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BRIDGETTE THOUGHT SHE was dreaming at first when she heard a woman screaming. Lately, the ghosts had made a lot of noise at night and she was too tired when her head hit the pillow to worry about them. Yesterday, two schools booked tours of the grounds and all of her rooms were booked solid for the rest of the week. Business was better than she ever expected. On top of that, the restaurant and the new chef were a huge success. She wished she had hired Mamie Bouviere earlier. Every table had been full tonight and people came from miles away to eat her cooking. If Bridgette did not watch it, she would gain more weight than she cared to. Mamie may not be a people person, but she was magnificent in the kitchen.
The incessant screaming grew louder, but when the banging on the door began, she bolted out of bed. Grabbing her robe, she rushed out of the bed. In such a hurry, she tripped over the bed covers, tangling them in her feet. Who could that be at this hour? She prayed something did not happen to one of her guests.
When Bridgette opened the door, what she saw caught her by complete surprise. She quickly ushered the nearly naked girl inside, looking around before closing the door.
She cried out, “Please, you have to help me. He isn’t far behind me.”
“Who is after you? Are you okay?”
The young woman shook her head and said through her tears, “I never saw his face, but I did hear him following me. I don’t even know where I came from.”
Bridgette took off her robe and wrapped it around the young girl, “Here let’s put this on you. You sit right here while I call the police!”
She nodded her head and pulled the robe tight around her. Bridgette heard her guests making their way downstairs. Bridgette picked up the kitchen phone and called 911, “I have a young woman who just appeared at my back door that is almost naked, and she is scared. She says she was abducted and held hostage somewhere in the woods nearby.”
The dispatcher asked, “Does it appear that she is hurt?”
Bridgette replied, “No, not that I can tell, but she is shaken up.”
A guest shouted, “It looks like there is a fire somewhere in the back!”
Bridgette looked out the window. Muttering a string of obscenities under her breath, she informed him, “You better send a fire truck as well. It appears he may have held her prisoner in one of the sheds in the back of the plantation and is burning the evidence.”
The dispatcher made all the necessary calls while keeping Bridgette on the line, “I am sending the fire department, ambulances, and police officers. Please keep everyone inside and the doors locked until we know you are all safe.”
Bridgette looked at her guests and hoped one of them was not the one that did this. Bridgette told the young girl, “The police are on their way.”
She looked over at her guests, “I will put us on a pot of coffee. I am sure that the police will want to talk to all of us and see if we noticed anything out of the ordinary tonight.”
They all nodded their heads. Bridgette hoped that this did not hurt her business. As far as tonight, she planned to rectify that matter right now, “Tonight’s stay is on the house.”
The pungent smell of smoke reached the plantation rather quickly. Realization soon hit her that someone had burned down part of her plantation and if the fire department did not arrive soon, the fire would spread.
She looked out back and watched as deep orange flames filled the night air. How long had the fire been burning? A surge of raw fear pulsated through her body. Thankfully, she heard the sirens' wailing fast approach the property. She rushed to the front door to explain that the fire was near the bayou.
Thick smoke continued to fill the air. The bayou was all but a gray haze from the smoke, causing her eyes to burn. Hopefully, the fire department would extinguish the fire before it spread.
She watched as the fire truck strobe lights and the siren wailed right past the plantation. The young officer must have gotten word to them on where the fire was. The EMT unit stopped in front of the house and she informed them where their patient was.