Page 63 of Xavier

As Stacey and her children reached the exit, Anton and Jacques arrived and held the door for them.

The men spotted Xavier and made a beeline for his table.

“Dude, we’re glad we found you.” Anton pulled out a chair and sank into it. He glanced toward Lissette. “Morning.”

Jacques took the other empty seat and leaned forward. “We were about to call and have you meet us here.” He tipped his head in Lissette’s direction. “Morning.”

“What’s up?” Xavier asked, glad his teammates hadn’t snubbed Lissette as so many others had.

“Yesterday, after Remy briefed us on the thefts at the cemetery, we called as many of the antique stores as we could find listed online in neighboring parishes and a few in New Orleans,” Anton said.

Jacques continued. “We asked them to be on the lookout for reliquary boxes and to let us know if one showed up from any of their dealers.”

Xavier straightened. “Did one?”

Anton and Jacques nodded.

“We got a call from a store two parishes over,” Jacques said. “The owner had several deliveries the day before that he had yet to inventory. After our call, he went through everything and found an ornate brass box with painted images of a saint on the top and sides.”

“It’s a reliquary box,” Lissette said. “Did it have anything inside it?”

“The store owner said it was empty,” Jacques said. “He put it aside, not wanting to sell a stolen item. The sheriff is sending a deputy over to pick it up to see if he can identify who it belongs to.”

“Did he say who delivered it?” Xavier asked.

“He’s still going through the invoices to determine which one the box came in on. He had one from New Orleans Collectibles, another from a smaller seller from Thibodaux, Thibodaux’s Treasures, and one from a company whose initials are PHT. We have Swede surfing the web for dealers with those initials.”

“Good.” Xavier nodded. “Hopefully, we can trace the paper trail back to the thieves.”

“We’re going to check with the two dealers he mentioned and the third when we find out where to look,” Jacques said. “Did you want to go with us?” He looked from Xavier to Lissette and back.

Xavier met Lissette’s gaze.

“I can’t,” she said. “They’ll be out of my range.” She lifted the leg sporting the ankle monitor. “And I have to meet with the sheriff.”

Anton shot a glance toward Lissette. “Why? What happened?”

“My shop and Gisele’s were broken into last night.”

“Anything stolen?” Jacques asked.

“Hard to tell,” Xavier said. “The places are in shambles. Looks more like whoever did it wanted to make a point.” He shook his head. “And Johnny’s missing.”

“Johnny?” Anton frowned. “They took Johnny?”

Xavier’s lips twitched. “I doubt it. He’d have taken fingers. His cage was open, the door was open and he’s gone. Hopefully word will spread, and the whole town will be on the lookout for him.”

“He doesn’t know how to survive in the wild,” Lissette said.

Jacques nodded. “Especially with a hurricane bearing down on us. We’ll keep our eyes peeled.”

“Speaking of the hurricane,” Anton said. “Have you heard it’s up to a Category 4 now, and they predict it’ll hit a day earlier than previously projected?”

“That’s four days instead of five,” Xavier said. “Which means the outer bands will hit possibly a day before the eye comes ashore.”

Anton nodded. “The governor is calling for voluntary evacuations. I think they’ll make it mandatory tomorrow.”

“People are buying up all the plywood at the hardware store,” Jacques said. “Everyone who can is pitching in to board up windows and help those with mobility issues to pack up and leave early.”