Dan looked at Katie.
Katie looked at him.
“Jeremy, do you remember anything about this man?”
“In particular?” he asked. “During that time? Katie, I saw that man on the roof ready to die, if he could only get those kids out of that flooding house. I saw folks screaming and crying that they would rather die than leave their pets. And cops who figured just get the animals in the boats, too, and we’ll just keep moving as fast as we can. I saw people who were so heroic it could make you shiver with amazement at the human spirit. And I saw people killing animals, breaking windows, stealing anything that wasn’t nailed down. That one guy, though... I guess the storm did something to him. You know the worst of it? I think he was ticked off your dad made the others around him realize they didn’t need to go catching pathetic strays in the street to kill for food. He didn’t like it that the people around him preferred the arena and handouts to killing in the street.”
Katie looked at Dan. “I don’t know... We’re grasping at straws here, aren’t we?” she asked weakly.
“What are you talking about?” Jeremy demanded.
Jeremy was staring hard at Dan, and Dan decided that telling the man the truth was the thing to do.
“We believe that there might be a connection.”
“A connection to what?” Jeremy asked.
“We believe Lou might have been targeted by someone who was here after the storm. Someone who found access to enough money to stage the whole thing down in Florida to kill him, who maybe even figured a way to frame George Calabria, at least through circumstantial evidence. Someone who is playing upon the old Axeman who terrorized Louisiana once, and using the concept of the immortal demon and a fixation on power and the number six that was started here about the same time by a man named Allan Pierce.”
Jeremy shook his head. He looked at Katie. “I am so lost. Katie, your father was never stupid...or blind. If the Dr. Browne who was on the boat the day they were murdered was the same man, your father would have recognized him.”
“He would have,” Katie agreed.
“But I don’t think that Dr. Browne was the man you were telling us about. I think he was one of the followers, maybe. If you saw this man again, Jeremy, would you recognize him?” Dan asked.
“The man who was going to slice up the llama?” Jeremy asked.
“Yes.”
Jeremy inhaled and exhaled slowly, shaking his head. “No. I was dealing with one of the women in the group. She was older and not doing well. Lou told me he’d deal with the most intense of the group while I got her to help. There were EMTs in the area, and she needed attention fast. Most of what I know about the incident was getting the cops to deal with the people and the llama. Turned out the man who owned one of the big carriage companies at the time owned a few exotic pets, and the llama was a beloved pet. The llama was returned and... Well, a llama in the middle of all that. But no. I would not recognize the man again because I really didn’t see him. Remember, too, there was no light. We had our flashlights. We had the moon on some nights. The world was dark and wet, and you could still stumble upon corpses of cats, dogs, human beings just about anywhere.” Jeremy paused, inhaling and exhaling again. “Trust me. If you weren’t here, you can only imagine.”
“I know it must have been hard,” Dan said. “Is there anything else you know about the man or any of the people with him?”
“I just know they were steered toward the arena by cops.” He frowned. “But, again, do you think that someone here managed to get followers to kill for them? Wait, I guess it has happened before. But...someone got someone to Florida to murder Katie’s mom and dad and Anita Calabria, kill people again in Orlando, and then come here? I mean, it’s not like they would have been working up to kill Lou. Lou was murdered twelve years ago.”
Dan took a deep breath himself. “Whoever this person is, they might have made sure they were anonymous. From what I’ve heard, Lou Delaney wouldn’t have kept his own identity a secret. I doubt if they exchanged pleasantries, but somehow the man found out who Lou was. Maybe the man could have gone to someone else involved and lied and said something like ‘Oh, who was that? I have to thank him for what he did for me!’ And there was something that had already begun in his mind or a plan he had in his head. I’m not
