miss fortune mystery (ff) - bayou bubba (7 page)

The dog-like creature wove between the forest of ankles, its tail wagging happily.

“Looks like they found something,” I told Cal. I started toward our room and stopped when Cal didn’t join me.

He was heading toward the tangle of little fishermen. “What are you doing?”

He spun around, walking backwards. “I’m just going to make sure that whatever they found isn’t dangerous or disgusting.”

I shook my head, starting after him. “Oh how far you’ve come from your testosterone-laden roots, Cal Amity.”

He nodded as I fell in beside him. “Being an adult sucks. But I’ve got to work with what I have.” He slid me a look, eyes narrowed. “You might want to try it sometime.”

“Ha. Ha, ha.”

The kids looked up as we approached, their grubby little faces filled with excitement.

“What did you find?” Cal asked.

The gritty mob stepped aside until the boy in the middle was exposed. Unlike the other kids, he didn’t seem eager to share his find. “Finders keepers, mister.”

He was holding what looked like a long, bamboo stick with some kind of t-shaped PVC pipe on one end. The other end was jagged as if some of the bamboo had broken off.

“Where did you find that,” Cal asked. He moved closer, examining the PVC end.

The little girl who’d been carrying the cooler piped up. “It was sthtuck in the mud.”

“Where?” Cal asked.

She showed him a spot at the edge of the bayou where the mud was churned.

Cal extended a hand. “Can I see it?”

I couldn’t imagine why Cal was so interested in a broken piece of flotsam from the bayou. “What is it?”

He took the stick and let it slide through his hands, examining the piping glued onto the end. “It’s a homemade push pole.” He glanced up at me. “I’ve seen one like it before.”

“Really? Where?”

“In the bottom of Lyle Borne’s boat.”

He held my gaze as if willing me to understand. For a moment I drew a mental blank. Then it hit me. “The murder weapon.”

Cal nodded. “I think Sheriff Lee would probably like to have this pole.”

“Hey!” The kid who’d found the pole exclaimed.

Cal didn’t miss a beat. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, extracting a wad of small bills. He gave each kid two dollars. “Why don’t you go get yourself some ice cream?” The kids squealed and took off running toward Main Street.

He handed the kid who’d found the stick a five. “This is evidence in an investigation. I’m sorry to have to confiscate it.”

The kid took one look at the five dollar bill and blew a raspberry. “I found a rusty paint can last week. It even had some dried paint in the bottom. I’ll sell you that for a tenner.”

Cal turned away, heading for the Jeep. “Don’t press your luck, kid.”

A familiar truck pulled up and parked alongside the Jeep as Cal and I returned to the
Backwater Inn
with our clue. Gertie rolled down the window and waved. “Hey there! We just ran into Lena in town and she wanted us to bring you out to her shop. You want to go right now?”

I glanced at Cal.

“Go ahead. I’m going to talk to the sheriff. Maybe he can get this deputy of his on the phone and I can talk to him about this.” Cal lifted the broken pole. “Try to find out if she knows where Lyle was when Bubba was killed.”

I nodded. “See ya later.”

He reached out and grabbed my wrist. “Be careful, Felly.”

My gaze caught on his and my stomach jumped a little. The pet name sounded good coming from him and warmth pooled somewhere in the vicinity of my heart. “I will.”

I climbed into the back seat of the ancient truck and slammed the door.

Gertie half turned in her seat. “He’s not at all hard to look at is he?”

I had to smile. “No. He certainly isn’t.”

Ida Belle backed the truck out and hit the gas, sending a cloud of dust up behind us. I quickly strapped on my seat belt. “You two an item?” she asked me.

“No. I have no interest in a relationship right now.”

Ida Belle slapped her palm on the steering wheel. “Smart girl. Men just get in the way of doing what you need to do.”

Gertie nodded her head enthusiastically.

“So, what do you
really
want to see Lena for?” Ida Belle’s narrowed gaze met mine in the rear view mirror.

I blinked, taken back by her blunt question. “What do you mean?”

Gertie gave me a knowing smile. “It’s obvious you and Mr. Gorgeous are investigating Bubba’s death. We’d like to help if we can.”

“I’m just trying to find my father.”

Gertie and Ida Belle shared a look. Ida Belle’s dark gaze found the mirror again. “Bubba wasn’t your father?”

I could have kicked myself for speaking without thinking. “Actually, no. He wasn’t. My father called me a couple of hours ago.”

Gertie grinned. “That’s really good news.”

“Yes. It is.” I frowned.

“That’s not exactly your happy face, Felicity,” Gertie probed gently.

I dithered silently. My gut told me to keep everything we knew to myself. After all, we didn’t know anybody in Sinful and we had no idea who might be after my father. But somehow I didn’t think the two friendly but nosy old women in the front seat were hired guns. And they did know the goings on in Sinful better than Cal or I ever would. So I decided to take a chance.

As Ida Belle drove the old pickup out of town, in the direction Cal and I had gone that morning to speak to Lyle Borne, I laid out everything we’d learned so far, including the recent discovery of the push pole.

They listened quietly and then Gertie said. “We really should get Fortune.”

“We can’t,” her partner in crime said a little more firmly than warranted. The old ladies shared a look. “She has a…thing.”

Gertie bit her bottom lip and nodded. “You’re right. It’s just that this sounds like it’s right up her all—”

“So, Felicity, what information do you need from Lena?” Ida Belle interrupted her friend.

Fascinated as I was by the interplay between the two women, I was relieved to have their help with the investigation. Lena Borne knew them and she would probably open up to them much more quickly than she would to me. “I need to find out where Lyle was at the time Bubba was killed.”

“You really think Lyle killed Bubba?”

I shrugged. “Right now he’s our strongest suspect.”

“I
have
seen those PVC pipe push poles before,” Ida Belle offered. “I think they come from a shop in Mudbug but Lena sells them in her shop.”

That probably explained Deputy LeBlanc’s visit to Mudbug. “Add that to Bubba’s boat parked at his dock, the alligator hunting thing, and the fact that he himself admitted he found the body and didn’t turn it in…” I trailed off, letting the women come to their own conclusion.

“Okay. We’ll find out where Lyle was. Anything else?” Ida Belle asked.

“We need to figure out…if it
was
Lyle…why he wants my father dead.”

Gertie’s eyes widened. “That one might be harder.”

“Yeah. I know. But there’s some connection between Bubba’s murder and my father. I just need to figure out what it is.”

The truck rumbled over an old, wooden bridge that I didn’t remember from our earlier drive. A weathered wooden sign was painted with the words,
Alligator Bridge
. Francine’s story about Bubba riding the bike out of town in this direction played through my mind. I wondered if he’d been heading for Lena’s shop. “Her shop’s pretty far out of town isn’t it?”

“She used to have a shop on Main Street but Lena decided it was too expensive to maintain. So she bought an old fishing shack right on the bayou and she says she gets twice the traffic from fishermen and tourists now. It’s really kind of a cool place,” Gertie said.

Ida Belle slowed and turned at a sign that read simply,
Lena’s
.

We bounced down a rutted dirt drive that wound through a veritable forest of big old cypress trees. The thick drape of Spanish moss gave the place an old world, slightly haunted feeling that made me shiver.

Straight ahead was a small cabin on tall stilts, its weathered sides were nearly black with age and the tin roof was pitted and stained but otherwise looked to be in pretty good shape.

A single car sat in the small gravel lot. It was a tan Buick four door, as nondescript as a car could be.

As we climbed out of the truck something screamed out on the bayou. The sound was pitched high with terror and I jumped, wincing.

Ida Belle chuckled. “Gator’s got to eat.”

I shuddered in revulsion. Survival of the fittest was not my favorite of Mother Nature’s laws.

A cheerful bell sounded as we opened the door. The smell of cinnamon hit me as I entered the shop, a soft breeze wafting it around the room. The place was bright and airy, the walls made of old wood painted a bright, clean white. A variety of fishing items filled the right half of the store, and on the other side were several racks filled with purses like the one I’d gotten and leather belts. I guessed they were alligator, though I didn’t know if it was genuine. A circular rack in the center of the space held a collection of straw hats, some plain and utilitarian, and some covered in bright feathers and pretty flowers. A few of them had veils tacked along the brim, no doubt for keeping mosquitoes and other flying pests away from the wearer’s face.

I was drawn into the shop like a moth to a flame, barely noting the arrival of Lena Borne as I reached to fondle the pretty straw hats.

“You must be Felicity Chance.”

I turned to find a woman about my height, with blonde hair and slightly tilted green eyes. Her face was pretty, with high cheekbones and a delicate nose. I had a lot of trouble putting her together with her brother Lyle.

I shook the offered hand. “Lena?”

She inclined her head. “Lyle called and told me about your visit to the house.” She frowned. “I understand you need to talk to everybody after what happened to your father…” Her gaze slid toward a wide, open window that overlooked the water. The soft breeze seemed to be coming through its dented screening. “It’s such a shame.” Amazingly, her pretty eyes filled with tears. “I spoke to Bubba often. He used to ride his bike past the shop and sometimes I’d offer him lemonade.”

My pulse picked up. “He rode past the shop? Do you know where he went from here?”

She shook her head. “Unfortunately, no.” She sniffled and her light green gaze cleared. “Surely it doesn’t matter now, though.”

I had no intention of telling her my father was alive. Besides, after traipsing all over Sinful for two days talking to people about him, I was starting to feel slightly responsible for poor Bubba. “We might learn something about who killed him if we can find where he lived.”

She held my gaze for a moment and then sighed. “And you believe Lyle had something to do with it, don’t you?”

I shrugged. “He couldn’t give us an alibi for the time of the murder. And Bubba’s boat is parked at your dock.”

She shook her head, the bright curls of her long, blonde hair dancing softly around her shoulders. I told him to go to the sheriff with the boat. I didn’t know he’d taken it from Number Two,” she quickly clarified. When I nodded she went on. “He told me he’d found it drifting loose in the bayou. I had no reason to doubt him.”

“Do you know where Lyle was that day, Lena?” Ida Belle’s voice was firm, as if she knew the other woman would resist giving up the information.

Lena glanced from Ida Belle to me, looking slightly panicked. “I…Lyle didn’t want you to know why he was on Number Two, Ida Belle. And it had nothing to do with Bubba.”

Ida Belle’s eyes narrowed. “He’s got a still out there doesn’t he?”

Lena nodded. “I’m sorry. He’s not trying to undercut your business, Ida Belle. I promise. It’s just that we really need the extra money the shine brings in. He sells it outside of Sinful. Mostly.”

I had a feeling what the qualification was all about. I’d seen the array of bottles behind the counter at the back of the store. “He sold some to Bubba, didn’t he?”

Lena nodded. “Yes. He did. And I sold some of it here. But only to tourists, Ida Belle. People who came from other cities so we didn’t cut into your market.” She looked so worried about what Ida Belle would think that I felt sorry for her. It was obvious she didn’t mean any harm.

I touched her arm and she looked my way. Her green gaze sparkled with unshed tears again. “I love my new purse. And your shop is wonderful.”

She smiled and it transformed her small, pale face. “Thanks, Felicity. Just keep an eye on that tooth pull. If it ever falls off give me a call and I’ll send you a new one.”

“I’d like to buy a couple more of these purses for my friends back home. Can you show me what you’ve got?”

“I’d love to.”

CHAPTER NINE

By the time we left
Lena’s
a half hour later, I could barely walk for all the bags I was carrying. Once I got started I’d had trouble stopping. I bought purses for two of my friends, a smaller shoulder bag for myself, and then couldn’t resist getting one of the pretty straw hats for sunbathing. Then Lena showed me her collection of light cotton sun dresses, handmade and hand beaded by local women, and I was lost.

Ida Belle opened the door of the truck for me and I climbed in, my bags catching on every conceivable surface before I managed to wrench myself free and fall into the back seat, head first, butt out.

Lucky me, Gertie was there to give my butt a shove and launch me across the seat. My cheek scraped across the old fabric of the seat and I landed with a grunt on top of the bag with my purses in it. “Thanks a lot, Gertie.”

She climbed into the front seat as Ida Belle turned the key. “Glad to help.”

“It was nice of you to buy all that stuff from Lena,” Ida Belle said.

I shoved myself upright and rubbed my cheek, wondering if it had fabric burn. “I was happy to help her out, but I promise I bought all that stuff because I loved it.”

Paper crackled in Gertie’s vicinity and she shoved a chunk of dark chocolate fudge into her mouth. “I mph thst fpudch.”