Gator Bait (29 page)
When the first shot rang out, I closed my eyes and tried not to sob. A second followed.
Then there was only silence.
I opened my eyes and blinked, certain I’d died and was dreaming.
Lucas lay flat and unmoving on the bank. Hank slumped beside him. Ida Belle and Gertie uncovered their eyes and looked up.
At Carter’s smoking gun.
My heart leaped in my throat at the sight of him. He was pale and his hand holding the pistol shook slightly. I’d never seen someone sexier in my life.
Move over, Daniel Craig. Carter LeBlanc is the real James Bond.
Gertie and Ida Belle jumped up as Carter and Deputy Breaux leaned over Lucas and Hank, checking for a pulse. They looked at each other and shook their heads.
“No!” Laurel began to wail and crumpled on the bow of the boat.
“She’s the ringleader,” Ida Belle said.
Carter and Deputy Breaux looked over at her, their surprise clear, but Deputy Breaux climbed on board and cuffed her. She didn’t even bother to struggle. It was over. All her carefully laid plans had ended in death.
“Help!”
I heard Riker shout and looked to the side to see him swimming around the front of his sinking boat, clutching Mitchell under his arm. “He’s been shot!”
Carter ran down the bank and helped Riker get the unconscious Mitchell out of the water. I blew out a breath. I’d been hiding in this clump of grass for too long. It was time to face the music. Even though I knew exposing myself to the ATF ultimately meant I’d have to leave Sinful.
I looked over at Ida Belle and Gertie and saw Ida Belle looking straight at me. I shouldn’t have been surprised that she figured out where that first shot had come from. Ida Belle was one sharp cookie, and she knew her guns.
“Go,” she mouthed. “Hurry.”
I looked behind me and saw that the area of marsh grass I was hidden in stretched all the way to the corner of the island. She was right; I could wade through the grass and walk away from the entire thing.
And then what?
I had no way to get off the island. Boats were sorta at a premium at the moment. I couldn’t walk back to Sinful, and although I knew Ida Belle would come back for me as soon as she could, both she and Gertie would be tied up forever trying to sort this mess out with the ATF. I’d be waiting for hours, and there was no way Carter would believe I wasn’t involved. He’d send someone for me right away, and when I couldn’t be located, the gig was up.
So what?
I smiled. Yeah, so what? So it was the longest shot in the world that I’d actually get back to Sinful and never land on the ATF radar. It wasn’t any more unlikely than the shot I’d made earlier, and Carter riding in to the rescue when it looked like everything was going to end with lights out for all of us.
I gave Ida Belle a thumbs-up and turned around, easing myself through the marsh grass, keeping only my head above water. It took several minutes of slogging through the thick mud, especially since I had to keep the noise to a minimum, but eventually, I rounded the corner of the island and climbed up onto the bank. I didn’t even glance back before disappearing into the swamp.
The smartest thing for me to do now was put some distance between myself and the fray. Backup would be on its way, and I didn’t want to risk a random sighting by law enforcement. So I stayed inside the tree line but close enough to see the bank and skirted the side of the island. If I remembered correctly, it was only a mile or so long. The other side ought to be far enough away to escape detection. I would get there, then sit down, lean my exhausted body against a tree, and rest until the Swamp Team 3 cavalry arrived.
But when I reached the far side of the island, another option presented itself. I had no idea why Sheriff Lee was fishing just off the bank, but there he was, Methuselah wearing a fishing hat and packing up a rod.
“Sheriff Lee!” I shouted as he made his way back to the outboard motor of the bass boat. He didn’t so much as flinch, so I ran down to the edge of the bank and yelled louder.
He turned around and looked at me, frowning, then squinting. “Is all that hollering necessary?” he asked.
“You didn’t hear me the first time. Can you give me a ride back to town?”
“Where’s your boat?”
“Sank.”
He shook his head. “I ain’t running no taxi service, but I suppose it wouldn’t be right to leave you stranded. Get in.”
I waded into the lake and climbed over the side of the boat. “Are you off today?” It seemed an odd time for any of the local law enforcement to have a day off.
“What the hell are you talking about? I’m off every day. Been retired for almost thirty years.”
I blinked. It had finally happened. His mind had turned to dust. “You’re the sheriff. At least you were yesterday.”
He gave me a disgusted look. “I oughta make you get out of the boat, confusing me with that old coot. I am not my brother.” He turned around and started the motor and took off down the channel.
I clenched the metal bench and stared. Brother? There were two of them? That was some seriously long-lasting DNA.
“Sorry,” I yelled. “I didn’t know the sheriff had a brother.”
He waved a hand at me. “Women.”
I laughed, and all the tension slipped away.
Life in Sinful was back to normal.
Chapter Twenty
It took hours and hours for Carter and Riker to sort everything out. While I was hiding in the marsh grass, Ally had called me a million times in a panic, certain that I’d been killed in the showdown. Fortunately, I had been smart enough to leave my cell phone at home, otherwise it would be swimming in Lake Pete. I returned her call and feigned having been asleep due to not feeling well, then rushed up to the sheriff’s department, hugging Ida Belle and Gertie and surprising myself when I managed some real tears. For good measure, I threw in some butt-chewing about them taking off to look for Hank without me. They’d been shocked when I burst in, clearly expecting me to still be sitting on the island, but had covered it quickly.
Despite the best attempts by the paramedics, Agent Mitchell didn’t make it. It was an unfortunate loss for the good guys, but quick-thinking Ida Belle used it to my advantage by claiming it was Mitchell who had fired the shot hitting Hank in the thigh. Mitchell had been packing a nine-millimeter that wasn’t recovered after their dive in the water, so there was nothing to prove it didn’t happen exactly that way.
With both Lucas and Hank dead, Laurel broke down and gave up everything to Riker—the drop-off, her original contact, and how she was paid. I hoped if they offered her some sort of new identity, she was smart enough to leave her baby in Sinful with his grandmother. She’d admitted that after the first surgery and treatments, his heart was stable. The rest of the doctor’s visits had been cover for her weapons drops.
Carter had finally remembered seeing Hank on the lake and had thought he recognized him, but couldn’t place his face. Probably because he was trying to place that face on a live body, and Hank wasn’t supposed to be alive. When he’d seen the missing persons show on television, it clicked why he recognized Hank and why it had troubled him. Hank knew that Carter had seen him and told Lucas to be extra careful around the deputy. Lucas had taken it upon himself to eliminate the problem.
I worried at first that Sheriff Lee’s brother would tell someone he’d given me a lift back to Sinful, so I’d had him drop me off at the beginning of the channel instead of my house, to help hide my identity. I’d stepped off the boat and when I turned to thank him, he stared up at me with a completely blank expression and asked who I was and what I wanted. With that bad a memory, it was a wonder he made it back home every day, but it came in handy for me.
Carter, who’d finally remembered everything and sneaked out of the hospital prior to saving our collective butts, showed signs of extreme exhaustion and everyone told him to go home. He was so tired he actually agreed without arguing. Ida Belle, Gertie, and I were close behind, all of us close to collapse but incredibly happy. It was all over. We were all alive. Carter was going to be fine.
Things in Sinful were going to return to normal. Again. Hopefully for longer this time.
###
At ten o’clock the next morning, I climbed into my hammock with a book, with every intention of staying there until I was starving or had to use the bathroom. It was already hot, but a breeze blew in off the bayou, making it tolerable. I’d already had an awesome breakfast of muffins and eggs and had filled my cooler with beer and hauled it outside with me.
I got about two pages into the book before I dozed off.
“When you didn’t answer your phone, I figured I’d find you out here.”
I opened one eye and saw Carter standing above me, smiling. “It was the best place I could think of to be.”
“It’s a damned good choice.”
“You’re not working today, are you? You should be resting.”
“No, I’m not working, and don’t start nagging. My mom’s got that covered.”
His cell phone rang and he pulled it out and frowned. “Deputy Breaux.” He answered the call and I could hear Deputy Breaux’s voice booming over the phone. He sounded panicked. Carter listened until there was a break in Deputy Breaux’s rant then said, “I’m off today. Tell her it will have to wait until tomorrow.”
He stuck the phone back in his pocket and stared down at me. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about Celia’s boat being stolen, would you?”
“I didn’t even know Celia had a boat. Doesn’t seem like her, really. I suppose she’s giving Deputy Breaux fits?”
“Yeah. I think there might be a lot of that coming now that she’s mayor.” He studied me for several seconds and I could tell he thought he should help Deputy Breaux. “To hell with it,” he said finally. “I’ve never liked the woman.”
He grabbed the side of the hammock and rolled over into it with me. I laughed as the hammock swung out, thinking that any minute, we’d flip over and both be eating grass. But the swinging finally stopped. Carter stuck his arm out and I rolled over to nestle into his shoulder. He kissed the top of my head and I relaxed against him.
And we drifted off. Together.
The End
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