Chaos in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law Mystery/Romance Series)

by Jana DeLeon

Jadyn looked over at Colt, who was studying the back of the boat and frowning. “You thinking what I’m thinking?” she asked.

  Colt nodded, his expression grim. “If someone deliberately tried to sink this boat, it doesn’t look good for our boat captain.”

  “We need to find out who he was. We may never find a body, but until we know who he was, then we have no way of knowing who would have wanted to harm him.”

  She pulled out her cell phone and snapped some pictures of the boat, then sent them to Colt. “If you can give me a list of the villages in the order you think they should be covered, I’ll get started now.”

  “You kicking me off the job?”

  “No! I mean, if you have the time to help, I would definitely appreciate it, but I don’t want to presume anything.”

  “I’ve got some time, and I’d rather get a handle on this before tongues start wagging.”

  Jadyn instantly recalled her conversation with Maryse about the security of Colt’s sheriff position, and she understood exactly why he wanted to get to the bottom of things. If this turned out to be a crime, people wouldn’t be happy waiting for answers, especially if it meant a killer was on the loose.

  “That would be great. Unless you see any advantage to covering them together, we can split them and cover twice as many. If that’s all right with you.”

  “That’s fine. I need to know if this man is sitting at home somewhere, bitching about his boat, or if he’s gator bait. I’ll go get started on that list. Drop by in twenty minutes or so and I’ll have that and a good map for you.”

  He headed across the garage toward the exit. Jadyn stared at the boat a couple seconds more before heading after him. Finding out the identity of the missing boat captain was definitely the priority. But if he was gator bait, the job was just starting.

  Was the wreck a horrible accident or an intentional act?

  That was the one question Jadyn hoped she wouldn’t have to answer.

  ###

  Downtown was so crowded with antiques shoppers that Jadyn had to park a block down from the sheriff’s department. She had barely exited her Jeep when she heard yelling. She looked across the street and saw two women standing outside the beauty salon.

  Uh-oh.

  Jadyn recognized the woman in the doorway as Millicent, the owner of the salon. She was always accosting Jadyn and trying to get her to come in for a haircut. Jadyn wasn’t hung up on her looks, but she’d seen enough people with odd haircuts exiting Millicent’s shop to send her to New Orleans for her hair styling.

  The woman yelling at Millicent cinched Jadyn’s decision to never, ever let the beautician touch her hair. Yelling woman was in her midfifties and had probably gone to get her hair styled and gray covered. It was covered all right, but Jadyn wasn’t about to believe that the bright purple the woman now sported was what she’d asked for.

  “You did this on purpose,” the lady with the purple hair yelled. “You’re a miserable cow, and I swear I’m going to sue if this doesn’t come out.”

  “I put the same color on your hair that I always do. You saw the bottle. The only reason your hair would turn that color is if you put something else on it yourself. And given how cheap you are, I bet that’s exactly what happened.”

  Two insane women arguing on the street wasn’t exactly her job responsibility, but given that Jadyn had sent Helena to the beauty shop, she was afraid she might be ethically responsible for the situation. But as she was about to step off the sidewalk and cross the street, someone jostled her from behind and Helena shoved a bag of popcorn in her hands.

  “Hold this,” Helena said. “It will probably look weird if the bag was floating on Main Street, but a good show always deserves popcorn.” She grabbed a handful and stuffed it in her mouth, her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk. She was still wearing the Hello Kitty pajamas but was now sporting military boots instead of slippers.

  Jadyn narrowed her eyes at Helena. “What role exactly did you play in this show?”

  “Who, me?” Helena did her best to look innocent but she managed to look about as benign as a serial killer.

  “There!” Jadyn heard a woman yell down the sidewalk and turned to see a large middle-aged woman pointing straight at her. The fact that the woman looked completely deranged and was dragging a small boy as she stomped toward Jadyn was more than a little disconcerting.

  “You evil bitch,” the woman said as she stepped in front of Jadyn, wagging her finger in my face. “How can you steal popcorn from a child? What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “Uh-oh,” Helena said and disappeared through the wall of the general store.

  If it were possible, Jadyn would have followed Helena straight through that wall and shoved the entire bag in her mouth until she choked. Instead, she put on her surprised face and tried to come up with a decent cover story.

  “I’m sorry. Some kid ran by—almost knocked me off the sidewalk—and dropped the bag as he went by. I was going to throw it away.”

  The woman narrowed her eyes, trying to determine if Jadyn was lying. Finally she looked down at the boy. “Is this the woman who stole the popcorn from you?”

  He sniffled. “I told you. It was the Invisible Man.”

  She blew out a breath, clearly exasperated. “You and those damn comic books.” She snatched the popcorn out of Jadyn’s hands and went off in the other direction, the boy struggling to keep up with her pace.

  Jadyn shook her head. The poor thing didn’t have a chance with that mother.

  The shouting across the street increased in volume and Jadyn turned just in time to see Purple Hair grab hold of Millicent’s bangs and pull her down to the ground. Millicent was up in a second and launched at Purple Hair like she was playing tackle for the Saints. Jadyn hurried across the street, now certain Helena was at the bottom of the hair fiasco.

  She grabbed Millicent’s arm and yelled at the two women, who were now rolling around in the street, but they were too angry to listen. A crowd had already formed and every second the yelling continued brought more people out of shops to see what was going on. The last thing Colt needed was store owners fighting with customers right in the middle of Main Street. Even though he had absolutely nothing to do with this fray, she knew some people would find a reason to lay the blame on him.

  Desperate for a way to stop the two screaming banshees, she spied a water hose at the edge of the beauty shop. Before she changed her mind, she grabbed the hose and turned it full blast on the two women.

  The shrieks increased a thousand times in volume and pitch when the cold water hit them. Immediately, they released each other and struggled up from the street, their gazes locking in on Jadyn. They were both drenched from the spray and had dirt and tiny flecks of asphalt clinging to every inch of their clothes and skin. But Purple Hair was in even worse shape.

  A mass of the offending dye had run straight off her hair and onto her face, neck and top, leaving her looking like an extra on Barney & Friends. She glanced down at her outfit, then glared at Jadyn.

  “Look what you did!” she yelled. “You ruined my shirt. I’m going to sue.”

  “You’re not going to do anything of the kind.” Colt’s voice sounded across from her, and Jadyn peered around the two women to see him stepping through the crowd. He gave both women the once-over and shook his head. “You two ought to be ashamed of yourselves.”

  “Me?” Purple Hair said, her eyes widening. “She’s the one who did this to my hair.”

  “I did not do that,” Millicent said, clearly digging in her heels. “The chemicals reacted to something different on your hair or in your body.”

  “Regardless,” Colt said, “that doesn’t excuse you fighting like children.”

  Purple Hair threw her hands into the air. “What the hell am I supposed to do? I can’t walk around like this. My hair looks like an eggplant.”

  “I’m sure Millicent will work with you until your hair is back to a normal color.” He looked over at the angry
beautician. “Right?”

  His expression clearly indicated that the only correct answer was “yes.” Millicent gave him a grudging nod, and Jadyn wondered if Purple Hair wouldn’t be better off shampooing her hair nonstop for a couple of days rather than allowing Millicent to put more chemicals on it.

  “Show’s over!” Colt yelled. “Everyone get off the street and back to your own business.”

  The crowd began to disperse, mumbling as they left. Purple Hair and Millicent gave Jadyn one final dirty look, then stalked back into the beauty shop. Colt looked over at Jadyn, his lips quivering, and finally the smile broke through.

  “I can’t believe you hosed them down,” he said.

  “Well, logic and yelling weren’t exactly effective, so…”

  He nodded. “Sometimes, a cooling-down period is the best thing for everyone involved. I was just finishing up that list of villages when the beauty brawl broke out. Do you want to go over it now?”

  Jadyn put the hose back against the beauty shop wall. “It’s probably best if I get out of sight for a bit.”

  Colt grinned as they started down the sidewalk to the sheriff’s department. “I hope you don’t need a haircut anytime soon.”

  “I’d borrow Mildred’s Weed Eater before I set foot in there.”

  He laughed. “A solid plan.”

  Shirley, the day dispatcher, looked up from her desk as they walked inside the sheriff’s department. Jadyn gave her a wave.

  “Who won?” Shirley asked.

  Colt pointed to Jadyn. “She doused them with the water hose.”

  The dispatcher brightened. “I should have gone with you. That would have been worth the walk to see.”

  Colt shook his head. “Remember the pleasure you feel right now before your next hair appointment. You’re always talking about that karma stuff.”

  Shirley put her hands on her hips and frowned at Colt. “Even if I were unemployed and without a car, I swear to God, I’d hitchhike to New Orleans with a busload of devil worshippers and sweep floors for payment before I’d let Millicent touch my hair.”

  Jadyn leaned over and held up her hand for Shirley to give her a high five. The dispatcher slapped her hand and gave her a satisfied nod. “At least someone else in this town has some taste.”

  Colt rolled his eyes. “This is not your cue for another speech about how I need a haircut.” He waved at his office. “Let’s get going.”

  Jadyn grinned at Shirley and followed Colt back to his office. She knew the dispatcher’s constant opinions on his life aggravated him. Likely, it made him feel that he was still the same child that Shirley babysat when he was a little boy. But Jadyn found it kinda sweet, in an annoying mothering sort of way.

  She felt the same about Mildred. She loved that the older woman had taken her in and genuinely cared about her, but it also felt strange and sometimes slightly claustrophobic. In her case, she simply wasn’t used to older adults taking an interest in her life outside of how it affected their own. In Colt’s case, she guessed it was a manly man thing.

  Colt closed the door behind them and she took a seat in front of his desk. He sat next to her and pulled a sheet of paper and a map of the area toward them. She glanced over at him and felt a slight blush run up her chest. In this case, Jadyn completely disagreed with Shirley. Colt’s a-bit-too-long, slightly wavy dark locks were as hot as the two-day stubble on his jaw. The man belonged on a poster for Sexy.

  “Here’s the list of villages,” he said and pointed to the piece of paper. “That isn’t all of them, of course. There’s probably more out there that I haven’t heard of than I have, but those are the ones big enough to support a shrimp house.”

  Jadyn nodded. “So we check with the shrimp houses first and see if anyone recognizes the boat as one of the fishermen they buy from.”

  “Exactly. Pricing varies a bit among the buyers, but not so much to make it worth a trip too far away from where he lives. Otherwise, he’d eat up the profit gain in gas.” He pointed to the map. “Given the path of the storm as it moved inland, I only covered villages to the east of Mudbug. So that leaves us ten shrimp houses to cover.”

  Jadyn studied the map for several seconds, gauging the distance between the villages. “Great,” she said finally. “If we split up, we should able to cover them all today.”

  “I think so. If either of us gets a lead beyond the shrimp house, then we check in and decide whether or not to double-team the lead.”

  “Perfect.”

  “I’ll make a copy of these and we can get going.”

  Jadyn rose from her chair as Colt gathered the map and list. She followed him to the door, where he stopped and turned to look at her. “If you run into problems, even something small, or something doesn’t feel right, I want you to call me. You’ve got good instincts. If you are uncomfortable with someone or something, then there’s probably a reason for it.”

  Jadyn felt a blush creep up her face at his compliment. He stared so intently at her that she completely lost her voice, managing only to nod.

  “When we’re done,” he said, “maybe we can grab a bite to eat and exchange notes.”

  He said it casually, like one law enforcement officer inviting another to beers after work, but Jadyn could hear an edge in his voice that told her the invitation wasn’t nearly as casual as Colt was trying to make it sound. And even if she’d been obtuse and completely missed that sign, the constriction of her chest would have been a dead giveaway.

  “Sure,” she said, hoping she sounded remotely normal. “After a day of talking to fishermen, I’ll probably be dying for food and a beer.”

  He smiled. “Give me a call when you’re on your way back to town. Unless something comes up first, of course.”

  He exited the office, made copies, and filled Shirley in on their plans for the rest of the day.

  “I’ll call if I get a line on a missing persons report,” she said. “You two be careful.”

  “It’s just a wrecked boat,” Colt said.

  The dispatcher raised one eyebrow. “That’s exactly how trouble starts around here.”

  Jadyn followed Colt out of the sheriff’s department, glancing back at Shirley as she closed the door behind her. The dispatcher was staring out the window toward the bayou and frowning. It was an unsettling sort of frown.

  Jadyn didn’t blame her. Nothing about this situation felt right.

  Chapter Four

  Taylor Beaumont looked across her desk at the distraught woman sitting in front of her. One hand held the tissue Taylor had just passed her. The other clutched a Fendi handbag that Taylor knew was part of a recent collection and cost more than she’d made last year with her detective agency. The diamonds on her fingers and around her neck were probably worth more than she’d ever see her entire career.

  “I’m sorry to be such a mess.” The woman, who’d identified herself as Sophia Lambert, patted the corner of her eyes with the tissue, careful not to smear her mascara.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Taylor said. “If people’s lives were perfect, they wouldn’t need me.”

  Sophia sniffed again and nodded. “I suppose that’s true. You’ve probably seen more than your share of weeping women.”

  “I’ve seen a few. Please tell me how I can help you?”

  Taylor had been intrigued by Sophia as soon as she’d walked into the agency. Everything about her screamed old money, and Taylor was rarely wrong when it came to old money. What intrigued Taylor most was why Sophia was here, when she could have easily afforded the poshest private investigators in New Orleans.

  “I want you to find my husband.”

  Taylor’s interest flew a million times higher. A wealthy disappearing husband was the sort of thing movies of the week were made of. Which brought her right back around to why Sophia had chosen Taylor’s single-person, fairly green operation over the big agencies with tons of experience and lots of resources.

  “How long has he been missing?” Taylor asked, figur
ing she’d get the business out of the way first, then get to the bottom of why Sophia had picked her.

  “Well, technically twenty-nine years, but it’s a bit complex.”

  Taylor froze, her pen poised on the tablet. “You might need to start at the beginning.”

  “Of course. I know it sounds strange, and well, it is strange.” She blew out a breath. “I guess I should start with the explosion.”

  “Whatever you think,” Taylor said.

  “Okay. My great-grandfather started the first rubber refinery in the state, and every generation increased business and branched out further with the scope of what we do. One of our manufacturing plants uses highly flammable liquids for production. My husband, Sammy—Samuel Perkins—worked at one of the chemical plants as an operations director.”

  “So you met Samuel through your family’s business?”

  “Actually, we met at a bar in New Orleans, but my family still doesn’t know that. They all think we met at college. The funny thing is Samuel never even went to college. His family was quite poor and he’d been working construction when I met him.” She gave me a mischievous grin. “I might have lied to my family about his credentials to get him a job at the plant, but he was so smart and good at the work that no one ever checked.”

  “No harm, no foul,” Taylor said.

  “That’s exactly what I thought! Anyway, my father was an engineer and far more interested in the inner workings of the machines than running the business, so he was quite happy to leave a lot of those decisions to my Sammy, who single-handedly brought us into the twentieth century by installing computers and automating systems. He was what they call an early adopter.” She frowned.

  “Tell me about the explosion.”

  “No one’s quite sure what happened. Sammy said he needed to talk to my father, and the secretary told him that my father had left for one of the power buildings near the bayou twenty minutes before. Sammy left the office, presumably to talk to my dad. Twenty minutes later, the power building exploded.”

  “Your father and Sammy were inside?”

  She nodded. “The security cameras didn’t capture the area in front of the building, but they showed both of them entering the security gate that led to the dock and the power area. The explosion was so strong they never found any…they couldn’t…”