The two guys read De Lyon’s version of the Greensheet, occasionally commenting on the price of a good coon dog, or the availability of an acre of land with a house on it.
While they talked about mundane items, she filed her nails and went through the photos on her cell phone. When they started talking about football, she’d had enough.
“Should we go look for Ruben? He might be in trouble,” she finally asked.
Adam chuckled behind his paper. “He’s not in trouble. Whoever he’s talking to might be though.”
Remy folded his paper and gestured toward the door. “Let’s take a walk. There’s a park out back. I think I saw a trail down to the bayou. I wouldn’t mind getting a feel for the land around here.”
Gabby’s heart froze. Why did he want to get a feel for land? Unless. She swallowed. Unless he thought Adrienne was being held near the bayou.
And Remy must be more worried about Adrienne than he let on if he was voluntarily going anywhere near there.
Remy held Gabby’s hand as they trudged down the narrow path. He told himself it was because the trail was uneven and he didn’t want her to fall, but he knew that was a lie.
Her hand felt good in his, natural. She didn’t complain. If anything, she held on tighter. But then maybe she was worried about losing her footing. She was wearing some kind of sandally thing that showed off pink toenails. Not the best shoes for walking on a dirt path.
With each step closer to the bayou, the air grew heavier. The trail made a big U and curved back toward the park. He pushed forward, through the palmettos and sycamores. He couldn’t see the water, but he could smell the peaty, moldy, offensive stench.
A spiderweb caught in his hair and he brushed the sticky strands away. They walked for several minutes, the trees and brush growing thicker. Spanish moss obscured any view he might have had.
Shadows covered the ground and he glanced up. His heart raced when he realized he couldn’t see the sky. We’re not half a block from the park. I can do this.
He forced himself to take another step, then another. Each breath hung in his throat. Vines tangled around his feet, and something unknown brushed against his face.
“Watch out for the Poison Oak,” Gabby said, pointing to his left.
He should never have brought her here. She wasn’t dressed to go tromping through the woods. He was being selfish, looking for an excuse to be alone with her. The trip to the funeral home had shaken him more than he wanted to admit.
Two more steps and they broke through the thickest part of the woods. The bayou ran in a greenish brown stream in front of them. Even the marsh air seemed sweet after being locked in the dense growth.
“Do you hear anything?” he asked.
“Only mosquitoes.” She slapped at her face.
“I noticed some heavy trucks on the road before we started. Can you still hear them?”
She stood unmoving for a couple of seconds before shaking her head.
“What about those kids playing Frisbee in the park?”
“Nope,” she said. “Not a sound except bugs and birds.”
“If you were in the park, or back at the Dairy Queen, could you hear a boat or see a light?”
“I don’t think so. Might as well be ten miles away.”
He moved closer to the water and his feet sank into the spongy mud. He startled a Blue Heron and the majestic creature sailed down the bayou before lifting above the tree line and disappearing.
Gabby tugged at the back of his shirt. “Don’t go any closer. I know we’re not far from town and everything, but gators still live in this area and they love herons that swoop too close to the water or fall out of trees. I wouldn’t want one to mistake you for dinner.”
He took a last look up and down the bayou. Nothing. No buildings, no docks, no sign of humans. He stepped away from the edge and swung around to face the woods.
A slight stab of fear shot down his spine. Now all he had to do was find his way back.
Remy eyed the assortment of food on Ruben’s tray—two Hunger Busters, a milkshake, large fries, and a Dilly Bar—and shook his head. Good thing the three of them had eaten earlier or there might not have been any food left.
The booth shuddered as Ruben plopped down. No one spoke as he started on his first hamburger, but Remy scooted closer to Gabby so the big man could stretch his legs out under the table.
“Fucking assholes,” Ruben mumbled around a mouthful of food.
“That bad, huh?” If the De Lyon police were anything like his experience with the Comeaux sheriff, Remy wasn’t surprised Ruben had trouble with them.
Ruben rolled his eyes and took another bite. He chewed thoroughly, swallowed, then sucked down some of his milkshake. “They seemed to think because I wasn’t”─ he made quotation marks with his fingers─“‘on official business’ they didn’t have to give me any information.”
Remy smiled. He’d have liked to see the guy who had enough balls to blow Ruben off like that. “And that took over two hours?”
“Hell, no. I waited for lunch and took a couple of patrolmen to the bar next to the motel we’re about to go visit.”
“You took on-duty police officers to a bar?” Why was he surprised? Ruben seemed to get by with things that would get any other officer kicked off the force. Yet he always knew where to draw the line.
Ruben finished off his first hamburger. “I couldn’t bring them here, could I? They didn’t start talking till after the second beer. Then I could hardly shut them up. Seems they don’t think too highly of their chief, or his assistant, a guy named Guidry. Isn’t that the name of the Comeaux sheriff and his deputy?”
Ice formed in Remy’s veins. “It’s a common name in Louisiana, but to have three of them involved in the same case is a mighty big coincidence. What else did you find out?”
“The Hideaway Motel and the bar next to it are the armpits of the county.”
“Parish,” Gabby corrected.
Ruben nodded and picked up his second burger. “They’re called out to settle a fight or scoop up a drunk several times a weekend and most weeknights. They’ve had a lot of trouble lately with drugs, not only crystal meth, but GHB and Roofies.”
Remy turned to Gabby. “Date rape drugs.”
“I watch the evening news. I’ve heard of them,” she said. “Are they hard to get?”
Adam leaned forward and let Ruben finish his burger. “No harder to get than any other drug, but you have to have a source. And if they weren’t here before, and now they are, a source has turned up.”
Ruben finished off his Dilly Bar in two bites and picked up his milkshake. “The thing is, my two new best friends seem to think the chief isn’t concerned enough about it. He goes through the motions, but barely. He keeps pulling officers off the trail to work traffic. Now a lot of people, Texans, come through here on the way to the casinos, and traffic fines are a big part of their income. But the rank and file don’t like it much.”
“I don’t blame them.” Remy had been taken off cases to work a newer case. He’d fought it every time, but he understood. Writing traffic tickets was something else entirely.
Ruben gave a loud slurp and slammed his empty milkshake cup on the table. “Let’s get out of here. We’ve got company.”
Two uniformed officers entered the DQ and tried to stare them down. Did attempting to intimidate strangers in town count as standard operating procedure for the De Lyon Police Department?
Remy ignored the two men as he started for the door, no point in calling attention to themselves, but Ruben glared at them, setting his tray down harder than necessary.
“Good afternoon, Officers.” Gabby gave them a smile dripping with innocence as she dropped her soda cup in the trash.
Remy felt a laugh bubbling up, and bit
his lip to keep it inside. He pushed through the door, followed by Adam and Ruben. Gabby hung back. He knew exactly what she was doing. She was watching the height measure taped to the side of the door, trying to figure out just how tall Ruben was. He’d seen it happen dozens of times before.
Adam stood beside the open door of his car. “Follow me. I’m going to take a back way. I’d just as soon these pinheads believed we were leaving town. And don’t open your trunk. I put something in there you might need, but isn’t entirely legal.”
Crap. He might have expected something like that from Ruben, but Adam? These guys must be taking Adrienne’s disappearance seriously.
How was he ever going to pay them back?
Chapter 13
The Hideaway Motel wasn’t exactly what Gabby had expected. And she hadn’t expected much.
The rough wood exterior almost disappeared behind curtains of Spanish moss. Even the entry sign sat discretely off the highway. If Adam hadn’t had directions, she wasn’t sure they could have found it.
The surprises didn’t stop there. The building, a seedy, rundown one-story, had an office in the middle and a line of rooms stretching out on each side. Each room appeared to have a front and back door, so that the occupants could park in the rear and keep their cars hidden.
What she hadn’t expected were the cabins scattered behind the main building. Completely invisible from the road and each other, they nestled among oaks and sycamore and cypress. Bugle vines wound their way up tree trunks then hung down like streamers at a birthday party.
Ruben had dealt with the owner over the phone, so he started the questioning.
The manager, an aging biker type with the last of his remaining hair in a ponytail and a space between his teeth that Gabby pictured collecting bugs, leaned back in his chair, a sneer of contempt twisting his features.
“Fuck off, man. You don’t have any authority here. I told you over the phone, Danny Cryer was here that night. Now, get out before you scare away my customers.”
The man’s feet had been resting on his desk and he’d been watching a rerun of Law and Order when they walked in.
There wasn’t a customer in sight.
Ruben hooked his jacket behind his gun and badge. “Then we’ll just have to make ourselves comfortable until you decide to cooperate.”
The man sneaked a quick glance at the TV. “Ah, man. He was here, I swear, Wednesday night, Thursday night, and Friday night. What more do you want?”
Ruben’s hands rested on the man’s desk and he leaned in, his face only inches from the manager’s. “Proof. Pardon me if I don’t take your word on this.”
Ruben didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to. His tone cut through the air like broken glass, and the manager tried to scoot farther back in his chair.
Gabby’s jaw slackened as she watched Ruben in action. Was this the same man she’d sat across from an hour ago? His whole demeanor had changed. His face took on a hard edge and the warmth in his eyes had been replaced by ice. He even seemed larger, if that was possible.
Remy had warned her that when Ruben got in someone’s face, he was like a grizzly attacking. Now she believed him. The poor manager seemed likely to wet his pants at any moment.
Was this what happened when Remy interrogated someone? Did he change so completely? He certainly had when he took down Dan Cryer. He told her he could play a badass cop when he wanted, but she hadn’t completely believed him.
A week ago she would have been horrified, but that was before Adrienne disappeared.
“Look, look.” The manager scrolled to a different screen on his computer and pointed at a series of numbers. “He paid with a credit card. I was here when he checked in and when he checked out. See, that’s my code number.”
The manager shot Ruben a dirty look, but backed down just as fast, his words spilling over each other.
“Did you see him during this time?” Ruben lifted the remote and muted the TV.
“Nah, he uses one of the cabins in the back, but the night man talked to him. He couldn’t get Pay-Per-View porn on Wednesday night, or maybe it was early Thursday morning. We had blocked his account over a discrepancy on his last visit. They settled the bill and everybody was happy.”
“Last time he was here? Does he come often?”
“Once or twice a month. Stays anywhere from one to three nights.”
Hands shaking, Gabby held out her phone with a picture of Adrienne. “Did you ever see him with this girl?” If no one else wanted to ask, she would.
He didn’t even bother to glance at the photo. He kept his eyes on the TV. “He never came with nobody. He was always alone.”
Ruben took hold of the guy’s chin and turned his face away from the TV. “What kind of car does he drive?”
The manager’s voice trembled. “He doesn’t. He parks at the boat dock in back.”
Gabby felt Remy catch his breath. “He drives a boat from Comeaux to here?”
The man shrugged. “I guess so. I’ve never seen him in a car.”
Adam pushed his glasses up on his nose. “What does he do for food if he’s stuck here three days without a car?”
“How the hell do I know? The cabin has a coffeepot and a mini-fridge. The bar next door serves food. They make a damn good hamburger.” He glanced back at the TV. A commercial was playing and he sighed.
Ruben held out his hand. “Gimme the key. I want to check out this cabin.”
“It’s been cleaned. You can’t go in there and mess it up.”
Ruben drummed his fingers on the desk. “Wanna bet?”
The guy glanced at the TV again and reached for a key. “Don’t touch anything.”
Gabby hung back as the three men started out the door and called over her shoulder, “I’ve seen that episode. It’s a good one. The guy’s boss killed him when he discovered that he’d faked his diploma.”
“Well, shiiittt.”
Remy spent fifteen minutes searching the cabin Danny Cryer had used the night Adrienne went missing. If Danny Boy had left anything incriminating, he certainly couldn’t find it.
The manager said the cabin had been cleaned, but he didn’t expect the place to actually be clean. The air even smelled like ammonia and bleach. If he had hoped to find any trace of Adrienne, the evidence was long gone.
Gabby’s shoulders slumped. Had he dragged her halfway across the state on a wild goose chase?
Remy swung around to face Ruben and Adam. “Let’s check that dock where Cryer’s supposed to tie up his boat.”
They stepped outside, and Adam nodded toward the cabin next door. “That’s what I’d like to check out.” Remnants of yellow and black crime-scene tape hung on a tree and flapped vigorously in the breeze.
“What’s stopping you?” Ruben tromped down the steps and weaved his way through palmettos and marsh grass.
He still had the key in his hand, and with a little jiggling he managed to open that cabin’s door.
Remy watched the two partners disappear inside. Should he join them? He didn’t want Gabby going in there. She might insist she wanted to be in on the investigation, but he’d learned the hard way that once something is seen, it can’t be un-seen. He hadn’t protected her from much in the past, but he could start now. “Let’s sit on this bench for a minute. They’ll let us know if there’s anything to see.”
Relief flooded her eyes. He’d made the right decision.
The men hadn’t been inside two minutes when a middle-aged woman came out of the farthest cabin. A cart of cleaning supplies bumped along the path behind her.
Remy held his breath and watched her. Damn. She was headed straight toward Ruben and Adam. He wet his lips and shrieked out a warning whistle.
Before she reached the steps, the two men darted out the back door
and around the side of the cabin.
Adam swerved toward him and Gabby, but Ruben continued to the front of the cabin. He nodded at the woman. “Hola. Como esta?”
“Bien, gracias,” she mumbled back.
“Dejame ayudarte.” Ruben grabbed her cart and hefted it onto the porch.
Adam tilted his head toward the back and the three of them scooted out of sight. “Let the Latin Lothario work his magic. He’ll find us when he’s through.”
The dock proved less than a two-minute walk down a narrow path that curved behind a stand of Cypress trees, leaving it completely hidden from view. The walk seemed to invigorate Gabby, or maybe it was the sense of purpose. Either way, a twenty-pound weight lifted from Remy’s shoulders.
He shook his head. “Man, if that idiot hadn’t slipped up and mentioned the dock, we’d never have known. I guess you can’t learn everything from Law and Order.”
Adam peered up and down the bayou. “Nothing moving around here. And on a Sunday. Wouldn’t you expect to see fishermen, or families out for a boat ride?”
“It was the same down by the Dairy Queen. In Comeaux, stories of swamp ghosts and evil spirits have kept everyone out of the bayou. I guess rumors travel fast.” Remy glanced at Gabby, and she nodded in agreement.
Remy watched as Adam stood at the end of the dock, hooked his thumbs in his belt, leaned his head back, and closed his eyes. The sun glinted off the silver rims of his glasses. Gnats buzzed around and a marsh hawk screeched, but no other sound reached them.
After a minute, Adam twisted back toward the shore. “There might be evil people on the bayou, but no evil spirits, and certainly no ghosts. At least, no malevolent ones.”
Gabby nudged Remy with her elbow and raised one eyebrow. He gave a small shake of his head. He’d explain when they were alone. Maybe.
Remy studied the bank as it sloped into the water. Was Gabby right? Did alligators lurk just out of sight? His gut clinched at the thought.
Voodoo on Bayou Lafonte Page 10