Big Easy Escapade (25 page)

Adrienne walked through the rest of the
trailer, then returned to the living room. “Lucy, run tell Wendy
and Kate we’ve got everything under control and we need a couple of
ambulances.”

Lucy took off down the path.

Simone started crying and Vivian went into
the cramped, moldy bathroom, wet a washcloth and brought it back to
her. One eye had already swollen shut and the other was on its way.
Her black hair was matted, chapped lips were busted, and bruises
ran up and down her legs. All she wore was a blood-stained, white
T-shirt.

“Was there ever another girl here with you?
One named Daisy?” Vivian asked, wanting to reach out and comfort
her but afraid she’d touch something that hurt.

Simone shook her head once. “I don’t think
so. He kept me in a back bedroom but I haven’t heard anyone else
here.”

Adrienne stooped over the kidnapper, gun
pointed to his head. “Where’s the other girl?”

“Screw you.”

She ground her foot into the wound on his
shoulder. He screamed in pain. She didn’t let up. “Where is
she?”

“They already found that whore.”

She dug her foot in deeper. “What about
Daisy? The girl you took from the French House.”

He screamed again. “I didn’t take that bitch.
Get off me!”

She pushed off, and he rolled over into a
fetal position.

Wendy drove up in Adrienne’s SUV and came
inside the trailer with Kate and Lucy. “Is Daisy here?” she
asked.

Vivian shook her head. “No, Adrienne checked
the rooms. She’s not here.”

Kate looked around the torn-up trailer, then
said, “The 911 dispatcher has the police and EMTs on the way.”

“I spoke to Antonio,” Wendy said, carefully
stepping over a broken lamp. “He said to call him ASAP.”

“I’ll deal with him later.” Adrienne asked
Simone, “Is there anything we can do for you?”

“I just want to go home. Can I use your
phone?”

Vivian handed it over and Simone dialed with
a shaky hand. “Momma,” she said when the call connected. She
started crying too hard to speak, so Vivian gently took the phone
and explained that they found her hurt but alive. Help was on the
way and she’d be taken to a hospital. The police would be calling
soon on what hospital Simone was taken to.

“Praise God! Praise Jesus!” her mom said
several times before Vivian could hang up. As soon as she did, she
heard sirens in the distance.

A few minutes later, two sheriff deputies
pulled up to the trailer. Kate and Wendy met them outside.

“I’m the one who called this in,” Kate
said.

As they walked up to the trailer, one of them
saw Adrienne with the gun and started to draw his weapon.

Adrienne held her hands up, the Lady slinging
on her finger. “Whoa. Point that at him, not me.”

“Drop your weapon.”

“Okay,” she said, and bent over and slid it
across the floor toward the officer. She raised her arms back
up.

One deputy called for the ambulances and
trained his gun on the kidnapper while the other searched the
house.

The sheriff arrived just as the ambulances
pulled in. One of the deputies ushered Adrienne and the girls
outside so the EMTs could get to work. Soon the kidnapper was
loaded up and hauled off in an ambulance, followed by two patrol
cars. A female EMT attended to Simone in the trailer.

Lucy had a one-inch gash on her cheek from
the doorframe debris and was treated by a stocky, brown-haired EMT.
He blew on her cheek after he cleaned her wound with alcohol.

“It’s not deep enough for stitches,” he said
as he gently placed the first of two butterfly bandages.

Lucy looked up at him. “I’ll add this to my
list of flaws.”

He stepped back and looked her up and down.
“I don’t see any flaws.”

The deputies separated the girls and waited
for additional units so they could drive them individually to the
sheriff’s office.

Vivian’s anxiety was building and thoughts of
Mexico flooded her mind. She started to panic. “We didn’t do
anything wrong,” she said to the nearest deputy. “Adrienne saved
this girl. Why are we going to jail?”

“You’re not going to jail,” the deputy said.
“We’ve got to do this by the book, which means separate interviews.
We don’t want the prosecutor to have any reason to doubt your
friend’s story.” He helped Vivian sit down on the back bumper of
his patrol car.

She took
some deep breaths trying to calm herself.
In through your
nose, out through your mouth.

The female EMT and the guy who fixed up Lucy
walked Simone down the steps of the trailer and helped her into the
back of the ambulance. The female climbed in with her and the guy
closed the door and got in the cab, then drove off.

Antonio came hauling ass up the driveway in a
black Dodge Charger just as the sheriff put Adrienne in the back of
his car. Antonio jumped out of his car and flashed his badge.
“That’s my sister. What the hell happened?”

“She fired her Lady Smith, hit the guy twice,
we’ve got to take her in,” the sheriff responded. “She’s not
handcuffed and we haven’t Mirandized her.”

“Did anyone else get hurt?”

“Other than the girl being held here,
everybody else is fine.”

“If it’s okay, I’d like to be present for the
interview.”

The sheriff shrugged. “Fine by me.” He got in
his car and headed out, no sirens or lights.

Antonio walked over to Vivian, stern look on
his face. “Y’all put yourselves in a lot of danger with this
stunt.”

Vivian’s stomach clenched. “Adrienne was
goin’ in, we had to have her back. She’s had ours.”

His eyes softened and his shoulders relaxed a
tad. “I know, she is a bit of a wild card isn’t she?” He squeezed
Vivian’s hand. “But I don’t want that putting you in danger, so
quit getting involved, okay.” He dropped her hand and started
jogging to his car. He looked back at her. “Please!”

Vivian
smiled as Antonio sped off, a dirt cloud trailing after his car.
She watched as, one by one, Kate, Lucy and Wendy were loaded into
separate patrol cars and taken away. The deputy came for her and
opened the back door. She slid onto the bench seat and looked at
the cage in front of her.
It’s happening again.

The deputy went to close the door, but Vivian
stopped him and pushed it open. She jumped out, fell to her knees
and threw up.

T
he
interview room at the St. Bernard Parish sheriff’s office had gray
cinder block walls, one table bolted to the floor and two chairs.
Vivian looked at her reflection in the one-way mirror and almost
got sick again. Her eyes were bloodshot and her hair was sticking
out everywhere. She stared at a vomit stain on her
shirt.

The door opened and a state trooper walked in
followed by the sheriff, who carried a manila folder and a pen.

“Vivian Taylor, I’m Sheriff James Daugereaux.
This is State Trooper Brian Hill. I understand you’ve not been
feeling well. Is there anything we can get you before we
proceed?”

This interview is starting out way better than in Mexico.
Being accused of murder was a little rough
. “I had some water, thanks.”

“We need you to go over the events of today.
Please be aware this interview is being recorded and could be used
as evidence.”

Vivian agreed and told them what led the
girls to the trailer.

Hill drummed his fingers on the table. “So
you went there because Adrienne Russo’s mother was flipped off by
this guy?”

“No, but her mom saw the gray Mustang and we
knew one had played a role in Simone’s disappearance. We were
hoping to find a connection to our friend Daisy’s kidnapping.”

Vivian backtracked a little and told them
about Daisy, Jason, the body in the cemetery and how she knew
Adrienne and Antonio.

The trooper shook his head. “And you’re here
on vacation?”

“Yeah. Parts of it have been fun.”

The officers asked a few more questions about
the events at the trailer. Vivian answered and soon the interview
was over. They walked her to the lobby where Lucy, Kate and Wendy
sat with Antonio.

Antonio stood and asked Vivian, “Oh Jesus,
are you okay? What happened in there?”

Vivian felt super self-conscious and pushed
her hair out of her face. “I’m better now. I wasted all your mom’s
good cooking, I’m afraid. So much for a relaxing day visiting your
parents and taking an airboat ride.”

He shook his head. “From what I’ve heard, I
have a feeling it’s always something with you girls.”

Lucy looked Vivian up and down. “You look
like you’ve been run over by an airboat. Several times.”

“It’s just been a long day, and I need a
shower,” Vivian answered.

Al walked in as Daugereaux said to Antonio,
“We’re about to interview your sister. You want to come on
back?”

“Yes, and this is her husband, Al Russo.”

Al stuck out his hand. “Hear my girl’s been
causing trouble.”

The sheriff shook his hand. “That’s one hell
of a lady you’ve got. I’ll take you to her.”

Al went back with the sheriff, and Antonio
started to follow. Wendy stopped him. “I’ve got Adrienne’s phone
and keys.” She handed them over.

“How are we going to get back to New
Orleans?” Kate asked.

Antonio looked to the deputy behind the front
desk and handed Wendy the keys. “Can you see these girls get back
to the SUV on Water Moccasin Lane?”

“Sure, we’ll take care of it.” A few minutes
later a red minivan pulled up to the entrance. “That’s my wife,
Peggy. She’ll take you.”

The girls thanked him, especially Vivian, who
was afraid she might hurl again if she had to get back into a
patrol car.

Peggy played oldies as they drove the few
miles to the SUV. “I hear y’all took down the guy who kidnapped
that stripper up in N’awlins.”

“It wasn’t us,” Lucy said. “We just watched
as our friend kicked ass.”

“Well, it’s a good thing and I’m glad to have
met ya.”

Wendy took the wheel and got them back to the
Delacroix Highway. Since Wendy and Kate weren’t in the trailer for
the action, Vivian and Lucy told them everything.

“
Adrienne’s got some
cojones
,” Wendy said. “I don’t think I could have done
it.”

“You sure had some guts on our last trip,”
Lucy said. “That Colorado cliff could have been the end of us.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Wendy said. “Right now I
need someone to rescue me with a map, ’cuz I don’t know where the
hell we’re going.”

Lucy pulled up directions back to their hotel
and the girls made it without incident.

Wendy valeted the car and said in the
elevator, “We smell like swamp, sweat and that skanky trailer. We
need showers.”

The doors opened on their floor and Vivian
stepped off. “We’ve got to go see Jason and tell him Simone was
found but the guy didn’t know anything about Daisy.”

Wendy unlocked their room. “Don’t you think
we should let the cops handle that? We got in trouble last time we
gave him news.”

“Antonio has his hands full with Adrienne,
and I doubt the sheriff’s office will come out here and tell him
anything.”

“If by chance the police have already talked
to Jason, then we can still tell him our version of the incident,”
Kate said. “And if he hasn’t heard from them, then this is not
going to be easy news to break. Maybe it’s best coming from
us.”

Lucy opened their door. “I need food for that
kind of mission. Let’s grab a bite before we go see him.”

The girls took turns getting ready and
stuffed their swampy clothes in the laundry bag supplied by
housekeeping. “I’m tying this bitch up tight,” Lucy said, yanking
on the plastic strings. “We do not want to come back to this
stench.”

Wendy grabbed her big purse and said to
Vivian, “I’m diggin’ that shirt.”

“Thanks, my mom gave it to me for Christmas.”
Vivian straightened her flowy white, purple and turquoise floral
blouse. “It’s kinda see-through.” She tucked her white tank into
her black capri pants and grabbed some silver dangle earrings.

“I need more color,” Wendy replied, looking
at her black and white striped V-neck blouse and black skirt.

“You look cute,” Kate said. “Your snazzy
purse jazzes you up.” Kate had thrown on a long, red maxi dress and
grabbed a beige wrap.

“Damn, I wish I could wear those kinds of
dresses,” Vivian said, looking her up and down. “I think they make
me look pregnant.”

“Not everyone can get away with that style,”
Lucy said. “I’m too short.”

Kate walked up to her and pulled a thread off
the sleeve of her charcoal, V-neck top. “This fits you perfectly.
And I like those jeans with their little bit of bling.”

“Thanks,” Lucy said grabbed her small, black
clutch. “Y’all ready?”

“Are you going out with the Band-Aid still on
your face?” Wendy asked.

“Oh yeah!” Lucy said and went into the
bathroom where she peeled the bandage off her face and inspected
her wound. She dabbed some powder around the spot and threw the
bandage away. “I don’t need this.”

“Are you sure?” Vivian asked and inspected
her cheek.

“I might have played up my injury a little
bit. The EMS guy was really cute.”

Vivian smacked her on the ass. “You bad
girl.” As the girls left the room, she said, “Let’s go somewhere
close. I’m too tired to walk.”

“Morton’s is across Canal,” Wendy said. “I
think we need to celebrate being alive. We can grab a quick dinner
in the bar.”

Vivian’s mouth watered thinking about the
macaroni and cheese. “Sounds perfect.”

T
he girls
walked across the street and the Morton’s valet opened the
restaurant door for them. As they rode the elevator up, Vivian’s
stomach growled at the sizzling steak and baked bread
aromas.