Murder in the Marsh (15 page)

Thirty-Three

After huddling together in the darkness of the bathroom for several hours, Rachel and Adele noticed the intensity of the hurricane begin to diminish. Waiting a little while longer, Rachel finally stepped out of the bathroom into the hall. The wind had undeniably eased, and debris no longer blew about the room. She walked to a window and peered through the shattered glass. Outside, the dark grey clouds were quickly giving way to a blue sky. The rain dropped off to a drizzle, and the trees still standing barely swayed in the light wind. She went back to the bathroom and informed Adele and Michelle that the danger had subsided.

              “Is it over?” Adele asked.

              “I don’t know. It just seems strange to end so quickly,” Rachel responded.

              “Yes, very unusual.”

              Rachel thought for a minute. While it seemed like the hurricane lasted for an eternity, the suddenness with which it ended didn’t seem right.

              Rachel and Adele looked at one another. They both came to the same conclusion almost simultaneously.

              “The eye!” they both said in unison.

              “Yes, ah tink it must de eye of de hurricane!” Adele said

              “It seems like we barely survived the first half.”

              “Ah wonder how long we have before it hits again?”

              “I don’t know, but I’ve got my Walkman. I’ll listen to it and see if I can learn anything.”

              Rachel found the Walkman still lying on her bed. Turning it on, she listened to the announcer updating the latest statistics for Hurricane Katrina. What caught her attention the most was the location and size of the eye. The announcer reported that Katrina made landfall over southern Plaquemines Parish and was pushing northward. The eye remained well formed and approximately forty miles in width. Rachel calculated distances and determined it was large enough to cover the entire town of Port Sulphur and much of the parish. The announcer stated the hurricane was moving slowly, and would not clear the parish for a couple of hours.

              Rachel relayed the news to Adele, as Michelle clung to her mother’s leg.

              “A couple of hours?” Adele repeated astonished.

              “If even that much. I guess it depends on whether we’re at the edge of the eye or near the middle. I’m going to go outside and take a look around. It might be a good idea to try and board the windows up before the winds begin again.”

              Rachel opened the door and looked around. Adele and Michelle were right behind her. The scene stunned them. Snapped telephone poles and wires laid across the ground. Street signs leaned unnaturally twisted or blown over. Giant tree braches, snapped off at the trunk, lay many yards away from their origin, while several trees sat uprooted and laying on their side. Shingles, wood, paper, plastic items and all sorts of other debris littered the street and lawns.

              Adele looked about in stunned amazement as she carried Michelle. Michelle seemed just as wide eyed as her mother. Rachel guessed she probably had the same look on her face.

              “Let’s see if we can find some scrap boards or plywood in all this debris,” Rachel suggested. I have some hammer and nails in a closet. We can nail them across the windows to serve as protection.”

              For the next forty-five minutes the two women sifted through the scatted debris on the street and nearby lawns, while Michelle watched from the steps of the apartment. Bit by bit they located pieces of wood, plywood, and boards that while not perfectly shaped, could still be hammered across the exposed windows to provide some protection. Having collected a pile of assorted lumber, Rachel retrieved her hammer and nails. Adele held the wood over the window while Rachel hammered. When they were finished, they stepped back and felt a small sense of accomplishment of having completed the job.

              Rachel looked around at the sky. An hour and a half had passed, and the sun continued to shine brightly in the rich blue sky, while a light breeze blew. The only noticeable difference from a normal summer’s day was the difference in air pressure, which Rachel experienced as needing to continually yawn to pop her eardrums. No cloud cover was visible overhead, though she could see a line of ominous clouds in the distance to the southwest. It appeared to be the back of the hurricane eye wall.

              Rachel considered whether she might be able to make a quick trip to Happy Jack marina to see if Daniel and Claude had returned. She took one look at the street and knew with all the trees and power lines down, she would not be able to make it by driving. She remembered the marsh levee that backed up to the school. The levee separated the school from the marsh, and she frequently used it as a jogging path. She often jogged as far as Happy Jack marina, and sometimes further. The distance was a little over two miles, which normally she could cover in twenty to twenty-five minutes by jogging. She knew Adele wouldn’t be excited about the idea of her taking the risk, but she too would want to know about her husband Claude.

              Rachel decided to tell Adele her plan, and as she expected, Adele tried to discourage her from going. Finally, she convinced Adele she would be all right and it wouldn’t take long. If the men were there, then she would be with them. If they weren’t, she estimated she could jog back almost as quickly. The eye wall to the southwest did not appear to be approaching very quickly.

              Before she departed, she put on her tennis shoes and shorts and carried nothing else with her except a two-way radio, in order to travel light and fast. The radios were multi-channeled and were supposed to have a range of five miles. She kept them charged just in case, and despite the fact the power had gone out, they were already charged and ready to use. Before leaving, she showed Adele up to the second floor of the apartment building and found the hidden key to her friend’s apartment. Hugging Adele and Michelle, she promised to hurry, and checked the time on her watch. She took a deep breath, and began jogging swiftly down the drive leading to the back levee.

Thirty-Four

Daniel felt certain the Lord was intervening to provide him and Claude an opportunity to escape to safer shelter. Though he knew the eye of the hurricane was a natural occurrence, he sensed that God had provided it for them both at that moment. He also believed that if they did not take advantage of the calm during the storm, they would perish in the back edge of the hurricane. Fortunately, the storm surge had not yet reached its full potential, due to the easterly blow of the winds. But now the winds would come out of the southwest, and with it mountains of surging water.

              Daniel checked on Claude. He was awake and sitting upright on the couch gingerly fingering the back of his head where the wound was wrapped.

              “How’re you feeling, Claude?” Daniel said, walking in the room.

              “A little better. It don’t hurt as much, and ah don’t feel so dizzy,” Claude responded.

              “Good. That was a terrible blow you took. I’m glad it wasn’t worse. If you think you’ll be alright, I’m going to go next door and see if I can find the gas container.”

              “Go ahead. Ah’m okay. Ah’ll be getting ready.”

              Daniel nodded and headed out onto the dock. He immediately noticed that even though the water was calm, it was higher than usual. It nearly covered the dock and filled the surrounding marsh grass. It must be the low pressure and high tide, he thought. He realized it would be extremely difficult for him to hike through the marsh grass and water to the neighbor’s camp where the gas container was located. The canal itself was filled with wood and marsh grass as a result of the storm ripping it loose from the mud. Even if he could get the boat running, he was unsure how well it would operate in the debris choked water. He went back in to speak with Claude.

              “Claude, do you have a small boat that can be paddled, like a canoe? The water has risen up into the marsh, and I don’t think walking through it will be easy.”

              “Why didn’t ah tink of dat earlier!” Claude said, clearly perplexed with himself. “Yes. Ah have a pirogue slid up under de house. Ah have a couple of paddles lying in it.”

              “Great. I’m going to check on it, and if it’s not damaged I’m going to use it to paddle down to the neighbor’s camp.”

              Daniel went back out and stepped down into the watery marsh. His shoes became soaked again, but he hardly noticed. Looking under the house, he found the pirogue as Claude had said. It was tied off to a piling and lying on its side. He untied it and pulled it out. Unfortunately, both paddles were missing, and though he looked around, he didn’t see them anywhere. The wind must have blown them away, he figured. The pirogue was a slender, dark green wooden craft, somewhat similar in shape to a canoe, but shorter, less rounded, and with lower sides. It also had a flatter bottom, which made it useful in the shallow marshes and mud flats. Daniel readied the boat for launch, and then went back inside to see if Claude knew where another paddle was. Claude stated there were two more in the porch utility closet, which Daniel was soon able to locate.

              At first, Daniel found the balance and maneuvering of the pirogue tricky, but eventually got the hang of it. Navigating through the debris in the water was challenging, and he often had to strain to paddle himself through it. After about fifteen minutes, he docked at the neighbor’s camp. He tied the pirogue off and began to search for the gas container. The container only had about two to three gallons in it when Claude dropped it earlier. He felt certain that even if he did find it, most of the gas would have already leaked out or the container would have filled with water.

              Looking around the dock where the porch overhang had crashed down on Claude, Daniel saw no evidence of the container. He started scanning the marsh in the direction the wind might have blown it. In a minute, he spotted it. It was about twenty-five yards from him lying in the marsh grass. He stepped down to the mud, grass, and water, and began to make his way towards it. The struggle was a lot more difficult as the water soaked marsh sucked his legs deep into the mud. After fifteen minutes, he reached the red plastic container lying on its side with the spout sticking down into the muck. Daniel picked it up, and as he suspected, some had already leaked out. It only had a gallon or two remaining. He sniffed it and smelt the familiar tinge of gas. He hoped water hadn’t gotten into the container as well.

              After another fifteen minutes, he made it back to the pirogue and put the container into it. The next step would be to make his way down to the patrol boat. Daniel began paddling down the canal through the debris. The distance was longer than he expected and chewed up precious time. Sweating from the exertion, he nearly tipped over when he unknowingly paddled over a submerged log. He managed to avoid capsizing and saved the gas, but proceeded more cautiously and slowly.

It took him nearly twenty minutes of paddling through the debris to reach the patrol boat. He didn’t see it at first, but then to his dismay, he saw the tip of it jutting up out of the water like the tip of an iceberg, while the rest of the boat lay sunken in the brown water. The rear tie down lines had snapped, leaving the patrol boat vulnerable to the power of the storm. There was no way they would have time to raise the boat. In any event, they would need a crane to hoist it out. Daniel could only turn the pirogue around, dejected about their chances of escaping the hurricane.

As he paddled, he figured a little over an hour had expired since the eye first began to pass over. Looking back toward the southwest, he could see a bank of thick clouds that had slowly been approaching for the last thirty minutes. He assumed it was the eye wall. He didn’t know exactly how long it would be until the back wall of the hurricane reached them, but he didn’t give it more than an hour and a half. He paddled even more rapidly trying to make it back as quickly as possible.  

Claude was ready and waiting on the dock when he arrived. Checking his watch, Daniel noted it had taken him thirty minutes to make it back to the camp. Claude had rounded up a few left over snacks in the pantry and was carrying these in a plastic grocery bag. In the other hand, he had the two life preservers the men had worn the night before and their raincoats. Daniel edged up to the dock.

“De boat was not dere?” Claude asked.

“No, it was there, but it sank,” Daniel said dejectedly. “There’s no way we will be able to raise it. We’ll have to find another way.”

“What do you tink?”

“I don’t know. The water is up in the marsh grass. I had a rough time just trying to retrieve the gas container. I don’t think we’ll get very far trying to hike our way out. I’m thinking out best chance is taking the pirogue.”

Claude thought for a moment and said, “Ah, don’t see any other way either, Daniel. Let’s go.”

Before they set off, Daniel asked him to hold the pirogue while he ran inside. A minute later, he came out holding the little Bible he had read during the night and put it in his back pocket. Donning their life preservers and placing the rain jackets in the bottom of the pirogue, Daniel and Claude began paddling, trying vainly to establish a steady pace in the debris filled waters.