A Sinful Mistake

by Caroline Mickelson

  Gertie grinned. “Okay, let’s do this.”

  Less than three hours later, both Aunt Ida Belle and Gertie were checked into Bayou Gardens. The place was not aptly named. Well, perhaps the bayou part. Heaven knew it smelled swampy enough. But the gardens? Hardly apropos unless the landscape architect was going for a jungle themed look, which I doubted. The place was just flat out run down and overrun with foliage.

  I plopped into a plastic chair just outside of the entrance. “I’m exhausted.”

  Fortune sat beside me. “It’s been a hell of a day, I’ll give you that. No offense, but your aunt is a pain in the ass when she’s mad.”

  “I think that’s part of her charm.”

  We laughed, which felt good because the gawd-awful worry about Gertie’s safety weighed heavily on us both. “Do you think we’re doing the right thing? What if Gertie being here only puts her more directly in the line of fire?”

  “That’s a risk we’re taking, yes. But she’s safest if she’s being watched every moment. Ida Belle can do that here while we focus on Bull.”

  The idea of focusing on Bull turned my stomach. “Why can’t we just kidnap him and torture the truth out of him?”

  “Don’t think I’m not tempted but there’s a little thing called the law standing in our way.” She slapped her hands on her knees and stood. “Let’s get to work.”

  I stood but I literally didn’t know which direction to turn. “Are we going back in or heading somewhere else?” If there was a game plan, I hadn’t seen it.

  “You’re going in as my cover.” She stretched and flexed. “What I need you to do is be your most annoying self—” she broke off when I raised an eyebrow “—sorry, I meant your most prim and proper self to create a distraction with the front desk staff and the manager while I nose around the property.”

  I decided to ignore her inaccurate assessment of my disposition. After all, it had been a long day and we were a team now, however mismatched. “Wouldn’t it be better if I stayed with Gertie?”

  She shook her head. “Ida Belle’s on it. Trust me, she needs something to do or she’ll jump out of her skin. She knows not to let Gertie take a single pill or eat a bite of food unless we provide it.”

  I nodded. To anyone else the idea might sound ludicrous, but I knew that even with only one functioning arm, Aunt Ida Belle could keep trouble at bay. What I felt less sure about was what Fortune and I were going to do on our part to nail Bull.

  Fortune pointed to the entrance. “It’s show time, Stephanie.”

  “I’M TELLING YOU IT was a RAT.” I threw my arms wide and didn’t try to modulate my faux-panicked tone. After all, panic was a perfectly legitimate response in the event of a rodent sighting. “We’re talking a New York City sewer-size rat.”

  “Ma’am, if you could please try to calm yourself, it would be best for the residents.” The front desk attendant reluctantly lowered the soap opera magazine she’d been engrossed in before I came rushing up. “There are no rats at Bayou Gardens.”

  “I tell you, I saw a rat. It had a tail as long as—” I clutched the front desk as I faked a swoon because I really didn’t know what a rat’s tail looked like. Nor did I ever hope to find out. “Someone call for help.” I was pleased when a small crowd of residents congregated around me. “I demand to see the manager. Or the owner.” Still, the front desk attendant didn’t move. She simply stared at me. “Call the State Board. They’ll shut this place down if they know you’re infested with rodents.”

  Apparently, the magic words were ‘State Board’ because that threat drew the manager from his back office. He bustled out into the lobby. “Hold on, hold on, there’s nothing to worry about. Certainly nothing worthy of making any phones calls about.” His eyes scanned those assembled until they locked in on me, the presumed source of hysteria. “Come back here into my office, young lady, and we’ll sort this out.”

  I made a quick assessment of the man I believed to be Harold Lisieux. My best guess was that he was in his late fifties, had a penchant for nachos and beer if his paunch was to be explained, and he valued peace and quiet above all else. Which made him an easy mark.

  “I most certainly will not,” I cried. “Someone has to do something.”

  He held up his hands. “Right, yes, of course.” He looked around the lobby. “Let’s fan out and search the premises until we find—”

  “No.” My voice jumped several octaves. “Not that.” Certainly not that, I didn’t want anyone finding Fortune where she shouldn’t be, doing something she shouldn’t be doing.

  Harold Lisieux spun around to face me. “Why not?”

  Why not indeed? For a split second I wondered if it would be better to be in Fortune’s place, but one look at my kitten heeled sandals reminded me that I wasn’t dressed for whatever hijinks she was up to. “We’re safer sticking together. Safety in numbers, and all that. Besides, we don’t know how dangerous that rat might be. Right everyone?”

  The chorus of agreement, no doubt inspired by sheer boredom on the part of the residents, was rousing and it encouraged me to keep going. “Who votes we call the State Board of Health? Don’t you think the good folks in Baton Rouge would want to know what conditions you’re being subjected to?”

  I might have gone just a bit too far if the look on Mr. Lisieux’s face was any indication. He slipped his hand under my elbow and attempted to pull me in the direction of his office but I dug my heels in and refused to budge. My mind raced as I tried to think what would Fortune do under the same circumstances. She wouldn’t go willingly, that much I knew. Then neither would I. I jerked my arm free of his grasp and held both hands up in the air. “Can anyone act as a witness to this treatment? I’m being manhandled while a rat is running amok through this facility.”

  The expression on the manager’s face left me with little doubt that he’d happily strangle me if he thought he could get away with it. “Now, that’s just enough of that young lady,” he thundered. “You’ll need to come quietly to my office or I’ll have security throw you out.”

  “Security ought to be rat hunting,” a male voice called from the back of the crowd.

  Chants of ‘vermin, vermin’ grew increasingly louder. I scanned the room, sensing a new energy from the crowd. I wouldn’t mind coming back here to teach an etiquette class or two when this was all over. Not that I’d likely be welcome. Not with the manager threatening to call the sheriff’s department on me.

  “I wish you would,” I retorted. “I’m certain Deputy LeBlanc would be very interested in living conditions here.” What Carter would really think, I could only imagine. Maybe he’d think I was channeling Gertie. When it came to creating scenes like these, I’d learned from the best.

  “There you are.” I whirled around to find Fortune by my side. She turned a contrite face to the manager. “I apologize for my friend’s behavior. She tends to overact, she’s quite excitable.”

  “You call whipping the residents into hysteria, ‘excitable’?” His face went red and he looked like he was just warming to the topic of what a horrendous human being I was.

  “I’m sure she only saw a dust bunny,” Fortune called out as she dragged me toward the door. “No one’s going to report anything to anyone, but I’d better get her out of here before she really gets going.”

  We were out the front door before Harold Lisieux managed to compose a response. We were almost to the highway before Fortune turned to look at me. “Well, that was quite the scene.”

  “Thank you,” I said in what I hoped was a humble manner. “I was just warming to my audience when you arrived.”

  “Oh. My. God. I cannot believe you and Ida Belle are actually related.” She shook her head and hit the accelerator. “I think I’m going to buy one of those spit-in-the-tube DNA tests to double check.”

  I watched the vegetation whiz by me in a green blur. Frankly, I’d thought Fortune was going to be proud of me. Had she done much better? I asked her.

  “Heck, yea
h, I found something. I also spent a minute with Ida Belle to give her an idea of what to listen for tomorrow. Hopefully we can get them out of there within a few days.”

  I waited but she didn’t offer any further details. Details to which I felt entitled to hear. “Did you find out something about Bull?”

  She shook her head. “Not yet, but I will if he’s connected to this whole thing.”

  “What whole thing?” I was truly lost.

  “Trafficking.”

  I let this sink in for a moment. Good heavens, not again. “More drugs?” We’d just been through the wedding from hell that ended up busting a local drug ring.

  “Nope, not drugs.” She looked sideways at me. “Worse.”

  I frowned. What was worse than drug trafficking? I gasped. But no, that couldn’t be. “You don’t mean human trafficking?”

  She nodded somberly.

  I leaned back against the seat and closed my eyes. What in heaven’s name had Gertie gotten herself into?

  Chapter Seven

  MY THOUGHTS WERE LIKE race cars buzzing around the international speedway that was my brain. I massaged my temples as Fortune drove back to Sinful in silence. She was more stressed out that I’d ever seen her. Was this because she was as horrified as I was? Or was she perhaps beginning to trust me and didn’t feel the need to put on an ‘I’ve got it altogether’ air?

  Either way, she was worried. Which worried me.

  When we hit Sinful’s Main Street, she slowed the Jeep to just under a breakneck speed.

  “I assume we’re heading straight for the police department,” I said.

  “You assume wrong.”

  “Then we’re heading to your house and we’re going to call Kase?”

  She shook her head without bothering to glance at my way. Perhaps because she’d know I’d be wearing a disapproving frown? Which I most certainly was.

  Surely my third question would be the charm. “We’re going to call your friends at the CIA?”

  Fortune made a strangled sound. Oh, right. I wasn’t supposed to let on that I knew she was a federal employee.

  “Your past co-workers,” I corrected myself. “Surely, they’ll know what to do.”

  Instead of answering, she swung the Jeep into an empty parking space in front of Walter’s General Store. She switched off the ignition and turned to face me. “We’re not telling anyone, anything, Stephanie. Not yet anyway.”

  “But, that’s not right,” I protested. “We’ve got to do something. Human trafficking is immoral. We need to report it.”

  “See, that’s the funny thing about the morality police. They’ll take a report but can do very little about most things. What we’re not going to do is rush around making noise and tipping anyone off. They’ll just move on, cover their tracks, and go further underground.”

  I nodded. She was right. “I just can’t believe that Bull is involved in this. He’s such a—” I struggled to find a polite way to call him a pipsqueak but I couldn’t find another word that fit as well. “—pipsqueak.”

  “People said that about Hitler. Look what a nightmare it turned out to be when people underestimated him.” She jumped out of the vehicle and motioned for me to alight as well. “We’ve got to be smart about this. Right now smart means radio silent.”

  We walked toward Walter’s. “Shouldn’t we at least tell Aunt Ida Belle and Gertie?”

  Hand on the door, Fortune hesitated. “Gertie’s the last person who should be told anything. But I did have a quick word with Ida Belle and tipped her off before I interrupted your very fine performance.”

  Touched, I fingered my strand of pearls. “You thought I gave a fine performance?”

  She nodded. “I did. Now it’s time to give another one. Let’s go.”

  Walter looked up as we approached the cash register. The worry in his eyes told me that he knew Aunt Ida Belle had been injured.

  “Hello ladies,” he greeted us. “I’m glad to see you two. I’ve put together a box of goodies for Ida Belle that you can take home to her. I just got a shipment of her favorite beef jerky in.” He smiled shyly. “Maybe it’d be better if I stop by her place after I close up. You think she’d like some flowers?”

  “I think she’d hate them,” Fortune said. “In fact, I know she would.”

  Walter grinned. “Yeah, she’s funny that way.”

  I wondered how Fortune wanted to handle this. Were we going to tell him about Aunt Ida Belle’s stay at Bayou Gardens?

  The bells over the front door jangled as Carter entered the store. I stole a glance at Fortune. She looked happy to see him, yet weary at the same time. I didn’t blame her. It was time to crank up the lie machine. Again.

  “Hello Fortune, Stephanie,” he nodded at us as he reached out to shake his uncle’s hand. “I thought you two would still be getting Ida Belle and Gertie settled into their room.”

  Walter frowned. “Their room? Are they staying overnight in the hospital?” He looked between the three of us. “Or are they moving in with you, Fortune?”

  “Neither, actually,” I answered for her. “Both Aunt Ida Belle and Gertie are going to spend a month or so at Bayou Gardens.”

  Walter’s shock registered on his face. “Bayou Gardens,” he repeated. “But that’s an old folks home.”

  “I believe they’re called ‘senior living communities’ nowadays,” I said. “But it’s only temporary.”

  I watched Walter struggle to choose his next words. He was such a gentleman that he’d never curse in front of two ladies. But I sensed he was sorely tempted. “I can’t believe Ida Belle agreed to that. Or Gertie either, for that matter.”

  Fortune looked at me and raised an eyebrow in a ‘go ahead and lie your way out of this one’ challenge. A challenge I accepted.

  “Truth told, we didn’t give them much choice,” I said. “Aunt Ida Belle’s wearing a cast and is under strict orders to take it easy, orders you know she won’t obey. I’m sure you heard that Gertie hit her head. Someone needs to keep an eye on her in case she starts acting odd.” I was now officially rambling but it was hard to know just where to stop. “It seemed a perfect solution to have the two of them rooming together so they could keep an eye on each other.”

  Walter folded his arms over his chest. “Seems like they could have done that at your place.”

  “Of course,” I agreed. “If I wasn’t going out of town.”

  He turned his attention to Fortune. “Why can’t they stay at your place then?”

  Fortune started to answer but I rushed in to help her out. “Fortune’s going with me. To a convention. In Boston.”

  “You gals are telling me that you’re going to head out of town when Ida Belle and Gertie are recuperating?” Walter looked at his nephew. “How much of this are you buying?”

  Carter looked between us. “Precious little, actually. They’re up to something.”

  Fortune was going to have to take it from here because I was in over my head and astute enough to realize it.

  She held up her hand. “A little less judgment, Carter, if you don’t mind. We’re trying to make the best decisions we can under some trying circumstances. You know Gertie and Ida Belle well enough to know that trying to keep them quiet long enough to recover is no easy job.” She turned to Walter. “Stephanie’s blood kin to Ida Belle. If she thinks her aunt belongs in a facility for a few weeks, it’s not my place to argue, is it?”

  Wait, what was that horrible sound? Oh, right, the sound of me being thrown under the bus. Apparently, Fortune wasn’t the world class liar I’d thought her to be if she was resorting to hiding behind me. Fine, I could take one for the team. “It’s just until we get back,” I mumbled apologetically.

  Ten minutes later, with several days’ worth of ramen noodles and a couple of six packs of beer stowed in the back of the Jeep, we headed back to Fortune’s house.

  “What’s with all the ramen noodles?” I asked, for lack of a better place to start with my litany of a thousand
-and-one questions.

  “Well, we’ve got to eat something. Gertie’s casseroles won’t last forever.”

  I pulled a face. I didn’t drink bear. And ramen noodles weren’t a delicacy I’d yet ventured to try.

  “Don’t look at me that way,” Fortune said. “You’re the one who keeps talking about some convention in Boston. Talk about painting us into a corner. How’s it going to look if we don’t leave town now? Like we didn’t want to take care of Ida Belle and Gertie at home, that’s what. Not a good look for either of us.”

  Oh. She had a point. “Sorry.”

  “On the other hand,” she said, her voice now more thoughtful than recriminating, “it might actually work in our favor if Bull doesn’t think we’re around. We’ll just have to lay low somewhere while we figure out what he’s up to.”

  I issued a swift and fervent prayer that we wouldn’t end up on Number Two. I couldn’t handle the stench. “In that case, we’ll need to ask Ally to watch Priscilla for a couple of days.”

  “What we really need to do is get in touch with Big and Little.”

  My eyes widened. Big and Little Hebert were Sinful’s contribution to organized crime. They’d proven to be helpful to us on more than one occasion, and were actually somewhat gentlemanly. Still, their involvement meant that our troubles were escalating to a whole new level. “This wouldn’t happen to involve another air boat ride, would it?”

  Fortune shook her head. “Nope. It’s not transportation we need from them.”

  I really shouldn’t ask. I knew I didn’t want to know. I blew out a long breath. “What do we need from them?”

  “Weapons. Lots of them. And remember, not a word to your boyfriend about this.”

  “TELL ME HOW YOUR DAY was, darlin’.”

  The warm rumble of Kase’s voice should have made me feel cocooned and safe. Instead, my end of our conversation felt like a tightrope walk between two very tall buildings, sans a safety net. “Oh, you know, just another typical day in Sinful,” I hedged.