Chapter 7 - Among the Tombs
Rain poured from the night sky, washing over the towering white marble tombs of Saint Louis Cemetery Number One.
Flashlight beams crisscrossed through the narrow stone alleyways. Six armed men in dark raincoats, led by Preston Whitfield III—his broken wrist wrapped tightly in a thick bandage—searched frantically among the crypts.
"Find the Thibodeaux vault!" Preston screamed over the roar of the rain, holding a pistol in his left hand. "Find it before Vance gets here! If those documents get out, my father and I are finished!"
At the iron gates of the cemetery, a heavy black SUV rammed directly through the locked iron chain, splintering the wooden posts and roaring into the central plaza.
Headlights cut through the rain, blinding Preston's men.
Lorenzo Vance stepped out into the downpour, holding a large black umbrella over Camille as she stepped onto the wet stone path. Behind them, Marco and four Vance operatives moved into tactical positions, weapons drawn.
"You're trespassing on historic city property, Whitfield!" Lorenzo shouted across the plaza.
Preston stepped out from behind a whitewashed tomb, pointing his pistol wildly at Lorenzo and Camille. "Stay back, Vance! This is between me and my ex-fiancée!"
Camille stepped out from beneath the umbrella, letting the rain soak her hair and uniform. She walked directly down the stone path toward the Thibodeaux family vault, completely ignoring the gun pointed at her chest.
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"Camille, stop!" Preston yelled, his voice cracking with hysteria. "I will shoot you! I swear to God I will!"
"You don't have the courage to pull that trigger, Preston," Camille said, her voice calm and absolute as she stepped past him, stopping before the iron doors of her family's crypt. "You only know how to hire men to do your dirty work in the dark."
