I Married the Don for the Debt, and My Husband Walked In Alive novel · Chapter 18 of 24
Chapter 18: The Treasury
The president of the Bayou Rose Society lived on Ursulines Avenue in a yellow double house with a swing on the gallery.
Odette's house stood three doors down on the same side of the street.
I saw the curtain move in her front window as Nadine and I climbed the steps.
"She's watching," Nadine said.
"Let her."
I had the blue passbook in my coat, under my arm, with my hand flat over it.
The president's wife let us in, a thin woman in a house dress who would not meet my eyes.
She left us in a front parlor full of plastic-covered chairs and framed photographs of every Mardi Gras since 1971.
He came in slowly, heavy on his cane, with the gold watch chain across his vest.
"Camille Beaumont," he said. "Nadine Duplessis. Your grandmothers would be ashamed of how late I'm receiving you."
"Mr. President," I said. "We came on a Society matter."
"I expected that." He lowered himself into the biggest chair. "Sit."
We sat on the edge of the sofa.
"I have the burial fund's passbook," I said. "I need you to read it."
He did not look at my hands.
"Where did you get it?"
"From the office cabinet at the hall."
"Then you took it from a Society cabinet, Child, on the word of the man who owns the building." He folded his hands over the head of the cane. "Whose key was it?"
"Mr. Castellane has had it eleven years."
"And yesterday he handed you the Society's property," he said.
"He handed me the truth."
"I'll not take papers from the Don's wife," he said. "Not in my house."
"I'm not asking you to take anything from him. I'm Camille Beaumont. I buried my husband out of your church." My voice was steady and I let it be. "The Society paid for the casket."
"As it should have."
"Then the Society paid for a box of sand."
His face did not change.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of I Married the Don for the Debt, and My Husband Walked In Alive are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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