Bayou Heat

by Georgia Tribell

  Her breath caught as she remembered how wonderful it felt having his body pressed to hers. Her body heated at the memory of his mouth crushing hers and his hands exploring her body.

  “Do these wakeup calls happen often?”

  His words pulled her back to reality. “No.” She turned her back to him and reached for her t-shirt. “This has never happened before.”

  “Then why now? And why are you getting dressed?”

  Eris stopped what she was doing as she tried to put feelings into words. “She’s angry, I could pick that feeling out. And I’m getting dressed so I can follow the aura.”

  “Don’t guess it would do any good to tell you this isn’t a bright idea?”

  “No.” Eris jerked the shirt over her head and turned to find him staring at her. His gaze drifted from her face down to her breasts then back up.

  “Fine, give me a few minutes to make some calls, get dressed and don’t forget your gun.”

  Rob was so close she could feel his body heat. It took all her willpower not to reach out to him because, at the moment, the last thing she wanted to do was chase a crazed killer.

  She intentionally looked away from him as she gathered her shoes. She needed to focus on the task at hand, to get her head back in this game and out of the clouds. She needed to find her friend’s killer. She owed Orbit that and so much more.

  “Eris.”

  She looked up and saw him standing in the moonlit doorway. “What?”

  “For the record, I’d much rather be taking my clothes off and getting naked with you than getting dressed to go chase a murderer.”

  “Oh,” was all she could manage before he turned and walked away.

  * * * * *

  Rob walked beside Eris with a death grip on her elbow. Every instinct he’d developed over the years was screaming they shouldn’t be here. They should have stayed at her place. Yet here he was, once again letting her lead him through the Quarter. This time though, instead of it being high noon, it was midnight.

  Across the street, a man stopped, leaned against the wall, adjusted his ball cap and finally tugged on his right ear. Rob felt a small amount of tension leave him at the sight of his partner. He’d called LD as they were leaving the apartment, requesting some backup. He’d also talked to the two new men posted outside the apartment. Neither reported anyone hanging around, only a few pedestrians had strolled past the place. Rob told them to keep their positions in case someone tried to enter the place after they left.

  LD shadowed them as they continued their erratic path through the French Quarter. They traveled down St. Ann toward the Mississippi River and started weaving through unlocked courtyards and small back alleyways until they ended up on Ursulines Street.

  Eris froze and Rob stepped back, patiently waiting for her to do her thing. Rob shifted from foot to foot before catching his restless movements and stopping himself. He wasn’t a fidgety type of guy. He had no problem being perfectly still for hours. It was a habit he’d learned early on when his mother was in one of her moods and survival meant disappearing even when he was in full view.

  This woman, though, caused him to feel jittery, nervous and excited about things he never expected. Like the sound of her voice, the way she sighed when one of her brothers called, or wondering what color her hair would be that day. It was stupid, it was insane and he wished to hell he could blame it all on lust, but he couldn’t.

  There was a healthy dose of sexual attraction between the two, no doubt about it. He could handle that. What bothered him was the fact she simply fascinated him in a way no one ever had. Everything about her drew him to her, from her outlandish style of dressing to her delicate reading glasses.

  Eris gave a small shudder and swayed as if her knees were about to give out. Rob slipped his hands around her waist from behind in order to steady her. “What’s wrong?”

  “This is the spot where the woman was taken from.” Eris’ voice broke.

  Rob’s heart pounded in his chest. Eris was now officially scaring him. “Which one of the victims is it?”

  “None, it’s someone new.” Eris whimpered. “Oh God. She’s terrified when she’s first grabbed, but then she realizes she’s going to die. Her fear transforms into hysteria. It’s so fresh and so strong it’s overpowering the madness.”

  He could feel her shaking and turned her so she faced him. Even in the darkness he could see her features were drawn, her eyes haunted. “Let’s find a safe spot for you and then I’ll call the police. They can search the area, there’s no reason for you to do this.”

  Eris pulled away from him and started to run. “If we hurry we might be able to save her.”

  Rob caught up with her as she crossed the street and headed toward the Ursuline Convent. “You don’t have to do this, Eris.”

  She never looked at him as she turned down Chartres. “Yes, I do.”

  She ran through the gates leading to the old convent, toward a pair of garbage Dumpsters. “Eris, stop now.”

  “No, she’s there, I know she’s there.”

  He reached for her, but she knocked his hand away and picked up speed, moving ahead of him. She was inches out of his reach when she darted behind the Dumpsters. Her scream cut through the night, causing an unexpected wave of panic to rise up inside him.

  He drew his gun as he watched Eris drop to her knees. She was in front of him, kneeling by a prone figure on the ground. The sound of shoes on pavement caught his attention and as he looked up, a dark shape darted out of the shadows and into the street. “LD!”

  “Got him.”

  LD went past the Dumpsters in an all-out run and was gaining quickly on the escaping criminal. Two steps later, LD performed a diving tackle that at any other time would have had Rob cheering. But at the moment he was much more concerned with the woman in front of him.

  He holstered the gun and quickly moved to where Eris knelt beside the body. Squatting beside her, he placed an arm around her shoulders. “Have you touched anything?”

  “No.”

  “Good. Now let’s move away so we don’t disturb anything else.”

  He walked her around the Dumpsters so the body wouldn’t be in her line of vision then told her to wait there while he checked on a few things. She was quiet but seemed to have a grip on herself as he turned and moved away.

  He wasn’t a medical examiner, but even he could tell the body had been brutally tortured before being killed. This murder was much more gruesome and violent than those of previous victims.

  The killings were escalating and that had him worried, especially if the murderer was now leading Eris to the victims. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Detective Olson’s number as he walked to where LD stood cuffing the suspect.

  * * * * *

  Eris watched the two men as they talked to the person sandwiched between them. It was obvious they knew their job, and given another ten minutes, they’d have a written confession for every unsolved crime in the state for the past fifty years.

  The problem was, this boy wasn’t the killer. Eris wasn’t naїve enough to think him innocent, but his aura was nothing like that of the monster they were hunting. Forcing her feet to move, she walked back around to where the body lay and opened herself to the auras around her. After a couple of minutes she picked up what she was looking for—and was amazed at how much the aura had changed.

  “What are you doing?” Robs words were hard and cold and came from directly behind her but he hadn’t surprised her at all. She’d picked up on his presence as soon as she opened her senses.

  “I’m not touching a thing. In fact, I’ve kept my distance. I figured I could find the killer’s trail again and we could see where it took us.”

  “You didn’t pick up anything from the young man?”

  “No, it’s not him and we need to get moving.” Thunder rumbled in the distance, causing her apprehension to rise.

  “We should wait for Olson to get here. He won’t like us leaving before we giv
e a statement.”

  “The longer we wait, the weaker the trail gets.” Eris glanced up at the sky. “And if this rain materializes, then we’re screwed.”

  “What does the rain have to do with following someone?”

  “The rain breaks up the patterns of the auras.”

  “Like it washes away footprints?”

  Her lips twitched at his comparison. It wasn’t how she’d have described it but he was trying to understand her. “Something like that.”

  “I need to inform LD what we’re doing.”

  She started to tell him she would wait for him but the words were cut off when he took her hand in his and linked their fingers together. Together they told LD what was happening. As she listened to the men speak, she studied the person seated on the ground at LD’s feet and realized he really was only a kid. He couldn’t have been over sixteen and could easily be as young as fourteen. She couldn’t help but wonder how he’d gotten mixed up in this.

  A tug on her hand brought her back to the moment and she looked up to see Rob intently studying her. “What?”

  “I was wondering if you were up to this.”

  She was tempted to tell him she was in top form and ready for anything the world could toss at her, but the sensitive look in his eyes stopped her. “My ankle is still sore and I’m tired but other than that, I’m doing just fine.”

  Her answer appeared to please him because he gave a slight nod of his head. “Good, lead the way, princess.”

  She started walking and once again they were zigzagging their way through the French Quarter via alleys and courtyards. Rob only released her hand when necessary and, on those few occasions, he quickly took hold of it again. She’d never had anyone so protective of her in a non-smothering way. She kept reminding herself this was business for him, nothing more.

  To curb her thought process, she started talking. “I noticed tonight the aura changed after she’d killed the woman.”

  “I’m guessing this never occurred before?”

  “I’m not so sure. I’ve never been to the scene this soon after it’s happened. Everything was still so fresh, so untouched, that I picked up on the transition.”

  “Are you picking up another person?”

  “No, it’s the same person but now she’s calmer, more in control.”

  “That makes sense.”

  “How?”

  “The killing of the victim releases the buildup of rage the killer is holding in. It’s like tossing a bucket of water on a fire, the effect is immediate.”

  “True, but the fire isn’t staying out, that’s the problem.” Eris stopped on Iberville, checked traffic and then darted across Canal Street to the Canal-River trolley stop. “Damn.”

  “What?” Rob looked around as if he expected a ghost to jump out at them.

  “The trail stops here.”

  “I’m guessing the person got on a streetcar.”

  “Yeah, and so are we.”

  Thunder rolled overhead as the crowd flowed around them like a river around a branch. Rob looked around, hoping for some sign as to which way the killer had gone. “Are we going to wait for you to pick up a trace?”

  “No, we don’t have that kind of time.”

  “Then we have to decide between one of three routes. He either took Canal-Cemeteries, Canal-City Park or the Riverfront route. I’m guessing he took Riverfront route and doubled back on us.”

  “That would have been the smart thing to do.”

  “That’s where I’m putting my money, come on.” Rob took her hand and pulled her over to where a streetcar was loading, which would take them back the way they needed to go. As he entered the car, he released her hand and started digging for change. He finished paying their fare and started toward the back of the car to find an empty seat.

  He stopped next to a vacant bench and waited for Eris to scoot in. Her body pressed against his as she pushed her way past him in the narrow aisle. “Eris, where are you going?”

  She looked back over her shoulder at him as she continued to walk away. “This doesn’t feel right, we need to get off.”

  Rob noted the glances from other passengers as he followed her. “We just got on, princess. We both agreed this was the logical course of action.”

  “I know, but this has nothing to do with logic,” she replied as she went out the second door.

  Rob exited the streetcar and grabbed Eris’ arm. “Maybe that’s the whole problem with this investigation—no one is being rational about it. If they were, this killer might have been caught already. Instead, everyone seems to wait for you to perform your magic.”

  The instant the words were out of his mouth he knew he’d made a major mistake. He felt her stiffen as she backed away from his grasp. “If I remember correctly, you were assigned to protect me, not to investigate this case. Maybe Nate will take over for you now that he’s in town, I’m sure you have more important things to do than hang with some loon 24/7.”

  He watched as she turned and made her way to a streetcar that would take them from the river to the cemeteries. Following her, he paid their tolls and took a seat beside her on the small wooden bench. The trolley pulled away with a jerky movement until it smoothed out into a gentle rocking motion. He was tempted to break their silence by asking exactly where they were headed but was certain Eris wasn’t in the mood for conversation, thanks to his mouth.

  Rob watched the nighttime scene pass by as they gently swayed from side to side. The dim lights and warm breeze created a dreamy atmosphere, which surprised him because he never thought of the streetcars as romantic. They were simply a method of transportation to him. For years they’d provided his only means of commuting about town and not once had he ever seen them in any other light until tonight and this ride with Eris. Rob shook his head and rubbed his temple in an attempt to clear the ridiculous thoughts running through it.

  The trolley slowed and Eris nudged him with her elbow. He took the hint to exit the car at the next stop. Apprehension filled him as the streetcar pulled away and they stood alone on a dimly lit corner in a not-so-good section of town. “I’m calling for backup before we take another step.”

  Lightning lit up the sky followed by an immediate clap of thunder that seemed to shake the very ground they stood on.

  “We don’t have time to wait.”

  Rob felt the first raindrop on his arm as he pulled the cell phone from his pocket and speed-dialed LD’s number. He continued to talk as he followed Eris deeper into the run-down neighborhood. He gave LD their latest location and disconnected as Eris darted across a darkened corner. He was having a difficult time keeping an eye on their surroundings and her. The farther they traveled, the more focused on the aura she became, tuning out the rest of the world. He stayed close enough to maneuver her around trashcans and street poles while keeping one eye and both ears on the lookout for danger. He was so intent on keeping them safe that he almost ran over her when she suddenly stopped.

  “We aren’t going in there.” Rob surveyed the crumbling six-foot wall in front of them that bordered the cemetery.

  “What other choice do we have?” Eris continued to search the area for an easy entry point.

  “If our guy went in, then he had to come out. We can circle the wall and find the exit point.”

  “What about the evidence that might be inside?”

  “We can come back tomorrow in the daylight and look for it.”

  “By then the rain will have washed away the trail and we’ll be left searching the entire cemetery.”

  “It’s barely sprinkled. With any luck the rain will bypass us altogether.” The rain picked that moment to increase, proving him wrong.

  “We’re wasting time, boost me to the top then I’ll help you up.”

  “I’m not helping you climb that wall, Eris. Cemeteries are home to ninety percent of the city’s lowlife after dark. I’m not going to be a willing partner in this.”

  Eris gave him a look that would have made
most men choose wrestling a gator over tangling with her. He glared back at her and watched as she squared her shoulders, took a few steps back and ran for the wall. In a seemingly single fluid move, she vaulted to the top of the wall and, before he could utter a word, disappeared into the darkness.

  “Eris. Eris, answer me dammit!” Rob refused to think about what fate she could have met on the other side as he stepped back and ran for the wall. His hands connected with the top edge as he searched with his feet for a toehold. He cursed his slick-soled shoes as he fell back to the ground in a not-so-graceful dismount. Increasing the distance between him and the wall, he ran for it again, knowing he’d have to pull himself over the top with his upper body.

  Rob landed in the soft dirt of the cemetery grounds silently. He crouched there in the shadows as his eyes adjusted to the almost total darkness. Light from the streetlamps didn’t carry far beyond the wall and the moon was absolutely no help now that clouds were moving in. He turned at the sound of some creature scurrying off to his left and retrieved his gun. He wasn’t sure what made the noise, but he knew it wasn’t Eris.

  He refused to acknowledge the claustrophobic feeling that seemed to be wrapping its way around him. The tightness in his chest and sweaty palms were due to the weather and not some unnatural fear.

  He carefully surveyed his surroundings from left to right and caught sight of a dark shape moving steadily away from him. He stood and started toward the form only to stumble and land on his knees when he stepped in a hole. He regained his footing and continued his pursuit, managing to get close enough to identify the person as Eris but not close enough to make physical contact with her.

  He called to her a couple of times as loudly as he dared, but she didn’t respond. She appeared to be in one of her trancelike states and oblivious to everything else around her. Rob tried to close the distance between them but the now-steady rain made it almost impossible to see. He stumbled along behind her, ignoring the pain and scratches to his legs and hands as they connected with unseen objects.