Page 83 of The Executioners Three
19OCTOBRE, 1687
“Who was he?” Divya breathed.
Freddie pursed her lips.The Curse of Allard Fortinhad said that Ropey, Hacky, and Stabby were originally a footman, a steward, and a carriage driver. And while Freddie might not know much French,le portiersure looked likeporter—which was basically another word for footman.
And, oh god.Porterwas also the last name of a certain boy she had very much been making out with. Could his family be descended from this guy? It certainly seemed possible, and just because Freddie had established that Original Fabre had been as mad as a hatter over some unpaid bills, that didn’t mean the three servants in Allard Fortin’s employ hadn’t actually existed.
Those servants almost certainly hadn’t beenmurderous,but that didn’t mean they were never real figures from history.
And now here was one of their graves.
“Aha, eureka, and gesundheit,” she said again as she popped off Xena’s lens cap. This was ahugehistorical find—and could lead to some really interesting genealogy for the area. Mom was going to flip the freak out in the best possible way. Like, Freddie could practically see dollar signs forming in her mom’s eyes already. A gravestone that might link to José Allard Fortin? Bring on that research funding!
Freddie snapped photos of the front of the gravestone, then the back, and lastly the top, where all the wax had collected (and yes, was making all her Answer Finder instincts go wild).
Six pictures later, she fixed Divya with a hard eye and said, “There might be more graves. Look for them.”
“On it,” Divya chirped. She seemed to have briefly forgotten her horror over the decapitation, and together, she and Freddie scrambled around the clearing.
With forceful kicks, they knocked leaves left and right. Until Freddie’s toes kicked stone.“Ow!”She crumpled to the earth. “Ow, ow,ow.”
“Did you find another?” Divya scurried to her side.
“I think so,” Freddie groaned. “But don’t worry about my health or anything.”
“Pshaw. You’ve already recovered from your wrist—”
“No, I haven’t!”
“—so I’m sure you’ll bounce right back from this too.” Divya punted away the leaves with her toe until a second stretch of stone peered up.
“Well, well, what have we here,” Freddie said, and together, she and Divya cleared away the rest of the detritus, a handful of earthworms, and some roly-polies. Soon, the stone was revealed enough to read:
JUSTIN, LE CHARRETIÈRE
19OCTOBRE, 1687
LE POUVOIR RÉSIDE DANS LE SERVICE
“Whoa.” Divya rubbed her hands together, shedding dirt. “He died the same day as the other guy.”
“Yeah, and that’s the quote on the Allard Fortin crypt.” Freddie’s voice was breathy with excitement.
Because here was proof this guy had, in fact, worked for Allard Fortin. Not only did that fully guarantee research grants for Mom, it also proved that at least one piece ofThe Curse of Allard Fortinhad held some accuracy.
Freddie took more pictures. A rapid-firesnap, snap, snap. Until Divya suddenly cried, “Aha! And to quote you, Fred: ‘Eureka and gesundheit!’”
Freddie whirled toward her. Divya had moved a bit outside of the clearing, toward a cluster of maple saplings. “There’s a third grave, Fred!”
Freddie surged over. Like the second gravestone, this one also had no wax on top of it.Unlikethe other stones, it was almost entirely buried.
“Hey,” Divya hissed as Freddie crouched before the third headstone, “do you hear that?”
Freddie tipped her head.A voice,she thought.Coming this way.It rode the wind that bit off from the lake. And now, a shape was coalescing within the trees.
“Oh god,” Divya whispered, tugging Freddie to her feet. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Wait.” Freddie lifted her wrapped hand. Her gut was swelling, but not with a sense of danger or death. This was the keen of someoneelsein trouble. Like when she’d sensed Divya’s cat was dying.
