by Shari Hearn
“He said he was heading to Baton Rouge,” Ida Belle said.
Gertie leaned in between the front seats. “Interesting. That’s where the clerk said the closest lottery office is. I bet they’re headed there now to claim Cootie’s prize.”
Ida Belle tried calling Carter on her cell. As was typical in the swamps, the signal kept cutting out. The road curved ahead. After making the turn, we lost sight of Redneck’s SUV.
“I don’t see him,” Gertie said.
I glanced up in the rear-view mirror. “That’s because he’s now behind us. He knows we know. We need to get him back to Sinful. Hang on.”
I swerved to the left, barely missing an oak tree, then performed a U-turn, toward the back road to Sinful. It wasn’t a great road, with its fair share of potholes, and would pose some challenges at high speeds, but it was a shorter distance to town, providing plenty of places to pull over and take cover. I preferred to be in a standoff with my feet on the ground and not in a vehicle. Plus, I wanted to be in Sinful jurisdiction. Provided we could contact Carter, I wanted this to be his collar.
Redneck took the bait.
“He turned around,” Gertie said.
Ida Belle pulled her gun from her purse.
I looked in my rear-view mirror. Redneck had the same idea. He stuck his left hand out of the window, holding a pistol.
Chapter Nineteen
MARGE
AS MARGE HAD FEARED, Fortune and the girls had already left by the time she arrived at the house with Cootie and her reinforcement, Headless Rob.
“We’re too late.”
“For what, exactly?” Headless Rob’s invisible face asked. “Perhaps now you can tell me why you need my services.”
“I was hoping you could get a message through to one of my more sensitive friends.”
Headless smiled. “I am very skilled with making myself visible to ‘sensitives.’ How I love to make them scream.”
Sensitives were those people who were more attuned to ghostly energy. Marge knew it had been a longshot. Gertie was no medium like Barb, but she appeared to be the one who picked up on Marge’s energy the most. As a girl, Gertie had seen her own granddaddy’s spirit several times after he was dead.
Marge threw up her hands. “But they’ve already gone.”
“Bejabbers, wench, let’s just zip on over to her.”
Marge averted her eyes.
“Oh rot. You’re an inexperienced ghost. Normally I’d pop us all over there, but I have no connection to her. Without an exact location...” Headless threw his hands in the air and walked toward Marge’s house, muttering the word “amateur” to the ghost parrot sitting atop his shoulder.
“What now?” asked Cootie.
They heard a car honk as Barb pulled over to the curb in her 1963 Rambler. She got out and held up Cloris, her puppet, which covered her right hand. “I don’t want anyone to see me talking to thin air,” she explained, directing her words to Cloris.
“News flash,” Marge said. “Talking to a puppet is nuttier than talking to thin air.”
Barb ignored her swipe. “What Cootie said made me realize something. I see ghosts because I’m talented. You had to die to see ghosts. Therefore, I win. Ha-ha.”
“You came over here to tell me that?”
“No. And I’m not calling the cops because I don’t think Redneck killed Cootie. He’s too stupid to plan something elaborate. But I will tell Gertie and Ida Belle about Redneck and the lottery ticket. Man shouldn’t profit from another man’s numbers.”
Barb launched into a diatribe against the evils of cheating. Marge interrupted her. “You just want to score some points with Ida Belle and Gertie and maybe they’ll ask you to join the SLS.”
Barb stammered in protest. “That never crossed my mind.”
“Like hell it didn’t, but you’re too late. They’re gone.”
“Another thing I can do that you can’t. Ha-ha.” Barb whipped her phone from her purse and punched in a number. “Gertie’s not picking up. Where’d they go?”
“Mudbug Mini-Mart to ask if they know who won the million bucks.”
“Oh crud. And I bet they took the back road.” Marge nodded. “The cell reception’s so spotty there.” Barb gestured to her car. “Get in. We need to find them quick, so I can get back before my prune juice kicks into gear.”
Marge looked at her car with skepticism. “No disrespect... A Rambler?”
“My daddy ran moonshine way back when. He had a need for speed and that never left him. Let’s just say his old Rambler has been... modified.”
She scurried toward the car. Cootie followed. Marge spotted Headless Rob leaning halfway inside her house.
“Rob, we have wheels. Come on.”
Marge rode shotgun. Cootie and Headless sat in the back. Barb started the engine.
“Okay,” Marge said, listening to the Rambler’s engine roar. “I’m impressed.”
Barb glanced back before pulling out and let out a bloody scream. “What the hell is that?”
Headless Rob chuckled. “You’ve probably heard of me. Headless Rob the pirate. Ghost Hunters featured me in a special Halloween episode.”
Barb glared at Marge. “I’m not driving with his bloody, severed neck in my back seat.”
Marge turned and looked at him. “Think you could put your head back on? Just for today?”
Rob sighed (at least Marge heard a sigh). Seconds later, he appeared as a complete man. Quite handsome, in a Ryan Gosling way. No blood. No gore spilling over his neck. “This is how I appeared a day before my beheading. Satisfied?”
“And keep it on,” Barb said as she peeled away from the curb.
Chapter Twenty
THIS SECTION OF THE back road to Sinful was so bumpy it made it next to impossible for Ida Belle to get a good shot. It also made it impossible as well for Redneck to steer his SUV and shoot at the same time.
“There’s a turnoff up ahead,” Gertie said. “At the end of the dirt road is an abandoned camp. We can swing around behind the cabin and get out there.”
Chapter Twenty-One
MARGE
“YOU’RE NOT BAD FOR a woman,” Headless Rob called from the back seat, admiring the way Barb zipped around the potholes. “Reminds me of my moves when I was fleeing Armless John after raiding his stockpile of liquor.” He rubbed his chin. “Or was that Hairlip Harry?”
Something caught Marge’s eye up ahead. “My Jeep! It just turned down toward Old Emmett’s Point. There’s a cabin at the end of the road.”
Her Jeep was followed by an SUV, which also made the turn. “That’s Redneck’s car!” Cootie shouted. “And Ivy’s with him.”
“Hang on!” Barb said as she hung a right and followed Redneck’s SUV.
Marge looked at Barb. “Are you packing?”
“You mean, a gun?”
“No, an overnight bag. Yes, a gun.”
“You didn’t tell me to bring a gun.”
Marge held up her hand. “Stop the car!” Barb continued driving. “Stop!”
Barb slammed on the brakes. A cloud of dust surrounded the car. “What now?”
“I think it’s pretty obvious Redneck killed Cootie. And he’s going to try to do the same with them. You can’t go in there without a gun.”
“Heck, you’re ghosts. Can’t you protect me?”
“No. We don’t have solid form. We can’t stop a bullet from hitting you. The cabin’s not far. We’ll rush on ahead and see if we can provide any distractions to help the girls. You go back to the road. Drive slow. Find a spot where you can get a signal, call Deputy LeBlanc and tell him Redneck’s after them.”
Barb shifted into reverse and backed out of the dirt road.
“Boys,” Marge said to her fellow Sinful spirits, “we don’t want any new dead people today, okay?”
“What’s my job?” Cootie asked.
“To stay out of the way.”
Headless Rob’s head disappeared, replaced by the bloody, gory ma
ss where the blade of a sword decapitated him more than 200 years ago. “It’s showtime.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
REDNECK PROVED TO BE a more formidable opponent than I’d first thought. We parked behind the cabin and scrambled out, expecting to ambush him when he drove around the stand of oak trees and into the clearing. But the minutes passed with no sign of his SUV. Apparently, he was as familiar with this abandoned camp as Ida Belle and Gertie.
“Damn! I bet he got out of his car and walked here,” Ida Belle said.
He could come at us from any side. As could Ivy.
We decided to split up. Redneck might be on the dense side, but he was an experienced hunter. And right now, he was hunting us.
I’d been searching the forest on the north side of the cabin for about twenty minutes when I spotted what looked like the tip of a rifle sticking out from behind a bush, pointing east to a clearing in the forest. He was hoping for an ambush. Eager not to give him one, I circled around on tiptoes until I arrived at a spot parallel to where he’d stationed himself. Gently moving aside several branches of a low-hanging cottonwood, I peered at the bushes where I was sure I’d seen the rifle tip. No Redneck.
“Do you know what a decoy is, Miss Fortune?”
Damn!
I’d been away from action too long. Twice in one week this guy got the better of me.
“You can drop the gun now. Unless you want your head blown off.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
MARGE
THE THREE GHOSTS CAME upon Redneck’s SUV at the side of the road. It was empty.
“He’s going to try to sneak up on them,” Cootie said. “I have to warn you, Redneck’s the most cunning hunter I’ve seen.”
Yes. And he comes across as not very bright, Marge thought. He’s the most dangerous type of enemy. The kind the three gals would underestimate.
Chapter Twenty-Four
REDNECK HAD ME MOVE a few yards to my left, away from the weapon he’d ordered me to toss.
“Now, how is it a Yankee city girl like yourself, a librarian no less, is walking around with a nine-millimeter like she owns the place?” He smiled. His teeth were an ugly shade of yellow.
“Did Cootie ever know he was a millionaire before you killed him?”
“Cootie was sick, anyway. Not like he had a long life ahead of him. He would have wanted me to have the money.”
That bit of news was a surprise. “The lottery was Wednesday night and you killed him the next morning. You had to plan his murder on the fly,” I said. “I guess Ivy was a big help with making it appear Bruno did it.”
“That lady’s cold, I’ll tell you that,” Redneck said. “After I saw that Cootie’s ticket won, I asked her to meet me. I presented it to her as a joke, to feel her out. When I said I’d split the million with her she was all in. She came up with everything. In two hours of brainstorming we had a plan.”
“Yep. A real snap. All you had to do was pull the trigger and end your friend’s life.”
He flinched at that.
“And it was a nice touch making it look as if Bruno was trying to profit from Cootie’s paintings,” I added. “Great way to get the police to search Bruno’s house and find that rifle.”
“Again, all Ivy’s idea.”
“Too bad for Ivy she won’t see any of that money,” I said. “Because there’s no way you’re going to let her have any of it. Will you kill her today?”
His mouth twitched. “I had a plan before the three of you showed up. But like I said, that lady’s cold. The world might be better off without her.”
“Like it was better off without your friend, Cootie?”
“Shut up!” he hissed. “I know Ida Belle and Gertie have reputations for being good shots and all, but they’re also soft. With you as my shield, they won’t try anything stupid.”
I was hoping he’d try to use me as a shield to draw them out. A gun pointed at me from several feet away was more dangerous than an opponent right next to me.
“You know you won’t get away with it, don’t you? You might have had a great plan to explain Ivy’s death but coming up with a plan after the fact is just going to blow up in your face.”
“Shut up!” He poked the space between us with his gun. “Now, get moving back to the camp.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
MARGE
MARGE SPOTTED IVY GUERIN hiding behind a cypress tree, clutching her pistol and casting nervous glances around the forest. Her face reflected the realization that she was knee-deep in something beyond her control.
“She’s scared,” Marge said to her ghostly cohorts. She directed her next comments to Ivy, though she knew Ivy couldn’t hear her. “It was much easier to let Redneck do all the dirty work, wasn’t it? Here you are with a gun and you realize you might have to kill someone yourself. Lady, you don’t know who you’re up against.”
Marge turned to Headless Rob. “You think you could cause some noise in the trees to let my friends know where Ivy is?”
“Madam,” Headless said, his voice dripping with disdain, “at this hour I should be making an appearance at the Dauphine Orleans Hotel while the housekeeping staff makes their rounds. I didn’t cancel one of my most beloved haunts to cause a few trees to shudder. Which one of your friends is the most sensitive to ghostly energy?”
“Gertie, the shorter one. Just whisper in her ear where Ivy is. You don’t need to go overboard.”
“Overboard is what I do,” he said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me...”
Headless Rob disappeared.
“That ghost is a bit of a grandstander, don’t you think?” Cootie asked.
Marge opened her mouth to agree when a shriek pierced the silence of the forest. Ivy drew back in terror, pointing her gun to the left, then the right, as the shriek grew in intensity.
“Sounds like Gertie,” Marge said to Cootie. “What is that Headless moron doing?”
Gertie appeared, charging straight for Ivy, her arms flailing in the air, one hand still clutching her gun. Ivy screamed but seemed paralyzed as Gertie charged at her and knocked her aside. Ida Belle ran in from another direction.
“What are you doing?” Ida Belle screamed as Gertie shot past her. Ida Belle was unable to see the reason for Gertie’s panic. Headless Rob drifted above and a few feet behind Gertie. Ida Belle, however, did spot Ivy on the ground searching for the pistol she’d dropped when Gertie made impact.
“Put your hands behind your head and keep ‘em there,” Ida Belle ordered.
Marge and Cootie rushed after Gertie and Headless Rob.
Chapter Twenty-Six
REDNECK KEPT HIS STEELY eyes, as well as his gun, trained on me. Our walk back to the camp had come to a halt when we heard a woman’s screams coming from the other side of the camp. I feared they were coming from Gertie. My heart rate ticked up a few notches.
Redneck’s focus remained on me, though his eyes grew wide as the screaming drew closer. Had Ida Belle been shot? Was Gertie screaming for help?
Go on, look away.
Her screams were now coming from a nearby path and getting closer.
And closer.
“Stay there!” Redneck ordered, emphasizing his point with a jab in the air with his gun. He tried not to look away, but the sounds of Gertie’s screams coming from the side path drew his eyes away from me.
I made my move, diving into his stomach and knocking us both on the ground. Meanwhile, Gertie’s screams were now upon us as she appeared from the side path. Redneck and I struggled for control of his gun.
“Gertie, stay back!” I called to her.
She tried to stop. Her momentum propelled her toward us. I felt her foot catch at my ribs and she flew over us into the forest floor. It was my focus this time that had been compromised. Redneck kicked me in the chest, knocking me back toward Gertie.
He pointed his gun at us. “This time I will shoot. You, then Gertie.”
“I don’t think so.”
Carter appe
ared from the same path Gertie had taken. He held out his gun and ordered Redneck to throw his weapon aside and lie down on the ground with his hands clasped behind his head.
I looked at Carter, feeling my growing panic. “Ida Belle...”
“She’s at the cabin guarding Ivy.”
“Then she’s okay.”
He nodded as he knelt with his knee in Redneck’s back and cuffed him.
I went to Gertie, who sat on the ground catching her breath.
“Are you okay?” I asked, giving her a visual inspection.
She nodded. “Did you see it?”
“See what? Gertie, what was all that screaming about? I thought Ida Belle had been killed or something.”
“A body. With no head. Chasing me.”
I glanced at Carter. His brows shot up.
“Carter was the only one behind you.”
She shook her head. “I saw what I saw. A man’s body with no head. All bloody, like his head had been chopped off. He was chasing me. Every time I turned and looked he was still there.” She took some deep breaths. “I need some cough medicine.”
“We’ll go back to the Jeep and get you some.”
I helped her stand and waited until Carter finished with Redneck. “How did you know we were here?” I asked. “We tried calling you but kept losing the signal.”
“I was on my way back from a call when Barb Geroux flagged me down and said you all needed help down at the cabin.”
“Barb Geroux?” Gertie asked. “How did she know we were here?”
Carter shrugged. “She said she was driving by and saw Redneck chasing you. Then she told me something about remembering Cootie’s lottery numbers and wondered if Redneck stole his ticket and killed him.”
