by Jana DeLeon
“Here’s another thought,” I said. “We’ve said all along that Brandon didn’t have the ability to pull this off alone and we were right. Whiplash was in it up to his neck. So what makes you think he’d attempt to be the lone wolf now?”
“You thinking he’s tapped Amber to help him?” Gertie asked.
“Why not?” I asked. “She cared at one time and is scared of him now.”
Ida Belle nodded. “The perfect combination to use for a getaway. If nothing else, he’ll hit her up for cash and her vehicle.”
I called Francine’s Café and when Ally answered, I asked to speak to Amber.
“She pulled a dip,” Ally said. “Claimed she was going out back to smoke and left. Francine is hacked but also worried. I tried the cell number she gave but she’s not answering.”
“Did she give an address?” I asked.
“No. When I asked, she said she was staying at a motel up the highway.”
“What does she drive?”
“An old blue Cobalt with rust spots on the roof. Is she in trouble?”
“Maybe. I’ve got to run. Thanks, Ally.”
“There’s only two motels,” Ida Belle said. “You’re old friends with the first one.”
“What about the second?” I asked.
“It’s farther up the highway about fifteen minutes from the one you know,” Ida Belle said. “Far less shady, but probably twice as much and a longer drive to Sinful.”
“She told us she wasn’t in the sketchy one,” I said.
Ida Belle shrugged. “And maybe she was telling the truth. Or maybe she was telling us the exact opposite because she’s trying to hide.”
“You’re right,” I said. “Go to sketchy first. That clerk is going to kill me. When this is over, I need to send him a fruit basket or something before his last day.”
“You think a fruit basket is going to make up for blowing up his vending machine?” Ida Belle asked. “Or seeing that naked guy wrapped up like a burrito?”
“I’ll make it one with wine in it,” I said.
Gertie shook her head. “From your description of naked guy, you might need one with a lobotomy and a one-way ticket to the Bahamas.”
Ida Belle pulled into the motel parking lot and I headed inside to face the music. The clerk took one look at me and his face fell.
“Jesus, I prayed every night that I’d get to leave here without seeing you again,” he said. “I even burned candles. I have a voodoo doll.”
“Sorry,” I said. “Trust me, I don’t like coming here any more than you like me doing it. I’m looking for a young woman.”
I gave him a description of Amber and he scrunched his brow.
“I saw a woman who looked like that the other day,” he said. “But far as I know, she’s not checked in here.”
“What do you mean ‘far as you know’? Why wouldn’t you know?”
“Because sometimes I get time off—not often but it just so happens I did take a couple hours off the other day. And usually the guy gets the room—asks for two keys—and this isn’t the kind of establishment that insists on having both names on the register if you know what I mean.”
“This isn’t the kind of establishment that insists on having a real name on the register.”
“Well, there you go.”
“Did you see what room she came out of?”
He shook his head. “I saw her walking toward the back of the parking lot in the far corner.”
“Car?”
“Wasn’t outside long enough to see what she got in. Honestly, I only noticed her because she was kinda hot.”
“How many bookings do you have on the far end of the motel?”
“Are you kidding me? It’s the fair. We’re solid booked. Have been for days now. People figure they’re going to stay out late and drink themselves into a stupor, so they get a room here to cut down on the probability of getting a DUI.”
I blew out a breath. There was no way I could ask to inspect every room. I had zero authority to do so and the clerk had zero reason to let me. Asking to see one empty room was one thing. Asking to search occupied rooms was a whole other thing.
“You only saw her the once?” I asked.
“I think so—wait, maybe I saw her the other night, but it was dark so I can’t be sure.”
“Where did you see her?”
“If it was her, she got into a car with a guy. At least I think it was a guy. Sat up a lot taller in the seat, you know. I couldn’t see his face, though.”
“Make and model of the car?”
He shrugged. “White. Small sedan. The kind of thing you don’t take notice of.”
“License plate?”
“Jeez, lady, this isn’t Hawaii 5-0. Who the heck cares about license plates?”
“Do me a favor—keep the blinds open today and if you see her, call me immediately.”
“What did she do?”
“She got involved with someone who’s probably going to kill her.”
There was no blue Cobalt in the parking lot, with or without rust, so we stayed parked for a bit while I called to see if Carter could put out a BOLO on the car and Amber. But the call went straight to voice mail. I frowned as I tried again with the same result.
“Maybe he turned it off to deal with the forensics team,” Gertie said.
I shook my head. “He would just send the call directly to voice mail, but he would never turn it off. Not now with the Brandon situation and Emmaline still in the hospital.”
Gertie cast a worried glance at Ida Belle. “That’s true,” she said.
“Do you want me to head over to the fairgrounds?” Ida Belle asked.
I started to say yes when my phone rang. Carter. Relief flooded through me.
But it was short-lived.
“Fortune, this is Deputy Breaux.” His voice was rushed and I could hear the tension in his tone. “We got a situation at the fairgrounds. Carter was talking to the forensics team when Palmer showed up. He arrested Carter!”
“What?” I yelled.
“He said he was done with Carter interfering in his investigation and now more people were dead because of him and his meddling girlfriend. Carter managed to slip me his phone while Palmer was screaming and motioned behind his back for me to leave. I guess he knew what was coming, and I turned the phone off until I could sneak away. The way he was going on, I was afraid I would be next, and someone had to get word to you. He’s coming for you next.”
“Does Palmer have you in his sights?” I asked.
“No. I hate to say it, but I ducked behind a food stand and ran while he was handcuffing Carter. I can’t believe I left him there.”
“Don’t you dare feel bad about that. You did what you needed to do and what Carter wanted you to do.”
“What do you want me to do now?” Deputy Breaux asked. “Sheriff Lee is setting up a howl, but Palmer’s not going to hear anything. He looks manic. If I stick around, he’s going to slap cuffs on me too, but if I go back to the sheriff’s department, I’m a sitting duck.”
“I need you to head to the Heberts’ warehouse. I’ll call ahead and they’ll be expecting you. I need a BOLO on Amber, the new waitress at Francine’s. She was Brandon’s girlfriend and he might have tapped her for a getaway car. I don’t have a license plate so see if you can get more information from Francine.”
“You’re sure they’ll be okay with me showing up?” Deputy Breaux asked, his nervousness apparent.
“They won’t have any problem at all and trust me, Palmer will not go looking for you there. Give them all the details of what happened with Carter and ask them to follow up with any contacts they have with the state police. Anything they ask for, give it to them. There’s no more secrets. Not now.”
“Got it. I’m on my way. Assuming I can get out of the parking lot.”
“Hurry! I don’t want to be posting bail for two of you.”
I hung up and called Mannie, giving him a quick rundown of the situa
tion. He assured me that Big and Little would be ready for Deputy Breaux’s arrival and Mannie was going to head straight to the hospital to back up Walter, just in case Emmaline was part of any cleanup plans.
“We have to find Amber,” Gertie said.
“You got a crystal ball?” Ida Belle asked. “Because we’ve got two people with no real ties to this area—one renting a couch in a travel trailer and the other renting a motel room. Where do we even start?”
“We start right here,” I said and pointed at the rusty blue Cobalt that had just swung into the parking lot.
We all ducked down and then peeked up to peer out as Amber slammed to a stop in front of the motel, jumped out of the car, and ran up the steps and into a motel room. About ten seconds later, she bolted out with a backpack and took off out of the parking lot as quickly as she’d entered. As she turned onto the road, I saw a second person emerge above the car seats.
“Crap! He’s in there,” I said, growing excited. “Follow them but keep your distance. At this point, we have to assume that everyone knows your vehicle.”
Ida Belle pulled out of the motel parking lot and headed for the highway. When we broke past the tree line, I spotted the Cobalt headed west on the highway.
“They’re going toward Sinful,” I said.
“That doesn’t make sense,” Gertie said. “Why wouldn’t they head for New Orleans where he can steal another car?”
“Maybe he’s going to leave on a boat,” Ida Belle said. “He might have had a backup plan to get away.”
“If he’d had a backup plan, he wouldn’t be in Amber’s car,” Gertie said. “She could have called the police when she went into the motel room.”
I nodded. “She might have, but if he hasn’t told her where they’re going, it would only give the cops a starting point.”
“Why wouldn’t she just run away when she had the chance?” Gertie asked.
“Did she have a chance?” Ida Belle asked. “The only way out of those rooms is through the bathroom windows, which require some acrobatics to get through and down from the second floor, and that’s assuming you can break through the paint and get the darn things open. Since Whiplash was shot, we have to assume he has a gun. He could have easily shot her if she’d started running in plain view.”
Gertie blew out a breath. “What are we going to do? We can’t just drive up to where they are and demand he let her go. He could pop her before Ida Belle comes to a complete stop. And Fortune can’t just shoot him without a good reason, and I’m thinking suspicion from a hundred yards away isn’t going to fly. Not even in Louisiana.”
“We’ll just have to follow them until they stop,” I said. “And then we’ll figure it out.”
“You know that idiot Palmer is going to have you in handcuffs whether you shoot anyone or not,” Gertie said.
I grinned. “He wishes he could have me in handcuffs.”
They both smiled and Gertie gave me a high five.
“Let’s go get our man,” Gertie said.
“They’re exiting,” Ida Belle said.
“Where does that road go?” I asked, studying the wooded area where the Cobalt disappeared.
“The woods go all the way to the bayou,” Ida Belle said. “There’s a couple camps there.”
“Any occupied?” I asked.
“Not full time,” she said.
“Who owns them?” I asked.
“Two of them belong to retired fishermen. They both live in town. The other belongs to Francine.”
“Amber could have found out about Francine’s camp working at the café,” Gertie said.
“But why tell Brandon about it?” Ida Belle asked.
“He’s got her roped into all this mess somehow,” I said. “Maybe he’s threatened a family member of hers or a friend. Or at this point, maybe she figures if she helps him get away, she won’t have to worry about him going forward.”
“So we’re working on the idea that she’s headed for Francine’s camp, right?” Ida Belle asked. “If so, there’s a hard bend in the road about a quarter-mile from her place. We can hide the SUV there and hike it the rest of the way. At least they won’t see us coming.”
“Sounds good,” I said.
“There’s a good spot here,” Ida Belle said and pulled off the road and into the woods. There was a bit of a clearing at an angle, so unless someone was looking for a vehicle, they were unlikely to notice it. This way, if Brandon ended up getting away, he wouldn’t have Ida Belle’s SUV as a sitting duck for shooting out the tires.
“Let’s head through the woods, keeping parallel to the road,” I said. “That way, we can see if they leave, but they won’t see us.”
Ida Belle took the lead, since she knew where the camp was exactly and had better navigation skills in the woods than I did. I was working on it, but she had a few decades of being a local on me. We moved at a fast clip and I could hear Gertie huffing behind me, but it probably wasn’t more than five minutes before Ida Belle held up her hand and stopped. I moved up beside her and peered through the brush to see the camp in the middle of a clearing. Amber’s vehicle was the only one parked in front of it. The bayou stretched behind the camp with a small dock about thirty yards behind it.
No boat. One less thing to worry about.
“No other car, no boat,” I said.
“How is he planning on getting away?” Gertie said.
“Maybe he’s just hiding here until he figures it out,” Ida Belle said. “Wait until things cool down, then have Amber take him somewhere.”
“What the heck is he holding over her?” Gertie asked.
“Well, he’s not afraid to kill people,” I said. “She’s either certain he’ll kill her or there’s someone she’s protecting.”
“Or he could be waiting on a boat pickup,” Ida Belle said. “It takes some working around the bayous, but you can get out to the Gulf from here.”
“That means he’d have another accomplice,” Gertie said.
“Not necessarily,” Ida Belle said. “There’s people in the bayous that will take a charter for cash and won’t ask questions.”
“You think he’s going to make Amber go with him?” Gertie asked.
“I would if I were him,” Ida Belle said. “If he lets her go here, she can tell someone his plan and they can get him on water.”
Gertie frowned. “So this is it. We have to apprehend Brandon in order to protect Amber. We can’t let them leave this camp.”
“I definitely prefer getting things done while we’re here,” I said. “And the first thing I need to know is the situation inside that camp. Is Amber restrained? What kind of weapon does Brandon have?”
“I wish we could see through walls,” Gertie said.
“Then you would see everyone in Sinful naked,” Ida Belle said.
Gertie grimaced. “Okay, I wish we could see through walls when we wanted to.”
“Then you’d get shot because you’d be standing outside the Heberts’ warehouse trying to see Mannie in the shower,” Ida Belle said.
Gertie sighed. “So true.”
I heard voices inside and held up my hand. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but it was obvious they were arguing.
“I’ve got to get in there before this goes sideways,” I said. “I’m going to make a run for the side of the camp and see if I can get a visual through that window. Wait for my signal to follow.”
I started to move but Ida Belle grabbed my arm. “Wait. There’s someone in the window.”
I peered out of the brush and spotted Amber in the window, scanning the grounds. Looking for an escape route, maybe? A couple seconds later, she disappeared and I made a dash for the camp. I flattened myself on the wall below the window and looked over at Ida Belle and Gertie. Ida Belle gave me a thumbs-up to let me know the window was clear, so I inched up to peer inside.
Unfortunately, it was a bedroom window, so I only had a view into the other rooms through the doorway. I couldn’t see any
one and the yelling had stopped. Then all of a sudden, all hell broke loose. Amber screamed at the top of her lungs. One of those horror movie screams. A second later, I heard glass breaking and then a gunshot.
Chapter Twenty-Five
I bolted around the camp to the door and heard Ida Belle and Gertie run out of the woods behind me. Another shot fired as I ran onto the porch. The door was locked, so I backed up and rammed it as hard as possible. It broke away from the jamb and I struggled to stay upright while simultaneously pulling out my nine.
Amber was in the corner, half leaning, half slumped against the wall. There was a tear in her jeans and I could see blood. In her right hand, she clutched a pistol. Brandon was on the ground in front of her, slumped on his side, a bullet wound in his abdomen. His face showed signs of a recent fight, and his right hand was bruised and swollen—maybe from a scuffle with Whiplash before shooting him. He didn’t appear to be breathing.
“He was going to kill me,” Amber said, her voice shaking. “I tried to grab the gun and he fired. My leg hurt and then I fell into him and got my hands on it. I…I pulled the trigger and he…”
She started to cry and I slowly approached her.
“You’re okay now,” I said as I gently took the gun out of her hand. I knew it was evidence, but it couldn’t be helped. I wasn’t about to allow someone in a dissociative state to continue holding a loaded weapon.
Ida Belle and Gertie rushed in and I urged Amber away from the wall.
“Come on,” I said. “We’ll get you to the hospital. Ida Belle, can you go get your SUV? You’ll be faster than calling the paramedics.”
Ida Belle hauled it out of the camp as Amber started toward me. She moved quickly, changing her direction to skirt wide around Brandon, glancing down at him as she passed him.
“Is he…?” she asked.
“I’ll check,” I said.
Amber stumbled a bit and Gertie took her arm, then glanced back at me. I nodded and motioned her toward the door.
“Let’s get out of here and get some fresh air,” Gertie said. “You can sit on the porch and I’ll dig some bandages out of my purse to wrap your leg.”