Chapter 10: A Damsel in Distress
Père Nuit came to, lying on his back in the darkness of Mademoiselle Suzanne's bedroom. Nearby, someone was skinning a cat.
He was pretty sure his jaw was not broken, no matter how badly it throbbed, but he had definitely chipped a tooth. Plus, there was a lump on the back of his head the size of a hen's egg where he had hit the floor. He struggled up onto his knees and searched around for his crumpled top hat.
The cat yowling began to sound weird. He focused his eyes and saw Mademoiselle Suzanne kneeling in the moonlight on her bed, wailing her eyes out.
"Little one?" he asked, staggering up onto his feet. "Whatever is the matter?"
She turned quivering to him. "Lwsinmw wuh shns jne dse!" she explained through a torrent of tears. "Koen sn uouc dkmks snjncc, snjncc, snjncc wgos hhz ss!"
He shook his head. "I didn't understand any of that. Could you try it once again?"
She rushed to him and crushed him to her. "Guses kms vdyvs jnij omsn xn gysoo!"
"Someone has broken your heart." This was no so much a literal translation as it was an educated guess. "Ah! You are in love! No wonder my voodoo had no power over you! Congratulations!"
"Atf skjn lpf tmfp suuh sknd!"
"Or, maybe not. Here, dry your eyes, little one. No man is worth this many tears." He took his handkerchief out of his jacket pocket and graciously offered it to her.
She put the handkerchief to her nose and blew a copious amount of snot into it. Then she smiled gratefully and handed it back.
He took it gingerly between a fingertip and thumb and, when she wasn't looking, threw it out the french doors. Père Nuit was at something of a loss here. Comforting hysterical females had not been part of his training to be an evil bokor.
"Oh Père Nuit!" she blubbered. "I want to rip his guts out, wrap them around his throat and strangle him to death with them! I want to sink my teeth into his chest, gnaw my way deep inside and devour his still-beating heart! I want to smash in his skull and dance in the muck of his filthy brains. Because, I just love him so much!"
"Mon Dieu," commensurated Père Nuit. "What has this man done to you ? Oh no! He didn't steal your jewels, did he?"
"No, he left me my jewels," she said, pointing to the small chest next to the tiara on the dresser. "Although I'm sure he left them just because he didn't realize that the few jewels I own will fit into a chest that small."
"So then, what did he take?"