Copyright © 2018 Vito Zuppardo
This book is a work of
fiction. Names, characters,
businesses, organizations,
places, events, and
incidents are the product
of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictional manner.
All rights reserved.
No part of the book may be
reproduced, scanned, or
distributed in any printed or
electronic format without
permission.
A special thanks to my wife, Diane Zuppardo,
for the cover picture of her original artwork.
WHAT READERS
ARE SAYING
VOODOO LUCY “TUPELO GYPSY”
Tupelo Gypsy average 4,5 star rating
Patrick ( Peggy): This book is fantastic!
This is a very fast paced, unputdownable till the end book. I loved it and am looking forward to book two of the series. It's a standalone book with no cliffhanger, which I really like and appreciate. Lucy is one amazing individual who walks a fine line beside law enforcement and the gang leader. Much of what she does isn't legal, but who gives a crap? It's a terrific book that I thoroughly enjoyed.
JoBear: What a THRILL!!
Lucy starts off as a poor girl starting over to someone who owns her own business befriends a gang member and a police officer. The story about how she goes from the bottom to the top and what she has to do to get there is absolutely fabulous. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. Great read.
Regina Armes: Great Series
Loved this book!! Just wish it was a little longer. Looking forward to more!
ALSO BY
VITO ZUPPARDO
True Blue Detective series
True Blue Detective
Crescent City Detective
Vieux Carré Detective
Street Justice
Escape to New Orleans
Voodoo Lucy series
Tupelo Gypsy
Revenge
Lady Luck series
Alluring Lady Luck
Tales of Lady Luck
Two chapters of REVENGE Book 2 of
Voodoo Lucy Series: is at the back of this book.
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Table of Contents
Copyright
A special thanks to my wife, Diane Zuppardo...
What Readers are Saying
Also by Vito Zuppardo
Get Vito Zuppardo’s Starter Library FOR FREE
Tupelo Gypsy
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
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Author's Note
About the Author
Voodoo Lucy Series Book 2 “Revenge”
Special Preview
CHAPTER ONE
The French Quarter never slept. Jazz music wafted out of clubs until the first sign of morning, to be replaced by the much less agreeable clanks and screeches of a garbage truck picking up trash in the alleyway that separated Bourbon and Royal. One side of the alley was lined with trash cans from some of the hottest nightclubs on Bourbon Street, the other with mostly boxes from the art galleries that faced Royal Street. With a hydraulic whine, the truck crushed cans, bottles, and boxes into its steel belly.
The sanitation truck was a block away, and that was the sound she was waiting for. “Anything you’d like to say?” Lucy asked. Her real name was Lucinda Jones, but some called her Lucia, and most recently, she was known as Voodoo Lucy to street punks like Picklehead, who seemed to be struggling to process her question. In truth, she had several names. The one she used at any moment depended on what con she was running.
Lying on a flat cart used to move heavy furniture, Picklehead glared up at her, his head tightly held by a donkey harness attached to the handles of the steel cart.
“Well?” she asked, pressing on his neck with her foot.
“Yeah, I’ve got something to say—you’re a dead bitch.”
Lucy smiled at Picklehead. He was blinking rapidly, and he had a grayish cast to his face. He must be coming down from his big rush, something he’d enjoyed only a short time ago.
“Didn’t that little hit of coke take the edge off?”
With a look that could kill, Picklehead asked, “What do you want?”
“You can’t take advantage of women without consequence.”
Given the increasingly loud clatter of trash cans, the garbage truck was one building away. Standing in front of the cart staring at Picklehead, Lucy wondered what made people do such horrible things. The truck’s brakes squealed as it stopped in the alley near the furniture shop’s door. Shortly after, as she expected, the truck’s hydraulics kicked in, the crusher’s noise deafening.
Lucy pulled a syringe from her pocket, checked for an air bubble, and plunged it into his arm. That’s when Picklehead let out a scream and then another, only to be drowned out by the sound of the truck’s hydraulics, which lasted for twenty seconds. By the time the clatter stopped, so had Picklehead’s heart.
The sound of the truck receded as it rumbled down to the next block. Her heart beating fast, Lucy eyeballed the alleyway, then pushed the cart carrying Picklehead out to it. Stripping off the harness and flipping his body to the ground, she propped him against a building. Working quickly, she placed Picklehead’s thumb on the syringe, with the needle pushed into his arm. His hand dropped to the ground, the needle dangling from his skin as if Picklehead had squeezed every last ounce of juice from the syringe.
The furniture cart cleaned of fingerprints and rolled back into place as if it had never moved, Voodoo Lucy walked through the building and out the front door to Royal Street. She crossed the street and took her usual seat at Café Beignet. Now it was a waiting game—to see how long it would take for someone to discover what appeared to be another junkie overdosed in an alley.
CHAPTER TWO
Lucinda Jones always walked the streets of New Orleans with mixed feelings. Whispers of “Voodoo Lucy” reached her ears from the gossips as she passed. Others worshipped her as a goddess, calling her “Ms. Lucy,” and were proud to be her friend.
The legend of Voodoo Lucy had started eight months ago, shortly after twenty-eight-year-old Lucy and her mother Wanda arrived in New Orleans. Lucy had taken a part-time job at Bluff Salon, where her mother had also obtained employment as a beautician. The two received small salaries, decent tips, and free lodging in a tiny apartment above the salon on Royal Street. It was the new start they
