Murder in the Marsh Read Online Free PDF

much. My real father disappeared when I was four months old. He was a part-time minister and a shrimper here in Port-Sulphur. My mother has never told me the story, but my stepfather told me about some questionable circumstances in which foul play was suspected. My father went to a community meeting one night up the road in Belle Chasse and was last seen being escorted out by the Sheriff and two deputies. The Sheriff claimed my father was drunk. They said he was removed from the meeting for public intoxication and being disruptive. They said they released him here in Port Sulphur. They suggested that he may have fallen in the marsh and drowned. However, my mother says my father never drank, especially being a minister. The FBI eventually got involved in the case, but they never did solve it. My stepfather says my mother left because she had pursued the matter and the Sheriff started making threats against her. My mother moved and eventually met my stepfather. While my mother changed her name when she remarried, she wanted me to keep my father’s last name, Trahan.”
    “Wow that’s some story, and very sad. I’m sorry about your father,” Rachel said softly.
    “Thanks. I never knew him, so it hasn’t been as hard on me as I guess it has on my mother,”
    “You said your real father was a bi-vocational minister?”
    “Yes, I guess that’s what you call it. He pastored a church in this area and he also shrimped. I can’t quite remember the name of the church. By the way, what did you say the name of your church is?”
    “Bayview.”
    “You know, I thought that name sounded familiar when you mentioned it earlier. Now I know why. I think that’s the name of the church my father pastored.”
    “Really! I know the church has been around for a while. I’m going to have to go back and look at the church records. When would you say it was?”
    “I’m thirty-eight, so it must have been around 1968.”
    “Your father was a minister. So, what about you? Are you involved in a church somewhere?”
    “No, not lately. I used to attend church when I was living at home, but I don’t have a church I attend now.”
    “Well then, I would like to invite you to our church while you’re here.”
    “I’ll have to think about it. I haven’t attended in a long time.”
    “Sure. No problem. It’s such an important part of my life that I like to share it with others.”
    “I don’t mean to seem unappreciative of your invitation. It’s just that honestly, I don’t see where I have a need for God in my life. In the past I can’t really say where I’ve seen God intervene when I’ve prayed for His help. I’ve learned that if I need to do something, I have to depend on myself.”
    “You can’t think of a time when the Lord has answered your prayers?”
    “No, not really. At least I don’t have any evidence of it. I believe there’s a God, but I think of Him more as creating us, then stepping back and letting us live our lives, for good or bad. Kind of like spinning a top and letting it go until it stops. The top may stay on the table or it may fall off, but God lets happen what will happen without preventing it. In the end, I think we’ll be responsible for how we lived, but in the meantime, I don’t think he intervenes or interferes in any way. Still, I’m glad you invited me, and because it’s you who asked, I would like to visit with you at your church before I complete my assignment.”
    “I hope you will,” she smiled.
    “So how about you?” he said, interested in learning more about the attractive young woman sitting next to him. “How did you come to be teaching and working in a church in Port Sulphur?”
    “Well, I’m originally from Mississippi. Both my parents and my brother and sister still live there. I graduated with my education degree from a local college and taught for two years in a city school. I then heard from a friend about teaching positions open here in Port Sulphur. Since I had never