A Marked Man

by Stella Cameron

  “Let’s calm down,” Spike said. He gave Wazoo a hard look. “Might be a good idea if you learned to keep your mouth shut now and then. Think first. There’s nothing’ bein’ said here that isn’t general knowledge—or won’t be shortly.”

  In other words, Max thought, even if he was a serial killer, it didn’t matter what he heard. “What does that mean?” he blurted out to Spike, surprising himself. “You’d just as soon have me where you can see me?”

  “No,” Spike said. “You’re puttin’ words in my mouth. I meant what I said. We’re not discussin’ secrets here.”

  Wazoo gave a bark of laughter. “What he means is we don’t have no secrets here because we can’t keep any.” She winked at Max. “Anyways, we know what you know so it’s all the same. And when we hear all about where Lil’s been, either you’ll be findin’ out news, or listenin’ to old news.”

  He considered that and decided giving her a wink in return was best.

  “Okay, Sheriff,” Wazoo said, looking pleased with herself. “What’s next?”

  “You women stay here and hope Lil shows. The rest of us better get to the command center at the station.”

  “Where you’ll make more plans to make more plans?” Wazoo said. “Tell it like it is. You don’t know where to start lookin’ and neither does anyone else.”

  Madge came back in and got herself some coffee. She didn’t appear any less subdued.

  Max went near the window and stood next to Annie. “How are you doing?” he said.

  “Doesn’t get much worse than this.”

  “Uh-uh. Thanks for sticking up for me. Don’t shut me out again, Annie.”

  She looked around but no one was taking notice of them. “I’m tryin’ to believe in you. I want to.”

  “I’ll take whatever you can give me,” he said.

  Annie turned her scratched and bloodied hands from side to side, checking them out. “I don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said. “All I want is to find Michele and Lil—and poor little Millie.”

  “I want that more than I can say.” He looked at his feet. “That’s an awful small dog.”

  Annie crossed her arms. “That doesn’t mean she can’t survive.”

  “Who’s tellin’ the story?” Spike asked loudly. He stared at his father. “From the top.”

  “As long as you don’t expect Homer to do it, there’s hope,” Charlotte said in very un Charlotte-like tones. “He’s gotta sulk. Hard to talk when you’re sulkin’.”

  “Anybody not know the whole story?” Spike asked, his mouth drawn tight.

  “I don’t,” Wazoo said. She turned to Annie. “You got that bag I told you to keep?”

  Annie had forgotten all about it. “Yes.”

  Wazoo gave a short nod. “Get on with it,” she said to Spike.

  “Correct any mistakes I make, please, Madge,” Spike said. “You probably know the story better than I do.”

  Madge nodded, yes.

  “This afternoon Lil said she wanted to visit her sister in Loreauville and drop off some food,” Spike said. “The sister hasn’t been well.”

  “Excuses,” Wazoo muttered. “Anythin’ to get out of work.”

  Spike pointed a warning finger at her. “Save it. Madge, you were plannin’ to take Millie to the vet in Loreauville, but Lil said she’d take her. Right so far?”

  Madge nodded again.

  “When Lil wasn’t back by eight, you called Ozaire who said she sometimes spends the night with her sister.”

  “And I called the vet,” Madge said, getting paler as she spoke. “Lil had taken Millie in for her shot. I called Lil’s sister and she said Lil left hours ago. She hasn’t been seen since and neither has Millie. Lil doesn’t believe in cell phones. Your people have covered all the roads between here and there, Spike. No accidents. It’s hard to search in the dark but that’s already underway regardless.” She pushed her mug aside. “And that’s where I’m goin’ now.”

  Cyrus held her arm. “I’ll come with you.”

  “No,” Spike said. “I’ve got folks runnin’ in all directions and not a plan between ’em. It’ll be light in a few hours and I want to wait till then.”

  “No,” Madge said. “It’s wet out there. She’s little and she doesn’t have much body fat…and there’s critters…”

  “With any luck Lil lost her way and she’ll show up,” Guy said rapidly. “Going every which way in the dark isn’t likely to help.”

  “It might if we heard something,” Madge said. She didn’t have to add that she was thinking about Millie’s bark.

  Homer still hadn’t acknowledged Charlotte. “I wouldn’t let Vivian come,” she said to Spike. “She wanted to.”

  “She’d have gone right back home,” Spike said at once. “Worry’s the last thing she needs about now.”

  “What’s your problem, Homer Devol,” Charlotte said suddenly. “You look like you swallowed somethin’ nasty. And while we’re at it, where have you been all these days?”

  With interest, Cyrus watched red climb Homer’s thin cheeks.

  “He’s got a bug up his ass,” Wazoo said. She pushed out her lips and shook her head slowly from side to side. “But it’s his bug and I sure wouldn’t want to touch it.”

  “What time is it?” Madge asked, ignoring Wazoo.

  “Almost two in the morning,” Max said.

  “Your brothers left the same time I did,” Charlotte said. “Think they were going to the station.”

  “Which is where I’m headed,’” Spike said. “Any of you who feel like gettin’ organized and ready to go—come on. Rest of you can stick around the rectory, wait to hear somethin’, and talk about how no one does anything right around here.”

  “Watch your mouth,” Homer snapped. “Just because your wife lets you get away with it, doesn’t mean the rest of us are easy to push.”

  “Stop it,” Madge said. She wound her fingers tightly together. “I’m going to the station, too. It’s because she hasn’t been missin’ twenty-four hours, isn’t it?” she said to Spike.

  “What is?” He looked puzzled.

  “That’s why you aren’t out there now. You don’t count someone as missing for twenty-four hours.”

  Spike said, “That’s not it. There’s an alert out. The switch-board’s fully manned at the station. And there’s groups out there. I’m worried some of you will get into more trouble if you start out now, and we’ll be lookin’ for you, too.”

  Spike got a call and looked relieved at the interruption. He spoke low and while he did, Charlotte stood close to Homer and he dropped his head close to hers.

  “This is making me crazy,” Max said. “Everything’s so disorganized.”

  “If something’s happened to Lil, they won’t be able to suggest you did it,” Annie said. She smacked both hands over her face. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

  “Sure you did. Depending on the times involved you could be right. Didn’t anything bad ever happen in this town before I came along?”

  “Of course it did,” she said, moving nearer to him. “What’s goin’ to happen?”

  “Lil will be found. Dead or alive.”

  She drove her fingers into his arm.

  “Well, am I wrong?” He stared into her eyes. “Then they’ll…then Michele. We’ll know what happened to her—more or less.”

  “What do you mean?” she whispered. “More or less.”

  “That’s all they got on Isabel and Carol. More or less. If they’d had anything definite, maybe they could have found the killer.” He had to believe he could convince Annie he wasn’t that killer. The way Spike curled around his phone, his voice inaudible, only increased the tension.

  Another vehicle approached. This time Marc Girard’s wife, Reb O’Brien Girard, let herself in through the kitchen door. She carried a medical bag and put it on the table. “Did Marc leave?” she said.

  “He’s at the station with another group,” Guy said.

 
Spike continued to talk on the phone and Charlotte didn’t even turn around.

  “Hey,” Reb said. “I see my patients.” She went directly to Annie and Max. “Let’s take a look at you two.”

  She looked closely, first at Annie’s face, then at Max’s. She opened the neck of his shirt wider, then checked their hands. Annie expected Max to protest at being ministered to, but he didn’t.

  Minutes later Reb had swabbed scratches, applied a butterfly bandage to the cut on Max’s brow, pronounced the marks on Annie’s face superficial and stood back where she could look at them. “Bruises. Cuts. And you look like hell. I suggest the two of you go to bed and get some rest.”

  Silence followed.

  “Could be if you weren’t so tired, you wouldn’t bang into hard objects, or fall down, or whatever you’ve been doin’ to yourselves.”

  “Thanks,” Annie said, casting Max a warning glance. She could almost see him trying to figure out how to ask the doctor to check her over more thoroughly.

  Max cleared his throat and offered Reb a hand. “Thanks, Doc,” he said.

  “I never thought I’d be the one patchin’ you up,” Reb said, and gave him a quick grin while she tossed stuff back in her bag. “It’s always good to see you, Max. We’ll have to get you and Roche out to the house again. And Kelly, of course.” Long red hair slid from a twist at the back of her head and her green eyes didn’t miss a thing. She glanced quickly from Annie to Max and he could see her making correct assumptions.

  Max smiled at her. “We’ll look forward to it.” He wanted her to give Annie a physical but this wasn’t the time to say anything. And if he did get to it, he couldn’t be sure Annie wouldn’t dig in her heels and refuse. Yes he could—she wouldn’t go for it.

  Madge had taken to pacing. Now and again she opened the back door a few inches and peered outside. Then she’d wander from the kitchen and along to the front door where she repeated the process.

  Annie wanted to hug her and try to make her feel better but she knew how she’d feel if Irene went missing.

  “If that isn’t the dumbest thing I ever did hear, Homer Devol,” Charlotte Patin said, her voice rising. With her hands on her hips, she planted her feet apart. “You have the nerve, at a time like this when people are in real trouble, to complain because I’ve got more money than you?”

  “Oh, my God,” Max said, but not quietly enough. “I don’t believe this.”

  Madge ran out of the kitchen again.

  “Listen up,” Spike said, he gestured with his phone and bounced on the balls of his feet.

  “You listen up,” Charlotte said. “Your father says he’s not having people think he’s a kept man the way you are.” She turned to Guy. “You, too, Guy. Your wife’s got a business and you’re a hanger-on. Did you know that?”

  Guy’s response was a huge smile. “Better talk to Jilly about that. I’m not havin’ any problems.”

  “I told you not to say anything like that to Charlotte,” Spike told Homer. “You old fool. Listenin’ to gossip.”

  Homer stood up real straight. “Old fool, huh? I guess it’s time for me to be movin’ on.”

  He strode toward the door but didn’t make it before Charlotte cut him off and slammed her engagement ring into his hand. She rushed out of the kitchen, probably following Madge.

  Homer stared at the ring, his face set. He put the diamond in his pocket and banged out of the back door.

  “I’ve got news, dammit,” Spike said. Muscles worked in his jaws. “A woman was just taken to the emergency room at the hospital in Breaux Bridge. Sounds like Lil.”

  He had the attention of everyone in the room.

  Cyrus hurried into the passageway and called, “Madge, get in here. Wait please, Spike, I want her to hear this.” Then he went out back and returned with Homer who must have been hanging around.

  Madge and Charlotte came running, Madge with red eyes.

  “We think Lil just arrived at the emergency room in Breaux Bridge,” Spike repeated. “From the description it’s got to be her.”

  Marge shook visibly. “Either it is or it isn’t. Is…did she have…”

  “I don’t know,” Spike said. “I’m sorry. I’m going there now.”

  Guy raised his brows at Max. “It is Lil, or it isn’t,” he said. “Or is this woman too seriously injured for them to be sure.”

  “She’s injured,” Spike said. “I don’t know how badly. But she’s not talking.”

  CHAPTER 21

  “Why did you make sure everyone knew you were driving with me?” Max said, swinging his car out of the upper lot at the rectory.

  “You didn’t want me to?”

  He looked sideways at Annie. She stared out of the window at darkness, unbroken but for the headlights of other cars leaving for Breaux Bridge or the sheriff’s offices. “You know I want you with me. You also know it may not be the best idea.”

  “It’s obvious we’re friends,” she said. “Why pretend anymore? Do you think Spike would have said as much as he did in front of you if he thought you were potential enemy number one. If you were the bad guy you wouldn’t be hanging out the way you are. Why not decide things are coming to a head and they’re goin’ to change? I still think if folks see I trust you it can only help your case.”

  “I want to kiss you,” he said, staring straight ahead.

  Annie chuckled. “That would be nice, but I’d rather you keep this sparkly little car of yours on the road.”

  “Where’s your sense of adventure?” He gripped her above the knee and stroked her thigh.

  She caught his fingers and wound them into hers. “I guess we shouldn’t waste opportunities.”

  In other words, she did think his world would fall down around his ears but she wanted him to know she cared for him anyway. “We won’t do that,” he told her.

  “Your name is goin’ to be cleared.”

  His lungs expanded fully for the first time in ages. “I want to believe that. Annie, I also want you to have a physical.” He knew he might be pushing his luck.

  “Where did that come from?”

  “I’ve been thinking about it for days. If…look, there’s some reason for these episodes you’ve been having. Put it down to professional habit but I’d feel better if I knew you were well and the aberrations will pass.”

  Aberrations wasn’t a word Annie liked much. “A physical won’t—” She frowned at him. “Sometimes people have problems. Who knows why? There isn’t always a way to find out, is there?”

  She had him there. “I guess not. We’re going to Spike’s offices?”

  “Are we? Is that where you want to go?”

  “You know it’s not. I want to find out how Lil’s doing firsthand. And I can’t stand waiting to find out about Madge’s dog.” He might as well be completely honest.

  “The hospital in Breaux Bridge then. Don’t be surprised if we get kicked out.”

  Max smiled at her. “We won’t get kicked out—not unless Spike flips and accuses me of something he has no proof of.”

  “I see.” She slid lower in the seat. “The doors will open wide for Dr. Savage.”

  “Something like that.” He couldn’t get rid of the feeling that Annie had a hidden side, that her reactions weren’t always spontaneous. “The way I figure it, if I’d done something to Lil, I wouldn’t confront her in the hospital in front of the law.”

  “You’re right,” she said and laughed. “I should have thought of that.”

  “When we’re done at the hospital, can we go somewhere together?”

  She turned sideways in her seat and inclined her head, watched him until he had to look at her. “What?” he said.

  “You don’t beat about the bush, do you?”

  He smiled. “You could be jumping to conclusions. Could be I just want to talk.”

  “True. Is that what you want?”

  He kept his eyes on the road but with the backs of his fingers, he rubbed her cheek. “Come back to Rosebank
with me.”

  She put her heels on the seat and wrapped her arms around her legs. “I’d be embarrassed if someone saw me.”

  “They don’t have to.”

  “I don’t like sneakin’ around,” Annie said.

  “Then don’t. We’re grown-ups.”

  She didn’t give him an answer.

  “Have you seen Bobby Colbert lately?” Max said.

  She had done her best to forget about Bobby. “He was at Pappy’s one evening but that was nothing to worry about. I’m goin’ to hope he gives up on me.”

  “But you worry about him? He’s been on my mind ever since he shot his mouth off at Hungry Eyes.” He knew his mistake at once.

  “What did he say?” Annie said.

  He gave himself a few moments to look for an escape route. “He tried to convince me you’d been a wild child.” Better to approximate the truth than outright lie. “The idea makes me laugh. I can’t see you as a drugged-out rebel.”

  “I wasn’t,” she said. “Did Bobby say I used drugs?”

  “No.” Sheeit, he should have said yes, now he’d have to look for a different exit from the conversation.

  “So what did he say?”

  “Nothing sensible. The main thing is that he sounded unhinged and if he does pop up again, I want to know. I’ll get him warned off officially.”

  She thought about that. “I’m glad you’re on my side.”

  “I hope I can always be there for you, Annie.”

  Did he mean what he’d said?

  Did he mean what she thought he did?

  “If I ask you a question,” Max said, “will you try not to get mad?”

  Which meant he was about to ask her something that would make her mad. “I’ll do my best.” She found a comb in her purse and ran it through her tangled hair. “A shower would be nice.”

  “You can do that at my place.”

  He wasn’t the kind to give up. “How close are we to the hospital?”

  “I’m following Spike’s directions. Can’t be that much farther. I’ve wanted to say I’m sorry I went roaring out of your place that night. You didn’t deserve that.”

  “I’m more or less over it now.” She was and she wasn’t. He’d said things that still raised issues for her.