Sassbeaux Chronicles: A Murder and a Mystery

By R. L. Johnson

Sherriff Xavier “Zay” McKendree finds himself in the middle of a war that began before he was born. Now more accepted by the town, the citizens are depending on him to stop the war before it begins—a task that seems impossible. He doesn’t know who is responsible or how to find them. All he knows is that he is still low on staff, he still hasn’t solved the murder that they committed, he still doesn’t have any clue how to find the Mayor, and his picture has been found on a body asking for his surrender. With little resources at his disposal, Zay already feels defeated and thinks that it may be best to surrender, just to find out who is behind the threats. How is he supposed to stop something that has been brewing for so long? How is he supposed to keep the towns secret with so many things happening around him that he cannot control? Especially after another murder occurs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Feb 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9781678000431

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Sassbeaux Chronicles

A Murder and a Mystery

Book 3

By R. L. Johnson

In Memory of my Dad, Malachi Sabree

My inspiration for the Mayor of Sassbeaux

Copyright 2020

ISBN:  978-1-716-44769-3

A Letter from the Author

The town of Sassbeaux, although fictional, is very dear to my heart.  It is loosely based on the small town in which I grew up.  It is also based on the superstitions, stories, spirituality, and beliefs of my Grandmother, Great-Grandmother, Aunts, Mother, etc.  It takes growing up in an environment like Sassbeaux to truly understand its people and its ways.  Those that have never grown up in such an environment can accept these ways but will never truly understand.

I am immensely proud and appreciative of the reception that the Sassbeaux series has gotten over the years. I appreciate all the love and support from everyone that has read the series and offered valuable input.  Thank you for helping to create the town of Sassbeaux and giving it life.

threat·ened                                adjective

having an uncertain chance of continued survival a threatened species

PROLOGUE

I realized in this moment, that I had no clue what I had gotten myself into.  This town, its people, my wife, the murders…all of this was quite possibly leading to my death today.  It had all begun with Sheriff Thompson’s kidnapping.  This had been the beginning of the attack.  I thought that I had solved this case weeks ago but, I had not.  It was bigger than I could have anticipated.  This was proving to be much larger than I could control.  It was all the result of something that had been brewing way before I was even born. 

I heard a sound next to me and I wished I could see what or who it was but, the blindfold that I was wearing was way too thick. 

Git up.  I heard the male voice say.  I wanted to refuse but, he would not allow me to as he yanked me from the position that I was now painfully kneeling in. 

I walked blindly as the man lead me outside.  I immediately knew that I was outside because I was barefoot, and I could feel the grass, sticks, and rocks under my bare feet.  I stepped on a rock or something hard and it hurt like hell.  I almost fell from bending over in pain.  I was yanked again.  It hurt and I grunted.  If I had to die, I hoped to at least get a chance to punch this guy square in the face.  Whoever he was.

I thought about all that had happened over the past few days.  We knew that they wanted Miss Mamie for revenge.  We all knew that they wanted to take the town and get rid of her.  We also knew that they wanted everyone that they thought could get in their way removed.  They wanted everything and everyone in this town totally destroyed—wiped out of existence.  The discovery that Miss Mamie had not known the entire story regarding her mother, had totally devastated her.  This was why I was here right now.  I was here, playing into their hands, as an attempt to save this town and Miss Mamie’s blood line, which unfortunately, included my wife and unborn child.

CHAPTER 1

Man, this sounds like something straight out of a book or a horror movie.  You got to be kidding me bro.  My brother David said to me over the phone. I was sitting in my office, at the station, confiding in him about all that had happened here in Sassbeaux in the past few weeks. I really needed someone outside of this town to talk to about all of this—someone that I could trust not to repeat what I was confiding.  His thoughts were exactly as mine had been before I moved here to Sassbeaux.  He did not believe in the things that they believed in here just as I had not. 

I know David.  Trust me. I wouldn’t believe any of it either if I weren’t living it and witnessing it all myself.  I admitted to him.  I was trying to keep my voice as low as I could.  I did not want anyone in the station to know that I was talking to someone outside of Sassbeaux, about the town and its woes.

"So, you had no clue that Maya and those people were like that before you moved there?  She didn’t tell you anything about all of this?"  He asked me.  I hadn’t known and she hadn’t told me.  I had only known that they were highly superstitious. I believed what the rest of the world believed about people from Louisiana; that they were just superstitious.  I had no clue that some of the weirdness was real.

Nope.  Nothing.  I admitted to him. 

"Zay…bro, if this were not coming directly from you, I would not believe any of it.  You are in a hot mess there.  You sure you don’t want to involve the State Police at all?  I mean, I understand you wanting to protect Maya and everything but, this sounds like it has gotten way out of hand.  It sounds like you need their help.  He said and he was right I did need help but, as much as I could use the help, I could not involve the state department.  That was not an option.  I mean Zay…people are getting kidnapped and murdered.  You can’t just do nothing."  He said.  He was right again, and we were trying our best to handle it.  We were doing the best that we could with what we had. 

I know David.  I know it’s crazy and out of control but, we’re working on a solution.  I just needed to talk to somebody about this that wasn’t a part of it.  I just needed to vent.  That’s all.  This is a lot to keep secret.  I said rubbing my forehead in frustration.  I knew that he would never totally understand, no matter how much I tried to explain it.  I was just relieved that he believed me.

I hear you and it is.  He said.  I knew that he was on the other end shaking his head at the situation and at definitely shaking his head at me.  "I’m always here for you but, please do a better job of keeping in touch because now, I’m really going to worry about you if you don’t." He said.  I had never heard so much care in his voice before. 

I will.  I promise.  I said.

Alright.  I’m here for you to vent to and as promised, I won’t tell anyone about our conversation but, if anything happens to you bro, I swear…  He said and he didn’t have to finish the rest of his sentence.  I already knew the rest.

"I know. I know. You are free to tell everything that I just told you if something happens to me."  I told him and I truly meant it.  I was willing to help protect this town but, my brother was not obligated.  Besides, if something did happen to me, and the town was exposed, maybe David could finally convince Maya to leave this crazy place.  Maybe then, she wouldn’t have much of a choice.  I honestly hoped that it would never come to that.

Briley knocked on the door and opened it before I could respond.  I wondered why he had knocked if he was just going to walk right in.  He walked into the office just as I heard thunder rumble loudly outside.  It seemed to shake the building.

Sheriff, umm…it’s thunderin’ and lightnin’ outside.  You might wanna get off the phone before you get struck.  He said attempting to whisper to me. I glared at him.  I was sure that Briley thought that his warning was emergent and that was why he had chosen to barge into my office.  I sighed.  I really did not want to end my phone call with David.  Talking to him seemed to mentally take me away from Sassbeaux for a minute—even though our entire conversation had been about the town.

Who is that? What did he say?  David asked me.  I was sure that he had overheard some of Briley’s warning.  Briley did not whisper well at all. 

It’s Briley.  There is a thunderstorm brewing outside and here, they believe that you aren’t supposed to talk on the phone, use any electronics, talk to each other, or even take a shower when there is a thunderstorm.  They said that it’s out of respect for God.  I explained to David.  He chuckled a little.

You are better than me brother.  I could not live there with all those crazy rules and superstitions.  Just keep me up to date on everything, and I’ll talk to you later.  He said ending our call.  I closed my eyes and held the phone to my ear for a few seconds after he hung up.  I would give anything to be in Phoenix right now. 

I opened my eyes and realized that Briley was still standing in the doorway staring at me.

What’s up Briley?  Do you need something else?  I asked him.

Jus’ to letchu’ know dat it’s time for our daily briefing.  He said reminding me.  These briefings had become a routine of ours.  I followed him into the station, hoping to receive news that something had changed today but, I was pretty sure that I would be disappointed as usual.

Good morning Claude, Andre and Tyeese.  I said, greeting everyone else in the station.  They were all sitting around eating pastries that had been brought to us by some of the women in town, as me and Briley joined them.  The women had been bringing us all sorts of dishes due to our increased hours and the circumstances that we were under.  I personally did not eat any of the food that was brought to the station, unless it had been prepared by Maya or my Mother-in-law.  I knew that Miss Rachel was no longer with us but, I had learned my lesson about eating food prepared by people that I didn’t know very well.  Let’s start our daily briefing.  I said as we all heard the rain start to pour down outside. I knew that they all would prefer to wait until the thunderstorm passed but, we needed to get this over with. 

I was slightly disgruntled because, we had been doing these briefings for almost a week now—ever since the Mayor had been kidnapped and we still had nothing.  No leads.  Let’s start with the roll call.  I said to everyone.  This was not a roll call to account for the people that were present in the station.  This was a roll call that we performed to ensure that the people that were in potential danger were somewhere safe. 

Miss Mamie is still at her house.  She ain’t goin’ nowhere.  Claude updated.  I had assigned him the task of checking in three times a day, to ensure that no one had tried to gain access to Miss Mamie’s house.  She had only allowed me, Maya, and my Mother-in-law access to her house at first.  I convinced her later to allow Claude, Briley, and Maya’s aunt access as well.  No one had attempted to get to the house so far.  This was always good news.

Maya and my Mother-in-law are still with Miss Mamie at her house.  I reported.  They had practically moved in at this point.  I hated that I could only see Maya at Miss Mamie’s house these days but, that was where she was the safest for now.  It would have to be this way until her father was found.

There have been no inquiries outside of Sassbeaux about anything.  Tyeese reported.  He was keeping an ear open for any questions that came up outside of Sassbeaux about Sassbeaux.  Specifically, questions from the State office where he had a few contacts.  We were not sure if the lab request that had been sent regarding Sam’s murder, would raise any more questions or suspicions. We just wanted to be aware in case it did.

Me and Andre been out patrolling and nothin’s come up yet Sheriff.  Briley stated shaking his head. I could tell that he was disappointed about not finding anything to help us yet.  Andre seemed just as disappointed as Briley.  I was glad to have Andre on our team.  He was still going back and forth to Baton Rouge for training but, when he was here in Sassbeaux, he was either patrolling with Briley, or working at the station with Claude.  He was proving to be a great addition.

So, no one in town has heard anything about Demetrius’ missing body?  I asked.  This had happened a few days prior.  Someone had called the station to report that someone was in the graveyard digging at Demetrius’ grave.  Of course, that was a huge problem since no one in town had wanted him to be buried there in the first place.  When we arrived at the graveyard, we found an open grave and Demetrius’ casket was gone.  We were not sure if someone in town that was resentful about his burial had removed his body from the graveyard, or if someone had removed it for other strange and unknown reasons.  Either way, it was another mystery that we were trying to solve.  I had been shocked that someone would even go that far—to remove a body from its grave.  There had been tons of strange and abnormal things that I had witnessed and heard in Sassbeaux recently but, Demetrius’ missing body had to be the most unusual.

Nope.  Briley and Andre said in unison. 

Nope.  Nothin’ at all.  Tyeese said and Claude just shook his head in dismay.  Just as I thought.  There were still no changes. 

Mayor Bernier, my Father-in-law, had now been missing for a week and there had been no word from the people that had taken him.  The threat that was made against the town, Miss Rachel’s death, and Sam’s murder had happened well over a week ago, and we had absolutely no leads. I rubbed my head again.  I was sure that this town was going to make me gray and bald before time…if it didn’t kill me first. 

I think everybody in town been keepin’ dere ear to de ground Sheriff.  Briley said.  He was still convinced that no one here in town was conspiring with people from outside of Sassbeaux.  The rest of us were not as convinced.  Even Claude had suspicions. Somebody in this town had to know something, and there was an unlawful reason why they were not talking.

We had held a town meeting and told the town what was happening.  We felt that they had a right to know.  My original thought was to keep silent.  I had been fearful that telling the people in town what was going on, would give the ones that were working against us, some sort of satisfaction.  A lot of them had voiced their willingness to help us protect the town at all costs but, there were also a lot of them that were way too silent for my liking.  Henny, who had attended the meeting via phone also thought that the crowd was not as vocal as usual.  This had worried him also. 

After learning of Briley’s family history recently, and their association with this town, I could understand his wanting to believe that the people that lived here were totally committed and loyal to Sassbeaux.  Because his family had pretty much founded Sassbeaux, he wanted the town to be united but, reality was, it was likely that there were people from outside of the town, possibly exiles that most likely had a few allies within the city limits.

Anybody got any more news on Henny’s recovery?  I asked.  We all took