Big Easy Escapade (23 page)

“Have the police shared any new details with
you regarding who could have done this?”

“I think you know what we do. They’re
tight-lipped about the investigation, but I’ve been told they’re
following up on all leads.”

The shot changed to just Lauer. “Sources tell
us the investigation continues into the disappearance of the second
dancer, Simone Hitchens, missing for almost two weeks. We requested
an interview with her family, but they declined. Sources tell us,
however, that video footage shows her willingly getting into a gray
Mustang, so authorities have been hesitant to call it a
kidnapping.”

Lucy muted the TV and looked at Kate. “So it
was the first dancer you discovered in the tomb yesterday.”

Kate dabbed at her eyes with her pajamas.
“Poor Lisa. I hate to think of what she must have gone
through.”

Vivian groaned. “I can’t imagine, but the
interview and story were good. Drawing attention to the cases will
help.”

Wendy stood up and stretched. “Antonio’s got
to be feeling pressure to find Daisy and Simone, and it doesn’t get
much bigger than the ‘Today Show’.”

Vivian smacked Lucy on the butt. “Speaking of
big, how was Jonathon last night? Did he meet your
expectations?”

Lucy tossed the remote onto the bed. “We had
a really nice time. That boy can kiss!”

“
And you
really mean
boy
,
don’t you?” Wendy teased.

“What else can that boy do?” Kate asked.

Lucy
shook her head. “I couldn’t do it.
Dammit!
I wanted to, but it just didn’t
feel right. I couldn’t do that to Steve.”

Vivian kicked off her covers. “I commend you
for having the willpower, but hell, Steve has put you in sexile.
I’d be dying a slow, sexaperating death. Damn, I was expecting the
ol’ towel on the doorknob when we got back. Not that it would have
stopped us.”

“Yeah, no. He left about 45 minutes after
y’all did.”

“Ya big loser.” Vivian hip-bumped Lucy on her
way to the bathroom. “I, on the other hand, was a big winner!”

“You were?”

“Yep, won over $1,000!”

“Damn, you’re lucky! Lunch is on you!”

Vivian’s phone buzzed on the nightstand. Kate
picked it up and tossed it to her.

“Hello.”

“Hey! It’s Adrienne. Did y’all see Jason on
TV?”

“Yes. He did a great job.”

“He sure did. That’ll help move things along,
I’m sure of it. Y’all need a break from what’s going on here. I
want y’all to come to my family’s place outside the city. We can
eat some home-cookin’, take a spin in the airboat, just get away
for a while. Al’s busy, he doesn’t want to go. What do ya
think?”

“Hold on, let me ask.” Kate, Wendy and Lucy
agreed.

“We’re in. When?”

“I’ll give ya an hour. I’ll text you when I’m
close.”

“Okay. Bye.” Vivian put the phone on the
dresser. “Let’s move, ladies.”

***

Daisy showered and inspected her clothes.
There was no wearing the ripped blouse, and her white miniskirt was
so filthy it could probably stand up on its own. It hurt worse than
his slap, but she put on the least ugly Middle Eastern dress. It
had purple and red swirls against tan fabric; the others were a
solid burgundy, navy and brown.

A guy she
hadn’t seen before brought her breakfast. His gaze held a little
more leer than Sonu’s other two guys, and it made her
uncomfortable. She was almost glad she was covered head to toe in
the ugly dress.
Or is that what he likes?

She flipped on the “Today Show” and caught
Matt Lauer’s interview with Lisa Miller’s family, Jason, his
parents and hers. As the camera zoomed in on Jason, she ran to the
screen and kissed his face. The camera panned to her parents and
she kissed them, too. “I’m here! I’m here!”

The interview over, Daisy pounded on the
bedroom door. “Let me out of here! You motherfuckers! I’m going to
kill you all when I get out of here!” She screamed, cried and threw
the breakfast dishes across the room, splattering eggs, grits,
fruit and cottage cheese all over the walls.

***

One by
one, the girls took turns getting ready. Vivian waited to the last
minute, threw herself into a quick shower and got dressed in her
much-loved denim skirt and a chiffon, one-shouldered emerald green
blouse. Since she was going to be with Adrienne, she decided some
bling was needed. She raided her accessory bag for her crystal
chandelier earrings and looked in the mirror.
Need a
little more.
Several silver
Bengal bracelets and a matching necklace later, and she was ready
to go.

Lucy,
wearing dark brown shorts, a pale pink top and Cole-Haan sandals,
looked at her.
“You're aware we're going to the swamp,
right?”

Vivian
shrugged and smiled, bracelets jangling.
They finished up and headed out. Her phone chimed
with a message as they made their way downstairs.

Adrienne waited for them at the valet stand
in a black SUV.

Wendy adjusted the hem of her black shorts as
she reached for the door handle. “I haven’t been out to the bayou
before. Will my red shirt set off alligators like it does
bulls?”

Adrienne laughed. “They’ll think you’re
pretty and want to give ya a kiss.”

Wendy pursed her lips and blew a kiss into
the air. “Mmmmmmwah!”

“You’re gator bait and I’m starving,” Kate
said as they got in. She wore a much more conservative, and swamp
appropriate, ensemble of jeans and sleeveless blue blouse with
satin trim. A silver disk inlaid with a gold fleur-de-lis dangled
from a thin silver necklace, and a pair of strappy pewter sandals
completed her look.

“If you can hold out 30 minutes, my momma
will have plenty to eat. She’s the best on the bayou.”

They rode for a while, talking about Daisy
and the case.

Adrienne slowed and made a sharp turn. “I
can’t believe the first dancer is dead.”

“Yeah, and that we found her.” Kate stared
out the window.

“Terrible,” Wendy said.

“It is,” Adrienne said. “Antonio questioned
the two kids last night, the ones who tried to break in. They
didn’t have much to say, but one of them mentioned seeing a large,
black SUV.”

“That doesn’t match with the gray Mustang
from the second girl,” Vivian said.

Adrienne shook her head. “Nope, and they’ve
had no other developments in that kidnapping, if it was a
kidnapping.”

“We’re in a large black SUV,” Kate pointed
out.

Adrienne laughed. “Yep, I’m gonna feed ya to
the gators.”

“
So it
was
you
then,”
Kate said.

“Ya got me.”

Vivian adjusted the air vent. “Surely, after
all this, the cops have to know the girl has been kidnapped. Yes,
she may have gotten into the car voluntarily, but for her to just
disappear. No way.”

“I know,” Adrienne said, speeding over a
short bridge that spanned a waterway. “Too coincidental.”

Vivian turned to Adrienne. “Don’t know what
this means, if anything, but we saw that undercover cop while we
were out last night. I texted Antonio and he said he didn’t trust
him.”

“He’s usually good at reading people. I’d
heed his advice.” Everyone was quiet for a bit. They passed over
another bridge and Adrienne asked, “Y’all ever been on an
airboat?”

“Nope, but I’ve seen ’em on ‘Swamp People,’ ”
Kate said.

“Well honey, you’re about to live like a
Cajun for a day in the confines of a swamp.”

“Are we gonna catch a gator?” Kate asked.

“Nah, it’s not gator huntin’ season. We’ll
catch somethin’, though. That I guarantee.”

W
here are
we?” Wendy asked Adrienne as they drove down the two-lane
road.

“Right now we’re on the Delacroix Highway,
but we’re almost to my parents’ camp.”

“What do you mean by camp, exactly?” Vivian
asked. “As in your mom is making us lunch on an open fire? Are
there gonna be s’mores?”

Adrienne laughed. “No. The houses on the
bayou are called camps. Just one of those regional things.” She
turned onto a dirt road and went two miles or so, where the road
ended in front of a small, wooden cabin on stilts, set back from
the bayou. A weathered deck led from the yard out to the water,
where an airboat was tied to the pier.

Vivian stepped out and expected it to be
quiet, but the wind rustled the trees and birds sang. Two brown
Labradors bounded up to the car, barking.

“Here’s Rex and Roux, our friendly, drooling
welcoming committee.” Adrienne scratched their ears. “Say hey to
the girls.” She stood up straight and took a deep breath. “I’ve
missed the smell of the cypress. I spent many a day lying on that
pier, working on my tan and watching the boys go by.”

“Hey, cher,” an older version of Adrienne
called. She stepped off the porch, followed by Adrienne’s dad, who
walked with a cane, though he still looked quite fit.

Adrienne gave her parents a hug and made
introductions.

“Come on in, girls,” Mr. Robichaux said. He
beat them to the screen door and held it open for them.

Mrs. Robichaux ran into the kitchen and
started ladling up bowls of crawfish étouffée with white rice.

Adrienne gave her mom another hug. “My
favorite, you must love me.”

Her mom shooed her off and said, “Get our
guests some sweet tea.”

They sat around the dining room table
enjoying the étouffée and listening to stories of Adrienne’s antics
as a child.

Mr. Robichaux set down his spoon. “I was
ready to lock her away when she hit puberty. Those boys were as
persistent as coons in the trash.”

“Daddy, you just called me trash,” Adrienne
said.

“My cher, you know what I meant.”

Mrs. Robichaux laughed and went into the
kitchen. She came back with a hot pan of bread pudding. “Adrienne,
go grab the bourbon sauce off the stove, but stir it up first.”

Oh yeah
, Vivian thought. “That was the best crawfish étouffée I’ve
ever had. Thank you, Mrs. Robichaux. I can’t wait for the bread
pudding.”

“I hope you like it. I don’t put any raisins
in it, Adrienne doesn’t like them.”

“Me, neither. Perfect.” And indeed, the bread
pudding with bourbon sauce was perfect.

After lunch the girls sat in rocking chairs
and a swing on the front porch, letting their food settle. In a
bit, Mrs. Robichaux came out with a stack of photo albums. They
flipped through Al and Adrienne’s wedding and pictures of Adrienne
and Antonio as children. One of Antonio as a teenager showed him in
tight shorts jumping off a tree swing into the bayou.

“Is it safe to swim out there?” Lucy
asked.

“You just gotta watch,” Adrienne said, “and
never swim alone.” She closed the last album and stood. “Y’all
ready for a boat ride?”

***

Lunch never came and Sonu didn’t check on her
until late afternoon. She sat against the wall, arms wrapped around
her legs, and didn’t acknowledge him.

He took in the mess from breakfast. “The
sooner you come to terms with your new life, the better.”

“This is not my new life. It will never
be.”

He indicated the mess. “This is unacceptable
behavior from my wife. You are not to do this again or you will not
eat until we get to our destination in a few days.”

The word “wife” got her attention and she
stood. “What? Are you really so insane as to believe I will marry
you?”

“You are not given a choice in the matter. We
will be wed in my country next week.”

She took a step toward him. “I will never
marry you, asshole.”

He slapped her. “My wife will not address me
in such a manner.”

She covered the side of her face and glared
at him. “I will never be your wife!”

He slapped her again and threw her on the
bed. He moved on top of her and put his mouth to hers. She tried to
twist away from him but he was too strong, even his jaw was strong,
and he kissed her harder. She managed to get a knee into his groin.
He rolled over on the bed and she hopped up and ran for the door.
He grabbed her arm as she went by the bed and shoved her to the
ground.

He stepped close, then kicked her in the legs
and back. “Do not ever hit me like that again or you will be
killed. I will not tolerate such disrespect and disobedience from
my wife!”

She scrambled away from him and ran into the
bathroom and locked the door. He pounded on it but eventually gave
up and left the room.

***

Adrienne and the girls were headed down to
the pier and a banged-up, 16-foot airboat. It had two elevated
pilot seats and a wide bench with handles. A big cage with two
spotlights on top surrounded the giant fan on back.

Adrienne gave them a quick spiel about
holding on at all times and keeping arms and legs inside the boat,
then she passed out earplugs. Vivian wound up with the big, red
earmuff-style.

Just before Adrienne fired up the engine, her
dad walked down the pier, carrying a shotgun, a bag of Cheetos and
two fishing poles rigged with lures. “I thought you might want to
feed the critters for the girls and show ’em how to catch their
supper.” He handed her the bag and laid the poles in the boat. He
checked the gun, then gave it to Adrienne. “It’s locked and loaded,
safety’s on. Never know what you might run into out there.”

She took it, double checked the safety, and
stored it under her footboard. “Thanks, Daddy. I also have my
Lady.”

“That’s my girl.” He pecked her on the cheek.
“Have fun out there!” he called and walked back up to the
house.