Rumble on the Bayou (12 page)

Before he could finish his sentence, Dorie swore and strode off toward the dilapidated cabin, then barged through the front door and went inside. Richard looked at the group of men around the grill and considered his options. He could stay out here with three probable criminals or help Dorie with her breaking-and-entering job. Not that it was exactly breaking and entering. More like just entering.

Finally, curiosity won out and Richard followed Dorie into the shack. He met her in the front room on her way back outside, carrying an ice chest and wearing an expression on her face he'd once seen on a serial killer. He hustled out of the way and let her pass, not even offering to carry the ice chest. Talking was probably at a premium at the moment, and Richard was pretty sure his talking wouldn't be advisable at all.

He followed Dorie out of the shack and back over to where the men sat, where she placed the ice chest on the ground and opened the top. Peering inside, Richard saw five tiny alligators, wrestling around in the shallow water.

"You're going down this time, Clint," Dorie said, obviously straining for control. "You're not getting another warning." She walked back to the jeep and returned with three sets of handcuffs. Tossing a set to Richard, she said, "I'm helping you, the least you can do is help me."

"Hell, Dorie," Clint said, rising from his chair. "You ain't putting those things on me. Now, let's just talk about this for a minute."

"I was done talking the last time, Clint," she said. "Now drop the bottle and put your hands out in front of you."

Clint spat on the ground next to him and gave her a dirty look. "I ain't putting down my bottle for no woman."

His last word still hung in the air when the shot rang out, the bottle shattered and Clint found himself holding what was left of the neck. Richard spun around to look at Dorie and saw her calmly placing her gun back in the holster.

"Drop the rest of that bottle, Clint," Dorie said. "Or I'm taking the fingers with me next time."

"Shit!" Clint said, still looking down at his hand in horror. "You could have shot my hand off, Dorie."

"You know better than that. If I'd have wanted to shoot your hand off, I would have. Now drop that glass and put your hands out."

Richard was fairly certain Clint was drunk, but apparently, he wasn't wasted. He threw the remaining piece of the bottle on the ground as if it were on fire and stuck his hands out in front of him. The other two men jumped up from their chairs and did the same. Dorie looked at the men for a moment, then down at the bayou.

"Tell you what. I have a better idea." She motioned toward the pier at a large floating object made of Styrofoam and wood. "Head on down to the barge."

The men looked confused, but weren't foolish enough to ask questions. When they reached the barge, Dorie motioned them all on board and instructed Richard to start cuffing them around a metal frame with nets attached to it.

"Dorie," Clint protested. "You can't leave us here. For Christ's sake, we can't even reach our things to pee"

"Should have thought about that before you tried to black-market alligators again. I don't have room for you three idiots and an ice chest of baby gators in my jeep. I don't suppose you have to ask which I consider to be more important. And I'm talking to Judge Harvey about garnishing your sales to pay the fines. For all three of you. If I have my way, the Gator Bait game warden will be taking a third of the cut you make off shrimping for a good long time."

The three men began to curse and pull at the cuffs. Dorie fired her gun in the air and all noise and movement ceased. "Keep it up, gentlemen," Dorie said sweetly, "and I won't send Joe for you until tomorrow." She put her gun back in the holster and motioned to Richard to leave.

Dorie lifted the ice chest and gently placed it in the back of her jeep, securing it tightly with rope, then jumped in the driver's seat, her face still flushed with anger. She looked over at Richard, who still stared at her, completely confused by the entire situation.

"Are you coming or not?" she asked. Richard nodded and jumped into the jeep, glancing back at the men handcuffed to the metal frames. This option is better, he thought as he studied Dorie's face, but only barely.

***

Dorie shoved the shifter in gear and tore out of the clearing. She strained to get control of herself but was pretty sure she was losing the battle.
I’d better get a grip fast. The last thing I need is Dick thinking I can't handle things. Especially now.

She glanced over and found him staring intently at her, which unnerved her a bit.

"Are you all right?" he asked. The genuine sound of concern in his voice surprised her, and she felt some of her anger fade away, replaced with a feeling of uneasiness. What is his angle now?

"Yeah," she finally answered. "I'm fine. I'm angry is all."

"Don't you need a warrant to take those things from his house?" Richard asked, curiosity apparently overcoming good common sense.

She shot him a derisive look. "You don't know much about other branches of the law, do you, Dick? As game warden, I can search and seize darn near anything I want in my jurisdiction. All I need is suspicion."

He nodded and studied her face, making her even more uncomfortable. "You sure you're only mad? Because it seems like a lot more than anger to me. It seems almost personal."

She blew out a breath, not wanting to get into her private views on life, but realizing that he probably wouldn't let up until he'd received a somewhat satisfying answer. "Look. I believe all infants have a right to parents, regardless of species. That gator you saw on the grill was the mother, and she tore through that screen door because her babies were in the shack. Females stay with their young for almost a year. Without a mother, they're goners."

"What do you mean?"

"The alligators in that ice chest are newly hatched. They're a prime target for most anything right now. At nine inches long, even birds will eat them. An alligator less than four feet long has a survival chance of less than seventeen percent."

"So what will you do with them?" he asked and glanced back at the ice chest.

“
I don't know yet. I need to make a few phone calls. I'm hoping my friend at the zoo in New Orleans will be interested. If not, my options are limited. I don't want to send them to a farm. It goes against everything I believe as a game warden and the mother came from the preserve."

"A farm? People farm alligators?"

Dorie nodded, disgusted. "It's big business. The skin and meat are worth a ton of money, but no one wants the animal to become extinct, so hunting is only allowed at certain times and in certain areas. The farms fill in all the gaps."

"Can't they be taken care of until they're bigger, then released in the game preserve?"

"Sometimes, but it's hard to do. When I first took over down here, I tried that. The problem is, once they're used to a handout, they don't want to look for their own food. They ended up being a nuisance down at the shrimp house. We have to make a trip there at least once a month because Buster won't keep his traps in good repair, and the gators come up the chutes and into the shrimp house for a meal."

Richard was quiet, and she glanced over at him. He appeared to be in deep thought. "I've got to deal with this," she said. "It can't really wait. I'm sorry, but we'll have to start looking for Roland later on. Maybe by this afternoon, I'll have everything squared away."

He nodded. "That's fine. I've got a few phone calls to make and some paperwork to go over. I'll be at the motel. Give me a call when you're ready."

Dorie blinked, surprised it had been that easy to get rid of him."You should stop by the cafe for lunch," she suggested. "Jenny knows how to run a grill. In fact, if you wouldn't mind, I could use a favor."

"Sure. What do you need?"

"It's almost lunch time and Joe's sure to be there. Tell him I said to pick up the guys at Clint's place but not anytime soon. And be sure and tell him to bring a handcuff key."

"No problem."

Dorie pulled the jeep in front of the sheriff's office and jumped out. She grabbed the ice chest from the backseat and started toward the front door. "I'll see you later," she said over her shoulder. Richard lifted one hand in acknowledgment and walked next door to the cafe.

***

Richard pushed the door of the cafe open and the smell of grilled burgers and fries wafted over him, causing his stomach to rumble. Maybe eating wasn't such a bad idea.

He scanned the small room and spotted Joe sitting in the same spot Richard had found him on Sunday. He was still staring at Jenny, eyes glazed over. This guy had it bad. Not that Richard blamed him. Jenny was a joy to look at. The best-looking woman in town.

Well, except Dorie.

He shook his head and took a seat next to Joe. Where did that come from? It was probably because he'd already seen her half-naked. If he hadn't been so angry at the time, he might have been impressed. Dorie Berenger had a body on her that wouldn't quit. Unfortunately, neither did her mouth. And now that he'd seen her gun-wrangling abilities, he would have to think twice about pissing her off again.

Joe looked over at him as he sat at the counter. "You finished at Boudreaux's already?"

"Yeah, but we ran into some trouble. Dorie has an ice chest of baby alligators she has to find a home for. She asked me to tell you to pick up the guys, but not anytime soon, and be sure to bring a handcuff key. We cuffed them to some floating thing with nets on it."

Joe's expression turned from bland to disgusted. He laid a couple of bucks on the counter, downed the remainder of his coffee, and walked out the door without a word.

"Was it something I said?" Richard asked, completely confused.

"Actually, yes," Jenny said as she turned from the grill and watched Joe pass in front of the glass storefront. "You want coffee?"

Richard nodded and Jenny grabbed a cup and began to pour. "So what did I say that was so bad?" he asked.

Jenny leaned on the counter, pushing back tendrils of long black hair that were escaping her ponytail. "It's not your fault. It's just that Dorie has this thing about all babies having parents. She's real adamant about every living creature being given all the opportunities to life that God meant them to have."

Richard nodded, absorbing the information. “And Joe? Are he and Dorie..." he trailed off, unsure how to phrase the question, and wondering if he had misread the relationship between the deputies.

Jenny looked at Richard in obvious surprise. "No, nothing like that. It's just that when Joe's dad died, the sheriff kind of took him under his wing. Male role model and all that. Joe and Dorie are practically brother and sister."

"Oh." The possessiveness and concern made sense now. And for some reason, it made Richard happy to know for certain that Joe and Dorie had never been an item.

Not that it would ever make a difference. Dorie had made her position clear. She wanted him and his drug smuggler out of her town as soon as possible. No stops for romance. Or sex. Or fun. Or any of the twenty other things Richard could think of to pass time with Dorie if she weren't busy insulting him.

"You like her," Jenny said, and Richard jerked his head up to find Jenny studying him.

"Well, um, yes, I guess so," he stammered, surprised to admit that on some level it was actually true. "I need the help of local law enforcement, and everyone says she's the best even though she's sort of abrasive."

Jenny laughed. "That's Dorie. No one around here takes it that way, though. She's just a great mind caught in a small town. I think she gets frustrated a lot." Jenny sighed. "I really can't blame her. Running this business has shown me the shallow and sometimes idiotic side of humans that I never really wanted to know. I imagine she sees much more of it than I do."

"It's hard to believe she wants to stay," Richard said, unable to help himself. Jenny was the only other person in Gator Bait, besides Pete, willing to have a casual conversation with him at all, and for the first time in years, Richard felt sociable. Besides, maybe Jenny had another take on Dorie Berenger that he hadn't already heard.

Jenny looked at him, clearly surprised at the comment. "Gator Bait's her home. All her family's here, and her daddy needs her."

"But she's never married?"

Jenny studied the wall, a thoughtful look on her face. "No. Never even had a boyfriend that I'm aware of. She's had a fling now and then. Police conferences and such. You know what I mean. But nothing that ever lasted more than a visit or two and a couple of phone calls. Guys don't want to move here and Dorie won't leave."