Chapter 2-The Confession

Marie heard the low hum of the boat before she saw it coming around the ancient cypress trees in the bend. Strangers never came this deep into Bayou Cane unless they were 'gator poachers or the law. From the pit of her stomach she knew...it was the law.

She recognized Sheriff Herbert standing in the stern of the police boat. He was a tall muscular man, at least in his late twenties, with a stock of thick black hair. It was that dark hair and blue eyes that gave him the appearance of a Terrebonne Parish man. She heard he was from some-where up around Shreveport. He had married old man Duhon's daughter and when Sheriff Duhon retired he got his- son-in-law elected. Sheriff Duhon had a lot of political clout in Terrebonne Parish and all of Louisiana. Marie figured the old man must be the richest man in the state. At sixteen Marie didn't care much for politics, but she loved the gossip. Sheriff Herbert had been nice to her and her family the day he visited all the settlers along Bayou Cane. She especially remembered his easy way of talking and boyish grin. She knew if he had won the families over on the bayou, he must be a pretty good person. There weren't too many people lived so far back in these swamps, she knew all of them and they didn't take to strangers.

Renee saw Marie standing in the yard stirring a large iron pot over a low flame. From the aroma drifting up, he knew she was making lye soap. The steam rising from the hot pot had turned Marie's hair to a mass of damp ringlets framing her heart shaped face. Her pale complexion had turned a rosy pink and glistened with sweat. He had seen her from a short distance the year before and found her hard to forget. A tiny thing no more than five feet four inches with long black hair, little ruby lips and piercing sad eyes. Those unusual pale blue eyes had caught his attention and held him captivated. He wondered if she ever smiled.

"Miss Marie is your mama in the house?" Sheriff Herbert asked as he stepped onto the marshy ground. There were different ways to approach someone with the news their family member had been a victim of a violent crime. He had studied all the ways in the academy, but it never made the task any easier. Often times the shock and anger hit the family and they took it out on the messenger. Renee steadied himself.

Marie looked up and stopped stirring the boiling liquid. "Sheriff, I tink she's back dare." Marie replied pointing back to the house.

"I have some bad news for your family. Can you get your mama to come out to talk to me?"

Most all the houses on the bayous followed the same pattern. They were built of unpainted cypress boards high off the ground to weather the storms and surging bayou waters. Poles at least five feet tall supported the cabins and were used for various purposes. Renee couldn't help noticing this cabin was a little shabbier than most he had seen. The chimney on the east side had a few missing bricks. No curtains in the window and the rusting tin roof all gave the place a forlorn appearance.

Marie scurried off toward the house in her bare feet. Nudging a sleeping bloodhound off the steps of the porch she called from the door ... "Mama de law is here to talk to you." It didn't take long before a passel of kids began peeking from behind the door jam. Renee knew these children, like so many other families, had lived back in these swamps for years never going to school or seeing anyone but their own family. Visitors were a rare event.

A small woman stepped out of the dark house fussing with her hair. Sarah Terrebonne had once been a beautiful woman with long dark hair and flashing dark eyes. Sarah did not resemble the fresh faced girl she once had been. She had grown old before her time. Her body and face revealed too many babies, too many hard times, but most of all too many beatings. It was obvious her nose had been broken many times and from the scars on her face, neck and arms those beatings had been bad ones. Her graying hair was formed into a hasty bun and the dirty dress she wore hung loosely on her skeletal frame. A chipped front tooth somehow made her even more pitiful.

"Sheriff, you want to talk with me?" Sarah asked holding her hand in front of her mouth standing on the front porch inches from the front door. Her voice was soft and melodious with a mixture of French and English that most the people in South Louisiana spoke. Cajun the outsiders called it.

Renee looked up the steep steps at Mrs. Terrebonne and swallowed hard. "I'm afraid I have some bad news. Can I come up?"

"No, I'll come down to the yard." Mrs. Terrebonne took off her dirty apron and laid it across an old rocker.

Renee wasn't surprised. These Cajun people were very private and leery of strangers.
"I'm sorry to tell you Mrs. Terrebonne but a shrimper found the body of your husband in the bayou last night. I need to ask you some questions," Renee used his best Cajun French.

"Okay," Sarah replied in French in a tired voice. Her eyes never leaving the ground.

He expected Mrs. Terrebonne to be more surprised with the news. From her answer, he couldn't tell if she knew something about her husband's death or this deadpan response was her normal. "From the appearance of the body, he had been dead a couple of days."

Marie had gone back to stirring the lye soap mixture when suddenly she dropped the wooden paddle and turned toward the sheriff. Her face was livid with anger as she spewed out her words. "She can tell you 'nuthin. I tell you... he was an evil bastard and a coo-yon. The fool is burnin' in Hell where he belongs."

"That may be so; I still have to ask some questions. You see it wasn't an accident. He was found with a butcher knife stuck in his stomach and it wasn't the only cut he had. Someone killed him... this I am sure." Renee reached for a pad and pen out of his front pocket. "Now, Mrs. Terrebonne if you will give me a statement... I won't need to take you to town."

Mrs. Terrebonne looked back towards the house for a brief moment then in a low voice, "I kill de bastard." Renee looked up from his pad, he had not expected to get a murder confession. Sarah looked up into Sheriff Herbert's blue eyes with her dull brown eyes. "He beat me for years. I could take it no more."

Marie rushed toward her mother, grabbed her arm, and screamed. "No, mama you know you didn't kill dat bastard. Why you say dat?"

Sheriff Herbert was stunned for a moment. He reached back slowly for his handcuffs. "I will have to take you in Mrs. Terrebonne... I'm sorry."

"No, you cannot lock my mama up. She not done it." Marie moaned as she lurched forward grabbing the sheriffs hands.

"Stand back Marie, I don't want to take you to jail, too." Renee pushed Marie's hands away and took the defensive stance with legs spread apart that he learned in police academy. The thought quickly flashed that maybe he had been foolish coming so far back in these swamps alone.

"Marie, stand back!" Mrs. Terrebonne commanded in French.

Marie quickly did as her mother said. "I'll tell you everything, just let my mama go," Marie pleaded. "Mama could never hurt anythang, please let her go." Marie fell to the ground like a rag doll with tears making streaks in the grime on her face.

The sheriff wasn't surprised that Marie had stood up for her mother. It was natural for kin to defend each other. However, he had a gut feeling... Marie knew the truth. He would listen to what she had to say. "Okay, Miss Marie, tell me what happened. You know that everything you say can be held against you in a court of law." Sheriff Herbert proceeded to read Marie her rights.

Minutes later the sheriff, Sarah Terrebonne and Marie sat at a long Cyprus plank table on which years of use had scrubbed the wood smooth and faded. It took a moment for Renee's eyes to adjust to the dim room. The only natural light filtered through a window in the sparsely furnished cabin. The rough plank floors were covered in grime and multiple grease stains. On the west wall, a smoke charred fireplace simmered a reddish stew. Renee noticed various fishing and trapping gear on the plank walls along with an assortment of faded clothes hung from nails. In the corner sat an old metal bed frame topped with a sagging mattress. The pee stained mended quilts reeked of urine. The odor of unwashed bodies, bacon fat, and urine combined to create a noxious atmosphere in the small room.

"Vous les enfants git!" Sarah made a scooting sweep with her hands. A tall lean boy stepped out of the shallows in the corner holding a dirty faced toddler with no clothes. He gave his mama a questioning look and then walked slowly out the door. Two other shaggy dark haired children and one old mangy yellow mutt came out from under the sagging bed frame. The old dog stopped in front of the table and began biting his left front leg and scratching with his hind leg. A small blonde girl smiled at Renee ...pulled the old dog by his floppy ear and scampered out the open door.

"You have some beautiful children, Mrs. Terrebonne."

"Thank you,'' Mrs. Terrebonne smiled for the first time. "Would you like some coffee?"

"Yes, thank you." Renee knew it would be rude to refuse Mrs. Terrebonne's hospitality.

Mrs. Terrebonne walked over to a sooty blue speckled large pot sitting near the low embers of the fireplace. "Marie, git a cup."
Marie placed a stained chipped porcelain cup in front of the sheriff. It was obvious to Renee that Ms. Terrebonne had offered him her very best. "Thank you, Marie."

The coffee was hot and strong. Renee took a long sip of the warm liquid and smiled at Mrs. Terrebonne. Then he turned back to the table and began writing on a legal looking document the date; October 8, 1943, and time 13:00 at the top of the page. Sarah sat down in a cane back chair across from the sheriff and reached for a syrup bucket under the table to spit out her White Tag chewing tobacco.

"Okay Miss Marie, come sit here next to your mama. I now need your statement for the record. You can begin whenever you feel like it." Sheriff Herbert held his pen close to the paper. "Start with stating your name, where you were born and your age for the record. Then just tell me what happened in your own words."

"My name is Marie Ruth Blanche. I was born in Lafourche parish. I am sixteen years this past October 10th." She hesitated for a moment, "I don't know where to begin?"

"Just begin at the beginning," Renee said reassuringly.

Marie got a faraway look in her eyes for a moment. "My papa was a good man, he loved mama and us. My grandmamma told me I was like him. Dey say I have his black hair and blue eyes and his bahbin. I never thought my face looked like I was pouting but dat is what dey say. I guess 'cause I don't smile much. Everybody loved my papa...he never did no harm to anybody. My papa never laid a hand on us. Like I said he was a good man. He died of the Consumption when I was four years old and left my two-year-old brother, Alex, my mama and me with nothing but dis fish cabin. My papa's people lived on dis land ever since the le Grand Derangement. You know when the Acadians got runned out of Nova Scotia. My papa's people was run out of dare and settled on dis land. No one tried to run dem out of dis swamp. I guess it was just too bad a land for anyones to care about. After papa died things got pretty hard, some days we didn't have much to eat. I don blame my mama for marryin' Mr. Terrebonne; she didn't have any other way to feed us. He was a very bad man, but mama didn't know dat at first. Dat is until he started beating us"

Marie paused again for a moment as if in deep thought with both her fist balled in tight clenches.
"He beat my mama for years 'til there was no life left in her eyes. He beat my brother Alex and me, too. Mama tried to fight him away from us but it weren't no use. Mr. Terrebonne was too strong and mean. He would laugh and beat her bloody den start on us again. I never told dis afore, but he killed my brother; choked him to death right out dare on dat porch." Marie pointed to the front porch with tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "My brother, Alex, was ten years old. He was de same age as my brother Armon is now. Alex was short and skinny; not nearly big enough to help mama, but he tried and he died. Mama and I buried him out by dat big old tree yonder." Marie pointed to a moss covered ancient oak tree at the edge of the yard. We buried him beside da other two babies mama birthed dead. It weren't no reason for dem babies to be born dead except dey was beat to death inside mama's belly by dat mean bastard."

Marie suddenly stopped telling her story and Sheriff Herbert could see tears falling down her cheeks.

"It's okay Marie just take it slow," Renee reached out to touch Marie's hand. Marie jerked back like she had been shocked.

"I be okay...I dun cried my tears 'til I ain't got any left." Marie replied wiping her face with the back of her dirty hand. . "Git your pen; I finish dis story. Mama said she killed dat bastard Terrebonne but she lied. She lied for me," Marie continued.

Renee paused with pen in mid-air for a moment, My God what more can this child tell me?

Marie placed her finger on the paper. "Write dis down." Marie's voice brought the Sheriff back to the business at hand. "He come in from the bayou all whiskey drunk and stinking like da skunk. He mean all da time, even meaner when he drunk. I decided right den. I weren't going to take no beatin' tonight and no one in my family was goin' to get hurt. Not tonight! I said to myself. I got a butcher knife from the drawer and stuck it under my mattress. Brother Armon he ten years old, and Claude, he eight, dey sleep here in de front room. Baby Ramon, he two, sleeps on a pallet in mamas' room. Sally, she four, and me we have da back room. Sally sleeps over in de corner on dat old mattress dat used to belong to my brother Alex. I must have fell asleep; at first I could not see 'nuthin. I heard Sally Mae groan and moan. I knew dat sound. He dun got tired of me and now was going after her. I guess I dun got too old for him. I weren't goin' to let it hoppen to her like it had me. My eyes got used to da dark and dats when I saw him slap his filthy paws across Sally's mouth. When he got on top of her with his smelly pig body... I stabbed him. I meant to stick dat knife into dat fat back all de way to his belly 'til he screamed like the hog that he was. It only hit his shoulder and he come up like a raging bull 'gator after me. He grobb me by da neck and was chokin' the life out of me. I thought he done killed me for sure. I got my arm loose and I stabbed him again and dis time it went to dat big belly. He looked at me kindda funny den he just fell over dead. At first I couldn' believe he was dead. I taught maybe my mind were playin' trick on me. I poked him with my foot and he didn' make no sound. I knew he was dead den for sure. I wrapped him in Sally's quilt. He was heavy but I drugged him all by myself to da water. Dare was no body that holped me. I swear. I hooked a trolling line to him and my pirogue and dragged him down da bayou a long ways. All de ways to 'Gator Bayou. I stopped when I saw a bunch of them red demon gator eyes looking out at me from da water. I leave him for 'gator bait. Served him good...he was a devil himself. I'm not sorry. Not one bit. Dat is all I have to say." With that last statement, Marie pushed her cane chair back very hard and stood up defiantly.

"It's okay Marie; I think I understand what happened. Thank you for telling me your story. It looks to me like self-defense. I will need you to sign this statement then I'll take it back to the station."

Marie reached over and signed the paper in a large childish scrawl.

"If I need any more information, I'll come see you again. Take care of your mother and siblings." Sheriff Herbert stood up from the table and placed his pen back in his pocket. "Good bye Mrs. Terrebonne. Don't worry, everything will be okay," Sheriff Herbert said in French. He nodded at Mrs. Terrebonne and started his way back to his boat.

The children were obviously around but hidden in the trees around the house. Renee felt a deep sadness as he walked down to his boat tied on an old stump. How could this land display such beauty in the trees, foliage, and animals but yet, such human cruelty as these children and wife have experienced. He looked at Mrs. Terrebonne standing on the porch watching him leave. Then he did something he had never done before in his twenty-nine years of living...he broke the law. He took his pen and marked 'Case Closed.' Claude Terrebonne's death will be declared an unsolved case and will end up in some dusty file cabinet where no one will have to worry about that bastard ever again. I'll see to that. I don't think anyone will miss him or even care. Just another devil got his due. Renee got back into his boat and waved goodbye to the Terrebonne family.