Page 64 of Rafael

“No.” Rafael returned his attention to the road ahead. “You went to help that group of girls that came in. He left while you were working with them. Why?”

“I gave that register to Grand-mère,” she said.

“Any idea what it was worth?” Rafael asked.

She nodded. “It was brass and came fully installed in a solid oak cabinet with drawers. It was in excellent shape. The unit was valued at anywhere between five and ten thousand dollars.”

“That’s a substantial amount of money,” Rafael said, “but it’s not an easy item to transport and even harder to sell. Does anyone else know who you gave that register to?”

Gisele shrugged. “I didn’t make a big deal about it. Everything else was auctioned off. I had the auctioneer transport the register to Grand-mère’s house and place it in her sitting room. It’s an odd piece for a house but strangely fits in with her eclectic style.”

Rafael’s cell phone rang. He fished it out of his pocket and glanced down at the caller ID.

Swede.

He answered the call. “Romero here. Going on speaker.”

“Got something on Caney. Not sure if it relates to what’s going on with Ms. Gautier’s store. Caney won big at the horse races. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars on a long shot named Lucky Seven. He cashed in and disappeared. Three days later, he was arrested for aggravated assault at a convenience store. He had no money on him except for the amount he stole from the till at the convenience store.”

“Did they find the two hundred fifty thousand dollars he’d won at the horse race?” Rafael asked.

“No. Sources on the dark web reported Caney as upside down in gambling debt.” Swede said. “He owed the New Orleans Mafia more than that, and it was compounding daily.”

“They would’ve wanted him to use that money to pay down or off that debt,” Rafael surmised.

“With that in mind, I got into the security surveillance database serving the auto parts store next door to the Bayou Bakery. I found the two big guys who asked about Mama Wamba, Ms. Gautier and Roland Caney. I ran their facial images through an online database search. Bingo. The two guys are members of theNew Orleans mafia.”

“Now it all makes sense,” Gisele said. “With the mafia on his heels, Caney hid the money somewhere, intending to get back to it after he lost his tail.”

Rafael nodded. “And it took him all this time to come back for it because he stashed all of it and didn’t save out any to live on.”

“So, he robbed a convenience store, got caught and was sent to jail,” Swede concluded. “That’s all I’ve got for now. Let me know if you need anything else. Out here.” Swede ended the call.

Gisele reached out and touched Rafael’s arm. “Turn around.”

He slowed at the urgency in her voice. “Where are we going now?”

“I’m betting it’s somewhere in the cash register cabinet.”

“The one you gave to your grandmother?”

“Yes. Head south out of the opposite end of town,” she said. “We need to find that money before Caney and before the goons from the New Orleans mafia catch wind of its location.”

Rafael drove through town and took the road leaning south.

Gisele pulled her cell phone out of her purse and called her grand-mère. It rang four times and went to voice mail.

“Grand-mère, this is Gisele. I’m headed over to your place. Don’t go anywhere until we get there.” She ended the call and sat with her phone in her lap, her gaze on the road ahead. “I don’t like that she didn’t answer her phone.”

“Does she always answer her phone when you call?” Rafael asked.

“Not always. Her house is outside of town, perched on the edge of the bayou. Cell phone service can be sketchy at best.” She shook her head. “You don’t think they figured out where the cash register is, do you?”

“I doubt it. That was a few years back. People forget, especially if it doesn’t pertain to them directly.”

“Grand-mère should be there before us. She was scheduled to leave the festival right after we saw her.”Gisele leaned forward, her face tense. “After the next curve, slow down and look for a gravel road on the right.”

He eased into the curve and slowed coming out of it.

---