Missing in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law Mystery/Romance Series) (22 page)

Mildred’s anxiety extended to her driving and Jadyn cringed as the older woman barreled down the highway at a good twenty miles per hour faster than her normal speed, especially since Jadyn was well aware the air bags were currently missing in Mildred’s car. In between worrying that Mildred would get them to the hospital safely, Jadyn wondered what Raissa had to tell.

Would she remember everything that had happened? Lots of times people had lapses of memory when something traumatic happened. Granted, Raissa was better qualified than most to handle extreme pressure, but those marks on her wrists and ankles were no joking matter. Whoever had held her was cruel, and Jadyn worried about what else they’d done to her.

When they reached the hospital, Mildred practically jumped out of the car before the engine died, and Jadyn rushed after her. They stopped short in the waiting room, and Jadyn whistled, taking in the two sides of the room, divided for war. On one side was Mildred, Maryse, and Colt. On the other was Agent Ross and three of his minions.

“You’re out of line,” Ross said to Colt. “This is my case and Raissa is my witness.”

Colt’s jaw flexed and Jadyn could tell he was beyond angry. “More importantly, she’s the victim. She’s specifically asked to speak to her friends first. You’re welcome to go in and try to get her to talk, but I have to tell you, I don’t think you’ll get anywhere. She’s as stubborn as the rest of us.”

“You all have interfered with this investigation from the beginning.”

Maryse stepped forward and stuck her finger in Ross’s face. “It’s a damned good thing we did, since we’re the ones who found her. What have you accomplished?”

Ross sneered. “I don’t answer to you.”

“That’s a shame, because apparently, I’m a lot smarter than you.”

“Excuse me.” A doctor stepped into the room, nervously glancing at the people gathered. “Ms. Bordeaux is asking for her friends. Are you all here?”

Ross flashed the doctor his badge. “No one is speaking to Agent Bordeaux until after I’m through with her.”

The doctor frowned. “I’m afraid that’s not possible. Ms. Bordeaux’s instructions were specific, and given her precarious health, I’m not about to upset her. You can wait here until she asks for you, or I can ask her to give you a call.”

The doctor turned to look at them. “I assume you are the friends she’s referring to?”

“Yes,” Maryse said and shot a smug look at Ross as they followed the doctor through the double doors. Jadyn didn’t bother to hold in her grin and she strolled past Ross.

They followed the doctor down the hall and he directed them into a room.
 

The woman propped up in the hospital bed looked far better than she did in the boat the night before. More bruises were starting to form on her arms, but some of the color had returned to her face. She looked up as they entered, and smiled.

Maryse and Mildred ran across the room and hugged her, careful to avoid her bandaged head. They held one another and whispered for a bit. Jadyn shuffled, feeling like she was intruding on a private moment.

When they finally released her, Maryse waved Jadyn over and introduced her. Raissa shook her hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you,” she said.

Jadyn nodded. “You, too. I wish it were under better circumstances.”

Raissa smiled. “No better circumstances than being alive.” She looked at the rest of the group. “So who wants to tell me how I got here? The doctor wouldn’t give me a bit of information other than who brought me in. An Agent Ross has apparently been insisting on talking to me, but I wanted to talk to you guys first—make sure I’m clear on the facts.”

Colt stepped forward and filled her in on what had transpired over the last couple of days. Raissa listened quietly, then whistled when he was done, glancing from Colt to Jadyn. “Sounds like you two got the worst of it. Thank you for ignoring Ross’s directive. He has a reputation at the bureau for strong-arming his way through a crowd to kiss the right ass. If you’d listened to him, I would have died out there.”

No one said a word. They all knew she was right.

“Well,” Raissa said, breaking the silence. “I guess you want to know what happened to me.”

Jadyn’s pulse quickened. “Do you remember?”

She nodded. “Most of it. We got a flat tire after leaving the diner. Zach had just opened the trunk, and I was still in the passenger’s seat, digging in my bag for gum. Some guys pulled up on Harleys and asked if we needed help, but Zach told them no and they went on. Only seconds later, a car pulled up and I figured they were also stopping to see if we needed help.”

“But they weren’t?” Maryse asked.

“No. Three guys jumped out, guns blazing. One had his weapon trained on Zach, one held a gun on me through the driver’s window, which was down, and the other guy came around to the passenger’s side and opened the door, telling me to get out.”

“Did you recognize them?” Colt asked.

Raissa shook her head. “Never seen them before, but based on their accents, they were all Creole or part. So I got out, and one of the guys starts searching the car—going through the trunk, the engine, even crawling underneath. Then he orders us to tell him where the merchandise is. We have no idea what he’s talking about, and Zach tells him that.”

“But they don’t believe you,” Jadyn said.

“Not for a minute. The guy who asked me to leave the car reaches inside and pulls my badge from my purse. He flashes it at the others and tells them we’re feds, and they take Zach’s gun and toss it in the swamp. Their driver gets really agitated and says he doesn’t care who we are. No one is going to get him in trouble with the boss for not delivering. He tells us to turn over the merchandise and he’ll let us live. We insist, again, that we have no idea what he’s talking about.”

Raissa took a deep breath and continued. “The driver said to put me in the backseat. That they had ways of making me talk. One of the guys clocked Zach with the butt of his pistol. Zach hit the ground, but as they shoved me in the backseat, I could see him starting to stir. The driver took off in their car and the other two got into mine. When we took off, I got low in case Zach started firing with his backup weapon.”

“He fired an entire magazine,” Colt said.

Raissa nodded. “While he was firing, the guy driving my car spun around. It was rocking like crazy because of the flat tire, but that didn’t slow him down a bit. He drove straight at Zach. Zach reached for a magazine but he didn’t have time to reload. He tried to dive out of the way, but they hit him.”

Her eyes reddened with unshed tears. “The driver spun the car around again and they both laughed, then one of them clocked me with his gun and it was lights out.” Her face tightened with anger. “What was the point of that? They had already gotten away. They didn’t have to hit him and now he’s…”

Mildred sat next to Raissa and put her arm around her. “Some people were just made mean. Don’t you worry about it. I’m certain Zach is going to be fine.”

Raissa smiled at the hotel owner. “Thank you.”
 

She took another breath, then continued her story, telling them how she came to in a camp that fit the description of Bart’s. She told them how two of her captors remained with her and grilled her over the “merchandise.” Apparently, they’d searched the car, but couldn’t find it, and they were growing more agitated as time passed. She tried, but was unable to get them to provide a description of exactly what merchandise they were looking for, which made her wonder if they even knew what they were supposed to retrieve.

She’d faded in and out of consciousness, probably due to a combination of dehydration and the head injury, but recalled all the snippets of conversation she heard—how they’d checked everywhere in the car but the merchandise wasn’t there. How if they botched this job, they wouldn’t get any others, and they could only stall for so long.
 

Colt frowned. “I don’t understand why they focused on you in the first place. What makes them so sure you have what they’re looking for?”

Raissa shook her head. “I don’t know, but they are convinced.”

“And you never got any inkling of what this merchandise is?” Colt asked.

“No, but clearly, it’s worth kidnapping a federal agent and trying to kill another over.”

“How did you get away?” Maryse asked.
 

“They got cocky. I found a beer tab in the couch—the old kind, where you pull it completely off the can. Anyway, the boss wanted to meet with them so rather than risk pissing him off with only one of them showing up, they tied my hands and feet even tighter and both left. I grabbed the beer tab and went to work on my wrists. I cut myself a bit getting the ropes off, but it was a small price to pay.”

“That’s the blood we found on the couch,” Jadyn said.

Raissa nodded. “Unfortunately, once I was free, I had no idea where I was or how to get back to town. I knew that time of day the tide was going out, so I started following the bayou the direction of the tide, figuring it would at least get me closer to town. I underestimated how bad my condition was. I don’t even remember collapsing.”

“You’re here now,” Maryse said, “and that’s all that matters.”

“Except for finding those men,” Colt said.
 

“Luc had work he couldn’t get out of this morning,” Maryse said, “but I’ll call as soon as we get out of here and fill him in. He’s going to ask around and see if the facts ring a bell with anyone. He’ll call you if he gets anything.”

“Excuse me.” The doctor poked his head into the room. “I need to take Ms. Bordeaux for some tests.”

Raissa gave the doctor a nod, then looked back at them. “That’s all I’ve got, guys. I’m sorry it’s not more.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Colt said. “We won’t rest until we find them.”

Mildred and Maryse both gave Raissa a kiss on the cheek and they all filed out of the room and through the lobby, past a still-fuming Ross. No one said a word until they got to the parking lot.

Maryse laughed. “Ross is going to have kittens when he finds out he still can’t talk to Raissa.” Then she sobered. “Luc dropped me off. Can I get a ride with you and Mildred?”

“Of course,” Jadyn said.
 

“Actually,” Colt interrupted, “if you guys don’t mind, I’d like to have Jadyn come with me. There’s some things we need to check on.”

Mildred squeezed Jadyn’s arm. “Be careful.”

Chapter Thirteen

Jadyn followed Colt out of the hospital, mulling over the information Raissa had given them. “So what do you think?” she asked as they climbed into his truck.

He pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward Mudbug. “I’m wondering how three men Raissa has never seen before know where Bart’s camp is. It’s not like it’s a well-traveled area.”

“True. But if you’re planning on talking to Bart, you better hurry. As soon as Ross finds out where she was held, he’ll be all over that angle.”

Colt pressed the accelerator down a bit more. “The tests they’re doing on Raissa should stall Ross long enough for us to question Bart, assuming we can find him, that is.”

“What do you mean?”

“I asked Deputy Nelson for a list of the people he called last night to join the search party. Bart was called but wasn’t in the party, which I thought was odd, given that he’s usually the first to help with that sort of thing. When I asked Deputy Nelson about it, he said the call went straight to voice mail and that Tyler didn’t know where he was.”

Jadyn rolled that piece of information over in her mind. Could the likable Bart be part of something so insidious?
 

“I talked to him night before last in Bill’s Bar,” Jadyn said. “He asked a lot of questions about Ross and the investigation. I didn’t really think anything of it because it seems a normal thing to do, but I suppose it could have been more than that.”

Colt frowned. “After the last couple of weeks, I’m beginning to think that anything is possible.”

“Deputy Nelson said Tyler didn’t know where Bart was—is that unusual? I mean, they aren’t roommates or anything, are they?”

“No. Bart inherited his parents’ place after his dad died. His mom died of cancer years ago. About two years ago, Tyler bought an old soybean farm ten miles west of downtown. The swamp had already swallowed up the fields. If you didn’t know what it was before, you’d never guess.”

“What about—” Jadyn cut off as her cell phone rang. She pulled the phone from her pocket and frowned, not recognizing the number. “Hello,” she answered.

“Is this Jadyn?” a woman asked.

Her voice sounded familiar, but Jadyn couldn’t quite place it. “Yes, this is Jadyn.”

“Hi, this is Dee, the waitress at Ted’s Diner.”

Suddenly, the voice clicked. “Yes, Dee, I remember.”

“You said to call if I heard anything.”

Jadyn tightened her grip on her phone. “And have you?”

“It may be nothing, but I had to cover for Annette on the early shift and something just happened that I think is strange. Anyway, there was this guy, Gordon Pickett, who had a heart attack in the diner last week. They hauled him off in an ambulance, and when I left early the next morning, there was a black Caddy parked right up front. I figure it had to be his.”