Gator Bait (6 page)

Walter reached out to shake the doctor’s hand. “We’d appreciate that. His mother is on her way. I know she’ll want to talk to you, directly.”

Dr. Stewart smiled. “Mothers always do.” He gave us all a nod and left.

I looked over at Gertie, a sliver of fear running through me. “Carter’s mother?”

I’d known he had a mother, of course, but as she’d been out of state visiting her sister, I’d never run into her. Meeting the mother of the guy you may or may not be in a sorta-relationship with was stressful enough under ordinary circumstances. But when he’d been shot and almost died, it kinda ticked things up a notch. I’d only ever made it far enough into a relationship to meet one mother, and she’d been one of the primary reasons that relationship had ended.

“Don’t worry,” Gertie whispered. “Emmaline is a lovely person. You’ll like her, and more importantly, she’ll like you.”

“You can’t know that.”

“Yes, I can. You saved her son’s life.”

“There is that.” Some of the tension in my neck slipped away. Surely I got permanent brownie points for rescuing Carter from a murky death. But how many brownie points? And did they expire? I walked over to a chair and sank into it with a sigh. This relationship stuff was so hard. Getting shot was easier.

Gertie sat next to me and pulled aspirin and a bottled water out of her purse. “Good. Take a couple of these and rest. And have a cough drop. It will help numb your throat a bit. It’s got to be sore.”

I took the aspirin and washed them down with the water. Now that she mentioned it, my throat was sore. I guess I’d been too wound up to notice. I popped the cough drop in my mouth and sat the water on a table next to my chair. “You know, if you unloaded at least fifty items from that purse, your back would probably stop hurting.”

“Yes, but then you wouldn’t have aspirin, water, or a cough drop.” She pulled a bottle of Sinful Ladies cough syrup out and handed it to me. “Take a good swig of that. Takes the edge off.”

I removed the cap and took a huge swig, then blinked a few times as my eyes watered. Sinful Ladies cough syrup was really their homemade hooch, and it was strong enough to strip paint off a bumper. I’d had it before, but usually mixed with another liquid. This huge gulp, undiluted, had practically made my eyes cross.

“You guys should really think about making a light version,” I said, coughing.

Gertie brightened. “That’s a great idea. All kinds of applications—teething babies, noisy children, and long airline flights.”

I leaned back and closed my eyes. I was pretty sure those “applications” would get someone arrested, but I knew back in Gertie’s day, it was the norm. I didn’t do much travel by domestic flight. Mine wasn’t the sort of travel you wanted reported on a passport, but the excruciatingly long hours I’d spent on my bus ride to Sinful, most of them with my seat being kicked by the small boy behind me, were reason enough to wish for the good ole days.

Guns. Missions. The good things in life.

Chapter Four

I must have dozed off because the next thing I knew, Gertie was shaking me. Normally, I would have bolted up, grabbing weapons and preparing to take down a small army, but I was actually too tired to move that quickly. Instead, I opted for opening one eye.
 

“Carter’s mother is here,” Gertie whispered.

That got my attention. I snapped into an upright position, jolting my injured limbs and jostling my lightly throbbing head into a harder throb. I looked across the lobby and saw a woman hugging Walter. Emmaline LeBlanc. I had absolutely no doubt. She was wearing Carter’s face. Or he was wearing hers—whatever. It was obvious where Carter had gotten his looks.
 

According to Gertie, Emmaline was in her fifties, but she could have easily passed for early forties. She was trim but not too skinny, like a lot of older women seem to aim for. Her long dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail, its glossy waves trailing midway down her back. Her facial features had the same fine bone structure as Carter—high cheekbones, wide-set eyes.
 

When she released Walter, he inclined his head toward me and she locked her gaze on mine, her green eyes sparkling. I rose from my chair and she rushed over and gave me a quick hug.
 

“Please, sit back down,” she said. “You’ve done enough physical activity today.”

I didn’t even attempt to argue with her. The truth was, my body had taken a beating, and I felt every inch of it. I slid back down to my chair, my muscles practically sighing with relief as they relaxed.

Emmaline sat next to me and squeezed my hand. “I’d hoped to meet under better circumstances, but I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to know someone as I am right now. Thank you for saving my son.” She sniffed and wiped tears from her eyes with her free hand. “‘Thank you’ sounds so underwhelming. I wish there were better words for something like this.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “I understand. I’m just glad I got to him in time.”

“It was a huge risk,” she said, her brow creased with worry. “You could have both been killed.”

“But we weren’t, and the doctor said Carter will be fine.”

She managed a small smile. “Thanks to you. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a Sunday miracle. You’ve done so much. You should go home for a hot meal and a comfortable bed.”

“What about Carter? I wanted to talk to him.”

“I know, honey. I do, too. But he’s still not completely awake and it’s past visiting time. Dr. Stewart said we wouldn’t be able to see him tonight.”

I glanced at the clock on the wall, surprised to see it was a little past 9:00 p.m. I’d been asleep in that chair for hours. I rose from the chair, Emmaline still clutching my arm.
 

“Gertie sent Ally home an hour ago,” Emmaline said. “She’s preparing you soup and pot roast as we speak. You need a good meal, a hot bath, and a lot of sleep.”

“Oh, wow,” I said. “I must have really been out. I didn’t hear a thing.” As I couldn’t see a single flaw in her argument, and my mouth had started watering at the words
pot roast
, I started my barefoot shuffle out of the lobby.

The ride back to Sinful was awkwardly quiet, but then given that we were riding with Walter, I figured Ida Belle and Gertie were hesitant to say too much lest Walter get the idea that we planned on investigating again. Even though I hadn’t discussed it with Ida Belle and Gertie, I had no doubt that my partners in crime weren’t going to let this one quietly slip away. Mentally, they were mounting the cavalry, except we rode in on bass boats, or motorcycles, or stolen cars…anyway, I was sure the silent process was in motion.

“What do you think happened?” Walter asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

“I don’t know,” Ida Belle said.

Walter glanced over at her and frowned. “Don’t give me that crap. You three have been up to your eyeballs in every criminal act that’s happened in the last month. You must have some idea what’s going on. This is Carter, damn it.”

His voice broke on the last words and my heart clenched. I knew Carter’s dad had died when he was young, but I didn’t know the details. I had always gotten the impression that Walter viewed him more as a son than a nephew. I couldn’t begin to imagine how worried he was.

“We really don’t know anything,” I said. “I swear.”

“She’s telling the truth,” Gertie said. “If we had any idea who did this to Carter, we would have skipped out of the hospital, stolen a car, and popped a cap in them.”

Walter looked at her in the rearview mirror and gave her a small smile. “I believe you would. What does it say about me that I wish you could have?”

“It means you love Carter,” Ida Belle said. “We all do. If there’s anything we can do to fix this, we will. You have my word.”

Walter looked over at Ida Belle and nodded. “If it were anyone else, I would ask you not to, but this time…this time, I’ll only ask that you be very, very careful.”

I watched his expression shift as he looked at Ida Belle, then away, and realized that in that brief look, he had conveyed so much—his desire for justice for Carter, his concern for the three of us, and the enormous conflict going on inside him as he felt he was risking one for the other.

Oh my God. I was actually getting good at this. The whole girl/emotion thing.

I frowned. Was that good or bad? Logically, having an emotional side would be a hindrance at my job, but then, I didn’t have deep feelings for anyone I worked with. I liked Deputy Morrow and Hadley and I probably even liked Harrison more than I was willing to admit, but none of them tugged at me.
 

I let out a breath of relief. Thank God. At least I didn’t have to find a new job when this whole fiasco with Ahmad was over.
 

“Are you all right?” Gertie asked.

“Yeah. Just tired.”

She patted my hand and leaned over toward me. “I’m so proud of you,” she whispered. “What you did was extraordinary, and I don’t believe anyone else could have done it.”

“Why do you say that?” I knew I had skills far beyond those of the typical woman, but I wasn’t the only person equipped to handle such a recovery.

“Not for the reason you’re thinking. It’s because of your connection with Carter. I don’t think anyone else could have found him, assuming they had even been willing to try. That far under the surface, visibility must have been zero. I believe it was your emotional tie to Carter that led you to him. That led you to save him.”

She sniffed and reached for her purse, pulling out a tissue.
 

I watched as she dabbed the tears from her eyes, but didn’t say a word. I could have told her that I could make out shapes. That my training included deep sea diving and recovery, and I’d been taught to look for shapes rather than individual objects. Instead, I gave her hand a squeeze. If Gertie wanted to believe in some sort of karmic magic that saved people you cared about, who was I to spoil it for her?
 

“Don’t go sniffling now,” Ida Belle said. “Carter’s going to be fine and we’ve got a busy day tomorrow.”

I nodded. “I hope he remembers everything.”

“Oh!” Gertie’s eyes widened. “I didn’t even think about that, but with a concussion, he may have lost some of his memory.”

“It’s usually temporary,” I said, “but the sooner he can provide details, the better.” I left the rest unsaid. We all knew that timing was a key component in catching criminals. The sooner you could set out on their trail, the more likely you were to find them.
 

It was long past dark when Walter pulled into my driveway, and my house was lit up inside and out.
 

Gertie shook her head. “That girl needs to talk to someone about that stalking mess. The repairs to her house will be finished soon, and it’s far more isolated than yours.”

I frowned. It had never crossed my mind that all the lights were on because Ally was afraid. I’d figured she was distracted by what happened to Carter and with cooking and simply forgot, but now that Gertie mentioned it, I realized lights were on in all the upstairs rooms, even the ones no one used.

“I’ll talk to her,” I said as I climbed out of the car. “Are you guys coming in?”

“Not tonight,” Ida Belle said. “We all need to get some rest. We’ll regroup at your house first thing in the morning.”

I nodded and closed the door. In the morning, Ally would be at work and Walter wouldn’t be sitting next to Ida Belle. We’d be able to speak freely and make plans that it was probably far better others didn’t know.

Before I could even slip my key into the lock, Ally flung open the door and threw her arms around me. “Gertie told me what you did. You could have been killed.”

“But I wasn’t,” I said, hoping the hugging part was over soon. My bruises did not appreciate all the attention.
 

Ally let go of me and sniffed. “And you saved Carter.” She waved me inside and immediately locked the door and drew the dead bolt. She paused to peek out the living room blinds before heading to the kitchen, and that was when I noticed she had a butcher knife in her hand. I trudged behind her, worried that Ally’s fear was worse than even Gertie had imagined.
 

“Sit,” Ally ordered. “You look like you’re ready to drop, but you haven’t eaten since breakfast. So food first, then shower and bed. I was just about to check the pot roast.” She waved the knife and I felt a bit of relief pass over me. Maybe she wasn’t completely gone.
 

She opened the oven and gave the pot roast a peek then filled a huge bowl with soup. When she placed it in front of me, my mouth watered as the smell of potatoes and herbs wafted up to my nose.
 

“Baked potato. My favorite.” I took my first bite and almost sobbed. The creamy, cheesy sauce might have been the best thing I’d ever eaten in my life. “You should be awarded a medal or something.”

Ally smiled. “It’s good, but you’re also starving.” She prepared herself a bowl and sat across from me. “You were out cold when I was at the hospital. Are you feeling all right…I mean, considering?”

“Yeah. My body feels like I was jumped by a street gang, and I have a nagging headache that seems to almost go away then pop back up, but given everything that could have gone wrong, I’m lucky this is the worst of it.”