Deja Voodoo (A Cajun Magic Novel) (Entangled Suspense) by Elle James

risks.” Yeah, but she didn’t know why she’d been so spooked minutes earlier. She passed it off as a residual effect of her encounter with Theo. “Don’t stay up.”
    “Where do you want Sport to sleep?”
    “He seems comfortable where he is. You can have my bed or the futon in the spare bedroom.”
    “I’ll take the lounge chair, just in case Sports wakes in the night.”
    “Thanks for helping.”
    “I’m glad I had the night off. Remember, tomorrow night I have to work.”
    “Oh, yeah. And Mom volunteered me to take Ed out fishing at night. I hope Madame LeBieu has an answer to our Sport problem by then.” Alex grabbed a flashlight and let herself out the front door. She glanced right, then left, peering into every shadow, that creepy sense of being watched still as strong as when she’d entered.
    Theo must have scared her more than she originally thought. Bayou Miste was a quiet corner of the bayou, free of crime and bad guys. Well, for the most part. There was the time when Ben had come to flush out the man responsible for the attacks on congressional candidate Jason Littington. And the guys who’d tried to kill Craig Thibodeaux’s fiancée, Elaine, when she’d discovered them dumping pollutants in the bayou.
    Okay, so it wasn’t as quiet and safe as she liked to think. But, damn it, she had to get to Madame LeBieu and undo the damage to Sport. She’d be careful, and keep her eyes and ears open for bad guys and alligators.
    She set off across the road and down the bank to the canal where she kept her pirogue tied off to a cypress tree. She stepped in and, with her paddle, pushed away from the bank and pulled the rope to crank the motor. It chugged, spit out a cloud of smoke, and engaged. With her hand on the tiller, she spun the boat around and skimmed along the still surface of the canal. As she passed the marina, a movement caught her attention and she turned to look back, studying the shadows at the corners. Nothing moved, no one stepped out. Yet that sense of being watched persisted until she reached a fork in the channel and headed out into the bayou where Madame LeBieu’s shack had stood for as long as Alex could remember.
    She could find her way with her eyes closed, as many times as she’d visited Lisa and Lucie LeBieu growing up. It still felt strange to know that Lucie wouldn’t be there. Having married Ben, she’d moved to Baton Rouge over a year ago. Lisa, her twin, was in and out, between her life in New Orleans and her home here in Bayou Miste.
    As she skimmed across the water, Alex let the events of the day slip from her shoulders. To many people, the bayou at night might appear spooky, filled with deadly creatures and magic. To Alex, it was the time she remembered her father most. He’d bring her out to fish under the stars. She and Ben had been the oldest and spent more time with him on the occasional weekend he took off from his business of shrimp fishing in the Gulf. They’d sit in silence for the most part, hooks in the water, waiting for a nibble. Those had been good times that brought back even better memories.
    Alex slid into the dock in front of Madame LeBieu’s house, tied off, and stepped up onto the rickety wooden planks. Before she reached the front porch of the weathered structure with the peeling paint, the old woman flung open the door and filled the entrance. She wore a bright pink, red, and yellow muumuu and a flamboyant red scarf tied around her head, knotted in a big bow. Her light mocha skin glowed in the moonlight, her dark eyes sparkling like the stars above. “Alexandra Belle Boyette, what you be doin’ in de bayou dis late at night?”
    “Hi, Gran LeBieu.” She climbed the steps and hugged the woman who was as much a grandmother to her as she was to her own granddaughters. She’d spent many nights in Lisa and Lucie’s room along with Calliope, going over teen magazines and talking about the boys at school. “I came to see my favorite Voodoo