Resurrection in Mudbug

by Jana DeLeon

  Jadyn felt her heart tug at everything that had happened to her cousin. The news reports didn’t even scratch the surface of the real horror she’d lived through. “If I leave downtown, I promise to take her with me—assuming she will go. But I will not listen to her singing the whole time.”

  “No argument there,” Maryse said.

  Jadyn’s cell phone rang and she frowned. As it was Sunday, technically, she was off from work, and her mother never rose before 10:00 a.m., insisting on her beauty sleep. One glance at the display and she felt her pulse tick up a notch.

  The sheriff’s department.

  “Ms. St. James?” the dispatcher asked.

  “Speaking.”

  “Sheriff Bertrand has a situation at Duke Leger’s house, and he’s requesting you for backup.”

  Jadyn clenched the phone. The last time Colt had requested help with a “situation,” a bunch of fools were jumping in alligator-infested water to steal questionable money. But this time, the dispatcher’s tone wasn’t frantic like it was two days earlier.

  This time, the woman sounded scared.

  ###

  The dispatcher’s directions led Jadyn down a narrow trail into the swamp. Giant cypress trees ran along each side of the road, their limbs so large that they formed a canopy over the dirt path that served as a road. Normally, Jadyn wasn’t subject to flights of fancy, but the dim pathway felt ominous, as if the darkness were closing in around her.

  Clearly bored, Helena sat in the passenger seat, drumming her fingers on the armrest and driving Jadyn to the brink of insanity. Despite at least twenty minutes of showering, Helena popped downstairs completely dry when Mildred summoned her. Unfortunately, she was wearing a plaid pleated miniskirt, vest sans undershirt, and high-topped, bright purple tennis shoes. She even had gray pigtails. Helena claimed it was a Britney Spears homage, but Jadyn was fairly certain if the real Britney got a glimpse of her, she’d ask Helena to skip the tribute.

  Jadyn had taken one look at Helena and claimed she didn’t need protection detail for this jaunt. After all, she was on her way to meet the sheriff. But Mildred had looked so worried that Jadyn had finally acquiesced to the older woman. It seemed a small price to pay to give the hotel owner a little peace of mind.

  At least, it had seemed a small price to pay when Jadyn agreed. After ten minutes of humming, and now another five of finger-tapping, Jadyn regretted her decision. Next time, Mildred would just have to worry.

  “Tell me about this guy—Duke,” Jadyn said, figuring if Helena was along for the ride, she might as well be useful.

  Helena stopped the finger-tapping and shrugged. “He’s a shrimper, in his fifties. Very little in the way of manners, and not someone you’d want to tangle with in a bar fight.”

  “How is that?”

  “He’s former military and my understanding is he was some sort of boxing champion while he was in. Has a big scar across his right cheek that he claims he got while being held hostage during his service.”

  “Married?”

  “Not hardly. Duke’s the kind of man that has little to no use for women. His mom was the town whore. Ran out on him and his daddy when Duke was just a baby. Don’t think I’ve ever seen him with a woman except the kind that take cash only, if you know what I mean.”

  Then he’ll love me.

  Jadyn sighed. “Has he been in any trouble with the law?”

  Helena snorted. “Most every male and a good portion of the females in Mudbug have been in trouble with the law in one form or another—bar fights, poaching, drunk and disorderly, hunting out of season—it’s standard fare for this kind of town. But nobody thinks much of it.”

  “So you’re saying he hasn’t had anything but the ordinary sort of trouble.”

  “Exactly.”

  Jadyn turned her truck around the final corner to Duke’s house, hoping the current trouble consisted of one of the fairly benign things Helena had mentioned that would fall under her purview. But deep down, she already knew that Colt hadn’t called her out into the swamp at the crack of dawn over poaching.

  She pulled around an ambulance in front of the cabin and parked beside it. The paramedics helped a man into the back, and gave Jadyn a nod before closing the back doors and pulling away. The man stared vacantly past her, as if he were stoned. He didn’t have a scar, so Jadyn assumed he wasn’t Duke.

  “That’s Leroy Pendarvis,” Helena said. “A buddy of Duke’s. Looks like crap.”

  Jadyn didn’t want to consider what had Leroy looking that shaken. It was best to see firsthand than guess. Her imagination would probably dream up far worse things than the truth.

  “Don’t wander off too far,” she told Helena. “I can’t exactly call or go looking for you when it’s time to leave.”

  Helena waved a hand in dismissal. “Nothing here I want to see.”

  Jadyn exited her Jeep and walked toward the cabin. Colt came out the front door as she walked up the steps and onto the porch. “I assume Duke is inside?” she asked.

  “You could say that.” Colt’s voice was grim. “But I need to warn you before you go in. It’s one of the worst things I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen my share of horrors. I wouldn’t even think about letting you in there if it wasn’t necessary.”

  Jadyn glanced past Colt to the open doorway then looked back at him. His expression was a mixture of disgust, concern, and sadness. The vacant look she’d seen on Leroy’s face flashed across her mind. She took a deep breath and slowly blew it out.

  Was she ready for this?

  Ultimately, the answer was irrelevant. If Colt needed her here in a professional capacity then she had no other option. She said a silent prayer that she wouldn’t embarrass herself and gave Colt a nod. “I’m ready.”

  He didn’t look even remotely convinced, but he turned around and motioned for her to follow him. Jadyn forced one foot in front of the other and stepped inside the cabin. The scent of blood and death assaulted her before she’d taken even one step forward. Colt stopped and turned to the right, and she turned to the right as well to see where Colt had focused his attention.

  She staggered backward and one hand flew involuntarily over her mouth, in a failed attempt to stifle a cry. She had been dead wrong—her imagination could never have come up with something this horrible.

  Colt immediately moved beside her, his hands on her shoulders to steady her. She clenched her eyes shut, unable to look at the horror in front of her for another second, and a wave of dizziness flooded her. Her knees weakened and she felt Colt slip his arm underneath hers to keep her from falling.

  “I’ll get you outside,” he said.

  “No.” She forced herself to take another breath, careful to breathe through her mouth and not her nose. “I can do this.”

  “You’re sure?”

  She nodded and locked her knees into place before opening her eyes.

  The scene in front of her was no less horrific now than it had been seconds before, but the shock was fading away. Her mind slowly turned to professional mode and started locking onto the details.

  What was left of Duke hung from rope stretched from roof beams on each side of the room and tied around his wrists. She took a step closer and forced herself to study his center mass, where the bulk of the damage occurred.

  “It looks as if…as if someone field-dressed him…like a deer.”

  Colt gave her a single nod. “That was my assessment.”

  She leaned over and studied the entrails on the cabin floor. “I see signs of predation. Smaller animals mostly, based on the tracks in the blood. Was the door left open?”

  “The back door was, and look at this.” Colt turned around and pointed to a trail of blood that led from the living room through the kitchen and out the back door. “There’s a cup with blood in it on the kitchen counter.”

  Jadyn’s stomach rolled and she clamped it down once more. “The killer wanted to lure the animals inside.”

  “You understand what that
means?”

  Jadyn nodded. “He was still alive when the creatures started to feed.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Jadyn struggled to breathe normally. “What in the world could this man have done to justify such a horrible death?”

  Colt pulled a wad of plastic bags out of his pocket. “I found these in the kitchen trash. They’re all clean as a whistle. He wasn’t storing food in them.”

  She stared at the plastic bags, a million thoughts—each one more horrible than the next—running through her mind. “But no sign of the money?”

  “No, but I don’t think it’s a leap.”

  “I don’t remember seeing Duke at the pond yesterday.”

  “That’s because he wasn’t there.”

  Jadyn blew out a breath, considering the implications, but they all came back to the same thing.

  “These bags are the reason I called you here,” Colt said. “I wouldn’t have if there had been another choice. No one should have to see this.”

  “No one should have to live this. No matter what he did.” Jadyn shook her head. “Do you think the killer was trying to make him talk?”

  “Unless whoever did this is simply a sadistic bastard, that seems the most likely choice.”

  “The man who left in the ambulance…I assume he’s the one who called this in?”

  Colt nodded. “Yeah. Leroy’s been friends with Duke since they were kids. He was in shock when I got here, then he totally freaked. The paramedics sedated him.”

  “Did he tell you anything before the sedation?”

  “No. He was just rambling. They’re taking him to the hospital up the highway from Mudbug. They promised me he’d be held overnight. It will take several hours to document and secure the crime scene, and then I’ll head to the hospital and question him.”

  She blew out a breath. “Where do you want to start?”

  He looked over at her, a hint of appreciation in his expression. “You’re one tough broad, and I mean that as a compliment.”

  She gave him a small smile. “Because I can see that’s true, I’ll let the broad comment pass.”

  He nodded. “I have gloves and plastic aprons in my truck. The coroner is on his way. I’ve asked the paramedics to return after they drop Duke off at the hospital because I don’t expect the coroner to have the supplies to handle this type of body transport.”

  “I’ll grab my camera.”

  Jadyn hurried out to her Jeep. She reached for the camera bag in the backseat and spoke to Helena while the driver’s seat hid her from Colt’s view.

  “I’m going to be here awhile, I’m afraid,” Jadyn said.

  “Is Duke dead?”

  “Yes, and Colt found empty plastic bags like those on the boat, so it’s my gig.”

  “Maybe I should come in and help. I might notice something you don’t.”

  Jadyn froze. “I wouldn’t advise that. Duke was, uh…gutted.”

  She would never have considered the possibility that a ghost could lose all color, but that’s exactly what Helena did.

  “Like an animal?” Helena whispered.

  Jadyn nodded.

  “Oh my God. I thought when all that stuff happened last year—well, it was the worst thing this town had ever seen. I can’t believe something like this is happening here. I don’t even want to.”

  “I understand the sentiment, but unfortunately, that’s not reality. Trust me, I don’t like it any more than you, especially with your appearing to me factoring into the mix.”

  Jadyn was momentarily surprised to find that Helena looked guilty and even more surprised that she felt a little tug of sympathy for the woman. It couldn’t be easy living in limbo, even if you brought it on yourself and even if you could change clothes by waving your hand.

  “Look,” Jadyn said, “this isn’t your fault. Whatever is going on here started long before I got here or you returned.”

  Helena gave her a small smile. “I know you’re right, but you’ll excuse me if I feel sorry for myself for a minute.”

  Jadyn pulled the camera from the bag and hung it around her neck. “Take all the time you need. I’m going to be a while.”

  “I think I will wander around the outside. Maybe I’ll find something. If you get ready to leave and don’t see me, just honk the horn.”

  Helena exited through the passenger door and strolled off into the swamp. Jadyn shook her head. Yeah, because honking the horn wouldn’t appear remotely odd.

  She took pictures of Duke before the coroner arrived, trying not to look too closely at the body as she clicked. Then she got shots of the blood trail leading out the back door and the animal prints in the blood spatter. When she was done with the obvious items, she began snapping pictures of the rest of the cabin, making sure she covered everything in the open front rooms before moving into the bedroom, where Colt was searching the closet.

  “Anything?” she asked.

  “Just these,” he said and pointed to three rifles, two shotguns, and four pistols on the bed. “I’d already done a good sweep of the cabin while I was waiting on you to get here. Those were already out on the bed. Other than that, there’s not much to find.”

  Jadyn stared at the pile of weapons and frowned. “Was there forced entry?”

  “No.”

  “So he had an arsenal on his bed, but didn’t fire. So either the killer found the guns but didn’t want them, or Duke had them out for God knows what reason but didn’t have them ready because he knew his attacker.”

  “Which narrows it down to everyone in Mudbug and anyone he knew outside of town.”

  “Look on the bright side—unless he’s a great actor, we can cross Leroy off the list. One down, couple thousand to go.”

  He nodded. “I don’t think they’ll be of any use, but can you take some shots in here? There’s not much to this shack, and Duke didn’t have much in the way of possessions.”

  “No sign of the money that came out of the Baggies?”

  “I found a cubbyhole in the closet floor. The board covering it was already lifted and the space was empty. Maybe the money was in there.”

  “Maybe that’s what they were trying to get out of him.”

  Colt frowned. “Maybe.”

  “But you don’t think so?”

  He stared at the closet floor for a moment, then looked back at her. “It wasn’t all that great of a hiding place. That board doesn’t even fit flat when it’s down. A six-year-old could have found that cubbyhole.”

  “Maybe they were looking for something else. But what?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “The bigger question is, did they get what they came for?”

  He shook his head. “Part of me hopes they didn’t, because then Duke got in the last blow, of sorts.”

  “And the other part?”

  “Is afraid that if they didn’t get what they wanted here, there could be a repeat performance.”

  She sucked in a breath as the validity of his fear overwhelmed her. “You said Leroy was Duke’s best friend, right? If Duke was mixed up in something, wouldn’t he be the logical person to know about it…or even be mixed up in it with him?”

  “Yeah.” He pulled his phone from his jeans pocket. “I’m going to send the state police over to the hospital to guard Leroy’s room—at least until we can sort some of this out.”

  The sound of a car engine and tires crunching on gravel caught Jadyn’s attention and she looked out the bedroom window along with Colt. A balding man, probably in his fifties, climbed out of a late-model sedan.

  “The coroner?” Jadyn asked.

  Colt nodded and started out of the room. “I need to prepare him before he walks in here.”

  “Okay. I’m going to poke around outside,” she said as Colt hurried away.

  She took a few shots of the bedroom, then went out the back door, careful to avoid the trail of blood as she exited the cabin. The backyard, if it could even be called such, was in even worse shape than the insid
e of the cabin.

  An area about fifteen feet long had been cleared, leaving a line of cypress trees running the length of the cabin and beyond. Although the area was free of trees, it was not free from weeds, vines, and brush that reached several feet in height in most places. Two rusty lawn chairs sat against the cabin wall, a cracked ice chest between them and a pile of beer cans in between one of the chairs and the steps to the cabin.

  What a dismal existence.

  Jadyn lifted the camera and started taking some shots of the back area, even though she had no idea what their usefulness could be. The animal tracks disappeared into the overgrown lawn as soon as the steps ended, making tracking impossible except for a professional. Mudbug probably had more than its share of hunters capable of performing such a task, but Jadyn couldn’t see the point of chasing scavengers into the brush. It wouldn’t put them any closer to a solution than they were now, and would waste time and resources to boot.

  “Did you find any clues?”

  Helena’s voice sounded behind her and Jadyn spun around.

  “Sorry,” Helena said, looking a bit chagrined. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I guess you couldn’t hear me coming.”

  “No, which all things considered, is a good thing. Unfortunately, we didn’t find much of use.”

  “What did you think you’d find?”

  Jadyn blew out a breath, trying to come up with a less gory version of the truth. “We think whoever killed Duke was trying to get information out of him—like the location of an object perhaps. But we didn’t find anything inside that seemed to warrant his actions.”

  Helena nodded. “So either he got what he came for or it’s still hidden somewhere.”

  “Yeah, but I have no idea where. It’s a tiny cabin and Colt was thorough.”

  “He wouldn’t have hid anything in the cabin.”

  Jadyn frowned. “Why not?”

  “Because that’s the first place anyone would look—there or his boat.”

  “So where would he hide something then?”

  Helena shrugged. “If he was as dumb as my husband, Harold, he would have buried it in the backyard. I found a whole box of porn one year when I was putting in new rose bushes. Try explaining that to the gardener.”