12. Chapter
Late in the afternoon Cole finished to read Adam Boucher's notepad, but he didn't find out anything new. Adam Boucher had just made a note, when he had visited historical places, where Voodoo worshippers had performed Voodoo rites in former times up to now, like the Congo Square or the park at the Lake Pontchartrain. Adam had also visited the districts where mainly people lived, who were practising Voodoo and offering their services. He had met some of them, even a distinguished voodoo priestess, but Adam wasn't interested in Voodoo but in the history of Voodoo. That didn't help Cole along and he was dying to go to the old plantation.
Prue went to Dianne hours ago. She has decided to pay Dianne a visit with Danny, so that the children could play together. Cole watched at his clock thoughtfully and decided to ask Prue if she would finally come with him. He walked through the garden to the door and opened it. When he entered Dianne's garden, he saw Prue and Dianne lying in the sun on deckchairs. There were ice-cold drinks on the table and Sarah and Danny were playing on a blanket in the shadow.
Cole gave Dianne a nod and said to Prue without wasting time with meaningless greeting phrases. "Let's get going then." He looked at her sceptically and added. "It seemed as if you'd have enough time now."
Prue looked at him bored. She really didn't feel like standing up from her deckchair. "Do we have to go there today?" she asked sighing. She was too tired to do something today.
"The sooner the better." Cole said. "But don't go to any trouble, I'll manage it alone."
"Do you have plans for today?" Dianne wanted to know from Cole, who has already turned around.
"Yes I have some, but Prue prefers to laze around in the sun." Cole told her.
Prue groaned, she knew that she had to go with him, but she has had a sleepless night and she was tired. "And who'll take care of Danny?" she asked.
"Oh, he can stay here." Dianne suggested. "I already wanted to ask you, if you could look after Sarah tonight. Scott and me will go to a party, but we'll have to be there only at 8 o'clock. So if you can be back until then, it won't be a problem." She looked at Prue asking.
Prue got up reluctantly. "Okay." she agreed. "Hopefully it won't take long."
An hour later Cole turned into a gravel road leading to the old plantation. Suddenly a gate of iron was in their way. Cole stopped the car and looked at a big plate: 'Private Property - No admittance' was written there. They got off and Cole put out the key, he had got last night from Vivian. He unlocked the lock and opened the gate. Then he gave Prue a sign and she went back to the car and drove on the property. Cole closed the gate again, while Prue parked the car and got off again.
"Do you know the exact place of the scene of crime?" she asked and looked around.
Cole went back to the car and gave her a sketched map he has found in the police report. "It isn't far from here. We can park here and walk to the clearing."
Prue took a close look at the map and nodded. They locked up the car and set off. Cole followed Prue, but when they didn't get there after a while, he looked at her back sceptically. "Is this the right path?" he asked.
"Of course!" Prue explained and kept going straight on.
"Can you give me the map? There must be a lake by the wayside. And I don't see any." Cole said and reached out for the map.
"We'll go another way, it's a better one and shorter." Prue told him without taking into consideration to give him the map.
"What a lot of rubbish, the best way is along the lake. I specially marked it on the map." Cole told her angrily.
"I've decided to take another way." Prue explained and looked to the right. They were standing on a little hill and had a wonderful view on the remnants of the former house. Prue stopped and looked at the old building in melancholy. She knew that they had no time, but the ruin held a great fascination for her. She would have liked to take a close look on it, there was something special, but Prue couldn't say what it was.
"You can visit this place some other time, if this scrap head has such a strong attraction for you." Cole said standing beside her.
Prue looked at him annoyed and went on. "You should be glad that I've come along with you."
Cole kept his remarks to himself and followed her. Half an hour later they finally arrived on the clearing.
"There it is." Prue said and looked around. It was an open place and in the middle they could see the rests of a campfire.
Cole walked to the fire and could hardly make out some markings on the ground, where the policemen had found Adam Boucher. Cole kneeled down, but the traces of blood were already gone because of the last heavy thundery showers.
Meanwhile Prue looked around, too and noticed a litte tree at the edge of the place. She went there and saw some little bunches of herbs and colorful ribbons decorating the tree. She took one of the bunches and turned to Cole thoughtfully. "When was Adam Boucher murdered?" she wanted to know.
"At night of May 1st." Cole told her without looking up.
Prue looked at him surprised. "Oh, and why do you ask me then, what they have done here?" she wanted to know.
Cole stood up and looked at her asking. "What do you mean Prue?"
"Beltane!" She shook her head in disbelief. "I think you know very well, what is celebrated at night of 1st May. It's one of the fertility celebrations. Beltane or Walpurgis Night stands for the return of vitality, passion and hope."
"You are right, why didn't I think about that?" Cole wondered angrily and walked to her.
Prue pointed at a tree. "They have decorated the tree with herbs and lighted a fire."
Cole thought about it. "The night, when you overcome all of your inhibitions." He said softly and remembered Amy's magical powder, that could be right. "But isn't the main reason of this feast, that the god and the goddess...?"
"Yes, as the saying goes, they were seized with love and lay down on grass and flowers." Prue explained as poetically as possible. "That's the reason why we are celebrating the fertility of the goddess. But actually it's the revive of nature in spring."
Cole smiled. "But what did our three girls want to do here alone?"
Prue shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know." she said. "But perhaps they weren't alone."
"You mean, they've invited their boyfriends to come here, too." Cole thought about it. "That's possible! And that's the reason why Charlotte and Amy didn't want to talk about it. But why did they leave Amy alone?" He asked and reminded her strange love poems, it was quite possible that she had a boyfriend.
"Perhaps they didn't want any observers." Prue said thoughtfully.
Cole laughed. "But I thought the reason of this feast is to overcome your inhibitions."
"It may be a popular custom to have orgies with demonical feasts." Prue told him annoyed. "But our three girls wanted to celebrate a harmless little party."
"And then suddenly the clergyman turned up." Cole thought. "Amy's friend noticed, that somebody was watching them and killed him. But why doesn't Amy say anything about this night?"
Prue shook her head. "I don't know." she said thoughtfully. "But even if Adam Boucher has caught them in an awkward situation, I can't believe that Amy's friend had murdered him and then he let Amy carry the can."
Cole shrugged his shoulders. "That's the way some men are." he explained composed. "Perhaps he is married and was afraid, that his affair could come out."
"It's hard to believe that Amy would still protect him in this case." Prue said sceptically.
"If you love someone, you'll do a lot for love that you won't do otherwise." Cole explained in a low voice.
"I know." Prue said. "But this idiot has left Amy in the lurch and if my friend did that to me, my love would be over definitely."
"That's just typical Halliwell, isn't it?" Cole said sneering. "But unfortunaltely not everybody is able to be so good in that as you are. Some people are able to forgive."
"But the question is, what you'll have to forgive. And if your friend murdered someone and pined the blame for it on you, it would be too much." Prue made it perfectly clear.
"But sometimes you don't have any choice, because reason doesn't matter, it's love." And it didn't matter, how much the person you loved hurt you, Cole thought and decided to change the subject. "But I'm wondering, where this guy got the athame from."
"Oh, if Amy likes to try out magic, perhaps he'll do it, too. Or he has found and bought the athame, when he had gone to a shop with Amy." Prue told him.
"You can't buy authentic demonical athames in souvenir shops." Cole got it straight.
"I never said anything like that." Prue said and turned around. The sun was setting down slowly and she wanted to go home. "I think we should go now, it's already late."
"We're not nearly ready. We haven't seen everything yet." Cole looked at his watch. "If we had chosen my way, we would have had enough time to look around." He went back to the fire and started to poke with a twig in the ashes.
Prue sighed and looked at some bushes near the campfire. She walkedthere and saw some blocks of wood on the ground, which were used as stools and a table, she supposed.Prue sat down and found some bunches of herbs here, too. Then she looked back at Cole still kneeling in front of the campfire. "You won't find anything there and it's getting dark." she told him. "So let's go."
Cole shook his head angrily, he was already here and he'd like to have a close look around. He kept poking in the ashes and finally he stubbed the twig on a hard object. He pushed the ashes aside and took the object. Then he blew the ashes away carefully and looked at the object again. It was a sooty cross. "And what do you say now?" He asked and showed Prue the cross self-satisfied.
Prue stood up and walked to him. "A cross?" she asked in surprise.
"It seems so." Cole said and held it out for Prue. "But why did it end up in the fire?" he asked thoughtfully and looked back to the ashes.
Prue took the cross and had a close look at it. "It's a piece of jewellery." she said. She could make out the crusty places where little jewels had been before. "Probably someone wore it on a necklace."
"Or Adam Boucher held it in front of him, when he was running on the clearing to exorcise evil." Cole suggested joking. "I can't help wondering why he had been here."
"Do you think he wanted to reclaim them?" Prue asked amused. "What was written in his notepad?"
"Hardly anything. He was just interested in places, where people performed Voodoo rites." Cole looked around sceptically. "But if this could be one of these places?"
"I don't think so. Beltane isn't a typical Voodoo celebration." Prue said. "It has it's origins in Europe and not in Africa."."
"Mm, perhaps he found out about it, when Amy was talking about it." Cole thought. "I have to talk about it with Amy."
Prue gave the cross back to him. "Then do it, but let's go now, it's already dark and I don't want to keep Dianne waiting."
"Don't worry, if we take the other way, we'll be back at the car in a few minutes." Cole told her confidently.
Prue shrugged her shoulders and followed him along the beaten path. It seemed as if some people had used it before. After a while they reached a little lake and the smooth surface was shimmering in the dawn. Prue stopped and looked at the water wistfully. It had been a hot day again and it didn't change a lot in the evening. They would have a warm night and she couldn't hear any noise, just a few insects were buzzing through the night. Prue took off her shoes and walked into the water.
Meanwhile Cole had stopped and looked back. He was surprised, when he found out, that Prue wasn't behind him anymore. He turned around annoyed and walked back. Finally he found her standing at the lakeshore putting her foot into the water. "Watch out! A snake could bite you." he said sneering.
Prue drew back her foot quickly, but then she shook her head. "There aren't any snakes." She stated confidently and dived her toes into the water again.
"Mm, but perhaps alligators. You have to be extremely careful." Cole looked around. "What are you doing here? I thought you are in a hurry."
Prue ignored what he was saying. "Do you know, there is one thing I always wanted to do, but I never got round to do it. Night swimming."
"I thought you don't like the sea very much." Cole remembered.
"Yes, but I don't want to go swimming in the sea, but in a little lake." Prue explained and pointed on the water. "Like this one."
"Well I can arrange it." Cole said and walked to her to threw her into the water.
Prue stepped aside annoyed and pushed his armes away. "Not this way. I definitely didn't want to be thrown into a sea in full dress." She told him in no uncertain terms. "I always wished to go swimming in a deserted sea at a warm night. Just me and ... someone." Prue was lost in reverie. "Only the moon would be shining and we would have a midnight picnic on a blanket at the seaside. And after swimming we would snuggle up in the blanket and listen to 'Nightswimming' of REM all night."
"I didn't know that you are such a romantic yet." Cole said in a low voice.
Prue didn't hear any sarcasm in Cole's statement and looked at him thoughtfully. "Well you don't know me very well. Basically you haven't got the foggiest idea, who I am, Cole."
"Mm. But will you ever give me a chance to find it out?" he asked calmly.
"I don't think so." Prue shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose it sounds familiar to you, finally you also don't let anyone come near you." she explained sneering.
"You could give it a try." he said not completely persuaded.
Prue looked at him sceptically, as if Cole would ever allow her to find out more about him than necessary. But did she want it anyway? No, of course not. "Well, do you want to know, who I really am?"
"Yes, of course." he explained. "You are an interesting person, Prue."
Prue looked at the lake and her toe drew a circle in the water. "I'd say complicated." She said thoughtfully.
Cole stepped up to her. "Well then we've finally found something we have in common." He told her with a smile.
Prue kept looking at the water. "You might be right." she said smiling and looked into his face. "If you really want, you can be very nice, Cole. And I could almost forget that...." She didn't conclude her sentence.
"What?" Cole asked calmly. "That I've been a demon?"
"Not only." she turned around quickly and put on her shoes. Then she went back to the path. "Let's go, Dianne is already waiting for us." she said firmly. "And you wanted to prove me, that your way is the shorter way."
"Well my way will be shorter, even if you've tried to boycott it with your little stopover." Cole told her confidently and followed her thoughtfully. Prue was right, he didn't know very much about her. She never showed him her feelings, but he couldn't deny, that he would like to get to know her better. Of course the only reason was Danny and that they had to live under one roof, he tried to calm himself down.
Soon later, they arrived at the car and Cole looked at Prue triumphantly.
"Okay." she confessed annoyed, when they were on their way home. "This way was shorter. But actually nobody is interested in it."