Tonton (A Hunter Kincaid Novel)

The Haitians, forty women, lined against the wall as another Haitian, employed by Woodson, directed them in Creole. At a signal from the translator, all of them raised their hands in the air, and said together, “M ‘fè.” I do.

Hunter whispered to Andre, “I guess there were invisible bibles under their hands, too.”

Randall looked at Hunter and gave her a thumbs-up. “So it’s legit, I can see that. ‘Merica.”

Andre stifled a grin and said under his breath, “You two quit it.”

The Justice Attorney in charge, Kenneth Grant, heard them, too. He gave Hunter a look, and then said, “Return the witnesses to the waiting room.” When they were all inside, Grant said, “Proceed, Mr. Woodson.”

Woodson had the translator bring one woman from the room. The translator talked to her in Creole, then said to Woodson, “She speaks English.”

Woodson said, “Excellent. We will do this in English.” He pointed at Jean Claude and said, “Is Mr. Villard a bad man?”

The woman’s eyes showed a lot of white and she shook like she had the chills. She looked at Villard, then the others in the room. She said, “No. He is a good man. He saved us.”

Hunter snorted. Kenneth Grant frowned at her, then said to Woodson, “Proceed.”

Woodson asked, “How did he save you?”

“He ran the ship aground so we could escape. The men smuggling us did not want that. They wanted to kill him, but he escaped. I believe they wanted to kill us all.”

Hunter leaned toward Grant and whispered, “Aren’t you going to object or something? Maybe ask questions to catch her in a lie?”

Grant whispered back, “This is not a court. I’ll question them if I feel the need.”

Hunter sat back again, and Andre said to her, “I can see steam coming off your head.” Hunter nodded.

Woodson continued the questions. “Let’s go back to the first. Did you wish to come to the United States?”

“Yes. We all wanted to come.”

“But without papers.”

“Without papers, yes.”

“How did you make arrangements?”

“Port de Paix has many smugglers. We talked to one who said he could take us.”

“Was that man Jean Claude Villard?”

Her eyes rolled away from Woodson and she focused on the corner of the room. “No, it was the big crewman. He and his men arranged it all.”

“His men?”

“The other crewmen. They were all together.”

“Was Mr. Villard present at any time during these meetings?”

“No.”

“When did you first see him?”

“When the crewmen kidnapped him from another vessel and forced him to captain our ship.”

Hunter rubbed her temples. Andre said, “This isn’t over by a long shot.” He winked at her, and that cooled her off a little. Not much, but a little.

Woodson pushed the question, “How did they keep him on board. Couldn’t he refuse?”