by Jana DeLeon
He fell into step beside her as she motioned him down the hall in the direction she’d come from. “I take it he’s completely lucid?”
“He’s plenty lucid. Unfortunately, I can’t vouch for sane. Some of what he’s saying…he didn’t really see that, did he?”
“I’m not sure what you heard, but if it was the most awful thing imaginable, then yeah, that’s exactly what he saw.”
The nurse’s hand flew over her mouth and she paled a bit. “Oh! I feel bad for complaining, given the circumstances.”
Colt gave her an encouraging smile. “Your job is to take care of all the patients. Regardless of how valid the reasons, you don’t need one upsetting everyone.”
They stopped in front of the door to Leroy’s room. He’d gone strangely silent as they approached and Colt wasn’t sure which was more unnerving—the man’s yelling or his silence.
“I will make this as fast as possible,” Colt said, “and as soon as I’m done, you can give him elephant tranquilizers for all I care. He’ll probably appreciate it.”
“Thank you so much, Sheriff.” The nurse’s relief was apparent.
Colt said a silent prayer that Leroy could give him some answers, then pushed open the door and entered the room.
“About damned time you got here!” Leroy bolted up straight in his bed and glared at Colt. “What the hell are we paying all those tax dollars for if you’re not going to do your job?”
A litany of answers sprung to Colt’s mind, but it wasn’t worth stating them. Leroy was worked up and determined that someone else would take the blame for it.
“I’m sorry it took so long for me to get here,” Colt said, “but I had to handle things at the cabin and arrange for transport of the body. I know you want things taken care of correctly so that there can be a proper funeral.”
Leroy looked a bit mollified. “I suppose a situation like that would take more time than usual.”
Colt nodded, knowing it was the closest he would get to an apology or an acknowledgment that he was doing his job. “The sooner I get started on this investigation, the more likely I can catch the perpetrator. I know I’m asking you to do something really hard, but if you could tell me exactly what happened this morning, it would be a big help.”
“Duke’s been my friend as long as I’ve been on this earth. Doesn’t matter how hard it is. I want that bastard caught—unless you get the opportunity to shoot him outright.”
“I promise, if the killer gives me any reason, I will definitely shoot him outright.”
Leroy gave him a single nod. “We was supposed to go fishing early this morning. Snapper are biting right after dawn over at Vernon’s Point, and we wanted to get the good spot by the cattails. I went to pick him up, just like we’d agreed.”
“Did you see anyone at his cabin when you pulled up?”
“Not a soul. His front door was standing wide open, but I didn’t think anything of it at the time. Duke is…” Leroy choked a bit and coughed. “…was a tough old bastard. Didn’t have AC. He wouldn’t have thought twice about leaving his doors and windows wide open.”
Colt nodded, patiently waiting for Leroy to get to what he needed to know, and hoping that if he let the older man process it at his own pace, he’d be more thorough with his description and less inclined to get off-balance again.
“I honked the horn,” Leroy continued, “but he never came out. I figured maybe he was changing out his tackle so I headed to the house to see if I could hurry him up.” He took a deep breath and blew it out. “The smell hit me as soon as I stepped onto the porch. I got a nose like a prize bloodhound. Usually, it comes in handy, but today, I would have given anything to have a cold.”
“You showed a lot of bravery, going in there,” Colt said.
Leroy shrugged. “He was my friend. What else was I gonna do?” He looked out the window, then down at the blanket that covered his legs. “I stepped inside, already figuring I was gonna see something bad, like Duke had accidentally shot himself while cleaning one of his guns. But I never thought…I ain’t never…”
He looked up at Colt, his expression haunting. “Whoever did that ain’t human. Ain’t no way a normal man could do such things.”
“I agree, and you don’t know how sorry I am you had to find Duke that way.”
Leroy nodded. “It didn’t take but a glance to know he was gone—had been for a while. I got dizzy and grabbed the doorjamb, trying to keep my balance, then as soon as I could move, I stumbled back outside. It was all I could do to get to my truck and call the sheriff’s department. My chest hurt and my vision blurred. No matter how much I breathed, I couldn’t catch my breath. You ever had that happen?”
Colt nodded. “Yeah, I have.”
A look of relief passed over Leroy’s face. “I managed to call dispatch and as soon as Eugenia answered, I panicked. My heart was beating so hard, I thought it would pop my chest. I started yelling and crying and damned if I’m going to feel bad about either.”
“You have nothing to feel bad about.”
“I stumbled around the front yard while I was talking and finally collapsed on the steps to the cabin. Then it’s like my whole body went numb and I got real cold. Didn’t even notice when you drove up. Didn’t even know you’d been there at all until the paramedics told me on the ride to the hospital.”
“You were in shock.”
“I gotta tell you, it feels like shit. I don’t ever want to see something so bad it puts me in shock again.”
“I don’t either.”
“Did it put you in shock…seeing Duke?”
“No, but it was hard to maintain control, even with all the training I have and all the things I’ve seen working in New Orleans.”
“Then I guess I ain’t doing too bad, given that I ain’t had no training and such.”
“You’re doing great. Is there anything else you can think of to tell me about this morning?”
“No. That’s all I seen and all I know.”
Colt studied the man’s face closely and decided he was telling the truth—at least about this morning. The question was, did he know more?
“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, i
f 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?”