Resurrection in Mudbug

by Jana DeLeon

The door to Mildred’s office was halfway open, so she had a clear view of the scene inside. The woman Maryse had been arguing with the day before sat in a chair next to Maryse, and it appeared as if Mildred was trying to work out whatever problem the two of them had. Given that the woman was dressed completely inappropriately for her age, size, and the Bible belt, Jadyn had no problem understanding why Maryse was upset when she visited.

  Jadyn rapped on the door and stuck her head in.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt,” she said. “I needed to talk to Mildred and Maryse about a game warden matter.”

  She approached Maryse’s relative and stuck out her hand. “I’m Jadyn St. James, Maryse’s cousin and the new game warden.”

  The older woman’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She looked frantically from Mildred to Maryse, but both of them were oddly frozen in place with panicked looks on their faces.

  Whatever the problem was, good Southern upbringing must have finally won out, and the woman hesitantly stuck her hand out. “I’m Helena. It’s nice to meet you.”

  Jadyn reached for the woman’s hand and then the strangest thing she’d ever seen happened—her hand passed right through the other woman’s, as if it wasn’t even there.

  “What the hell…?” Jadyn reached for her hand again, but only cool air brushed her hand.

  She looked at Maryse and Mildred. “Is this some kind of joke?”

  “God, I wish,” Maryse said, looking absolutely miserable.

  Helena glared at Maryse. “There’s no cause to get rude.”

  “Really?” Maryse asked. “Because I think there’s plenty of cause.”

  Maryse rose from her chair and took a deep breath, letting it slowly out before looking Jadyn directly in the eyes. “This is going to sound ridiculous, and impossible, but you need to believe what I’m telling you.”

  “Okay,” Jadyn replied, an uneasy feeling sweeping over every inch of her body.

  “This is Helena Henry,” Maryse said. “My former mother-in-law…who was murdered a year ago.”

  Jadyn stared at Maryse, certain she’d lost her mind, then looked over at Mildred, but the hotel owner looked completely serious and very miserable.

  “You’re joking,” Jadyn said finally.

  “I wish I was,” Maryse said.

  “Rude again,” Helena piped in.

  Jadyn looked at Helena again, then back at Maryse. “You want me to believe that I’m standing here talking to a ghost?”

  Maryse shrugged. “Ghost…Angel of Death…”

  “Okay,” Helena ranted, “that’s just downright insulting.”

  “And accurate,” Mildred finally chimed in.

  Helena waved a hand in dismissal. “That’s not the point.”

  “That’s exactly the point,” Maryse said. She turned back to face Jadyn. “Look, I know this is hard to wrap your mind around, but after Helena was murdered, she started appearing to different people, and every time she appeared, their life was in danger. So I’ve been nervous ever since you told me you saw her yesterday. Seeing Helena doesn’t usually bode well for people.”

  Jadyn’s mind whirled as she tried to make sense of what Maryse said, but she simply couldn’t understand why the most practical woman she’d ever met would assume she’d believe such crap. “You’re telling me I’m going to die?”

  “No,” Maryse said. “I’m saying that someone will probably try to kill you. So far, no one we care about has died, but they’ve all come close.”

  Chapter Six

  Jadyn felt a rush of blood run up her face. “Look, I don’t know what kind of joke you’re trying to pull, but it’s not funny. I didn’t think the two of you stooped to this kind of childish behavior.”

  Jadyn turned to leave, disgusted that the only two people she had trusted turned out to be crazy as loons.

  “Wait!” Mildred shouted.

  Jadyn stopped, respect for her elders still overriding her indignation. She turned back to face the hotel owner.

  Mildred pulled a newspaper out of her desk drawer and handed it to Jadyn. “Look at the front page.”

  Jadyn took the newspaper and read the headline: “The Truth Comes Out: Helena Henry Was Murdered.”

  Then she saw the picture below the headline and her breath caught in her throat. She looked at the woman in the chair. “It’s not possible.”

  “Put on something decent, Helena,” Maryse said. “You’re making this harder.”

  Helena sighed and waved a hand. Instantly, she was clothed in the same outfit she wore in the newspaper photo. Even her hair had altered to match the picture.

  The blood that had rushed into Jadyn’s head earlier left faster than it arrived. She felt herself sway as dizziness washed over her. Maryse grabbed her shoulders to steady her and guided her into the empty chair.

  Her hands still clutched the newspaper as she looked over at the woman…ghost, one more time. Every cell in her mind screamed that it wasn’t possible, but if the woman wasn’t a ghost, what other explanation was there?

  “This can’t be happening,” Jadyn said. “I must be dreaming. Or I’m still hungover from the beers last night.”

  But even as she said the words out loud, she knew neither was true. It took far more than two beers to create a hangover that had one hallucinating and besides, she’d just spent the past couple of hours working with Colt. He probably would have commented if she were sleepwalking or drunk.

  She looked at Mildred and Maryse, who both stared at her, wearing worried expressions. Then she looked at Helena once more. She just looked bored.

  Get it together, St. James.

  She took a deep breath and slowly blew it out, trying to force her mind to focus on one thing at a time. “Okay, the truth is, I’ve always thought ghosts existed, but I never figured on meeting one, much less sitting in a hotel office and talking it over like she was a real person.”

  “I am a real person,” Helena protested.

  Mildred gave Helena the stink-eye and she clammed back up.

  “But I’m shocked,” Jadyn said, “and that feels awful because things rarely surprise me. I think it’s going to take some time to put this into perspective.”

  Maryse bit her lip and looked over at Mildred, who frowned.

  “The thing is,” Maryse said, “you may not have time to dwell on this.”

  Jadyn sucked in a breath as she remembered Maryse’s earlier comment and then thought about how she’d spent her morning. “You really think I’m in danger?”

  “I don’t know,” Maryse said, clearly miserable, “but everyone who’s seen Helena has been. Granted, that was last year when we were still trying to solve her murder so she could ascend, and her visit this time is for completely different reasons, but until we can be certain, we have to assume you’re at risk.”

  “Okay,” Jadyn said. “How can we be certain?”

  “You don’t die,” Helena piped in.

  “Not helping,” Mildred admonished the ghost before turning to Jadyn. “We don’t know how to be certain. I don’t know how much time would have to pass before Maryse and I would feel comfortable saying you’re in the clear. As long as you can see Helena, we probably never will.”

  The overwhelming desire to pack her duffel bag and haul ass out of Mudbug as fast as possible washed over her. She’d barely started her job and hadn’t signed a lease. Nothing or no one could force her to remain here.

  Running from life again, Jadyn?

  Her mother’s words echoed in her mind, and she felt her back tighten. Marissa St. James was a former Miss USA runner-up who’d dallied with Jadyn’s handsome electrician father but had married a short, balding attorney, twenty years her senior, who was now a state senator. She’d expected Jadyn to follow her path of using her looks to snag a wealthy, successful husband, and had never missed an opportunity to insult Jadyn for the choices she made—personal and professional.

  Jadyn’s hand clenched involuntarily and she felt a blush creep up her chest and ont
o her neck. No way would she give her mother the satisfaction of leaving Mudbug after less than a week on the job.

  Even if it killed her.

  “So if we assume the death bell tolled,” Jadyn said, trying to look at the situation logically, “then what do I do next?”

  Some of the tension disappeared from Mildred’s and Maryse’s expressions and Maryse sat on the edge of Mildred’s desk.

  “First off,” Maryse said, “you are not in this alone, so the correct question is what do we do next?”

  Mildred nodded.

  A trickle of unfamiliar warmth formed in Jadyn’s belly. She had no doubt the two women were absolutely serious about helping her, and it was a strange feeling. She’d never really had friends—women tended to look sideways at her because of her looks, and men tended to look all ways at her, which only caused more problems with women.

  At first, Jadyn hadn’t understood the unsolicited animosity. She’d never considered herself a beauty like her mother and certainly took no care to appear as such. But there was no denying when she looked in the mirror that her mother’s excellent bone structure and wide-set amber eyes were stamped clearly on her face.

  But now, these two women—whom she’d only known less than three days—wanted to protect her from potential death. It was both touching and overwhelming at the same time.

  “Okay,” she said and gave them a small smile. “Then what do we do?”

  Maryse glanced over at Helena and sighed. “As much as I hate to do this to you, having Helena around can help to keep you safe. You spend a lot of time in the bayou, which makes it really easy for someone to pick you off with a rifle.”

  Jadyn glanced at the ghost, who’d reverted back to her pasties and boy shorts, and frowned. “I don’t understand. How does having her around help protect me? If other people could see her, their eyes might bleed, but from where I sit, I see only the downside.”

  Helena glared. “Doesn’t take a genius to see you two are related. You’re both the same flavor of rude.”

  “Helena can stand guard,” Maryse explained. “Since no one can see her, she can be on constant patrol and lookout for anyone who might want to harm you.”

  Jadyn glanced over at the ghost and struggled to keep from blanching. “I’m not arguing with you in theory, but as you already pointed out, I’m in the swamp all day. A crack shot with a rifle—and I’m guessing Mudbug has more than one—could easily get me from a hundred yards away, probably more. Helena doesn’t look like she can cover a hundred yards in every direction, even if I was sitting still.”

  Helena threw her hands up in the air. “I’m so sorry. If I’d known I’d have the role of security detail in death, I would have done Weight Watchers and the elliptical before I died. But as I didn’t get a say in dying, either, this is what you get. That whole ‘you get a new perfect body when you die’ thing is bunk.”

  Then Helena jumped up from the chair and walked through the wall.

  Jadyn blinked and stared at the wall for several seconds before looking back at Maryse and Mildred, who didn’t seem fazed with Helena’s fit.

  “Don’t worry,” Maryse said. “She’ll be back.”

  Jadyn nodded, not entirely sure she wanted the ghost back. “I’m not convinced that death would be worse.”

  Maryse smiled and Mildred let out a guffaw.

  “Welcome to our world,” Maryse said. “Here’s what you need to know to deal with Helena. One, she was rich and spoiled in life and she is used to getting everything her way, but she’s also a bully. So if you tell her directly to do something, she’ll usually back down. Two, even though she’ll never admit it, you can guilt her into doing things your way by telling her it’s her fault your life is in danger.”

  Mildred nodded. “It may sound a bit mean on the surface, but trust me, after you’ve dealt with Helena for a couple of days, you’ll grasp at any relief.”

  “So true,” Maryse said.

  “I’ll give her the room next to you,” Mildred said, “so that she’s not sitting on top of you all the time.”

  “If she gets to be too much and you get desperate,” Maryse said, “then tell her that Sabine will perform an exorcism on her.”

  Jadyn stared. “Who’s Sabine?”

  “She’s my best friend and owns the psychic shop in town.”

  “And she performs exorcisms?” Jadyn asked, a trickle of worry running through her. “Is there a large need for that around here?”

  “Hmmm,” Maryse said, and scrunched her brow, making Jadyn worry even more.

  “I don’t suppose there’s a need for exorcisms,” Maryse said, “unless they can fix stupidity. And Sabine has no idea how to do one anyway. But Helena finds Sabine just odd enough to worry her, so I use that to my advantage.”

  Jadyn blew out a breath. “So I have a ghost as a bodyguard, which doesn’t sound like a huge advantage as she can’t shoot a gun.”

  Maryse’s eyes widened and she looked back at Mildred.

  “Shit,” Maryse said. “If Helena has gotten adept at touching things, she can fire a gun, but her accuracy would be highly suspect.”

  Mildred shook her head in dismay. “Let’s just hope she doesn’t figure that out anytime soon. No way that would turn out well.”

  Maryse nodded in agreement before turning back to Jadyn. “Mildred and I were just discussing getting Helena a prepaid cell phone before you showed up. You won’t get signal in most of the swamp, but at least when signal’s available, she can call for help if you run into trouble.”

  “She can use a cell phone?” Jadyn asked.

  Maryse shrugged. “We’re assuming so. She can touch things and God knows, Mildred and I can hear her. She couldn’t call 911, but Mildred and I assume we could hear her over a cell. We’re going to give it a try, anyway.”

  Jadyn struggled to wrap her mind around a ghost with a cell phone, but simply couldn’t make the stretch. It was too bizarre to register as real. “So that’s it? On my side, I have an out-of-shape, cell-phone-toting ghost with a bad attitude against an unknown enemy who probably wants to kill me. It doesn’t sound like the best of odds.”

  “It’s not,” Maryse said. “Trust me, I know that firsthand, and one evening I will bring over catfish and a case of beer and Mildred and I will tell you all about our Helena-laden past. But Helena is not the only advantage we have.”

  “What else is there?” Jadyn asked.

  “You’re on alert,” Maryse said. “It’s harder to get at someone who’s expecting you because you’ll be more careful…more observant. And the one thing they definitely won’t count on is you coming for them.”

  “What?” Jadyn stared at Maryse, more confused than ever.

  “Part two of the plan is figuring out who wants to kill you,” Maryse said. “You have more of an advantage than I did. You’re a trained investigator. Being a lab rat, I was at a total disadvantage.”

  Jadyn considered this for a moment and decided that while completely ludicrous on the surface, what Maryse suggested made sense.

  “Well, given that I’ve only been here a couple of days,” Jadyn said, “there’s only one thing I could think of that might be the source, and that’s what I was here to talk to you about.”

  Mildred’s eyes widened. “The boatload of money. Damn it. I hadn’t even put the two together. You know what this means?”

  Maryse frowned. “That someone we know is involved in something really dirty.”

  “And he’ll try to kill me,” Jadyn said as she slumped back in her chair.

  This was not at all what she’d signed up for.

  Chapter Seven

  “I don’t like this idea,” Mildred said as she paced Jadyn’s hotel room.

  “Me, either,” Maryse agreed, plopping down on the end of the bed.

  “It’s too risky,” Mildred continued. “What if the bad guy is there and figures out what you’re up to?”

  Jadyn lowered her mascara and looked over at the two clearly worried w
omen. “How would he do that?”

  “Because you’re in a bar, hitting on men,” Mildred said. “I can’t imagine that’s your normal scene, although I’ll admit, you look the part.”

  Jadyn smiled. “It’s definitely not my normal scene, but the thing is, no one in Mudbug knows that except you two. For all the rest of the residents know, I could be a game warden by day and floozy by night. May as well use that advantage now while I still can.”

  “She’s got a point,” Maryse said.

  Mildred stopped pacing and looked down at Maryse. “Why don’t you go with her?”

  Maryse laughed. “Because then everyone in Mudbug would definitely know something was up. I don’t ‘do’ the club look, and besides, I haven’t set foot in that bar since…you know. It might stand out if I show up now.”

  Jadyn picked up on something bad in Maryse’s tone and looked over at her. “Is the bar dangerous?”

  “No,” Maryse said. “The bar owner was. He was the man who tried to kill me.”

  Mildred patted Maryse’s shoulder. “He was her father’s best friend and had always been like an uncle to Maryse. It was a harsh blow.”

  “Wow,” Jadyn said as a flood of emotion washed over her. She’d spent most of the afternoon going over the locals with Maryse and Mildred, but no one had stood out to any of them as a potential for this level of criminal activity. Hearing that Maryse had almost been killed by her dad’s best friend was a sobering thought. Clearly, the man’s psychotic nature had gone undetected by everyone who knew him. Why wasn’t it possible that someone else had managed the same thing?

  Jadyn held in a sigh. She’d already imagined it would be hard on Mildred and Maryse to find out that someone they knew was involved in something so sordid, especially since she’d spent the afternoon on her laptop, reading every online news report about all the happenings in Mudbug the year before. But the reports didn’t mention any of those kind of awful details—like the fact that the killer was so close to Maryse.

  What if the person tied up with the money was someone else they’d known their entire lives? Someone else they liked and respected?