miss fortune mystery (ff) - bayou backup

by Mary Hiker

  I stuck my hand in one of the plastic bags and used it as a glove to grab Jayne’s pillow case. Then I turned the bag right side out with the pillowcase inside. This way I had her scent article without contaminating it with my own scent. I zipped up the bag and grabbed my search and rescue hip pack. It had all the supplies I would need for both me and the dog. Shiner and I followed Fortune to the Jeep and jumped in the back seat.

  I instructed Fortune and Ida Belle to stay in the Jeep when we got to Gertie’s place and let Shiner and me do our thing with the least amount of distraction. When we rolled up on the scene I noticed that Gertie’s garage door was open, along with the door on the passenger side of the car.

  Shiner sat at attention at the corner of the garage and I opened the baggie in front of his nose to give him a quick whiff of Jayne’s pillowcase. He bobbed his head as he gathered the scent information, turned and raced into the garage and dove in the passenger seat of the car.

  “Good boy,” I said and backed away from the garage. “Find her.”

  Shiner tore through the yard and eventually put his head toward the ground and followed the path of the scent out of Gerties property and into the back yard of another house. Fortune and Ida Belle got out of the Jeep and followed behind us at a distance.

  “This is my house,” Fortune said as she watched my dog work. “Do you think that trail could be older scent? Jayne and Gertie stopped by here the other day.”

  “Not with the way he’s working with such intensity,” I said as I kept close watch on Shiner. “He’s in fresh scent.” I knew my dog’s every motion and nuance.

  Shiner ended up at the water’s edge, stretched his neck out toward the water and lifted his nose in the air. His head bobbed up and down while his body faced out toward the water.

  “Good boy, Shiner,” I said and called him back to me. I had no idea where the gators hung out in Sinful, but I wasn’t about to risk my dog accidently stepping on one. I’d already seen the damage a gator could do in just an instant.

  Shiner ignored me for a second, stepped into the edge of the water and grabbed ahold of a floating object, then ran directly to me. He skidded to a stop at my feet and dropped a brown Croc shoe.

  “Good job,” I said and tossed his toy into the yard as a reward.

  Fortune and Ida Belle gave each other a quick look.

  “Their scent leads out over the water,” I said and picked up the brown Croc. “And this is Jayne’s shoe.”

  Ida Belle’s phone buzzed and she yanked it out in front of her with surprising speed.

  “It’s from Gertie’s phone.”

  “Well, what’s it say?” Fortune asked.

  “CAPTURED. SHACK BAYOU. It’s in all capital letters.”

  “That’s probably, Jayne. She always writes everything in capitals,” I said as I leaned over to inspect the message for myself.

  “There’s a half million shacks out in the bayou,” Ida Belle said as a partial text message came through.

  “DIAMO”

  “Diamo?” Ida Belle squinted at the phone then looked at me. “Do you know anyone named Diamo?”

  “Never heard of him, but if he’s got them in a shack we need to find them.”

  “Fast,” Fortune said.

  “If you can find us a flat bottomed boat so Shiner can get his nose close enough to the water, we can ride along the rows of shacks and see what he comes up with.” I said and tossed Shiner’s toy in the air to calm my nerves.

  “That’s doable,” Fortune said and pulled out her phone.

  “Try to text Gertie’s phone and tell them to get a window open if possible.” I looked at the two ladies with all seriousness. “It will let their scent spread from the building out over the water.”

  “Got it,” Fortune said and started texting.

  “We better call Carter,” I added.

  Fortune and Ida Belle glanced at each other.

  “Not yet. Let’s see what we have first,” Fortune said.

  Something deep inside told me to trust her instincts.

  Ida Belle’s thumbs flew on her phone. “I’ll have a boat here in less than fifteen minutes.”

  I looked out over the moonlit water and hoped it would be fast enough.

  Chapter 9

  Shiner bolted toward the water and dove into the boat before Fortune even got it all the way up to land. I wasn’t a bit surprised. That dog had always gotten hyped up when it was time for a water search. My main concern was that our boat work had always involved looking for a dead body and this time we were looking for live people. At least I hoped they were still alive.

  I got out Jayne’s scent article and said a small prayer that Shiner would realize this was a live search. Ida Belle sat in the back, steering the motor and Fortune sat behind me keeping watch on our immediate surroundings.

  Ida Belle followed my hand signals and placed the boat in just the right track at a nice slow speed. Shiner was on the bow of the boat, focused on sifting out the smells in the area until he found the one we were looking for.

  I wasn’t sure what time it was, but it was definitely still the dark of night. Luckily, the moon was full and cast a glow across the water. It probably wasn’t the best idea to ride a slow boat fairly close to private shacks during the night, but it was our best chance at finding Jayne and Gertie. We had to take the risk.

  The conditions were perfect for Jayne’s scent to float towards Shiner, but so far he hadn’t gotten anything.

  “Do you think he understands what we’re looking for?” Fortune asked as she kept watch with one hand on her pistol.

  “I believe so,” I answered and raised my arm over my head and motioned to Ida Belle. “Keep going.”

  About a hundred yards further down the bayou, Shiner’s muscles tightened and he stood at attention, stretching his neck toward something in the air.

  “He’s got something,” I whispered to Fortune.

  She got a firm grip on her gun.

  “Give us a chance to pinpoint it,” I said and kept my eyes fixed on Shiner.

  As we passed by an old wooden shack, Shiner moved down the side of the boat, trying to stay in the strongest source of scent.

  The small shack had a short dock and looked pretty run down from what I could see in the moonlight. There was a little porch in front and the small window had been broken out. A flat bottom boat was tied off to the dock.

  If this had been a normal search, we would zig zag the boat through the water following the scent cone to its source. But we couldn’t afford draw any additional suspicion. The other option was to release the dog on land, but I didn’t want Shiner running along the banks where an alligator might be lurking.

  Once we were out of sight from the shack, I raised my hand, signaling Ida Belle to stop. “Shiner hit on that little shack back there. I have no doubt that Jayne is in there, or she has been recently.”

  Fortune and Ida Belle nodded.

  Shiner paced at the front of the boat in an agitated state – he wanted to get back to the scent – which made me even more convinced Jayne’s scent was back at that old shack.

  I just hoped that Gertie was still with her.

  Chapter 10

  Fortune pulled out a gun…then another.

  Ida Belle switched places with me and I took over driving the boat. She picked up a shotgun from under her seat and prepared to dismount. I put a leash on Shiner and tied it around my waist so he wouldn’t take off after Jayne’s scent when I drove up to the shack.

  It was a crude plan and it relied on the element of surprise, but it was all we had. I brought the boat in nice and easy and pulled right up to the dock.

  Fortune and Ida Belle jumped out of the boat and made it on to the dock. Our surprise part didn’t go as planned when the old dock creaked from their presence and I accidently created a loud bump when I sideswiped the parked boat.

  My heart skipped and I lost my breath when two burly looking guys flew out of the front door of the shack brandishing
hand guns. Fortune easily handled both men and flipped them into the bayou without their weapons.

  I put my arm around Shiner and said, “You have better picked the right shack buddy, because if those guys are innocent we’re in a lot of trouble.”

  A brown croc shoe flew out the broken window and landed in the boat. Yep, this was the right place.

  Ida Belle went inside the shack with her shot gun drawn, as Fortune ran around back. I heard a man behind the shack let out a girlie scream and figured Fortune took care of him too.

  Jayne emerged from the front door, wearing her backpack and duct tape covering her mouth. Gertie followed behind, still busy unwrapping rope from her hands. Ida Belle flew by them and raced around to the back of the shack.

  Shiner barked toward the water, as one of the men swam to shore and crawled onto the porch. He pulled out a switchblade as he struggled to get to his feet. “Where are my diamonds?” he growled.

  Jayne grabbed a cast iron frying pan that hung on the porch post and swung it upside the guy’s head, dropping him like a rock. Gertie stepped over the man, kicked his knife into the water and used the rope to tie him to the porch post.

  As Jayne pulled the tape off her mouth, Ida Belle and Fortune came back around the side of the shack. Fortune had her arm around Ida Belle’s shoulder and hopped on one foot. It looked like she really mangled her ankle this time.

  “The guy back there won’t be waking up for a while,” Ida Belle said as they reached the dock.

  “Let’s get these two to safety while we can,” Fortune said as she hobbled into my boat. “Call Carter and get him out here to make the arrests.”

  “He’s on his way,” Ida Belle said as she texted in the moonlight. “Let’s take their boat so they have no escape.”

  Gertie jumped the boat with me while Jayne rode back in the other boat with Ida Belle. We took off and raced back to Fortune’s property in no time flat.

  When we landed, Jayne ran up and gave me a big hug, rocking me back and forth with her overwhelming joy. Funny, I didn’t mind it this time and was happy to see her.

  Gertie noticed Fortune’s ankle and shook her head.

  “You’re gonna need to rest your ankle longer this time. It wasn’t fully healed from Celia’s wheelchair scandal last Sunday and now you’re injured again.”

  “Let’s worry about my ankle later,” Fortune said and hobbled across her yard. “I want to know who nabbed you two and whether they have friends that are going to come back and try again.”

  Gertie’s eyes were bright and she could hardly contain herself, “Let’s go inside.”

  Chapter 11

  After the adrenaline rush of the kidnapping and rescue had worn off, Gertie and Jayne seemed punch drunk and giggled like school girls as we sat around Fortune’s kitchen table drinking coffee while Shiner took a nap by my feet.

  “Ready to show them?” Gertie asked.

  Jayne nodded excitedly, took off her backpack and slid it across the table to Gertie. “Do you want to do the honors?”

  Gertie pulled out a knife from under her shirt somewhere and made a big show of lining up the blade in just the right spot on the backpack, then proceeded to cut a long strip out of the side of the material.

  “Get on with it already,” Ida Belle said and rolled her eyes. “You’re not doing surgery.”

  Jayne and Gertie ignored Ida Belle as they huddled together over the backpack. When the operation was complete, the two of them leaned their heads together and looked inside the slit.

  “There they are,” Jayne said, her mouth open with awe. She reached inside the secret pouch, pulling out a handful of gems. “Granny’s diamonds!”

  Ida Belle nodded and smiled while Fortune and I sat there dumbfounded. Apparently the three of them knew something we didn’t.

  Ida Belle grabbed the backpack and held it toward us. “Do you see this embroidery?” She ran her hand across the colorful stitching. “There are only thirteen people in the United States who would recognize that.”

  “You’re friends with master embroidery ladies?” I rubbed my head, still trying to connect the dots.

  “No.” Ida Belle laughed. “That design was used during secret missions by your Grandmother in Vietnam to identify allies that needed protection.” Ida Belle sat up a little straighter. “Your Grandma was a very brave woman and one of Gertie’s mentors.”

  Gertie grabbed the pack and ran her hand over the embroidery. “When I saw that design, I knew your Grandma was sending a message to protect the one who wore it.” She winked at my cousin. “And we used to hide secret documents back in the day by sewing them inside of fabrics. When we were kidnapped, it wasn’t hard to add two and two together.”

  “Yeah, it’s so cool.” Jayne bobbed up and down in her chair. “Granny sent me on a secret mission and I didn’t even know it.”

  “She sent you too, Madison.” Ida Belle nodded toward me. “Remember your roadmap? The route she insisted you take runs through the towns where half the ladies from her Vietnam mission teams now live.”

  Gertie smiled, “A good bonding experience for both of you.”

  Fortune had a slight frown. “Where’d the diamonds come into play?”

  “They were stolen from your Grandma and she had someone steal them back,” Gertie said and took a sip of coffee. “Getting that RV was a perfect way to get them back across the country.”

  I sat there, still stunned, trying to imagine the sweet little grandma I knew as a life-saving, diamond wielding hero.

  “Remember the drunk who blew your tires and ended up dead?”

  We nodded.

  Ida Belle said, “Turns out, he’d been following you since you’d left North Carolina. I assume he was trying to steal the diamonds when he spiked your tires, but messed up when he left evidence behind.”

  “The other men must have killed him, rest in peace,” Jayne said and made the sign of the cross. “He was just trying to do his job.”

  “We were unknowingly running diamonds across the country?” My face got hot. I still couldn’t believe all this was happening.

  “It’s your Grandma’s way of getting you two to form a closer bond.” Gertie said and nodded knowingly. “She always believed a little danger brought people closer together.”

  I remembered how happy I was to see Jayne after our search and rescue a little while earlier and decided Granny might have been right.

  Jayne giggled. “I sure love my Granny!”

  Chapter 12

  It was my last day in Sinful, and my new friends seemed in low spirits as we sat in church. With Fortune still injured, their chances of beating Celia in the banana pudding race plummeted. Two weeks in a row of Celia’s gloating was more than anyone could take.

  Jayne snuck into church late, climbed over me and squeezed into the pew next to Gertie.

  She leaned over and patted Gertie’s leg. “I’ve got it all loaded up.”

  Gertie nodded and tried to cover up a slight grin.

  “What are you two up to now?” I whispered.

  Jayne put her finger to her lip. “Sssshh.”

  I sat patiently through service and even said a little prayer for help getting Jayne back to my Grandma by the end of the day. The RV was fixed and I was ready to go. Jayne wanted to attend church before we left and so here I sat.

  As the preacher finished his sermon, Fortune hobbled out the door for the big race. She was a brave warrior, but I watched Celia easily make it to Francine’s Diner before my new friend. I let out a long breath, knowing I’d never get a chance to taste the banana pudding this town loved.

  Celia’s sudden shriek filled the air as she reached the diner. “What? No banana pudding this week?”

  Someone in her crowd turned and yelled to the others. “The sign on the door says there’s a banana shortage!”

  There was groaning and wailing from Celia’s group as the rest of us reached the diner.

  Francine emerged from her diner and made the shocking
announcement that her entire banana supply had dried up. She hadn’t been able to find a single banana in the entire parish and heard that all future banana shipments were already purchased for the next two months. People were up in arms.

  A long blast from a car horn filled the street behind us, causing more than one person to jump. We all turned around at once. Jayne parked Gertie’s car, kept the horn pressed for full effect and stared at Celia. When she had everyone’s attention, she rolled out of the car, locked all the doors and climbed on the hood.

  She raised a megaphone to her lips and announced, “There has been a banana takeover.”

  The entire backseat of Gertie’s car was filled to the roof with bunches of bananas.

  Jayne started a chant into the megaphone, “If I don’t get banana pudding… you don’t get banana pudding.”

  “She’s gonna get us killed,” I muttered.

  “Arrest her!” Celia shouted. “She’s holding bananas hostage on a Sunday.”

  Gertie got into the act and inspired the crowd from her church to join in the chant. “If I don’t get banana pudding… you don’t get banana pudding.”

  “I bought these bananas fair and square.” Jayne announced into the megaphone.

  Jayne marched in place on top of the car hood and got the crowd really riled up in a chant rivaling any protest I’d seen on t.v. “If I don’t get no pudding, you don’t get no pudding. If I don’t get no pudding, you don’t get no pudding…”

  I shook my head, realizing I landed smack dab in the middle of Banana-gate.

  Someone called the law and before long Carter walked up to the car holding a bag of Francine’s cooking. Jayne watched him out of the corner of her eye while continuing her chant.

  “Ma’am, you better come with me before this mob kills you.” He gave her a wink.

  “Carter, this is about freedom for the people.”