Bayou Heat (12 page)

Eris gave Nate a look of honest concern that made Rob grind
his teeth. “Eris, we need you to take a look at this truck and see if you can
identify it from last night.”

Eris turned toward the vehicle and moved to stand beside
him. She put her hand on the truck and closed her eyes. After a few seconds,
she opened them and looked at him. “The killer…she was here.”

“That’s good to know, but the cops are going to need more to
go on than that.”

She stepped away from the truck. “I didn’t get a good look
at the vehicle. This one could be it, but I thought the truck last night was
black. This one is dark blue.”

“True, I thought it was black also. But between the rain and
the poor lighting, we could both be wrong about the color. Is there anything
else you can remember?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?” Nate asked as he stepped forward and stood
on the other side of Eris, his shoulder brushing hers. “If you talk your way
through the event, you might remember something.”

Eris visibly stiffened but didn’t move. “Once I started
running it was all a blur. There wasn’t anyplace to hide and I knew I couldn’t
make it to the end of the alley before the truck reached me. I remember hearing
the sound of metal against brick then feeling debris hitting me.”

“Can you remember which side would have come in contact with
the wall?” Rob prodded, hoping to jog her memory without influencing her
response.

Eris closed her eyes and he knew she was reliving last
night’s events. It impressed the hell out of him how she could do it with so
much composure because thinking about it still unnerved him.

“The passenger side. I’m sure of it.”

“There’s some damage to the passenger side.” He turned to
Nate. “I’m going to let Olson know he needs to send a team to the alley. I want
you to get in touch with LD and have him send our guys to the alley after the
police are finished. Go over the place from one end to the other.”

“No problem, I’ll call as soon as it’s done.”

Rob’s cell phone rang, distracting him from the
conversation. He glanced at the caller ID before walking away from the group as
he flipped the phone open. “I’m busy at the moment.”

“I don’t give a damn how busy you are. I want to know why my
granddaughter was almost killed last night. Your company is supposed to be the
best, so tell me how the hell this happened!” the old man’s voice boomed.

Turning to ensure he wouldn’t be overheard, he caught sight
of Eris and Nate standing extremely close, carrying on what appeared to be an
intimate conversation. It gnawed at his gut seeing her so chummy with another
man, so he averted his eyes. “I’m trying to keep your granddaughter safe, but
it isn’t easy to do when she sneaks out of the house and goes wandering off
alone.”

There was a sizeable stretch of silence followed by an
audible sigh. “The girl’s going to be the death of this old man.”

That makes two of us, Rob thought and almost felt sorry for
Criswell. “This is a two-way street and I need her cooperation to make it
work.”

“Cooperation. Not a word that’s a part of her vocabulary.”

“I’ve noticed, but after last night, I’m thinking she’ll be
a little more agreeable.”

“Let’s hope so.” Rob heard a note of wariness in the man’s
voice that betrayed his age.

Rob turned back to the woman in question as Nate brushed a
kiss across her lips and walked away. She was the perfect woman for a
family-minded man, he reminded himself. His job was to keep her alive so she
could have the opportunity to find the man who would make that dream a reality.
“I need to be getting back to the case. Do you have any other questions?”

“No. I need you to keep her safe, Jackson.”

“Then let me get back to work.”

“Be sure to call me with a status report.”

“Will do.” Rob closed his phone and made a mental note to
call the man back when he had a moment to spare.

He moved back to where Eris stood and made a promise to
himself to help resolve this case as quickly as possible so they could each get
on with their lives. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. One of the officers found something over
there by the side of the road. Olson and his groupies scurried over like a
heard of roaches,” Eris answered as she shifted her weight, and he wondered how
uncomfortable she was in those ridiculous shoes. They made her legs look as if
they went on forever, but her ankle had to be killing her.

“You wait here. I’ll go see what’s happening.” Rob took a
couple of steps then stopped when he heard the sound of an approaching vehicle.
The side of the van was painted with the logo from one of the local newspapers.

Backtracking, he took Eris by the elbow and propelled her
toward the passenger door of his car. “I want you to wait in here. The last
thing we need is your picture splashed across the front page of the local
papers.”

“What difference would it make?” Eris questioned as she
attempted to keep pace with him. “The killer already knows I’m on the case.”

“True.” Rob reached for the door handle and heard the
unmistakable sound of a camera snapping pictures. He muttered a few choice
words as he jerked open the door and shoved Eris into the car. She landed in an
unladylike heap and glared up at him.

“That was uncalled for.” She straightened her legs in front
of her and adjusted the hem of her skirt.

“I disagree. I’m trying my hardest to keep you safe and the last
thing we need is for the stargazing loonies to get a whiff of this story, come
out of the woodwork and start following you around.”

“No need to worry about that, it was Orbit they followed,
not me.”

“Good, and I plan on keeping it that way. Now stay put while
I go talk to Olson and Tarrington.”

“Wait, you don’t plan on leaving me here very long, do you?
It’s like an oven in here already.”

Rob pulled his keys from his pocket and tossed them into her
lap. “Crank it up, lock the doors and turn on the AC, but do not roll down the
windows.”

He slammed the door so hard the car rocked. The woman only
needed to look at him for his world to tilt off center. Thankfully this
wouldn’t be a problem much longer now that Nate was back in town and helping
out. Matt was out of the hospital and even though it would be a while before he
was back on his feet, he was performing needed research from the comfort of his
bed.

Rob forced his mind away from Eris and back to the
assignment that suddenly meant everything to him. As he walked, he mentally put
together a task list for each man and prioritized the items. He was totally
focused on the task at hand by the time he reached the detectives and was
certain nothing could or would distract him again.

Eris opened her eyes as the driver’s side door opened and
watched as Rob folded himself into the car. He didn’t say a word to her as he
put the car in drive and started the slow trek down the rutted dirt road. She
absolutely hated this side of him.

It didn’t take Einstein to figure out that drawing inward
was how he often survived his turbulent childhood. When things got too bad, he
would simply shut it all out. What she couldn’t figure out was why now? She had
absolutely no clue and knew it would be futile to ask him, so she’d talk about
something that would obtain a response. “What did Olson and his minions find?”

“You really don’t like the man, do you?”

“No, I don’t.”

“He’s a good cop, Eris.”

“Right.” She couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of her voice. “So
good he couldn’t keep Orbit alive.”

“That’s not fair. He didn’t know Orbit was a target. If he
had, he would have gotten her protection.”

“That’s your opinion.” Eris stared out the front window and
couldn’t believe they were having a fight over a detective she despised and, at
best, he tolerated. For once, she should keep her mouth closed and do the smart
thing.

“At least Tarrington is compassionate.” Okay, so doing the
right thing wasn’t one of her strong points.

Rob gave a quick sidewise glance in her direction and then
just as quickly looked back out the front window. “You hit the nail on the head
with that one. Tarrington is compassionate but he’s not a cop. The more I see
him, the more I wonder how the hell he got where he is.”

“That’s not very nice to say.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t see him a few minutes ago. His clothes
were so wrinkled he looked as if he’d slept in them.”

“Maybe he did.”

“His eyes wouldn’t have been so bloodshot if he’d gotten
some sleep.”

Eris mulled the information over for a few minutes and then
as the car rolled onto an actual blacktopped road, she sighed. The low-slung
sports car was not made for off-road driving. “Guess we’ll never agree.”

“No.”

She ground her teeth at the one-word response. “You never
did answer my original question.”

“They found some hairs, along with lots of fingerprints, and
a receipt for a recent oil change at Mannies Truck and Tow Center inside the
truck.”

“Mannies, that sounds familiar.” Eris nibbled on her bottom
lip as she rolled the name around in her head.

“It’s been around for years. You’ve either seen their
commercial on late-night TV, driven by it or been to it.”

“No, that’s not it.” Eris strummed her fingers on her thigh.
“Jeez, I hate it when the information is right there on the edge of your memory
but you can’t quite grab hold of it.”

“Relax and the information will come to you. Stay stressed
like you are and you’ll never catch it.”

“You’re right.”

Eris thought as she leaned her head back against the seat.
She wouldn’t get any rest until she remembered what was bothering her. “Did you
find out who the truck owner is?”

“It’s registered to a freshman at Tulane.”

Eris closed her eyes. “Great. A vehicle that most of the
freshman class at the university has used at one time or another. So much for
useful information.”

“I’m not holding out much hope on the truck, but they did
find something very interesting.”

“Really?” Optimism sprang forth as Eris turned to look at
Rob’s profile. “Tell me.”

“They found a footprint in the mud next to the road.”

“That’s wonderful. Now they can take pictures, track down
the manufacturer, trace that to a distributor then to a local department store
and then straight to the killer.”

“You’ve watched one too many episodes of
CSI
haven’t
you? It’s not that easy.”

Eris refused to let his pessimism dampen her spirits. “Well,
I’m hopeful they’ll find something useful.”

Rob snorted. “Why the hell doesn’t that surprise me? Just
don’t get your hopes up too high; the odds are against them getting any useful
info from that print.”

“Well, if it’s so bad, why don’t you tell me why it won’t be
easy to identify the shoe and who bought it.”

“Okay. For starters, unless the shoe print shows a brand
name, logo or distinctive tread, you’ll have to try to match it to all
manufactures. If a match is made by some miracle, then you have to track it to
a local supplier. Then you have to search the store records and hope the
purchase was charged and not paid for in cash. If all of that goes right you
might have a lead or a few hundred thousand.

“There’s always the possibility the shoe was purchased in
another city, state or maybe even country or via the internet. Let’s not forget
it could be a shoe sold at a large, nationwide chain. Which means it could have
been bought almost anywhere. Last but not least, there is the fact the shoe
could be from a couple years ago. If it’s a past season and not currently on
the shelf, it will make all of this even harder.”

Eris felt her optimism leave her like the air from a
punctured tire. “You sure know how to suck the life right out of the party.”

* * * * *

Laughter drifted from inside the house along with the aroma
of a home-cooked meal, leaving Rob frozen in place on the DuBoses’ large
wraparound porch holding a birthday present. Through the open blinds, beside
the front door, he watched the family interact in a way that was foreign to
him. Hours ago he’d turned Eris’ protection over to Nate for the evening,
needing some space. So why he’d agreed to deliver the present was beyond him
when he could have simply let the store deliver it. He reached out to ring the
doorbell, aggravated with his indecisiveness.

He pulled back his hand. God, he didn’t belong here. His
home life had been dysfunctional at the best of times and unmentionable most of
the time. Right now he sure as hell didn’t need to hang around here feeling
like a fifth wheel. He’d leave the box on the doorstep and call Eris once he
was back in his vehicle and on his way. After all, Nate was watching her until
morning and there was a ton of work he needed to do. There was no reason for
him to worry about Eris.

Feeling slightly better about his decision, Rob placed the
box beside the door. The floorboards squeaked ever so slightly to his left as
he straightened.

“Aren’t you going to join us, Mr. Jackson?”

Rob turned toward the soft female voice. The woman stood at
the corner of the porch with the evening sun casting a warm glow of light
across her. She was a couple of inches taller than Eris and had dark blonde
shoulder-length hair. The resemblance between mother and daughter still caught
him off guard. “I didn’t want to disturb the family celebration, Mrs. DuBose.”

She closed the distance between them and he knew in that
instant what Eris would look like in twenty years. “You won’t be intruding, Mr.
Jackson, I can promise you that.”

Rob took a step away from the door and the woman. “I have
hours worth of research waiting for me. Thank you for the invitation and please
see that Trever receives his present.”

“Is this research more important than my daughter?”