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swallowed hard. "The plantation is haunted?"
    Delta raised her chin and gave a smug smile. "As haunted as they come. Oleander Place ranks among America's top ten most haunted buildings."
    To say that my mind was reeling would be putting it mildly. I simply couldn't process the possibility that I'd seen the ghost of Evangeline Lacour on the balcony of Oleander Place yesterday. Surely it was one of the plantation tour guides, right? And then I thought of Chandra. Despite my better judgment, I wondered whether there was any connection between the spirit she'd claimed she was talking to and Evangeline.Or was it just one big transcendental coincidence that two people had approached me about incidents involving spirits on the same day? Either way, I was starting to get the distinctly ominous feeling that the inhabitants of the netherworld—or their earthly representatives—were trying to tell me something. And I didn't like it. Not one bit.

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    I cocked my head to the side. "When you say 'as haunted as they come,' what do you mean, exactly?"
    "What do you think I mean?" Delta snapped. "I mean we have a lot of ghosts floating around Oleander Place."
    "Whoa!" David exclaimed—from a safe distance in the hallway.
    "You can say that again," I muttered. I was starting to feel like I was in a speeding "doom buggy" on Disneyland's Haunted Mansion ride, and I wanted it to slow the hell down.
    "Besides Evangeline," Delta continued, "Knox and Beauregard are the main spirits on the plantation."
    "Who's Beauregard?" Veronica asked as she began typing notes.
    "He's Knox's brother, and he was a decorated army colonel," Delta said with pride. "But then when Knox made general before him, he turned pirate."
    "Pirate?" I squirmed in my seat. Of course, I'd never met a pirate, alive or dead. But if I were a betting girl, I'd wager that a pirate ghost was not the friendliest of souls.
    "They called him 'Beau the Black,' and he was notorious for his ruthlessness." Delta touched her pearls, and the corners of her mouth turned upward into a Joker-like smile. "I'm assuming you girls have heard of him?"
    I looked questioningly at Veronica.
    "I'm sure he's very infamous," she began politely, "but I'm afraid we're not well versed in pirate lore."
    Delta frowned. "He was one of the pirate Jean Lafitte's right-hand men. In fact, Beau and Lafitte helped General Andrew Jackson defeat the British at the Battle of New Orleans. You have heard of Lafitte, I presume?"
    "Oh, sure," I replied as I grabbed the stack of photos from Veronica's desk. "When I went to that bar 'Jean Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop' in the French Quarter a month or so ago. And if he was anything like that purple voodoo drink they serve there, then he must have been a real swashbuckler."
    The room fell silent. I looked up from the pictures and saw both Delta and Veronica staring at me. I felt my face flush, probably similar in color to that drink. "So…how was Evangeline killed?"
    Delta raised her brow. "She was poisoned."
    Veronica's fingers began flying over her keyboard. "How do you know? Are there any records?"
    "Yes, the Times-Picayune reported on her death. And we also have Knox's journal in our plantation archives. Both sources indicate that Evangeline was found with an oleander flower in her hands. At first, everyone thought it was because she loved oleanders. It was well known at the time that she was the one who had them planted on the grounds." She looked hard at Veronica. "And for the record, she just insisted on that coral pink. Had it been me, I would have selected a less vulgar shade."
    Veronica nodded. She'd always turned up her nose at coral jewelry because she didn't approve of orange in her pink.
    "But then they discovered oleander in a half-empty cup of tea on the table beside Evangeline's bed." Delta paused and curled her lips. "As far as I'm concerned, that flower was a message that Evangeline was as toxic as the oleander plant."
    Talk about the pot calling