A Birth day

Ruby looked at Angus and nodded " possible and they escaped" she added as they entred the shack " eww not one for cleaning I see" she said as she stayed behind Angus as they moved through the shack to the bed rooms. Looking around she saw a notebook laid on a table. " look, she keeps notes?" she said and walked over not tuching it she looked at the cover " drat no name on it, I don't want to disterb anything so not to let her know we were here." she said looking over at Angus she also saw a jar sat on a shelf with a sad looking pixie in it.

Walking over to it she looked in " Im guessing this it the reason the pixies are hanging around the shack." she glanced at him before turning and unscrewing the lid to the jar with out moving the base. Gently she lifted it off and the picie inside few out and around her chirping happinly before flying out the window. Ruby placed some dry bones she had found inside the jar and screwed the lid back on to make it look like the poor pixie had died. " I hate when people keep innocent creatures like that in jars, now Robert only keeps nasty ones " she told him returning to his side. She looked around more and saw nothing of intrest or that she could see.

"Well, I won't tell you what some of the dark potions use them for, then," Angus said. "Robert does not use them for it, though. I am quite sure that little blighter was glad you let him out, though. You know what this reminds me of? It's like a backstage area for a theater production. I bet that's exactly what she uses it for. I bet she and her flunkies get dressed here, brew some of their dark potions here, that sort of thing." He opened some drawers in the ladies' vanity and he saw a book with a faded rose colored cover on it. He took the book and opened it and saw someone had shoved some pictures in it--clippings from books and magazines and newspapers. He looked at them. Every one of them was a painting or a sketch of the real Marie Laveau.

"Look at this. She's got a stack of pictures of the real Marie Laveau in here. This is where she comes to dress up as Marie Laveau," he told her. "This really is, basically, a theatrical dressing room suite of sorts."

"Angus? You find anything?" he heard Beau call from the kitchen.

"Yeah. Iya should see this," Angus called. Beau and Iya joined them, and Angus showed them what he and Ruby had found. Clearly, it boiled Iya's blood. She was angry. She looked through the jars and then picked up one of them.

"I'll be back," she said, taking the jar to the kitchen. She was gone less than two minutes and she came back and replaced the jar just exactly where she found it.

"What did you do? " Angus frowned.

"I took some of her own potions ingredients, made a little concoction of my own and added it to her face cream," Iya grinned mischeviously. "Now when she uses it, her face will be covered in green warts." Angus couldn't help himself. He laughed out loud.

"Let's get out of here before her people just show up and catch us," Beau said.

"Agreed," Angus said. He motioned to Ruby, and they went outside. Angus locked the door back up just as it had been. "There was another building here too, but I couldn't see what it was. I just saw her making a potion in a bowl that she had sitting on a stone step."

"That's over here," Beau said, motioning Angus to follow him a bit further. They crossed the yard and all Angus saw at first were stone steps. There was a good deal of plants and bracken and vines covering what the building itself was. Even close, he couldn't see what it was. He had to get closer and push some of the plants away. And then he saw it. It was a very old mausoleum.

"Ewww," Angus wrinkled his nose. That's what she used to make her potion on? The steps of a mausoleum? She definitely isn't my type."

Ruby wanted Lya to take some potions ingredients and then disappear again " I don't think I want to know right now" she said staying close to Angus as he showed her the scrapbook he'd found "Hum seems she obsessed with Marie Laveau by the looks of things. " she said and watched as he placed it back in the draw as Lya returned with what she had taken. Ruby could not help but laugh as she said she made her face cream and make her have warts the next time she used it "Wow nice touch" Ruby said as they moved back outside. Watching Angus talk to Beau she saw the pixie she relesed return with a gold coin in her hands she held out her hand and it dropped it into her open hand " thank you" she said smiling as it sem to bow its head and fly away.  

Ruby move over to Lya as Angus headed to where he had said he'd seen her sitting brewing her potions "The pixie I released gave me this?" she said and showed her the coin. " not sure why and never heard of Pixies giving gifts like this." She heard him say it was a very old mausoleum and she shivered "Ewe indeed" she said moving to stand at his side as she went to look inside but was forced back by the smell "Wow thats rank" she said and covered her nose.

Iya looked at the coin. It was an old coin, dated 1885,

"Oh my stars," she said slowly. "Beau, look. Its a gold coin from 1885."

"You're kidding," Beau was wide eyed. He looked at the coin. "Your little blue friend just gave us a massive clue about motive."

"Back in 1886, some crooked sheriff's deputies in these parts broke into house, robbed the owner of a fortune in gold coins, and burned the house to the ground. Here's the important piece. The owner was a voodoo priest, and he cursed the men who stole from him and burned his home. That gold has never been found. Maybe the pixie knew the hiding place of the cursed gold. And, if it's nearby, that is a lot of motive, on top of whatever Mrs. Gelding is paying this woman," Beau told Angus and Ruby.

"The mausoleum, maybe?" Angus asked.

"No. Unlikely," Beau said. "Because we have no ability to bury many bodies underground, we use above ground vaults most of the time, and the only way we can do it, since it is a relatively confined space, is to bury multiple people in the same crypt, in the same mausoleum. Nobody would bury gold there because the crypt would be opened too many times. It wouldn't be secure in the least."

"So we keep looking, I guess," Angus sighed.

"Well, let's not lose focus," Iya said. "We're not here on a treasure hunt. We're here to find a way to stop this impostor. We can look for treasure later."

"So what else is here?"

"Oh, nothing much. A small old voodoo cemetery. Voodoo is a religion to many people here. And they're not rich. So there are a smattering of old graves of poor people back in there behind this mausoleum. We can look if you like."

"I don't remember being in a cemetery, but it can't hurt to take a quick look, I guess," Angus said.

Ruby looked at Lya as she gave her the coin to look at when she said it was motive she chuckled "Could be now I'm thankful I let it out of that Jar" she said and smiled as she looked over to Angus as they spoke " I agree, were here for the faker woman not cursed gold, that reminds me could you hold onto that coin lya." she said moving over to Angus as they moved to find a cemetery that was close by. Ruby looked around and saw shapes hanging from the trees and looked to Lya "what are those?" she asked then thought for a moment " are they whats called The Veves?" she asked then looked to Angus " I read a book about them last night, I couldn't sleep" she admitted and chuckled as he brushed one that was hanging from a low branch out of her face.

"Okay," Iya said, dropping the coin in her pocket. "Yeah. Those are veves. Not very good ones either, but we'll leave them alone if for no other reason than to not betray too much of our visit."

Angus walked behind the mausoleum into the cemetery. The graves here had been long neglected. It was rather sad looking, actually. And some of them looked like the departed one had indeed been buried in the ground. A couple of the graves had some of the bones that had come to the surface because of local flood waters. There were cemeteries at home that were older than this, but this one was in such poor shape that, to Angus, it looked like one of the most godforsaken places on earth. He turned around and walked out, not wanting to be here.

"Are we ready to go?" Angus asked, not feeling like there was anything else for him to see here.

"If you want," Iya said.

"Yeah. Besides, we have a drive ahead of us to get into New Orleans to meet Marcus and Aria for lunch," Angus replied. "And I'm going to be hungry by then."

"That's true. And its about a one hour drive, so we probably out to get the boats back so we can head into town," Beau agreed. Angus headed back to the shore, towards the docks, and Iya and Beau followed him. When they got back to the boat, Angus helped Ruby onto the boat and then cast the line.

"This is a pretty simple thing to operate. Just remember. It does not do reverse. It only goes one way--forward. And it does not have brakes. You get follow Beau and get us back," he told her, putting the key in the ignition for her.

Ruby followed Angus to the cemetery and sighed seeing the sad state it was in when Angus sgested they head back she nodded "Agreed, this place is not welcoming anymore" she said and walked with him back to the airboat and climbed into the seat ready to steer them away from the dock. When Angus said to follow Beau she nodded and started the engine. turning the boat she followed behind Beau. "Wow this is not that bad," she said but felt a bump " oops sorry. " she called out to the gator that looked angrily at her from just under the water. " hey at least you survived with a headache and weren't an alligator handbag." it was now she chuckled as it submerged into the water again leaving nothing but a splash behind and Ruby chukaling.

Carefully she steered to the doc and managed with only a slight bump to dock it then turned off the engine " so captain how'd I do?" she asked handing him the key and moving to step up onto dry land again. " have to say that place was creepy but now I have seen it I don't blame you for being stressed about sleeping, that is everyones worst nightmare." she said and moved to hold him tight against her.

"You did fine," he smiled. He got off, tied the boat to the dock and helped her out. "And that was during the daytime. It's a whole different world at night. I can't honestly say that I'm afraid, but having to brawl all night, every night, night after night? She's wearing me out, Ru. Don't think I haven't thought about popping over to Paris to torch Gelding's house again, because I think about it all the damned time. Screw the Americans. Let them fight with her all night for awhile."

"Screw the Americans?" Beau laughed. "Are you including present company with that?"

"Nah,' Angus sighed. "Just venting. My apologies."

"No apology necessary. How about I drive to New Orleans and you and Ruby can just enjoy the view for a change?" Beau asked. He gestured to his own Chrysler 300 in a royal blue color. It was a huge car. Cars in England generally weren't that big. This was a luxury sedan, that was for certain.

"That's fine with me," Angus said. "Ru? I don't particularly have a need to drive. Do you? I don't mind a chance to look at New Orleans instead of having to pay attention to traffic and road signs."

Ruby held him against her as she heard him vent nsd she said nothing just letting him get it out of his system. When Beau spoke she smiled to him as Angus explained it was when Beau mentioned he could drive and Angus spoke of nothaving a need to drive she nodded "I don't mind, it would be nice to have you with me in the back for once" she said smiling as looked over at th car and chukled " now thats a big car" she said as they walked over to it and she opend the door to climb inside.

" by the ay yeah it would treeify me too , to have to fight even in my dreams , but.. your stronger than her and thats why I love you " she said kissing him gently then sliping into the back of the car " coming dear?" she asked smiling to him from inside .

"I have to pick what I let myself get afraid of," he told her. "Sometimes it's just a cold, hard decision about whether what is right in front of me is worth giving that sort of energy too." He walked with her to the car and got in beside her."

"Now that is a very wise philosophy," Beau said. "I'll have to try to remember that one. I never thought about it being a conscious choice."

"Sometimes I need it to be a conscious choice," Angus said. "If I let my emotions run away with me, then I can buggar all kinds of things up. And sometimes I really really need to be able to hold it together."

"Did you learn that from Robert?" Iya asked, getting in the front seat while Beau got in the drivers seat.

"No, I don't think so. Not sure where I learned it at, actually," Angus said, laying his hand over Ruby's as Beau started the drive to New Orleans. "So what's the best thing to get at the Red Dog Diner?"

"I like the salmon sliders," Iya said. "Beau here is a meat and potatoes man. He likes the prime rib melt."

"That's my favorite," Beau said, "prime rib on rosemary focaccia bread, with horseradish and gruyere cheese. The salmon sliders aren't bad either, though. Salmon on little brioche buns with a wasabi mayo, a fruity tamarind sauce, and a vinegar based coleslaw, with a little pickled daikon radish for some crunch. I can see why Iya likes it. It's lean and healthy and loaded with flavor. But if I can get some prime rib? That's my jam."

"I might be with you on that one," Angus laughed.