walk down the aisle at the church.

Kate’s moustached driver, Bernard Bergeron, remained in the limousine while Andre Dupre, her authoritative, bald-headed bodyguard, moved quickly to open the rear passenger door. He gave his usual flamboyant bow before helping Ruth to get Kate and her train into the into the rear seat of the car. After Andre helped Ruth into her seat in front of Kate, he entered the front seat. The car glided silently away from the curb, and Ruth turned back toward Kate so they could talk.

Intent on their conversation, the two women were not watching out the window as the limo wove its way through the narrow streets behind the hotel. However, Kate and Ruth both looked up as the limo slowed down and pulled next to a curb, behind a large truck with a ramp angling down from it. Before they could flinch, the limo shot up the ramp and into the back of the truck. Within seconds, they found themselves in complete darkness as the rear door of the truck was slammed shut by someone unseen.

Both women screamed as the ominous darkness enveloped them. Someone grabbed Ruth from the front and, with brutal efficiency, slipped a foul-smelling bag over her head. She clawed at the bag, but strong hands secured her arms in a vise-like hold. After her initial gasp, Ruth tried to breathe in air, but it was poisoned with a sickeningly sweet smell. When she felt the person release her hands, her brain sent a signal to her arms to pull the object off her head, but her limbs were totally limp. Kate’s screams seemed far away. Ruth tried to scream, but it was too much effort. Within a few seconds, her entire body went slack.

*    *    *    *

Kate shouted, Ruth, answer me!

No response.

Kate yelled, Bernard! Andre! What’s going on? Answer me!

She felt movement, not from the limo, but from the truck it had entered.

If this is some kind of joke, it isn’t funny! Somebody answer me! shouted Kate.

Dead silence.

Answer me, now! Please? The last sound was a desperate plea.

In the dark, she groped for a door handle on one side and then the other. Both were locked. She felt around the seat in front of her, calling Ruth’s name. She finally felt the satin fabric of Ruth’s dress, but her friend did not answer.

She sensed a person leaning toward her from the seat next to Ruth. She could smell a mixture of human perspiration and garlic, and she could hear heavy breathing.

A raspy voice said, I have a knife. Follow my directions. I need the train from your wedding dress.

As frightened as she was, Kate could still feel fury. Over my dead body, she gritted.

If you wish, the voice answered. I can use the knife on your throat or on the dress.

Panic rose up and choked her as she pushed out the words, Why are you doing this?

Shut up, lady, or I’ll take the whole damned dress.

She quieted and heard the snick of a knife cutting through the material that had been placed so carefully on the seat next to her.

The man grunted as he finished his task, and Kate felt something slide over her head. Her last coherent thought was, This is no joke. I am going to miss my own wedding, and this bastard has just ruined my wedding dress.

CHAPTER 2

As Caroline and Dan Elliot pulled up within a block of the stately Basilique Notre Dame in the city center, they could see the crowds of well-wishers, onlookers, and press jamming the sidewalk and the street. Police and private security people worked to keep a path open for the line of cars angling in to drop off passengers. The inevitable paparazzi, some hanging from trees, tried to snap pictures of the important wedding guests.

Dan instructed their driver to stop and let them out. Caroline watched him as he quickly unfolded her collapsible wheelchair. Her husband was a tall, lean, broad-shouldered man, with quietly assessing gray eyes. Deep lines bracketed his mouth, and fine lines radiated from his eyes. She liked character lines etched on a man’s face.

Dan carefully placed Caroline in the wheelchair that was slip-covered today in periwinkle blue velvet to match the color of her dress. As they approached the church, he maneuvered Caroline’s chair toward a side entrance with a ramp. He looked at her, and a smile lit his face.

Caroline saw it and swallowed hard. It still overwhelmed her to think that it was only a year since their wedding. She smiled in return.

Mrs. Elliot, you look so radiant, people will wonder if you’re the bride today, he said.

If I’m looking radiant, it’s because I’m smiling at you, she said and squeezed his hand. I think I am almost as excited as Kate. I still can’t believe that we are on the same guest list as President Dubois of France, the royal family from Monaco, and Mallory Mason.

Jack and his father have an impressive group of friends, he replied.

And Mallory is as beautiful in person as she is in her films, said Caroline. I only wish Kate’s parents could be here. She was silent for a moment, thinking of Kate’s mother and father, who were killed in an auto accident when Kate was a freshman in college.

From the number of phone bills between Wisconsin and Nice during the past year, I would say Kate has found a surrogate mother in you, said Dan.

I feel touched and honored that she has, said Caroline. And Kate and Ruth have become like sisters, burning up the phone lines between Nice and London.

After Caroline’s accident eighteen months before, Kate and Ruth had met and joined forces to insist that Caroline handle her disability with panache. They encouraged her to buy the collapsible, manual chair she was using today, as well as a sporty power chair in black enamel with cream-colored leather upholstery. The two young women also persuaded her to buy an entire new wardrobe of soft gauzy fabrics and floaty scarves to match, to give herself a new look.

Last year, when Kate had spent a month with Caroline in Lake Geneva, both women had found murder as well as romance in the lush wooded areas of the Midwest. Caroline met and married Dan Elliot, the detective that she teamed with to solve the murder of billionaire businesswoman, Sahara Blakely. Kate fell in love with Sahara’s son, Jack Boulanger who, at one time, was also a murder suspect, although he was quickly found innocent.

Kate and Jack’s romance had a shaky start, but Kate learned to deal with her misgivings about the Boulanger wealth and fame. For the past year, she worked as an occupational therapist in a Nice hospital. Jack, once labeled the Riviera’s most eligible bachelor, had spent that year using all his considerable charm to convince the lovely but independent Kate to become his wife.

When Caroline and Dan reached the vestibule of the church, Caroline saw the groom’s father, Pierre Boulanger, mingling with the guests. Pierre was a man of great talent and charisma, well loved by his countrymen for his prodigious talent as a painter and sculptor, as well as his unending efforts to assist disabled children through his Children’s Hospital. Pierre winked and waved at them.

Next, Caroline saw Louis Filice, Jack’s partner in a computer software business. Caroline’s mother would have called him a long string bean. His head of amazingly thick, curly, brown hair crowned a nondescript face above a pronounced Adam’s apple. Caroline had met him at the rehearsal dinner and found him to be a serious and self-conscious young man.

Kate’s brother, Greg Kennelly, offered his arm to escort them to their seats on the bride’s side of the church. A former Green Beret and now an assistant district attorney in New York City, Greg was a tall, well-muscled man with electric blue eyes and a straightforward approach. Greg was going to give Kate away today.

As Caroline and Dan went down the aisle, she saw the groom, Jack Boulanger, off to the right of the main altar. Caroline and Dan had discovered that Jack was a cosmopolitan man, as at home in a tuxedo as he was in shorts when sailing on the Mediterranean. Being the son of France’s premiere painter and sculptor had given him polish. He had also developed a charisma that was all his own.

Oh, look, Dan, Caroline whispered. The group from the Children’s Hospital is here. The hospital had been built by Jack’s civic-minded father, and Kate worked there as an occupational therapist. Caroline pointed to the line of small wheelchairs lined up where Jack had arranged for a pew to be removed for them.

Kate said they had a lottery at the hospital to choose twenty children who could come, continued Caroline. Kate and Jack also plan to visit the hospital to see the rest sometime between the service and the reception.

Dan smiled, Sounds like Kate.

*    *    *    *

As Dan settled his wife in the pew, he thought Caroline looked especially lovely today. In her late forties, she was a slim woman with highlighted, shoulder-length, blond hair and incredible, wide-spaced, blue eyes, with crinkle lines at the corners when she smiled.

He recalled the day he came to the cottage at Lake Geneva to interview her as part of a murder investigation. She was writing the biography of businesswoman Sahara Blakely at the time. He discovered that she was a woman with outstanding observational skills and keen intuition about people. She was also charming and intelligent. He knew he was a lucky man when she agreed to marry him. If she could be a little less enthusiastic about shopping, she’d be just about perfect.

*    *    *    *

Off to the right of the altar, Jack Boulanger checked his watch and assured himself Kate would be arriving soon for the five o’clock wedding. He smiled as he thought of the lovely young woman who had finally agreed to be his bride. Kate was intelligent and genuinely good-hearted, and she had a sweet sassiness that intrigued him.

He scanned the church and saw Dan wheel Caroline down the aisle. When Dan lifted Caroline to seat her in the pew, his movements were like an embrace to the vibrant woman who was now his wife. Jack also saw that his brother and two sisters were already seated on the groom’s side.

When Jack moved back to the small room off to the right of the altar, his best man, Paul Labrie, tapped him on the shoulder. Hey, man, looks like a who’s who of important people wanting to see the Riviera’s most eligible bachelor bite the bullet, he said.

I thought that was your title, Jack laughed.

Better enjoy your last few minutes of freedom, said Paul.

Hey, this is the most important day of my life, said Jack. I’ve waited a long time to hear Kate say ‘I do.’ He asked Paul to have Kate’s brother notify him as soon as she arrived.

The next time Jack checked his watch again, it was 5:15. His eyebrows rose. It was not like Kate to be fifteen minutes late. She felt it was disrespectful to keep people waiting. It was just one of her many endearing traits.

Jack looked out at the congregation again. He could sense a change in the energy of the group. Before, he could sense eager anticipation; now people were getting fidgety. One person coughed; then a few more followed suit. Wedding programs twitched and rustled as people looked at them for diversion. Throats cleared. Legs crossed and uncrossed, and feet shuffled. He saw President Dubois check his watch and confer with his aide. One child from the hospital struggled to make a paper airplane out of a wedding program. A susurration of lowered voices started low and built. The organist doggedly kept playing one Bach fugue after another.

Jack called Kate’s cell phone but only got the annoying voice that said Kate was unavailable. He figured she probably left her cell phone at the hotel, so he called her bodyguard and received the same answer. His stomach contracted. Something wasn’t right. Frantic, he called her limo driver, who had worked for him for years. No response. He sent a message to Caroline in the church, asking for Ruth’s cell phone number, and quickly dialed it. No response. He called the man in charge of security outside the church and asked him to call the hotel to verify if and when Kate and Ruth left and to have people check the route in case there was a car problem. He refused to even think of an accident.

CHAPTER 3

On a seedy-looking sidewalk in a relatively deserted section of Nice, a heap of bright blue satin material pooled incongruously on the gray, drab background of a sidewalk that was broken and discolored. Sturdy little tufts of grass poked through the cracks in the concrete. A McDonald’s wrapper fluttered around the leftovers of a Big Mac, and a few fries lay scattered around it. Two cars went by, but neither one stopped. A scrawny tabby cat prowled along a rusted chain link fence that separated the sidewalk from a lot full of old, discarded tires. The cat edged toward the Big Mac, then leaped backward when the bright satin object stirred.

*    *    *    *

Ruth Mannering came back to consciousness smelling pickles. She cautiously opened her eyes and sniffed. The afternoon sun was bright, and she quickly snapped her eyes shut against the glare. Her fuzzy brain refused to process any information. When she finally reopened her eyes, she realized she was lying on a crumbling sidewalk in a location that appeared to be at the edge of a town. The smell of pickles was real. They were oozing out of someone’s half-eaten Big Mac not far from her head. Suddenly, her thought processes cleared, and she was jolted to full consciousness.

She quickly looked around to see if Kate was in sight. She was not. Ruth stirred, and she realized that she was lying on something white. She tugged at it and gasped at the sight of the smooth, white fabric. Her fingers shook as she touched the train from Kate’s wedding gown. Her stomach twisted, and her head pounded as she looked frantically for her purse, which contained her cell phone. It was nowhere in sight.

Ruth grabbed the satin train, rolled to her knees, and tried to stand up. The hem of her long, satin dress caught on the two-inch heel of her matching shoe. She yanked both shoes off, ripping the hem in her hurry. She looked both ways, trying to determine how she might find help. The block she was on was full of empty lots, but the next block to her right seemed to have some buildings. She hiked her skirt and tried to run, but her balance was off, so she zigzagged down the street, looking for a place where she could use a phone.

She was short of breath when she hurtled into a pawn shop. Pouvez-vous m’aider, s’il vous plait. Jai besoin utiliser a telephone.

A corpulent man with a piggish nose looked at her long gown and disheveled state and told her they had no public telephone. She saw the phone sitting on the counter and pleaded. The man shook his head and gestured for her to get out.

She raced toward the next shop. A sign in front said, Fermi.

I can’t believe it’s closed, she thought with a sinking heart and sprinted past two empty lots until she reached a dry cleaning shop. She shoved open the door and begged the startled pinch-faced clerk to let her use a phone. When the woman said, Oui, Ruth hugged her in relief. Ruth didn’t know Jack’s cell phone number, so she dialed her mother’s cell.

*    *    *    *

In the Basilique, Caroline saw Paul Labrie, Jack’s best man, coming down the aisle. She had met him at the rehearsal dinner last night. Suave and self-assured, Paul had mingled easily with the guests, although his smile didn’t always reach his steel gray eyes. Paul was a lifelong friend of Jack’s, and his light brown hair was sun bleached from hours of sailing, often in Jack’s company. He came to Caroline’s pew and asked for Ruth’s cell phone number. Caroline gave it to him and then felt increasingly uneasy as the minutes ticked by. At first, she thought the ceremony was late in starting because of the traffic jam in front of the church. Next, a tiny frisson of fear squiggled up her spine. Why didn’t Jack call Kate’s cell, or the limo driver, or the bodyguard? She twisted around to see if she could see any activity in the back of the church. But she couldn’t. As she turned back, she told herself that she was over-reacting. She tried to sit quietly and not let her worry escalate. She focused her attention on Kate’s selection of decorations in the church.

As she noted the sprays of fresh flowers at the end of each pew and those on the altar, Caroline decided that Kate must have commandeered every tinted blue and white flower in Nice. Caroline identified roses, carnations, and calla lilies, but she had no clue to the names of most of the blooms, probably unique to the gardens of Nice. They provided a potpourri of pleasant scents, and coupled with the soft light from hundreds of flickering candles, they added a feeling of festivity to the occasion.

A moment later, Caroline felt the vibration of her phone and looked to see who was calling. When she saw it was an unfamiliar number, she quickly answered the phone.

Mom, Ruth sobbed into the phone. We were … we were kidnapped! You must let Jack know.

Ruth, are you all right? asked Caroline, her fingers frantically clenching the tiny phone.

Yes, I was drugged. They dumped me out, Ruth cried, but they must still have Kate!

Caroline grabbed Dan’s arm and whispered urgently, It’s Ruth. She’s all right, but Kate has been kidnapped! Here, take the phone to Jack!

Although he had a large frame, Dan was extremely fit, and he moved with speed and agility. Talk to me, Ruth. I’m on my way to Jack, he said as he stepped past Caroline and strode purposefully to the front of the church. He spotted Jack off to the right of the main altar and handed him the phone.

CHAPTER 4

It’s Ruth, said Dan to Jack. She and Kate were kidnapped, but they dropped Ruth off. She’s on the phone. Find out where she is.

Jack barked a command to Paul. Get Chief Rivard. He’s on the front steps of the church. Get my father and Kate’s brother. Greg is still at the back of the church, waiting to escort Kate down the aisle.

He spoke to Ruth. Tell me what happened!

Jack, I’m so sorry.

Jack could hear the anguish in Ruth’s voice.

Kate and I were kidnapped . by Andre and Bernard, after we got into the limo. Then . then I must have been drugged. I woke up on a sidewalk somewhere.

We need to know where you are, said Jack, swiftly pulling out a pen and grabbing