CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“We have Tahlako, Archie, Genevieve, and Charity left. Who do we choose?” asked Ian.

“Man, I have no clue,” said Ghost. “I’m exhausted from the adventures of Lilliana. Poor kid. She and Tiestemone should have had a long life together.”

“They will,” smiled Ian. “They’ll have eternity now. I’d say that’s a fair trade for them.”

“True,” smirked Ghost. “Trak? Anything on Tahlako?”

“It’s what we thought. There are no records of his death or even of his life. It’s very frustrating. We know that his father was chief of the tribe around the time that he was living. Shortly after Tahlako’s death, another chief took over, but he wasn’t related. I’ve asked Grandfather to contact the spirits in his world to see if anyone can help. I’m not sure they can.”

“Is that important? I mean, that another man took over,” asked Lauren.

“It is, little one. Tahlako would have been chief because his father was chief. The only thing that would have prevented that would have been his death or some horrible misdeed. If he had no brothers, then it would have been voted on by the elders of the tribe.”

“What about the man that was made chief? Did he have reason to have harmed Tahlako?” asked Nine.

“Every reason. Tahlako was hoping to get the other tribes to form an alliance and push back on the white men encroaching on their lands. He had been relatively successful in getting commitments, according to him. When the new chief took over, all those talks ceased. No one tried to fight the encroachment.”

“Their own people? But why?” asked Gaspar.

“I don’t know unless they were promised something. Money didn’t mean anything to them. Tribes didn’t use currency. They used trade. Someone might have promised them something highly valuable in exchange for their cooperation.”

“But couldn’t they have gotten that cooperation without killing him? I mean, it seems to reason that if they already had a relationship with the white men, they didn’t need to kill Tahlako to ruin the plan.”

“That’s true, except if Tahlako was a great speaker. If they believed what he said, if he was highly convincing, the tribes would have followed him no matter what.”

“This is really going to be a challenge,” said Miller, shaking his head. “What can we do to help?”

“Research,” said Trak. “We have to try and find anything from that time period. Writings of trappers, foreign explorers, ships’ captains, anyone who might have been here during that time. You’ve had good luck with diaries lately. Maybe someone kept a diary.”

“I’m not sure we’ll strike it rich twice with that one,” smirked Ghost. “I feel for the poor guy. He’s the oldest of the group, the furthest removed from his time period.”

“He seems to be doing alright,” said Gabe. “He definitely knows how to entertain the kids. He’s telling stories night after night, and they’re just sitting on the edge of their seats.”

Trak stared at Gabe, standing to walk toward him.

“What did you say?”

“He’s telling stories to the kids every night. They’re glued to their seats with him. He’s really good at that shit.”

“Yes. He’s very good at storytelling. Very good at getting others to listen, like Archie.”

“Is that significant, Trak?” asked Nine.

“Native tribes didn’t keep great records of our people’s birth and death, but stories were something else. They weren’t always written down, not like you might think. But they were recorded, either through paintings, tapestries, or something else. Stories were more important to us than anything.”

“Alright, then, how do we get those stories?” asked Antoine.

“We’re going to need to visit the cultural centers of all the tribes in the area. Tahlako was Choctaw, but the other tribes included Natchez, Houma, Chitimacha, Caddo, Tunica, Coushatta, and Atakapa. For some of those, there are so few left, and so few who have any ties to their family’s history, we may never find them.”

“Well, that’s fucking cheery news,” said Kegger.

“We have to split up and try. That’s all we can do,” said Trak. “I can take the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Coushatta nations.”

“Pork and I will take the Natchez and Houma,” smirked Kegger. Trak nodded his thanks to the man.

“Hannu and I will take the Caddo and Tunica,” said Vince. “That only leaves the Atakapa.”

“We’ll take it,” said Lauren, looking at her husband. He desperately wanted to say no but knew that his wife would fight him on this. They had just asked them to start taking on cases or assisting with cases that were slightly less dangerous. How dangerous could it be to ask questions around a four-hundred-year-old dead man?

Marie, Ella, and Rose stood, nodding at Lauren.

“We’ll go with her,” they smiled.

“Fuck,” muttered Baptiste. His wife turned toward him, raising her brows. “I mean, that sounds wonderful, honey.”

“Don’t look so smug,” grinned Rose. “I already know that they are a very small tribe. Most were killed by diseases that we gave them in the 1800s. Many joined other tribes, but they have a new chapter now that includes those in Texas and Louisiana.”

“How did you know all that?” asked Baptiste.

“We’re smart women. We knew where this would eventually go and came prepared with the research,” said Ella. “We’ll be heading out in the morning. Don’t worry. We’re taking a few of the dogs with us.”

The three men breathed a sigh of relief. The dogs couldn’t fire a weapon, but they damn sure wouldn’t allow anything to happen to the women.

“I think we all have our assignments for Tahlako,” said Trak. “What about Archie, Charity, and Genevieve?”

“I think Archie feels obvious,” said Luc. “Those men he argued with most likely killed him and left him for dead.”

“We can’t think that way,” said Nine. “Obvious or not, we have to give him a solid response, or he might be stuck here. We have to reach a firm conclusion in order for that young man to get the peace he deserves.”

“Understood. I’ll try to dig in a bit more. Mama’s library might be able to give us some more light. I’ll also interview Franklin and Martha again. Maybe they missed something as well.”

“Okay. That leaves us with Charity and Genevieve. Anyone feel like visiting the Vanderbilt estates?” asked Gaspar.

“Fuck no,” muttered Baptiste. “That’s in Rhode Island, isn’t it?”

“There are dozens,” said Dex. “Almost every single one of them owned a townhouse or mansion in New York City, then a massive estate somewhere else. North Carolina, Rhode Island, New York, Connecticut. It could take us a while.”

“There’s a museum in Centerport, New York,” said Faith. “I’m going to bet you can find a ton of information there, then decide where to go next.”

“Great idea,” nodded Dex. “That just leaves Genevieve. We know that she’s from here, so her spirit will remain here at least for a while, but it would be nice to know what happened to the poor young woman.”

“I’ll do some research in the family books,” said Jean. “If she says she didn’t run away and get married, something else happened, and we need to know what it was.”

“Sounds like we have our assignments. Let’s do this.”