by Barb Han
He’d also arranged for a flashlight but he wanted some peripheral vision as they made their way through dense woods to The Bayou.
“How far is it from here?” she asked.
“About twenty minutes on foot.” He’d parked off the highway near the gravel road leading to the place. Any lights on that road would give them away and he didn’t want anyone to know they were coming. He had no idea if The Bayou was a safe place or not. Given its coordinates, he couldn’t imagine that it was...this was a place people went to fly off the radar. He grabbed a package of bug repellent wipes out of the bag he’d arranged to have in the vehicle, opened one and held it out. “Rub this on any exposed skin, neck, arms.”
She took the wipe and her fingers grazed his palm. Again he regretted not following through with sex earlier. He still couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him. The tension between them was a distraction they couldn’t afford and he half figured a rousing round in the sack would help with that problem. Maybe then he could fully concentrate on finding Jenn instead of thinking about the curve of Jessica’s sweet bottom in his hands.
Tyler tore open a packet of bug repellant and wiped his arms and neck. The last thing he needed was a case of West Nile to take home, and he sure as hell could use a distraction from thinking about Jessica’s backside.
“We’ll go in dark, meaning I’ll cut off the flashlight when we get near the clearing to the building. If we’re lucky, everyone on the premises will be asleep. If we’re not, there’ll be dogs and people with guns who will wake up when they bark. Based on the Google Earth picture, it looks like the kind of place there’d be Dobermans or pit bulls. So, not only will we go in dark but we’ll go in quiet.”
His eyes were adjusting to the darkness and hers were huge with fear.
“You want to wait it out here?” he asked, his voice more curt than he’d intended.
Her reaction was immediate. “No. I’d do more good with you and I’m not sitting out here alone.”
He silently cursed at himself for not being able to stop thinking about their encounter in the hotel room. “You know how to handle a gun?”
“They scare me to death.”
“Well,” he conceded, “then we’ll find something else for you to—”
“But that doesn’t mean I can’t get over it,” she interrupted. “I’m not that afraid and especially if it means getting my sister to safety or keeping one of us from getting shot.”
She held out her flat palm and he could see her hand tremble in the light of the full moon. He had to hand it to her. She got extra points for bravery.
“The safety is on.” He molded her fingers around the SIG Sauer. “It’s important to get a good feel for how it fits.”
She brought her other hand up and cupped the butt. “I got this.”
“You gave me the impression this was the first time you’d touched a gun.”
“I said that I was scared to death of them, and that part’s true, but my dad taught me how to shoot when I was twelve because he kept guns in the house.”
“Was he a hunter?”
“No. We lived in a bad part of town and he wanted me to be ready in case he couldn’t be around.” She opened the magazine and checked the clip. “This should do but I’m hoping that I won’t need to use it.”
“Make sure it’s aimed at someone besides me if you decide to shoot,” he said, only half teasing. After his stunt back at the room she had to be angry with him. Heck, he was angry at himself. He still didn’t know why a bout of conscience had come over him.
Taking a beautiful woman to bed didn’t normally have him getting inside his head about not being in a relationship with her. Damn, O’Brien. He’d really loused that one up. If he got another chance with Jessica, and he was pretty sure that wasn’t going to happen based on the wall she’d erected between them, he wouldn’t waste it like he had the first time. But then second chances rarely happened in the real world. Tyler muttered a curse.
“What did you say?” she asked, looking at him oddly.
“Nothing.” He hesitated. “Are you ready?”
“As much as I can be,” she said softly, and her blatant honesty pierced his heart.
Yeah, he was going to live to regret his actions in the hotel. Because walking away from a woman with that much strength and beauty was going to be the end of him. But, hey, just like his short-lived baseball career and his last relationship had proved, everything had an expiration date.
Tyler tried to let this thing with Jessica roll off his back, ignoring the fact that it had more staying power than a determined bull on rodeo day.
* * *
THE SOUNDS OF a swamp in Louisiana at night were not something Jessica would ever get used to. There was a clicking sound to her right as she navigated the dense forest of live oak. Everything sounded alive, even the trees, and more awake than in daylight. Something rustled in the undergrowth a little too close for comfort and her heart skittered as she stepped over gnarled roots.
Crickets chirped, her skin crawled and the sound of footsteps slogging through muddy water sent her pulse racing. This was home of the alligator.
Owls hooted in surround sound and she could tell they were literally all around her as she stepped in the marsh. Something moved underneath her shoe. She bit back a scream and reached for Tyler.
He positioned her beside him and she kept her gaze focused on the light beam that hit a tree and then bounced to the ground and back. Step by step she held her breath, trying not to focus on the chorus of insects. Heaven only knew what other creatures were lurking in the dark. She couldn’t help but check for a set of eyes as the light skimmed the deeper water right next to them and she prayed they wouldn’t end up waist deep as they trudged along.
Who in their right mind would come out this far from the city and into this unknown? If her sister had been taken, and Jessica was fairly certain that was the case, then this would be the perfect place to dispose of a body.
Focusing on the worst-case scenario wouldn’t help their investigation or her mood, so she did her best to shove those thoughts aside as she plucked her heel from the slick soil. It was impossible to move through the vegetation without making a sound. Every time she stepped, it was as if the ground refused to let go.
Tyler squeezed her hand and stopped. The light from the flashlight disappeared, plunging them into utter darkness.
Jessica’s heart beat in her throat as she took a tentative step forward. Trust wasn’t her strong suit but desperation had her willing to do pretty much anything to find her sister. The total blackness ignited her claustrophobia and if it wasn’t for Tyler she would’ve had to stop right there and turn around.
If Jenn had been on her own she’d have called. There was no doubt about that in Jessica’s mind. It had been two days since her sister had gone silent. A lot could happen in forty-eight hours.
Her eyes adjusted to the darkness enough to see outlines by the time the trees thinned. She counted three sheds and her sister could be in any one of them. Then there was the main building, a relatively small two-story structure with a handmade sign on the porch that read The Bayou in big white letters on what appeared to be a large piece of driftwood. That was about the only thing she could see clearly because the trees around the house formed a canopy in the swamp making it impossible for light from the moon to shine through.
Two vehicles were parked in back, an old Toyota pickup truck and a Volkswagen van that looked like a relic from the sixties. Thankfully, there were no dogs on the premises or Jessica and Tyler’s presence would already be known.
Tyler squatted down behind the Volkswagen and motioned for Jessica to come over. He flashed the light. The license plate on the VW read, Big Beau.
Jessica tried to wrap her mind around what this could mean. Her sister had mentioned The Bayou and then
Elijah had referred to Big Beau. This had to be the place.
This could be a trap, a little voice said. Maybe she was right where Elijah wanted her.
Did that mean that Jenn was here somewhere?
Was this some kind of headquarters or meeting place for the group who was after the Infinity Sapphire?
A hand covered Jessica’s mouth. Before she could scream she was dragged backward. She spun around out of her assailant’s grasp, landed facedown and fumbled for the SIG Sauer she’d dropped in the struggle.
“Shhh. Don’t scream. I’m here to help you and your sister. Don’t say a word,” the unfamiliar deep male voice said.
Tyler was there in the next beat, his gun at the man’s temple. “Where do you think you’re going with her?”
“Stay calm and we’ll all get out of here alive,” the man said.
From her vantage point, Tyler seemed the one in charge so it was bold of this guy to give orders. Her hand skimmed the surface of the ground until landing on her gun. She picked it up, sat up and pointed it directly at the male figure.
“I’m Big Beau. And if you want to know where your sister is, you’ll keep quiet. We need to get out of here right now. If they know I’m talking to you I’ll end up floating in that swamp. If the gators don’t haul me off, the mosquitoes will.”
“I have a car nearby,” Tyler whispered.
She wasn’t sure how Tyler knew to trust the guy. She had her own doubts, but desperation had her ready to do almost anything to find Jenn.
“Let’s go before somebody wakes,” Big Beau said. The guy was huge. Tyler was somewhere around six foot four so he was significantly taller, but Big Beau had the belly of a grizzly bear.
“Not so fast.” Tyler patted the guy down to check for a weapon as Jessica scrambled to her feet.
“You won’t find anything on me. I left my AR15 inside and there’s more where that came from. But if you’re smart, you’ll move it along. If we wake anyone up or they know I’m helping you, I’m dead. And so is Jenn.”
Chapter Twelve
At the SUV, Tyler kept his gun leveled at Big Beau. Getting a closer look at him Jessica saw what a big, burly man he was. A patchwork of scruff covered parts of his jaw and neck. He wore a flannel shirt with the sleeves cut off. His eyes were pale blue, his hair dirty blond. Jeans rode low on his hips, tucked underneath a pot belly.
“I know what you’re thinking and I ain’t like them others,” he said, holding his right hand toward Tyler as if it could stop a bullet.
“Prove it,” Tyler shot back, keeping his gun aimed at the big guy. “Tell us where she is.”
“She ain’t far. Unless they’ve moved her.”
“Who has her?” Jessica asked defensively.
“It’s complicated but I remember you from the first time your sister brought you here,” he said.
“How? That was so long ago. I don’t remember you at all,” she said honestly.
Big Beau held back a laugh. “Your sister came out here and talked about you all the time since then. I hoped you’d figure out she was in trouble and come see me.”
“If that’s true, then why doesn’t anyone else know me?” She seriously doubted Jenn spoke about her to anyone.
He rolled his big shoulders in a shrug. “Reckon she had her reasons. She never talked about you where anyone else could hear and always asked me to keep it a secret.”
“Because she was ashamed of me,” Jessica said quietly. Then she glanced up apologetically. She hadn’t intended to say that out loud.
“Ashamed?” He shook his head. “Proud’s more like it. She went on and on about how smart you are and what a success you’ve made out of your family’s business to help your parents.”
“I had no idea she felt that way.” True, she had expanded the cleaning business from houses to office buildings so her mother wouldn’t have to do the heavy lifting anymore. And she’d hired two dozen workers, jobs she was happy to provide to people in order to boost the local economy.
Big Beau looked like he was examining Jessica and it made her uncomfortable. “I’m sorry for staring, but you two look so much alike. I’m surprised at how different you think or that you don’t know how proud she is of you. She talks about you like you walk on water.”
“Me and my sister have always been close but I didn’t know.” Jessica wiped an errant tear as it rolled down her cheek. She’d always loved her sister and had known on some level that Jenn loved her as much, but hearing that her sister was proud of her overwhelmed her with emotion.
“Jenn used to say all she had to work with was her looks,” Big Beau continued. “And that she had to play her cards right or she’d end up with nothing. But you...she thought you hung the moon.”
Jessica couldn’t stop the sob that tore from her throat. Tyler moved to her side and put his arm around her protectively.
“I’m fine.” She ignored the confused look on Tyler’s face as she sidestepped out of reach. “Really. It’s just very sweet to hear and my sister’s in trouble. I let my emotions get the best of me but I’m good now.”
Tyler eyed her up and down, clearly not convinced, but not ready to push the envelope either.
“Why didn’t you do anything to help her?” she asked Big Beau, needing to redirect the conversation to something more productive.
“It ain’t right how they’re setting her up to look like she stole that necklace. They plan to kill her as soon as they get hold of it and make it look like suicide. As far as helping her, that’s what I’m trying to do right now.”
“She’s innocent?” Jessica knew she shouldn’t sound so surprised. She wanted to believe in her sister, but after learning about the affair, it was hard. “Who’s behind this?”
She was so close that he could reach out and grab her if he wanted, but she didn’t care.
“Ashton Brasseux. But now that Randall Beauchamp’s involved it’s a mess,” Beau said, and turned toward Tyler. “She’s my friend and I wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. My family don’t feel the same way. Everyone’s afraid of Mr. Beauchamp so they do whatever he asks. They don’t have no trouble with her personally but he said to find her, so they did.”
“What’s Beauchamp’s involvement in this?” Tyler asked.
Big Beau shrugged. “All I know is he has a buyer for that stolen necklace and now that it’s gone missing he’ll do anything to get it back.”
“Is she hurt?” Jessica asked Big Beau. “Did he do anything to her?”
“I can tell you where I believe he’s keeping her, but that’s as far as I can go. I have no idea what shape she’s in. My guess is not good. If he knows anyone from my family helped you out he’ll have us all fed to the gators.” Big Beau shivered.
“But she’s alive?” Jessica could barely ask the question.
“She was last I heard,” he said honestly. “No way was she involved in this. Ashton used her.”
That made a lot of sense.
“You can trust us. No one will know the information came from you,” Tyler promised.
Big Beau half smiled and nodded. “My life depends on it.”
“Why are you helping us?” Jessica asked.
“Your sister’s a good kid.” Big Beau’s face broke into a smile talking about Jenn. She had that effect on people, and especially men. She was charming and beautiful, but there was something else about her that drew people to her. “She don’t mean nobody harm. It’s a shame what’s happened to her and it’s even worse that my family’s to blame. I’ll give you the address where we took her.”
Big Beau relayed the coordinates of a place he said was in town.
“Elijah told us about you. He was trying to set a trap for us, wasn’t he?” Jessica asked.
“He doesn’t know Jenn and I are close, so I fi
gure he thought he was sending you to your demise. Nobody’s going to find out you were here from me,” Big Beau said. “Unless the gators start talking, I reckon no one will ever know.”
He winked.
“Thank you.” Jessica hugged Big Beau. Not because he would cover their tracks but because he cared about Jenn and had opened Jessica’s eyes to a whole new side to her sister. Jenn had always come across as so confident, letting everything roll off her. Inside, she was far more fragile than Jessica realized and she wanted to protect her sister.
He seemed taken back by the gesture and stiffened. “Go on, now. Find Jenn and get her out of the state until this whole mess settles down.”
“Do you know James Milton?” she asked.
“He that no-good lawyer she messed with last year?” Big Beau asked.
“He tried to kill me when he thought I was Jenn,” she supplied.
“I reckon lots of folks want to get their hands on that missing necklace,” Big Beau said, his anger evident on his face. “That’s a stupid move, though. Everyone knows Beauchamp wants it.”
“I thought he might be working for him.”
“Doubt it. He could be trying to get in his good graces, though,” Big Beau said. “Or pay off a debt.”
“He’s a gambler,” she said, remembering the news they’d received from the sheriff.
“Well then, he might be trying to get himself out of trouble,” Big Beau said.
“My sister sent me with him as a distraction. She wanted him out of town. You know anything about that?” she asked.
“Sure don’t.”
“What else do you know about my sister?”
“Not much. She liked to mix with men who wore shiny shoes and fine suits. Most of them hang in the same crowd and do a little too much sharing. She didn’t like to be reminded that she was really just one of us,” Big Beau said. “A man with shiny shoes usually has a slick tongue in my experience.”
Jenn must’ve liked having some reminders of her past because she’d made friends with Big Beau. Jessica was less trustful of men in general and rich men in particular. She’d seen the way prominent men manipulated others. That was half the reason she stuck around to run the business she’d grown with her mother. Greed was powerful and she’d seen the damage firsthand.