Mystery on the Bayou

                                                                                        Chapter 1

                                                                                 Man in the Water

     She was a God fearing woman in her early sixties.  She had dark hair which hung in dregs to the middle of her back, and dark brown eyes that nearly always sparkled with a sense of adventure, and those eyes saw the world through eyeglasses placed near the end of her nose.  She always wore  long dresses, each with a different print on them; drawings of birds, flowers or other colorful things in nature.

     She always walked with a cane,(no one knew why) she had no ailment which would cause her to need it.  And whenever she went anywhere, perched on her shoulder was a colorful green, blue and yellow parrot.  His name was Cocoa.  She lived in a small town in Louisiana called Breaux Bridge,(the Craw fish capitol of the world) in St. Martin's parish in the heart of Cajun country.  Her name was Jessie Mame Cloe Duvall.  Jessie lived on the Teche  Bayou in a houseboat.  she had been married to a good man but had lost him years ago to some disease that she wouldn't talk about.

     Jessie kept herself busy with her gardening, painting, visiting the sick in the hospitals, (the patients liked her and Cocoa.)  She also leisurely walked down Main Street up and back every morning at sunrise and every evening at sunset, looking around at the two story buildings which housed a mom and pop grocery store, small cafes a bank and various other business.  Most all of them sported porches where people stopped to talk or play a game of checkers, or on a slow day, the merchants would take a break and sit on their rocking chairs. 

     But one of the biggest joys of Jessie day was when the thirteen year old girl next door; the blond mischievous blue eyed Esther Riggley, who was known as "Essie" would come to see her.  Jessie was like a grandma to the child. 

     Essie was being raised up by her mother, whose name was Grace (her husband had left the two of them when Essie was a baby) but she was doing a fine job of being a single mom.  She was blond headed as was her daughter and had the same blue colored eyes.  Jessie worried that she had a health issue she wasn't aware of because she was so thin.  But Grace assured Jessie that she had all her checkups when they came due and her doctor said she was healthy as a horse.

     Jessie did have a hobby, I guess you could call it, she helped the local sheriff solve the petty crimes that happened in the tiny town.  Nothing very big and bad ever happened in Breaux Bridge.  But one summer day just after school had let out for the year the crime statistics were about to change in a big way.

     Grace worked from eight a.m. to five p.m. every day at a restaurant outside of town, so Essie just went over to grandma Jessie's house and stayed there until her mother got home.  Essie came running in the front door loaded down with her book bag on her shoulder, which she dumped onto a chair in the living room.

     Jessie's houseboat was small but very cozy.  She had a living area, kitchen, bedroom and bath.  Everything in the house was always clean and tidy.  Religious prints hung on the walls along with pictures of boats with and without people in them.  Jessie loved plants and they were everywhere in the kitchen and living room, setting on stands or hanging in the windows.

     There was a good sized deck off of the back of the house, which afforded a beautiful view of the bayou; the moss laden trees on the far bank and anytime of day someone enjoying the scenery from their boat as they moved slowly in the water.  Jessie and Essie spent a lot of evenings having dinner looking out the picture window and watching the world go by.

     "Grandma!" Essie hollered, as soon as she dropped her school bag.  "I'm in the bedroom.  Be out in a minute,"  Grandma hollered back.  "Cookies are on the table."  Essie  walked into the kitchen, patted Cocoa sitting on his perch to the side of the picture window, and grabbed up a couple of chocolate chip cookies.

     "Doogie Strum is out in his old clunker of a boat taking tourist on a ride!"  Essie called.  "I hear ya child," Jessie said, appearing at her shoulder and giving her a hug.  Essie looked up at Jessie's dregs with all the tiny sparkly beads here and there and said, "I don't understand why I can't have my hair done like yours."  Jessie chuckled and said, "Because I was made to have dregs and you weren't.  You were meant to have that honey colored hair you have.  Just look how pretty it waves on your head and down to your shoulders."

     Essie knew there was no point bringing it up again, so she changed the subject.  But before she could speak, Jessie said while looking at Doogies' boat, "You and I need to pray that, that thing doesn't fall apart and that poor man doesn't drown."  "Why doesn't Mr. Strum just get a new boat?"  Essie asked, finishing her last cookie, "You said he had plenty of money left to him."

     "I don't know, but I can guess," Jessie said, "You see when some people get old, it's hard for them to get rid of stuff they love."  "Oh,"was all Essie said.  "Come on child, Let's go see what weeds needs picking in the garden."  "I hope the melons will be big this year.  I just love your cantaloupe."

     "They will be if you and I do them right," Jessie told her as the both of them went out the back door, down the side steps off the deck and into the fairly large garden which took up almost all of the side yard, stopping about ten feet from the edge of the bayou.  The two of them were pulling weeds as fast as they could go, it was a race every time they did this, to see who could pick the most in the least amount of time.

     "Suddenly Mr. Doogie Strum blew this make shift horn on the front of his boat.  Both Jessie and Essie looked up and he was waving his hands madly and pointing to their edge of bayou.  Jessie and Essie looked at each other wondering what the man was trying to tell them.  Doogie looked around at the four people in his boat and then with a grimace took out a bull horn and spoke through it, "Look through the reeds at the edge of the water!"

    Jessie put back her hand to tell Essie to stay where she was.  Essie gave her a curious look, but did as she was told.  Jessie took a look and said, "Honey.  Call the sheriff."  Just then Doogie took up the horn again and hollered from across the lake, "I'll get these folks on home, then I'll come help.  The sheriff is short one deputy right now."

     "I got the sheriff on the phone grandma," Essie told her.  Grandma took the phone and said, "Sheriff Matthews.  You need to get over here as quickly as you can," she put an arm around Essie, "we have a body in our bayou."  Essie gasped, as Jessie hung up and Mr. Strum increased the speed of his boat hurrying around the bend in the bayou.

                                                                                      End of Chapter 1

(Dear Readers, the chapters will be longer as a rule than this one.  But I just wanted to get something out there for you.  Hope you'll enjoy the new book.)