Free Kiss of Temptation: A Deadly Angels Book by Sandra Hill Page A

her connections, has managed to get you another parole board hearing in November.”
    That news stunned Leroy. “That’s impossible. Inmates only get one chance every few years, if that.”
    “You’d be surprised what you kin do when you rely on the big guy.” Tante Lulu pointed to the St. Jude candle now sitting in the center of their table.
    “And that’s not all,” Gabrielle went on. “Tante Lulu thinks there are some folks in the governor’s office who might be open to a commutation, if all else fails.” Gabrielle took Leroy’s hands in hers. They were trembling. Both of them.
    “Why . . . why would you be willing to help me . . . a stranger?” Leroy asked Tante Lulu and Charmaine.
    “ ’Cause yer sister asked us to. ’Cause St. Jude is allus lookin’ fer hopeless cases ta make hopeful. ’Cause it’s the right thing ta do. ’Cause we can.” Tante Lulu shrugged. “But you gotta have help from the inside, too. We cain’t do all the work.”
    Leroy straightened, instantly suspicious. “How?”
    “Well, you gotta behave yerself. Not get inta trouble.”
    “And not piss off any more politicians . . . at least for a while,” Charmaine contributed.
    “And work with us within the prison,” Gabrielle said. “Maybe we can influence that guy who was a star witness against you.”
    “Us? Within? I don’t like the sounds of that.” Leroy was shaking his head, already rejecting what they wanted to do, even before he knew what that was. “No way are you getting within a mile of Little Eddie Hebert. He’s vicious as a rattler in a bucket.”
    Tante Lulu spoke right over Leroy’s objections. “Yep. We’s gonna work on that talent show here at the prison. Dontcha be worryin’ none. We’ll take care of Little Eddie. Betcha I know his mama, or one of his kinfolks. There are Heberts up and down the bayou. He’ll be squealin’ like a stuck pig before I’m done with him.”
    Leroy’s eyes got wider and wider. He turned to Gabrielle as if for help.
    What could she do? She was caught in the path of the same Cajun tornado.
    “Does Sigurdsson know you’re gonna help with the talent show?” An expression of amusement bloomed on Leroy’s face, replacing the usual gloom.
    “Sigurdsson? Do you mean Reverend Sigurdsson?” Tante Lulu asked.
    “Can you introduce us?” Charmaine wanted to know.
    “Oh yeah! The Rev is right over there.” Leroy turned slightly in his chair and pointed at the man still leaning against the wall, still staring at Gabrielle as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.
    Gabrielle realized in that instant that the odd little white turtleneck she’d noticed earlier was actually a clerical collar. Under a muscle shirt? And she recalled her physical reaction to him. Oh my God! I got an instant turn-on over a priest. How pathetic is that?
    “Hallelujah! After all these years my prayers are answered. Thank you, St. Jude!” Tante Lulu had both hands crossed over her chest. The expression on her wrinkled face was one of delighted wonder.
    Now what?
    “Settle down, Auntie. You look like you’re gonna have a heart attack. What’s the matter?” Charmaine had her arm around her aunt’s shoulders and was squeezing her with concern.
    “He’s what’s the matter,” Tante Lulu said, pointing at the man against the wall. “An angel. God has sent me an angel.”
    Leroy let out a hoot of laughter. “He may be weird for a man of the cloth, but an angel? I don’t think so!”
    “Did you take your blood pressure pill this morning?” Charmaine asked her aunt.
    “She must be hallucinating,” Gabrielle told her brother.
    “I’m not hallucinatin’. Holy crawfish! Cain’t y’all see his wings? They’re blue and misty-like.”
    They all looked at the man, who didn’t seem at all discomforted by their joint perusal. And not a wing in sight, as far as Gabrielle could see.
    “Armageddon mus’ be comin’,” Tante Lulu wailed, waving her hands in the air like they were at a revival