Resurrection in Mudbug (14 page)

“I found some plastic bags in the cabin,” Colt said. “They look like the bags holding money that sank on that shrimp boat. You heard about that, right?”

Leroy’s eyes widened. “I heard about it all right, but I don’t know nothing about it. I went to New Orleans the day before and spent all night at the blackjack tables. Heard about the whole mess at Bill’s that night.”

“Did Duke go with you to New Orleans?”

“Nah. He said thirty-count shrimp was running in deep water and he wanted to cash in.”

Colt nodded. “Count” referred to how many shrimp it took to make a pound. At only thirty shrimp to a pound, the size of the shrimp was extra-large and highly desired by the finer restaurants. The shrimp house paid a premium for thirty-count shrimp and larger. The only problem was, Colt had been listening to the local fisherman complain for over a month now that they couldn’t find any large shrimp left in the area. So either Duke had found the only pocket of large shrimp or he’d lied to Leroy.

“Duke wasn’t one of the guys that went after the money yesterday. Do you have any idea why he would have some of it?”

“No,” Leroy said, but Colt could tell he was lying. 

“You’re sure? Because there’s a good chance that money is what got Duke killed. Are you willing to risk the same fate yourself?”

Leroy paled and he clutched the edge of the blanket. “I swear, I don’t know why he had the money or what he was doing with it.”

“But you know something?”

“About a week ago, Duke told me he’d come across some side work that was going to make him a mess of money. I figured he was doing some carpentry. He hates it, but he’s good at it. But he said it was way better than that and paid enough for him to retire.”

“You didn’t ask him what he was doing?”

“Of course I did. Hell, if Duke was making enough money to retire, I figured there might be some more to go around.”

“So what did he tell you?”

“Told me he couldn’t say anything about it or they wouldn’t work with him, but he’d give them my name.”

“And that didn’t strike you as strange?”

Leroy sighed. “I figured whatever it was couldn’t be legal, if that’s what you’re asking, but I didn’t think they’d kill him over it. Especially not like this. What kind of people do something like that?”

“The evil kind, and apparently, they’re in Mudbug. Are you sure you’re telling me everything you know? I don’t want to walk up on another crime scene like the one at Duke’s.”

Leroy’s eyes widened. “I swear to you, I don’t know nothing else about it. You don’t think they’ll come after me, do you—since I’m friends with Duke and all?”

“I don’t know. They tossed the cabin, so it looks to me like they wanted something Duke had. If they didn’t find it and think you know where it is, they might come after you.”

“I gotta get outta here!” Leroy tried to swing his legs over the bed, but Colt grabbed his shoulders and held them in place. 

“You’re not going anywhere until tomorrow morning. I’ve asked the state police to put a guard outside your room. He’s on his way now, but I don’t think anyone will try to bother you here.”

“And tomorrow? What about when I leave the hospital? I’m a sitting duck at my cabin.”

Leroy’s fear was palpable, and Colt couldn’t blame him. Even though it went against procedure, he couldn’t bring himself to demand the man stay in town. “If you want, you can head straight out of Mudbug, as long as you leave me a way to get in touch with you.” 

Leroy flopped back on the bed, almost collapsing with relief. “Thank you. I’ve got an old army buddy in Belle Chasse. I’ll call tomorrow and give you all his information.”

Colt nodded. “If there’s nothing else you can think of, I’m going to get to work and let you get some rest. If you think of anything, call dispatch and have them patch you in to me, okay?”

Leroy nodded. 

Colt exited the room and flagged down the harried nurse at the station midway down the hall. “You can sedate him now,” he said. “The state police are sending a guard for his room.”

The nurse’s eyes widened. “Is he dangerous?”

“No, but he might be in danger. And sedated, he’d be easy pickings.”

“Oh my! Okay. Is there anything we need to do?”

“Just keep an eye out. Aside from law enforcement and the medical staff, I don’t want anyone in his room.” He pulled a card from his wallet. “If anyone attempts to see him, call me immediately.”

The nurse took the card, her hands shaking slightly and she stuck it in her pocket. “This is my first job after college. I thought as long as I stayed out of big cities, I wouldn’t run into this sort of thing.”

Colt gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Me too.”

He exited the hospital, his mind cataloging everything Leroy had told him. He’d call the shrimp house from his truck, but Colt had no doubt the owner would tell him he hadn’t seen thirty-count shrimp in a while. He didn’t have concrete proof, but Colt would bet anything Duke was the captain of the sunken shrimp boat of money. 

Clearly, the old shrimper had gotten involved with something far beyond his scope and experience, and it had gotten him killed in a most horrific way. But was he killed because he failed to deliver the money? Or for the key? Or for some other reason entirely?

And Colt was still no closer to knowing where the money came from and what it was to be used for than he had been the day before. So many avenues to investigate, and so far, they only provided more questions.

###

Jadyn paced the length of the sheriff’s department for at least the hundredth time. Unfortunately, it only took her ten steps to do so didn’t expend a bit of the negative energy boiling inside of her. She paused long enough to glare once more at the daytime dispatcher, Shirley, who immediately averted her eyes, pretending that her supply drawer needed rearranging. It was the fifth time she’d rearranged the file drawer since Jadyn had shown up.

When the front door swung open and Colt walked in, Jadyn exploded. “Where the hell have you been? Why weren’t you answering my calls?”

Colt stopped in his tracks and glanced at Shirley, who raised her eyebrows and gave him an almost imperceptible shake of her head. 

“I’ve been doing my job,” he replied, “if it’s any of your business.”

“You know good and well it’s my business, given that your job and my job currently happen to be the same thing.”

Colt walked by her and pulled a bottle of water from a small refrigerator next to a filing cabinet. “I don’t know how you do your job, but when I’m questioning a witness, I don’t take phone calls.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “What witness?”

“Leroy Pendarvis.”

Jadyn clenched her hands trying to control her ever-increasing frustration. “Why wasn’t I included in that interview?”

“I already told you that this mess is now my jurisdiction. I get to decide your level of involvement. If you have a problem with that, I’m happy to relieve you from the case altogether.”

“Ha. Well, that might be hard to do since someone tried to kill me this afternoon.”

Chapter Fourteen

Colt’s eyes widened. “Someone what?”

“Tried to kill me. He called your dispatcher with a phony poaching complaint to get me on the bayou where he took several shots at me. It’s a miracle I’m still alive.”

“You’re sure it couldn’t have been an accident—kids playing with their daddy’s gun or someone adjusting their sights?”

“Unless he ‘accidentally’ shot at me at from a tree, aiming at two different locations, and using a silencer, then yeah, I’m positive it was intentional.”

Colt looked over at Shirley who stared back at him, her eyes wide. “Okay, let’s back up so I can get this all straight. Shirley, you took a call reporting a poacher?”

Shirley nodded. “He said he’d seen someone poaching alligators on Johnson’s Bayou.”

“In broad daylight?” Colt asked. “On the second-busiest channel in Mudbug?”

Shirley had the good sense to look contrite. “With everything else going on, I guess I didn’t stop to think about that, or I might have known he was lying.”

“Did you recognize the voice?” Colt asked.

“No. It sounded like it was a cell phone, though, all scratchy and cutting out.”

“Why didn’t you run a trace?”

Jadyn threw her hands in the air. “Exactly my question.”

“I called for a trace,” Shirley said, “but they told me they were backed up with a missing-persons investigation and it would take them a couple of hours to get back to me.”

“Bullshit,” Colt said and grabbed the phone off her desk. He dialed a number and as soon as they answered, proceeded to tear into the person who answered so hard that it made Jadyn feel just a tiny bit better.

“I mean right now,” Colt said. “Not five minutes from now. Not even one. In fact, I’m going to stay on the line while you do it.”

Jadyn perched on a desk and waited as Colt clenched the phone, staring out the window over the bayou. A minute later, he started talking again.

“You checked it twice? You’re absolutely sure? Send that report to me. Thanks.”

He hung up the phone, a grim look on his face. “The phone call came from Duke Leger’s cell phone.”

Jadyn shook her head. “Looks like I’m part of your investigation, whether you want me to be or not.”

“As a target, which means you shouldn’t be investigating any of this.”

“So you’re telling me if you were in my position, you’d cut and run or hide out in your house until I told you it was safe to come out?”

He ran one hand through his hair and blew out a breath.

“Thought so,” she said. “So we both agree I’m not leaving and I’m not butting out. This got very personal today.”

“Which is exactly why you
should
leave and butt out,” he argued.

“But since we’ve already discussed that I’m not, then I expect you to include me when you’re going to do things like interview witnesses. You would expect the same from me if the situation were reversed.”

Colt sighed. “Shit.”

“Yep.”

“Did you see anything? Any sign of another boat or something that we could work off of?”

Jadyn shook her head. “The only boats I saw had people fishing.”

“Anyone you recognized?”

“Just that guy from the bar the other night.”

Colt narrowed his eyes. “Junior?”

“No, the nicer one. Bart.” She frowned, trying to process the scene in her mind, assigning time stamps to each occurrence. Would Bart have had time to fire at her, then get to his boat, chase her down, and accost her minutes later?

“Where did you see him?”

“I thought the throttle was sticking, so I stopped about halfway back to town to check it. He pulled up and asked if I was having trouble. Apparently, I’d upset some fishermen with the speed of my escape. You don’t think…”

Colt threw his hands in the air. “I don’t know what to think anymore. If you’d told me a week ago that Duke’s life would end this way, I would have called you crazy, but suddenly, nothing seems too far-fetched.”

 “Yeah, I guess so. So are you going to tell me what Leroy said?”

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t much,” he said and relayed his conversation with Leroy.

“And you’re sure he’s telling the truth?”

“He’s too scared to lie, but I think that Duke was the money-boat captain.”

“Really?” Jadyn listened as he explained about the thirty-count shrimp and his subsequent call to the shrimp house that completely negated Duke’s claim to Leroy.

“So the only person who could have given us information is dead.” She sighed. “What about the key?”

“I haven’t had time to check into it. Probably won’t until tomorrow.”

“But you’ll tell me what you find.”

He looked aggrieved, but nodded. “I’ll tell you what I find, but I’m not promising you involvement with everything I do. The reality is, you’re not only a stranger here but a woman. People aren’t going to speak freely with you. I refuse to jeopardize this investigation just to keep from hurting your feelings.”

She felt a flush run up her neck and onto her face. “Is that what you think this is—some girly attempt to force the big man to acknowledge my needs? You’ve got some nerve. Someone tried to kill me today. Someone I don’t know and may have never even come in contact with. The only
feeling
I’m worried about is feeling alive.”

“I didn’t mean—“

She held up a hand to stop him. “Maybe you should spend less time figuring out how to avoid me and more time trying to find out why someone wants to kill me in the first place. After all, I’m a stranger here, right?”

She stalked past him, not even bothering to speak to Shirley as she walked out of the sheriff’s department, slamming the door shut behind her. She was halfway down the street to the hotel when a voice sounded behind her.

“Ms. St. James?”

She whirled around, every inch of her body still tingling with anger, and with one look at the man who’d called to her, she suddenly felt stupid. 

“Hello, Father,” she said. She had never met the man, but his robe and collar left her no doubt as to his station.

He was in his midfifties, with silver and black hair and pale skin that made her wonder if he always donned the robes before stepping outside. He smiled and extended his hand. “I’m Father Abraham.”

“Seriously?” she asked, and before she could help herself, a childhood song about Abraham started running through her mind.

He laughed. “You know the song. It was a favorite of mine too. Some of my fondest memories of my grandmother were her singing that song to me, which is why I picked the name.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound insulting.”

“Not at all. It’s quite a common reaction.” Father Abraham’s smile turned to a frown. “I understand you were at Duke Leger’s home this morning?”

“Yes, but I can’t talk about an ongoing investigation.”

“Of course. I would never ask you to violate a confidence. There have been rumors, of course, that he’s deceased. In a small town, it’s to be expected with this sort of thing, but I just wondered if you had any idea how long it will take the coroner to release the body. Duke’s father is one of my oldest parishioners, and not in the best of health. He visited me this afternoon at church and has worked himself into quite a state about making the funeral arrangements.”