Avenging the Victims of the Swamp Witches

By Roger Kent-Webster

Leyla, the protg of the famous Roy Wickers, starts her psychic pathway.

This is the first book in the trilogy of her adventures. The Mystery of Trelanies Manor will be out soon.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Apr 19, 2018
• ISBN: 9781546291855

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Leyla took a gulp of air as her head rose above the muddy water of the weed strewn bayou. She did not relish the taste of the muddy water that she had swallowed as she fought her way up to the surface. Out of the corner of her eye she glimpsed two large eyes set above a scaly snout moving towards her. Now she really panicked. An Alligator was coming to grab her.

Struggling frantically to free herself from the weeds, she woke up. Her limbs confined by the bedclothes wrapped around her. She thanked the Lord that it had all been just a horrid nightmare. The second one since she had rented the house in New Orleans to be near at hand to help with the arrangements of her son’s, wedding to Louise Chantire. She had to make sure that it was all correctly done.

Leyla managed to rise from the bed and grabbed her dressing gown from a chair. She tried to recall the part of her dream before she had been pushed into the bayou. The words, spoken in French, had told her that she could not be allowed to ruin the plan that was to be fulfilled. Leyla knew that she would recognise that croaky voice if ever she heard it again.

It was time for her to go down and oversee the house keepers’ arrangements for breakfast. Thank goodness, a Cook, that the rental agency had also hired for her, was used to the fads of non-Americans. With the two dailies’, this was her staff for the month of the rental. Leyla knew that, by the time all of her invited guests arrived, she would have to hire two more helpers.

Leyla had chosen this mansion, which had survived over three hundred years but was still in good shape, because it had lots of bedrooms. The House was a typical courtyard style of the 17th century. Chartres Street was a great address to live on. It was right in the heart of the French quarter and near to Market square. The fact that Bourbon Street was nearby, meant that access to Jazz clubs, night clubs and great restaurants was a bonus.

All of her friends that she had become fond of on the last adventure, which Roy Wickers had got her involved in, had accepted the invitation to Grant’s wedding, several bedrooms were needed. It had been once used as a hotel but that was a long time ago. Rumour had it that it was one of the most haunted houses in New Orleans, and that was why it had not lasted long as a place people would want to stay in.

Leyla was glad that Roy had accepted because then she could get him to help with her nightmares, well at least explain the reasons, he was now after all, the Oracle. If worst came to worst she will have Kathleen to fall back on. or, of course Maude. Thinking about that, maybe Maude would be best as if there was some voodoo in play, she, with her Druid background might be the better choice. They would all be arriving sometime today. Leyla would have to check the rooms were ready. As the saying goes, No rest for the wicked.

One thing Leyla was content with was the fact that the housekeeper was English. Alice Fawkes had been well trained in England for this work as she had held that position at the estate of an Earl. At the age of forty, she married a man from Louisiana and they made their home in the town he was born in, New Orleans. Unhappily he died soon after they had settled down, without the means to support herself. Luckily, she had no dependent children.

Needing to survive, she had signed on at a respectable domestic staff agency. She soon became one of their best earners. Leyla hoped she did not take after a namesake and stored up gunpowder to deal with anyone who mistreated her. According to her refences she hadn’t had cause as yet.

Cook, Josephine Martin, was a typical working Creole bred woman with great skills with in the art of both French and Louisiana Cooking, Cajun style. She preferred to be called Josie. As far as the two dailies were concerned, Leyla left the supervision to Alice.

Leyla decided to take some time to work out some of her ideas about Louise’s Mothers plans regarding the actual wedding ceremony. Because of the role that Louise played in the soap drama, the media wanted to get as much coverage as possible. Both Grant and his intended were hoping for a simple wedding, but the way the Mother seemed to be heading was more like a star-studded extravaganza.

Leyla had visited the Chantire plantation yesterday. The drive, for which she had hired a reliable hire firm with driver, was about an hour away from New Orleans. The area of it was near to West Point a la Hache. Leyla had looked up the history of the place and found out that the tourists seemed to flock here.

One of the trips advertised caused Leyla to smile. Apparently, there were a couple of plantations which were billed as the most haunted places in Louisiana. Thank goodness, the Chantire house was not one of them. Ghosts were not wanted as one of the entertainments for the special day.

Leyla had been made welcome by the Mother, Estelle Chantire. For her age of late sixties, she was smartly dressed. The woman was still fashion conscious, judging by the fawn linen suit and the styled hair do, which was ash blonde, but showing a lot of grey hairs. Obviously, the woman was trying to look the part of this wife of a well-to-do man. Leyla admired her for that.

When she had caught the first sight of the French styled 18th century mansion, she, being an interior decorator, noticed that although the large building was elegant it could do with a lot of touching up repairs. One advantage in its favour was the fact that it was built on an elevated area above the bayou, it never had a problem when the hurricanes caused the waters from the surge rides to reach it and the swamp facing its frontage.

The garden and lawn area sloped down to the water edge. Now that she had arrived she sent the car back to base after arranging to call when she was ready to leave. The front double doors of the main entrance had opened when the car had stopped in the driveway. A footman had bowed and then ushered her into the spacious foyer.

Shortly after the two women had settled in an elegant sitting room and had been brought coffee and finger sandwiches by a young maid, the Father, Claude Laurent, arrived to join them. He, like his wife, welcomed her to their home. Claude was still a handsome man for mid-sixties. No paunch and still muscular, with still a decent amount of hair, also grey now.

At six foot he held himself upright and his look and posture showed he would be the one in charge and would be the decision maker. Once the usual conventional talking was done, Estelle offered to show Leyla the layout of the house.

From what she could make of the rooms, especially the grand ballroom, the large dining room and the several other large rooms that made up the main floor, Leyla realised why the parents were eager for media interest. The TV stations would pay huge amounts for the right to cover every detail, as would the magazines. The money generated would cover the cost of the wedding.

Although not poor, there were not enough funds for the wedding being planned by the parents who wanted to keep good face in society. This was the reason Louise and Grant had wanted a quiet civil ceremony.

CHAPTER 2

Claude, now that Leyla had seen the parts of the house that would be in use, was willing to show her around the grounds. This was no longer a working plantation. As soon as he had inherited the place from his Grandfather at the age of twenty-five, he had sold three quarters of the land to the neighbouring plantation. The area he sold was the northern acres. That area had no access to the bayou or any other part of the swamp that was the remainder of the estate. While they walked, Claude was telling her about how they came to be living here.

He was working in his late Father’s business of import and export at the time of his Father’s death. He was unmarried. But when the Chantire place became his he decided that he would take up residency. As his dear Mother had passed away only a year before his Father he sold the family house.

His Grandfather had outlived his only son so now it was him who had the responsibility of running it. The servants were still in residence and were happy to stay on with master Claude, as he was affectionately called. But he was a bachelor and to run the house the way it should be he needed a wife. His search for a suitable wife began as soon as his Grandfather’s funeral was over.

Within six months he had been snared by a very attractive woman. Snared was the right word as he was under her spell within ten minutes of being introduced to her at one of the aristocratic balls that New Orleans was famous for. This was the time that the Creole debutantes came out. Needless to say, they were all husband seekers. Estelle D’Avery got lucky and she and he were married.

Unfortunately, she had baggage, her widowed Mother, Sabrina, who Estelle felt obligated to provide a home for. The old lady immediately took over the job of the housekeeper by upsetting the existing one Mrs Bercy, to the point of her giving in her notice. After six months of unrest with the rest of the staff, he put his foot down and told His wife that her Mother had to go.

There was another property that was included in his legacy. This was an old house a couple of miles over on the swamp area. Ten minutes by motor launch or half an hour by row boat. There was not a road to go through the swamp. Everyone visiting had to come over from the main house or by sailing to it from the Gulf. The house had been left empty for years. This place was known as Le Sanctuaire Pour Les Purves. Now shortened to Le Sanctuaire. The nearest neighbours were in a small fishing village on the opposite side of the estuary. This was home to the small fleet of shrimpers.

After a month of repairs and finding some helpers, Sabrina, reluctantly moved in. The house was raised above the water level and had a jetty at which boats could be moored. It was only a short walk up a pathway to the entrance of the house. The house was on a promontory which was in the cove leading out to the open Gulf of Mexico.

Mrs. Bercy, the old housekeeper, was rehired and life went back to normal. After six years he had become the Father of four children. Three sons and the last one a daughter. Leyla would be finding out about all of them later. Claude had now shown her the orchards and the vegetable garden plus the chickens and the ducks, the milking cows as well as the large greenhouses. And, of course the stables, where the four excellent horses were housed. All of this to show how self-sufficient they were. Leyla was very impressed.

After an excellent lunch Claude had his man drive Leyla back to New Orleans. He would not allow her to spend the money to call back the car. So, after promises of calls and further meetings, she left. Once they were on the road back, Leyla relaxed and enjoyed the journey back to New Orleans.

Leyla did wonder why the Grandmother had not made an appearance. One would have thought that the wedding of her granddaughter would be important to her as well. She had the idea in her head that there must still be discord in the family. As she was the one who liked to know reasons, she would do some probing.

Meanwhile, now that she was back in the house she could deal with the messages that had been sent while she was visiting. That was yesterday. Today the guests would start arriving. Leyla would have been pleased if Victor could have planned to come earlier than the week before the actual wedding. Grant and his cousins would also be here in a couple of days. Louise would, in a weeks’ time, finish the series shooting which was in New York.

Alice Fawkes came into the sitting room looking quite pleased with herself. I have managed to find two more capable women to help with the extra work now that the guests will be arriving. I hope that’s all right Madame. Everything else is as you ordered. Leyla thanked her. Now she felt excited because the fun would soon begin when her friends arrived. That was sooner than she thought it would be. The doorbell was ringing loudly. Maude, along with Roy, Isaac and John, had arrived. Hugs and kisses were exchanged, they were all happy to be together again.

Leyla let Alice show them all to their rooms. The luggage would follow once the odd job man was free from his last chore. Alice would make sure of that.

The next ones to arrive were an hour later. Kathleen and Tony had linked up with Christine and Will as well as Sevda and Randy, for the flight over. The fact that they were all together had made the annoying stopover in New York enjoyable, and they managed to get a decent meal at the airport restaurant. Gilbert Grey was due to arrive in three days’ time. He could not fly with the others today because he happened to be in Rome. At least he was coming. He did add that even that could change.

Cook had been busy today preparing the special dinner which Leyla had asked her to. This was set for seven o’clock. The dining room which was large and well furnished, had a walnut dining table which could sit 18 people comfortably. The two new helpers had set this with the requisite silverware and the beautiful bone china that was part of the beauty of this rental. Like all the furnishings were.

Isaac and John had plans for after dinner. They wanted to sample the Jazz scene on Bourbon street. The Jazz clubs were all well known for the music, so anyone of them would suit the two men. Roy did remember one particular one that he had once visited, on a prior visit to New Orleans, so he strongly recommended that one. In fact, he and Maude would probably join them if that happened to be their choice. It was, so they agreed and would team up.

The others were going with Leyla to one place that she had heard was great for entertainment. A music hall that did two nightly shows. That suited them, as the one they could go to was the ten o’clock show. The advertising notices were headlining a magic act for this week. The magician was very well known, so it should be a good show.

This old theatre was also on Bourbon street which is not too far to walk. This was good, the weather was great and an evening walk would be great as the air would be cooler than the heat of the day. Luckily Leyla had booked their seats before dinner, once she managed to know what they would like to do. Sevda particularly loved magic shows. The others were just happy to be entertained.

Leyla knew that when her cousin Sinan arrived next week from New York, he would want to go to one of the Gay clubs. There were several of those to choose from. Perhaps, as he would be with his partner they would take Isaac and John with them.

Fortunately, the two new helpers who were mature American students taking a job so that that they could spend at least a month in New Orleans, were live ins for the time they would be working at the house. Alice also had her own room. The staff quarters were on the third floor. This arrangement was great because the clearing up after the dinner would be done when they all returned later.

Everyone seemed to have enjoyed their evening but when they returned to the house they were all tired and went to their rooms without even a night cap. Their day of travel had been a long one, the night flight to the USA had taken its toll on all of the travellers. Their beds were where they needed to be.

Tomorrow, Leyla had planned to meet up with Claude and Estelle at the Restaurant on Royal Avenue that their second son, Antoine Chantire owned and managed. The meeting was arranged in order that Louise’s family could meet Grant’s Aunt and cousins as well as the other guests that would be attending the wedding.

The eldest son, Laurent, worked in his Father’s main offices. He and his wife lived in a house in the suburbs with their two children. As it happens they were twins. A boy and a girl. These five-year-old were to be page and bridesmaid to their Aunts’ wedding.

Jacques was the third son. Unlike his brothers he was an artist. Yet, not a well-known one, he lived amongst the arty community on the edge of the French quarter.

Not, according to local opinion, a desirable area. He has not made any commitments either to a woman or a man. Keeping his private live just that. Private.

Claude and Estelle had certainly sired very handsome sons as well as a beautiful daughter. All three of the men had dark brown hair and green eyes like their Father. All three were five feet eleven, well-built and they kept themselves fit.

Louise was unlike either of her parents. Silvery blonde hair and violet eyes. Her figure the envy of all women. Her five-foot eight height fitted well with her overall look. Her Grandmother’s side of the family was the likely source of her colouring.

CHAPTER 3

The Restaurant, Les fleurs de Loraine, was packed by the time Leyla and her party arrived. It was a very popular establishment both with the locals as well as the more well-off tourists, who did not mind spending money on food.

They were shown into one of the side, private rooms, kept for special guests. Leyla, Sevda and her Earl husband Randy, with Maude and Roy. were the only ones attending. The others had opted out as they thought that, being recent friends of Leyla, the meeting at the wedding would be suffice.

Leyla understood their reasoning. and she had telephoned Antoine earlier to give him the numbers attending so there was no problem. The others had gone on one of the air boat swamp tours. They would all meet up at five o’clock at the house.

Leyla had asked Roy to do a session. Her reason was because she felt energies around her and needed to get some clearance. Maude had, in the morning made them all laugh at breakfast time. Leyla my friend. You could have put me in a room with a handsome man to haunt it, instead of a weeping maid. It took me ages to get her to move on.

Roy had agreed to the séance, but not a ritual. He too felt certain vibes, they were not all-around Leyla. There was something linked to Estelle, but he hadn’t worked out why as yet. Even though it was not a robed ritual. with the combined powers of those sitting, it would be almost as powerful as a ritual would be.

The luncheon party was very well planned, the menu was one that catered for all tastes. Louise’s siblings were charming to her and her family and friends.