by Sutter, C M
“He’s the real deal, a true swamper who knows everything that goes on in Terrebonne Parish. If word gets around, it goes through that man first.”
“Then why didn’t you tell us about him before?” I asked.
“Because you won’t get within a mile of his home without his okay. He won’t let you on his property unless I’m with you, and I need his permission to bring you in.”
Renz huffed. “And what makes you so special?”
“I saved him from the jaws of a gator years back, and that’s what makes me special. We’re connected.”
“When can you talk to him?” I asked.
“Jade, we don’t need to get sidetracked with unreliable sources. Let’s see if anything pans out at the hunting club, and then you and I will discuss it later,” Renz said.
“Okay, fair enough.” I turned to Bob. “But can you clear it with him just in case so we aren’t wasting time?”
Bob smiled. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Chapter 46
Renz and I sat in the parking lot at the hunting club and waited for the first car to show up. It was six thirty, and the budget committee meeting was scheduled to begin at seven. Seconds later, two more cars arrived.
“Let’s go introduce ourselves and tell them why we’re here,” Renz said.
We climbed out of the Explorer and approached the men, who were walking toward the building together.
Renz called out. “Excuse us.”
The men turned around and waited for us to catch up. We already had our credentials out.
Renz made the introductions and asked who was in charge.
A man named Travis Coltrane spoke up. “We all have equal status here, just different roles. What can we help you with, Agents?”
Renz tipped his head toward the building. “Let’s talk inside.”
Coltrane opened the door and led the way down the hall. We passed the room where their budget committee meeting was to be held, and folders sat on the table and a whiteboard sat on an easel near the back wall. We continued on, turned right at the end of the hall, and entered what looked to be a banquet room.
“We can talk in here,” Coltrane said. “This is where we hold our new-member presentation videos and parties.”
“Speaking of new members, we’ll need to see who signed up Wednesday night.”
“May I ask what this is about?” Coltrane asked.
The men sat and offered us the seats across from them, then I explained our concerns.
“Are Billy Bennett and Mark LaFleur part of your budget committee?”
Donald Bales spoke up. “Yep, and I’m sure they’ll be here any minute.”
“That’s highly unlikely, sir,” I said. “It appears that both Billy and Mark have gone missing.”
“What? How, when?”
“That’s what we’re investigating,” Renz said. “We believe their disappearance is related to a case we were called into Louisiana to work.”
Coltrane looked from Renz to me. “And what is that?”
I wasn’t sure Renz wanted everyone in Houma to know about the human remains that had been discovered in several locations throughout the parish, so I kept quiet and allowed him to field the question. He gave me a quick glance before speaking.
“On Monday, Billy and Mark discovered human bones while they were hog hunting off Bayou Dularge Road. They must have discussed that incident with people they knew, and now they’re missing and have been since yesterday morning. My question, because they were both here Wednesday night, is if they discussed what they found with any of you before or during the new-member cocktail party?”
Bales responded. “We all knew about it, and there was quite a buzz going on at the club that night. I doubt if it was because we had a half dozen new members.”
Renz continued. “Did any of you hear about a business meeting Billy was going to yesterday morning?”
The men looked at each other and shrugged.
“I don’t think so. At least I didn’t hear anything,” Coltrane said.
The other men replied the same way.
“Okay, then how about a look at the new-member applications? Maybe one of those guys brought up an opportunity at the cocktail party.”
“Sure, I’ll make copies,” Don said. “I’ll tell the other guys that the budget meeting is going to be delayed for a bit too.”
Don returned within five minutes and took his seat. He passed five sheets of paper across the table to us, and I picked them up and flipped through them.
“So you have five new members as of Wednesday night. Were any of them men you knew before they joined?”
Coltrane answered. “Only Drew Moore. The others were strangers.”
“Okay, and it looks like their names and addresses are included too. That should help.”
“Can you keep us informed, Agents? We’d sure hate to hear that something serious happened to Billy and Mark.”
I gave him a nod as I stood but knew it was too late. Something bad had happened all right, that was evident, and we needed to find out what that was and who was responsible. We thanked them and left.
“I’m beat,” Renz said as he drove to the hotel. “Let’s have supper and call it a day. Taft wants an update, and I’m sure I’ll be on the phone with her for a while.”
I was fine with that. I wanted to check into those new members first thing tomorrow then find out if Bob had gotten the okay for us to interview Beauregard Rue, but from the way Renz sounded earlier, he wasn’t on board and likely thought the man was an old geezer with nothing verifiable to say.
We had supper in the hotel’s restaurant then said our good nights at my door. After a much-needed shower to wash the day’s humidity off my body, I crawled into bed and searched the name Beauregard Rue on my laptop. Nothing came up. I did the same for Robert Hebert and found hundreds of entries throughout the state. With a groan, I shut down my computer and plugged it in for the night then made my evening call to Amber.
Chapter 47
After the Explorer was parked in the hotel’s lot, Robby watched the two agents enter the building. He assumed they were done snooping around for the night. He wondered how it went at the hunting club and didn’t feel at all good when he saw Jade walk out with sheets of paper in hand.
Stupid bitch probably has copies of the new-member applications. Hopefully, the name Robert Williams of Dulac means nothing to them, but I have a feeling they’ll come calling.
Robby turned the key in the ignition and aimed the headlights for home. He grinned and anticipated a night filled with beer and cheap entertainment. After all, Sally was hanging out there. He laughed at the irony of it, and he was sure the water in the trough had to be near the boiling point by then.
It was ten o’clock by the time Robby turned onto his narrow gravel driveway. The truck jarred him as it bounced and hit every pothole of the half-mile drive. He cut the engine and parked, then he peered out the windshield with the headlights pointed at the victim tree. He smiled when he saw Sally. Blood, long since dried, covered her face from where it had been pummeled against the truck’s dashboard. He grabbed his flashlight from the glove box and climbed out then walked to her. Robby shined the light in her face, and although her eyes were swollen closed, she still squinted from the light.
“Enjoying the night, Sally? It sure is nice out with the crickets chirping and owls hooting. I have a hot bath prepared for you. That has to sound good, right?”
She tried to scream, but with tape covering her mouth, her efforts were useless.
“I have two hundred acres of wilderness and swamps back here. There’s nobody within miles that can hear you.”
She struggled against the ropes, tearing her skin in the process.
“You know gators can smell blood. There’s all kinds of venomous snakes out here, too, so if I were you, I’d try to stay as inconspicuous as possible. That is, unless you want to be eaten alive. Truth be told, I’d rather fill my cooler than let the wild
life have you, so settle your ass down.”
Robby walked away to check the water in the trough.
Son of a bitch, the fire went out, and the water isn’t even hot.
He looked back at her and made up his mind.
What the hell. I’d rather deal with her in the daylight than mess around now when I can’t see if sneaky critters are getting too close.
He yelled back as he headed to the house. “Consider this your lucky night. You’re going to live to see another sunrise.” Robby climbed the stairs and went inside. He would have an early morning if he wanted to kill and process Sally before the agents arrived, but he would do his best to convince Jade to come alone.
Hours passed, and Pete’s barking wakened him from a dead sleep. That was definitely unusual. Robby sprang out of bed, fumbled in the dark for the flashlight he’d left on the crate near the front door, and turned it on.
“What are you barking about, Pete?”
Robby peered out the window that faced the driveway. He didn’t see any headlights. The sky was just beginning to lighten up to where he could make out the shapes of the trees that surrounded his house. He grumbled as he put on his shoes. Pete scratched at the door. Something was going on outside, and it unnerved Robby. A gator had likely made its way to Sally or farther. It could be anywhere, and Robby didn’t want to deal with the gator lunging at him as he walked the yard.
Maybe I should wait another half hour. The sun will be up, and I’ll be able to see without the flashlight.
Robby pulled a chair to the window and took a seat. He watched the driveway and waited for daylight. If anyone was sneaking up on him, he planned to be ready. His rifle was only a foot away.
The dog’s constant growling and barking told Robby that something or someone was near, but he wasn’t about to risk his life to find out what it was. It would either wander off or be shot as soon as Robby got a bead on it through his scope.
As he waited, he thought about Jade Monroe and how to disable her. She carried her gun everywhere she went, and Robby didn’t want to end up on the business end of that barrel. He would have to blindside her, just like he did with everyone else. He would take her into the house, pretending that Beau was waiting for them, then club her into unconsciousness. Killing and cooking a federal agent would be a great accomplishment, but getting away with it would be even better.
Robby glanced at the alarm clock on the windowsill. It was a few minutes before six and light enough outside for him to see what the problem was. He took his rifle and Pete and headed out the door and down the stairs to the yard. He steered clear of the stilted area under the house where the shade made it too dark to see. A gator could be lurking there. Robby walked out to the yard and glanced at the tree where Sally was tied. He squinted—his eyes had to be playing tricks on him. She wasn’t there. He spun, looked again, and scanned the yard. There was nobody in sight.
“No, no, no! She couldn’t have gotten away. No way in hell!”
He ran to the tree, hoping that if nothing else, a gator had ripped her apart and eaten her, but he didn’t find any blood or remnants of clothing. She was just gone. Strands of rope were snagged in the tree bark, and he cursed his bad luck.
“She freed herself? You’ve got to be kidding!”
Robby ran through the yard, searched the area where the swamp met the ground, then checked the outbuildings—nothing. Her escape was likely why Pete had been barking. Sally had found a way to get loose and wandered around in the dark. She was gone, and as soon as she hit the road and flagged down a passerby, Robby would be screwed. There was also the chance that somebody had already picked her up. He ran along the water’s edge again and into the woods, where he found a muddy shoe. Robby knelt and picked it up. He looked out into the woods as far as he could see then toward the water. No movement caught his eye.
“She can’t get far with only one shoe, and if she steps on a snake, she’s a goner.”
He returned to the house, grabbed his keys, and headed for his truck. If he saw her on the road, he’d hit her, toss her into the back, and finish her off at home. Finding her was more important than anything else at that moment. Robby looked both ways at the end of the driveway. Going left would take Sally deeper into bayou country that was far less civilized, and going right would lead her into Dulac. He had to go right. If she’d actually made it to the road, it was five more miles before she would reach the gas station on the south edge of town. Robby spun the tires and kicked up gravel as he turned right out of the driveway. He had to drive slowly and watch out the passenger-side window into the swampland. If Sally was still wandering through the woods, he would see her making her way to the road. If she’d reached the road, that would be her safety net unless Robby found her first. But if she was headed deeper into the swamps and waterways, that would surely lead to her death.
He spent the next hour driving back and forth down a two-mile stretch of Four Point Road. Robby doubted that she could have gotten farther than that, especially when she had to find her way out of the swamp first.
Maybe a gator or a snake got her and I’m worrying for nothing. Someone as stupid as her and with only one shoe on probably wouldn’t even know which direction the road was.
After finally giving up, Robby headed home and decided to track her movements through the swamp instead. It was probably the only way to find her, and if and when he did, she would be in a world of hurt.
Back at the shack, he grabbed his pistol and headed into the brush where he’d found the shoe more than an hour earlier. Robby spotted her footsteps in the muddy undergrowth and began following them. Luckily, she’d headed opposite the road and deeper into the swamp. A half hour and dozens of mosquito bites later, he saw evidence of what could have been a scuffle along the banks of the bayou. It appeared that she might have slipped in the mud and slid into the alligator-infested waters. The ground was torn up, and Robby saw a strip of pink material. He remembered her shorts being pink.
Good, the gators must have sunk their teeth into her after all. Now to get back home, clean up, and head to Houma. Today will be a day to remember.
Chapter 48
It was eight thirty, and Renz and I had just arrived at the sheriff’s office with our drive-through breakfast and large coffees. We had to forego the Continental breakfast at the hotel since there was an issue with the refrigeration unit and the breakfast room was closed.
Conway gave the half-opened door a rap. I looked up and waved him in.
“Anything come to light from the hunting club?” he asked.
“We’ve got the new-member names to check out today, but as far as anyone knowing what happened to Billy or Mark, nope. Nobody heard whispers of a business opportunity meeting Billy was going to Thursday morning either.”
“What’s happening on the local front? Anything we should worry about?” Renz asked.
He swatted the air. “Not really. Just a squabble between a boyfriend and girlfriend out at Zimmerman Park yesterday and now the boyfriend can’t reach her.”
I frowned. “If he was a jackass to her, I wouldn’t want to be reached either.”
Conway shrugged. “Unless she actually comes up missing, I’m leaving it to the boyfriend to track her down. It was their fight, and we can’t intervene in every argument between couples.”
Renz agreed with a huff. “True enough, and you’d never get anything accomplished if you did.”
After pulling my laptop from my briefcase, I set it up. “So, we’re checking out the new members at the hunting club, and then?”
“Then hope one of them has a record that we’ll dig further into.”
I rubbed my chin as I thought. “They couldn’t own a firearm if they had a felony record, and why would anyone pay a five-thousand-dollar membership fee if they didn’t own a gun?”
Renz sighed. “And it isn’t the norm for someone with a misdemeanor record to advance to murder. Let’s just check the names one at a time, see if any of them have records, and d
ecide after that.”
“I’d still like to have a talk with Beauregard Rue.” I waited for a response and tried to read Renz’s expression.
He finally spoke up. “If you really want to go, then you should, but I’m not wasting my time. Personally, I think Bob is also a waste of time, but that’s just my opinion. If you do go, take a deputy along, and I’ll have a deputy help me on this end with interviewing the club members if it seems warranted.”
I was pleasantly surprised that Renz didn’t flat-out say no, but knocking that off the to-do list was important. Either the man wouldn’t have anything worthwhile to tell me or we could get a real lead that we wouldn’t have known about otherwise. No matter what, I was intrigued.
“I promise I won’t waste time there, Renz. I’ll see if he knows anything that could be helpful and then leave. We’ve only got one more day here, and then we have to let it go unless something pops. Honestly, between today and tomorrow, that isn’t a lot of time.”
“Yeah, okay. Maybe splitting up and getting double the work done isn’t the worst idea.”
I thanked Renz then turned to Conway. “Do you have a deputy I can use for a few hours?”
“Yep, I’ll go find somebody for you.”
Seconds later, there was another knock on the door—it was Bob.
“Morning, Agents.”
I smiled. “You seem chipper today.”
“Chipper enough, I guess. The sun is shining, the humidity is down, and Beauregard Rue said he’d allow one person to come onto his property with me.”
Renz tapped his pen against the table. “Tell me something, Bob.”
“Sure thing, Agent DeLeon.”
“Why are people here so skittish around law enforcement?”
“Hmm, guess I haven’t given that much thought. There’s no particular reason, aimed at police, I mean. People just like their privacy. Folks around here are kind and helpful to one another. We’re like one big family, but outsiders cause their antennas to go up. It doesn’t matter if you’re a cop or a traveling salesman, locals are just suspicious of strangers—stranger danger, remember? If you lived here, you’d see people in a different light.”
