One advantage they had over the creatures was that the zombies were slow. Longarm darted around the one coming toward him, easily avoiding a clumsy swipe of the man's ham-like hand. He grabbed Claudette's arm and said, 'Come on!'
They broke into a run, dashing from the courtyard into another alley that opened off it. Once again Longarm and Claudette raced along blindly, convinced that anything they might run into in the darkness wouldn't be as bad as what was behind them. For a moment, Longarm could hear the shuffling sounds of pursuit, but then the noises faded away as he and Claudette emerged onto another street. He had no idea where they were. They were among people again, though, and he was grateful for that. This street was nowhere near as packed as St. Charles Avenue had been, but there were enough revelers on the sidewalks for them to be able to blend into the crowd. Longarm slid his gun back into its holster before anyone could notice it, then led Claudette in a fast walk along the sidewalk. They weaved in and out of the celebrating pedestrians.
Quite a few people on this street were wearing costumes too, but none of them paid any attention to Longarm and Claudette. Longarm hoped that the pirate, the Indian, the clown, the devil, and the frontiersman had been the only assassins after him tonight. But who had sent them, and why had those zombies popped up like that? Had they been trailing him too? And what the hell had happened to Paul and Annie Clement? Longarm figured he had better get back to the Brass Pelican and find out if Millard had heard anything. If Royale had kidnapped the Clements, it had to be because of their connection with Millard, so it was natural to assume that he would get in touch with Millard to present his ransom demands.
Longarm's jaw tightened. He hoped like blazes that the next time around, Billy Vail would assign him to a case that was a mite simpler--like finding one particular blade of grass in the whole damned Great Plains!
After a few minutes, Longarm got his bearings and turned toward the waterfront. Claudette's hand tightened on his arm. 'Custis,' she said, 'what are we to do?'
'I have to find out if Millard knows anything about what happened to Annie and Paul,' said Longarm. 'It's a pretty complicated business, Claudette, but Millard has an enemy who might try to get at him through his friends.'
Claudette nodded. 'This enemy, he is a voodoo priest, no?'
'Now, I just don't know about that,' Longarm answered honestly.
'Only a priest or priestess of voudun could send those zombies after you.'
Longarm shot a glance at her. 'You know about things like that?'
'Gran'pere, his gran'mama was from Haiti. The slavers, they bring her there from Africa, long, long ago. Voudun was a religion there, and she was a high priestess, you see. She know all them rituals and how the religion got turned into voodoo... black magic. As a boy, Gran'pere hear the stories she tell, and he believe, you bet. I remember once, he been feudin' with this other fella who live round the bayou, and Gran'pere come to N'Awleans, buy himself a gris-gris--what you call a black magic charm--from Marie Laveau. He leave it on the fella's doorstep, and that fella, he get sick and like to die.'
'But he didn't die?' asked Longarm, interested in this bizarre tale.
Claudette shook her head. 'No. But he would have, you bet, if he had not come up here and bought a gris-gris of his own from the Voodoo Queen, what they call Marie Laveau.'
'So he bought something to ward off the black magic your granddaddy sicced on him.'
Claudette nodded.
'And he bought it from the same person who sold the original charm to Gran'pere,' said Longarm.
'That is right.'
Despite the harrowing night he had had, Longarm had to chuckle. 'So this Marie Laveau gets 'em coming and going. Sounds like a pretty smart businesswoman.'
Claudette stared at him, aghast at his lack of respect. 'She is the Voodoo Queen!'
'Then maybe she's the lady I need to talk to if I want to find out who's been sending those zombies after me.'
Claudette's eyes widened. 'You have seen the zombies before tonight?'
'One of 'em tried to wring my neck a few nights ago,' Longarm told her.
She shuddered and said, 'You are a lucky man, you. Zombies come after a man, he wind up dead most all the time.'
'I don't intend to let any zombie drag me back into the grave with him,' declared Longarm. 'I hate to ask it, but since you know something about this stuff, would you be willing to help me find this Marie Laveau?'
Again, Claudette shuddered. 'It is not hard to find her. She lives in a little house on St. Anne Street. A fella who was grateful to her because she help his son give her the house. It belong to her for the rest of her days.'
'You know where it is?'
She nodded. 'I know.'
'Will you show me?'
Stubbornly, Claudette shook her head. 'I will not do this thing.'
'But-'
She interrupted his protest. 'I will go there and speak to Marie Laveau for you, Custis. I be safe there, but maybe you wouldn't be, no. Better for me to go by myself first.'
'Damn it, that's not what I want. I don't want anything to happen to you.'
She stopped and smiled up at him. Down the block, several men were serenading some women who leaned over the wrought-iron railing of a balcony on the second floor of one of the buildings. As the drunken, out-of-tune strains of 'If Ever I Cease to Love' filled the night, Claudette put her hand on the back of Longarm's neck and pulled his head down to hers. Her mouth found his.
