Heather Graham (22 page)

“Worrying,” Cindy said.

“What happened?”

Cindy shook her head. “I—rain. A lot of it.” She drank down some of her coffee, then looked at April, huge tears forming in her eyes. “I went out to the bayou yesterday with Gregory and Jon Marcel’s ex-wife.”

“For what?”

“Ann Marcel wanted to meet Mama Lili Mae.”

April shook her head. “I think we should watch out for that woman. She’s his ex-wife, after all.”

Cindy shook her head. “April, she’s as nice as can be. She’s just trying to find out what happened.”

“Yeah, well, maybe her trying to find out what happened could get somebody else killed.”

“April, if Jon didn’t kill Gina, then—”

“Then someone else did. Somebody maybe who just wanted to kill Gina. Damn, Marcel is half-dead anyway, a vegetable, right? Gina is dead; he’s dying. Maybe we should really, truly, just leave it alone. Maybe that’s the only way any of us can be safe!” April realized what she had said. She shivered. “I do want justice—just not at the risk of my own neck!” she admitted. “Cindy, I’m scared. Oh, God, I didn’t let you finish—what happened?”

“Ann Marcel was in with Mama Lili Mae. Gregory and I were outside sitting by the water. You know me. I grew restless, and started wandering around. I was standing under a tree when one of the limbs broke. It scared me to death. I screamed like crazy, and started running wildly into the swamp right when the rain started. I got lost. I probably scared everyone else to death by screaming, and they all got lost coming after me. I don’t know. I never found anybody. I made it down to the boats and decided to set out to take a look and see if I could find anybody running through the trees by the embankment. I looked and looked. I tried to go back to Mama Lili Mae’s; but a whole tree had come down, so I had to back track again. I figured then that Gregory and Ann Marcel must have made it back to Mama Lili Mae’s to weather out the storm. I can’t tell you how bad the storm was; I’m so lucky I wasn’t drowned. I made it back to the road, though, and a fisherman picked me up and brought me into the city. I tried to get hold of Mark LaCrosse, but he didn’t answer. I finally got his partner. Jimmy headed out to the bayou as soon as I talked to him, so I’m just waiting to hear back.”

“I’m sure Gregory and the woman are both okay,” April said. “Sometimes I think that the bayou is the safest place to be these days.”

“Yeah. With the real gators and snakes,” Cindy agreed dryly.

April hesitated, then said, “Cindy, you know the night they said that woman who had been here in the club was strangled?”

“Yes?”

“Marty worked later than I did that night. Gregory was going to walk me home, but he had to come back in for some reason or another and I wasn’t scared yet, so I went out walking on my own.”

“Oh, April!”

“None of us should be alone anymore!” April said determinedly.

“What happened?”

“Well, nothing happened. Really. Except that I became convinced that I was being watched. Then I was certain that I was being followed. I ran half the way home, certain that a dark figure was following me. Then...”

“Then?”

“Then, when I got home, there was no one behind me at all. I went right up to my apartment. Locked myself in. That was it. I felt like a paranoid fool suffering delusions.”

Cindy grimaced. She looked up at the one-way window to the office. “Well, let’s look at this intelligently. Gina had been murdered—you had every right in the world to be paranoid. You’d be foolish not to be careful. And when you think about it, we all know that Harry Duval is watching us most of the time; so naturally, we’re going to walk around with that feeling of eyes knifing into our backs.”

“I guess,” April said. She glanced up at the windows and shivered. She looked at Cindy. “You ever make it with Duval?”

Cindy flushed.

“Did you?”

“Yeah,” Cindy admitted.

April shivered. “Thank God for Marty. No one ever expects anything out of either of us, just so long as we dance our little hearts out. Pretty soon, we’ll make the money to get out of here. God, I only wish it was now...” She, too, stared up at the window. “What was Duval like?”

“April!”

“Oh, come on, Cindy! I know about half the three-way tricks you’ve turned and some of the other kinky stuff.”

“April, you’re a married mom—”

“That’s right. Content in my own life, living vicariously through you and some of the other girls.”

“But Duval—”

“Duval can be frightening sometimes. I’m just so jumpy lately. Is he scary?”

Cindy pondered the question. “He’s hung like a horse. He loves to walk around naked looking at himself, and—”

“And what?”

“I don’t know. There’s something maybe just a little Satanish about him. A touch that he wants to go beyond, but actually...it’s what’s sexy about him. He takes what he wants. There’s nothing hesitant. He can be exciting. He likes two women. He gets really excited watching others. Gina. He just loved to watch Gina when...”

“When what?” April demanded.

“When she did anything,” Cindy said. “He—he likes women. In general. He likes sex. With lots of women. Singly, in pairs, in trios. He gets off on watching, but he has a strange power as well. He compels lovers. I don’t know, what do you want me to say?”

April hesitated. “Does he get off on causing pain?”

Cindy paused, thinking again. “I—”

“Hey, you two!” Marty called.

They both started.

“Since you’re here, come work with me. Let me see if I’ve got the moves for this down right, huh?” He grinned affectionately at his wife. April smiled back. They were both scared. He wasn’t going to let her out of his sight. She was lucky. Marty was tall and built like an ebony Adonis. He was talented, and one of the nicest, most intelligent guys she’d met in her whole life. She loved him so much.

Maybe they should just quit now. Get away from here before something did happen to someone.

Between them, they made so much money. Soon they’d be able to really build a new life somewhere else. They’d have more kids.

And their children could have the entire world.

“Let’s see what this is!” called another male voice.

Again, both women started.

Harry Duval was down, striding toward Marty, waiting to see the new dance. He looked back to the girls, hazel eyes glittering against the sharp contours of his face. “Ladies?” he said.

They both moved.

April walked past him.

She felt
eyes
.

She felt a hot, quivering sensation streak down her spine.

She glanced back at him. Copper-planed face, gold glittering eyes, dark hair, white flashing smile, full, sensual lips. He watched her. As if he knew something about her; knew more, maybe, than she knew herself...

The man was Satan.

“Marty, where am I supposed to be?” she demanded, hurrying toward her husband.

Ann woke up with a start. She’d heard a commotion.

“Mark!” she whispered, running her hand over the bed.

But Mark wasn’t in it.

She was in the bayou, in a cabin—alone. Completely alone.

Old Billy was out there somewhere. Who else? What else?

Where the hell was Mark, and what had she heard?

She crawled out of the bed, half afraid that any second the door was going to burst open.

The killer would have tracked her down.

And if not the killer...

Well, then, Mark’s Cajun cousins would come across a naked woman in the woods. Naturally, it would be better if his relatives arrived, but she was definitely uncomfortable wondering about what was going on either way.

She found the shirt he had given her on the floor, and she quickly slipped into it. It was huge—thankfully. On her small form, his shirt was almost as good as a dress. She buttoned it up and rolled up the sleeves, then moved cautiously to the window.

The rain was gone. The day was beautiful.

There was movement outside the cabin. She heard footsteps, approaching the door.

She shrank back against the wall, then decided that she’d just be a sitting duck all lined up for a shot if she stayed where she was.

She grabbed hold of a pot from the kitchen, then dived beneath the bed.

The door opened. She saw a pair of bare feet and jean-encased calves.

Did she recognize them? Were they Mark’s?

Had she just made love with a man a half dozen times in so many hours and failed to notice his feet? It wasn’t that—she just couldn’t see clearly enough.

The man swore, moving through the cabin. The footsteps paused.

He’d seen her.

She shrieked as hands grabbed her feet, yanking at her hard, dragging her out from her hiding place. She fought frantically, wielding her pan as a weapon the first chance she got.

She struck home, catching the man in the temple.

The door burst open again.

“What the hell?”

Mark’s voice.

“You tell me, what the hell?”

Ann inhaled on a gasp; it was basset hound Jimmy, Mark’s partner. She’d just creamed him with a sauce pan. And Mark was back, staring at his wounded partner and his half-clad lover.

She jumped to her feet, trying to pull the flannel shirt down around her.

“I’m sorry.” She glanced from Mark to Jimmy. “Well, you weren’t here and I heard footsteps and suddenly the door was bursting open...oh, now, Officer Deveaux, I didn’t hit you that hard; it can’t be that bad.”

“It hurts like hell!” Jimmy said.

Mark, hands on his hips, watched the two. He sighed with exasperation.

“Well, why were you dragging me out from beneath the bed like that?” Ann demanded.

“Because it looked like a derelict thief had broken into a friend’s cabin!” he said sternly.

“You knew she was out here,” Mark said.

“I didn’t expect her to be hiding under your bed,” Jimmy shot back. “Where the hell were you?”

“Jacques Moret was out here, over at Mama Lili Mae’s. We’ve got some serious trouble.”

“You were the serious trouble,” Jimmy told Mark. “Cindy McKenna called this morning in a tither because she’d lost Gregory Hanson and Mrs. Marcel out here last night. She couldn’t get a hold of you. I knew where
you
were, but I thought you might like some help.”

“Jimmy, your timing was perfect. We definitely need help. I hope you’ve got your phone. We’ve just dug Gregory up from beneath a fallen tree. He’s hurt badly. Besides what is surely a major concussion, he’s been terribly exposed to the elements. I think he’s in shock. Mama Lili Mae and Jacques had warmed him up the best they could when they came for me, but we’ve got to get him to a hospital fast.”

Ann stared in horror as Jimmy pulled out a small cellular phone and punched in the few numbers necessary to reach police emergency services. He spoke quickly and concisely, repeating the conditions Mark had just given him. He folded his phone and replaced it in his jacket pocket. “Let’s get on it.”

They turned and hurried out. Ann looked at the pile where her mud-packed clothing lay from the night before. There was no help for it. She couldn’t worry about her clothing or her current, ridiculous state of dress.

Gregory could be dying.

Jimmy had come with a fairly large motorboat. Gregory was already in it, wrapped in several blankets, supported by Jacques Moret. He nodded gravely to Ann as she stepped into the boat, his gaze quickly assessing her mode of dress. She tucked the flannel carefully beneath her as she took her seat, reaching out to touch Gregory’s face gently. He felt cold. So cold.

His eyes were open, she realized. Open, and staring.

“My, God!” she whispered. “He’s...”

“Shock,” Mark said.

She was startled when Jacques spoke to her. “His heart is beating strongly, Mrs. Marcel. He is a strong man. A very strong man.”

She nodded, biting her lip. “He is a good man, too. Where did you find him?”

“Not a hundred feet from the house,” Jacques said. “He might have been calling out, but the storm was so loud...we didn’t hear him. This morning, Mama Lili Mae had one of her psychic intuitions. We found him, but couldn’t get the tree up by ourselves. She told me she thought that Mark might be out here—if he had known you were coming, he would follow.” He shrugged with a half smile. “She was right. We got the tree up, and carried him here.” He grinned. “Mark said that Jimmy would come this morning. Cop’s intuition.”

She nodded, still watching Gregory. His coloring was ashen.

She wished she’d taken nursing instead of so much art.

The motor roared with a fury; Mark was at the helm. Ann gripped her seat, praying that they wouldn’t shoot right into a root and all perish in an explosion.

But Mark knew the bayou.

Of course, it was his home.

They made unbelievable speed and progress across the water. When they reached the embankment, a helicopter was waiting in the field just across the road. Waiting paramedics raced for Gregory, and he was quickly taken away.

Ann, Mark, Jimmy, and Jacques watched the helicopter whirr away.

Mark turned to Ann. “Get in your car. Go home. I’ll follow you. I have my own car here.”

She nodded, feeling numb. She turned to walk to her car. It was her fault.
If she hadn’t wanted to come out to see Mama Lili Mae...

He’d been struck down by a tree. An act of God. Wasn’t it?

Or was it?

She crawled in behind her steering wheel. She stared at it. Mark came to stand beside her at the driver’s side window. “What’s the matter?”

“Keys,” she said simply.

He swore. “Scoot over.”

She crawled into the passenger’s seat. He played beneath the dash.

It was alarming to see how quickly he hot-wired her car. She stared at him, her amazement probably pretty obvious.

“Hey, you hang around crooks, you can’t help but learn a few things.” He brushed her cheek. “He’s going to make it, Ann.”

She nodded, swallowing. “Right. Gregory’s got a prayer of making it. So does Jon. And two women are already dead.”

“Go home.”

She nodded.

He crawled out of her car. “I’ll be behind you until I see that you’re up in the apartment.”