Axel produced his credentials.

“I feel like an idiot. Why this didn’t occur to me before... Uh, sorry, sorry! Come in. My husband is just in the parlor. Please.”

“We’re a block down from the first murders here,” Dan whispered to Katie.

She nodded, feeling a sense of unease trickle down her spine. She hated it; she hated being anywhere near the place where the killer had struck; she’d hated coming upon Jennie’s corpse.

But she’d do just about anything to make it all stop.

“I’m Mona, Mona Lusk, and this is my husband, Rene,” she said, leading the way into the parlor.

Rene Lusk was about the same age as his wife. He was tall and thin and wiry like her. They might have run marathons together or perhaps enjoyed fishing, boating or power walking.

Rene had been sitting on a big chesterfield sofa. He rose when they came in, shaking hands with them all.

“I’m afraid being late on this is my fault. And even now...” He glanced over at his wife. “Even now I’m afraid you’re going to think we’re alarmists seeing things that aren’t there, making things up.”

“When I first saw the man, Rene just laughed and said this was New Orleans. We’re both from here, a bit jaded. I mean, people are often in costume, and sometimes the more bizarre the costume the better, they seem to think,” Mona said.

“Even when it’s not Mardi Gras or Halloween,” Rene said dryly. “I mean...it’s just New Orleans. Oh, and we have a historic voodoo temple or house near here, about two blocks over.”

“And it’s great! Nothing evil there. Matisse Renoir is the high priestess there for her congregation. They don’t do anything bad, trust me. They adhere to the tenet that anything hurtful done to others comes back on oneself threefold. But the house there... She has wonderful historic displays, about the religions in Africa and Haiti and how old religions came together with Christianity, and how the saints work in and—”

“Sweetheart,” Rene said, interrupting his wife. “I don’t think we need to give them all a lesson in voodoo or even the history of the world,” he said softly.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It’s just nothing bad goes on there, and people have a tendency to think that voodoo is all about curses.”

“It’s okay. Katie and I both live here. And our families go way back,” Dan assured her.

“Please, sit,” Rene said.

They all did so, Katie, Dan and Axel taking the sofa, Rene and Mona in the chairs across from it.

“So,” Rene began, looking at his wife, “I was in the kitchen, pouring my cup of morning coffee. I heard Mona out here, muttering.” He grimaced at his wife. “She talks to herself a lot, getting crotchety in her old age.”

“Hey!” Mona protested.