by Jana DeLeon
“Stop or I’ll shoot!” Jadyn heard Colt’s voice sound from the doorway, but Junior didn’t hear anything but his own rage.
“Knife!” Jadyn yelled at the bartender, who pulled a pocketknife from his jeans and tossed it to her. She opened the knife, sliced the laces from her ankles, and dived to the left side just in time to miss the charging Junior.
Colt stepped forward at the same time, probably in an attempt to stop the charge, and ended up in the worst place possible. Helena, who’d long since lost control of her legs or her momentum, ran full speed toward Colt. Jadyn expected her to pass right through, but instead, the ghost hit the sheriff with a thud and launched him forward, right into Junior’s path.
Junior ran square into Colt, knocking him to the ground and flinging the handcuffs he’d been holding in one hand into the air. Junior dove for the handcuffs, completely flattening Helena as he went, then rolled over and attempted to handcuff the sheriff with his own cuffs. Unfortunately, Helena was still in the middle of the mix and although Jadyn was certain neither man could see her, she still held some sort of solid form. Invisible, but solid.
Junior slapped the cuffs at what he thought was Colt’s wrist, but instead, the cuff clicked into place on Helena. The ghost managed to wriggle out from under the fighting men and jumped up from the floor.
“What the hell?” Junior stared at the handcuffs dangling in front of him and Jadyn jumped in front of Colt to block his view. All around her, men fled the bar, not wanting to be any part of a fight involving the sheriff. Helena ran right out the front door along with them.
So much for security detail.
###
Mildred and Maryse were on their second round of gin rummy when they heard yelling across the street. They both jumped up to peek out the front window of the hotel, and stared as men came running out of the bar and tore away in their vehicles. At the end of the pack came a burst of pink, racing right past the hotel. The shoes were gone, but the spandex was still intact…with an addition.
A pair of handcuffs dangled from Helena’s wrist.
Maryse looked over at Mildred. “This can’t be good.”
###
Colt took advantage of Junior’s momentary loss of concentration and clocked him square in the jaw. Between Colt’s punch and the amount of beer Junior had consumed, the troublemaker fell straight back onto the hardwood floor and didn’t move so much as a finger.
“Nice punch,” Jadyn said and tossed the pocketknife back to the bartender. “Thanks.”
The bartender nodded and put two beers on the counter. “I figure you both earned these, even though you cleared out my customers.”
Colt looked over at the bartender. “Damn it, Bill, why didn’t you break that up before it got out of control?”
The bartender grinned and shrugged. “’Cause Junior Thibodeaux’s an asshole who needs a butt-whooping.”
Colt sighed, but Jadyn noticed he didn’t argue. He glanced around the floor, then threw his hands up in the air. “Where the hell are my handcuffs?”
“They must have gotten taken in the stampede,” Jadyn said.
“I don’t even have spares on me. I was planning on having a beer, not breaking up a bar fight.”
“Here ya go.” Bill tossed Colt a piece of rope. “It’ll rub his wrists something awful if he starts struggling, but I figure that’s a plus.”
Colt flipped the lifeless Junior over and secured his hands behind his back. He was just finishing up when Maryse and Mildred burst into the bar. Jadyn took one look at them and couldn’t hold in a laugh.
Maryse had a purple lamp from the hotel lobby and held it over her shoulder like a batter ready to swing. Mildred clutched a phone book.
“Is everything okay?” Maryse asked, scanning the bar.
Colt took one look at them and grinned. “And if it wasn’t, what the heck did you two plan on doing—illuminating the fight and calling for pizza?”
Maryse lowered the lamp and Mildred dropped the phone book on a table. “We were playing cards over at the hotel when we heard the commotion,” Mildred explained. “We were afraid Jadyn might be in trouble so we grabbed the nearest items and hauled it over here.”
Colt raised one eyebrow. “And why would you automatically assume Jadyn was mixed up in that mess?”
“Because we saw how she was dressed when she left the hotel,” Maryse said.
Bill starting laughing. “God love you, Maryse. You have a way of seeing the gem in the shit. You should come in more often.”
Suddenly Maryse froze and the lamp slipped from her hand and crashed to the floor. Her eyes widened and all the color rushed from her face.
“Oh no,” Mildred wrapped her arm to steady her. “Take a deep breath, honey. It’s just a building.”
Maryse blew out the breath with a whoosh and sucked another in so rapidly Jadyn was afraid she’d hyperventilate.
“Oh man,” Bill said and hurried from behind the bar over to Maryse. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t even think about…look, I ain’t got no words for what my cousin did ’cause there ain’t none that makes sense of it, but I ain’t him and I aim to turn this bar into something useful again.”
Maryse nodded as she took a deep breath and slowly blew it out. “I know, Bill. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.”
“Hell, don’t apologize to me. You ain’t got nothing to apologize for.”
“I think I better go,” Maryse said.
Bill squeezed her shoulder. “The bar’s closed on Sundays, but I’m here doing the books. If you want to come in and sit with it all for a spell, just knock on the door. My granny always said everything could be fixed by sitting with it.”
“Thanks,” Maryse said and gave Jadyn a nod before allowing Mildred to guide her out of the bar.
Colt watched them leave, then downed a big gulp of beer. “Am I to assume you started this mess?” he asked Jadyn.
Jadyn took in his somewhat aggrieved expression and felt her irritation grow. “I did nothing of the sort. All I wanted to do was have a beer and relax, maybe get the local gossip.”
Colt shook his head. “You were flashing your goods at the locals and trying to find out who got to that pond first.”
“I was doing nothing of the sort,” she said, not sounding the least bit convincing.
“You can’t do this kind of thing in Mudbug,” Colt continued, completely ignoring her denial. “The men here aren’t used to this kind of play. You’ll end up causing a fight every time, and likely leave with nothing but a wasted night and a few more enemies in the end.”
“Maybe a few fans,” Bill said and winked at Jadyn. “Why didn’t you tell me you were looking for information on the pond? I could have told you anything that’s been passed around the bar.”
“Because I don’t know you?” Jadyn suggested.
Bill stroked his chin. “I guess there is that, but I bet Colt here was coming in to do the same thing, despite all his claims of peaceful beer-drinking.”
Jadyn narrowed her eyes at him. “I see. So it’s okay for you to come in here and ask questions but not for me to do so, even though I’m in charge.”
Bill whistled and leaned back against the bar, ready for the show.
“Look,” Colt said, “it’s not about who’s in charge. It’s about how things get done in small towns. Men in places like Mudbug are not ready for women in charge who look like you—especially not dressed like that. It clouds their minds and then they do stupid things.”
“Ha,” Jadyn said. “I’ll bet a million dollars Junior has been doing stupid things since birth. The way I’m dressed didn’t have a thing to do with it.”
“She’s got a point,” Bill said.
Colt glared at the bar owner. “Whose side are you on?”
Bill grinned. “Do you have to ask?”
Colt threw his hands in the air. “Fine, keep dressing like you’re going to a city club and stirring up the locals, but the next time, I’m not wading into the fray.”
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“Who asked you to?” Jadyn shot back. “I was doing fine on my own.”
“Didn’t look like it from where I stood. Speaking of which, who pushed me into that freight train Junior?”
Jadyn shrugged. “Someone with a warrant? Got to be a few of those in this town.”
Bill nodded. “More than a few, I’d imagine. Anyway, if the two of you would stop running your mouth for a minute, I’ll tell you what you came for. Might as well shut down early and watch Saturday Night Live since you ran off all my customers.”
Jadyn and Colt took seats at the bar in front of Bill, and Jadyn took a drink of her beer. “So you know who was first to find the money in the pond?”
“Maybe.”
Jadyn snapped her fingers. “SNL is waiting. Talk.”
Bill grinned. “Bossy. I like that.” He leaned forward and placed his hands on the bar. “It wasn’t Junior that found the money. He broadcast to his friends, but I could hear people yelling in the background when he sent out the call. I figure they was already at the pond.”
“So how did Junior find out?” Jadyn asked.
“He says a call went out on Marty’s channel that bass was biting big at the pond.”
“Marty?” Colt shook his head. “That can’t be right.”
Jadyn stared. “Marty, as in the guy who owns the garage? The garage where we left the boat last night? The same boat that had no evidence as to origin or ownership when we searched it this morning?”
Colt frowned. “Marty was at the garage yesterday morning. I bought a set of spark plugs from him. He couldn’t have transmitted from the pond and if he’d known about the money, he would have closed the garage and been in the middle of the fray with them.”
Bill shrugged. “I just know what I heard and that is that word came down the pipe from Marty.”
“I don’t understand,” Jadyn said.
“I don’t either,” Colt said. “But I don’t like it.”
###
Colt adjusted his rearview mirror and watched Jadyn cross the street to the hotel. It was a particularly great view, and if he hadn’t been so troubled, he would have enjoyed it a lot more. He waited until Jadyn’s truly impressive form disappeared into the hotel, then backed his truck up and headed for the sheriff’s department.
What Bill said didn’t make sense, but Colt had no reason to suspect Bill was being untruthful. Except for the time he served in the army, the bar owner had always lived in Mudbug and had never been trouble—at least, not anything outside of the ordinary Mudbug kind. If someone had told Colt they’d seen Bill poaching deer, he would have believed that wholeheartedly, but involved in whatever prompted tons of unmarked bills in Baggies…he just didn’t see it.
When his cousin Johnny had been killed the year before while attempting to murder Maryse, Bill had been quick to step to Maryse’s defense and disavow his cousin’s actions. He’d been the sole heir to Johnny’s estate, such as it was, and had inherited the bar. Out of respect for Maryse, he’d left it closed for almost six months, and changed the name and facade before reopening.
The week before he reopened the bar, Bill sold his shrimp boat and all his equipment, claiming he and his bad knees were officially retiring from all that manual labor. And to the best of Colt’s knowledge, the man didn’t even fish. Colt always assumed he was burned out.
He pulled in front of the sheriff’s department and glanced back at Junior, who was snoring on his backseat. All that ruminating over Bill hadn’t gotten him one inch closer to a solution to the current problem.
Nor did it make you forget how Jadyn looked in that dress.
He gripped the steering wheel and blew out a breath. Sometimes one’s subconscious was a real son of a bitch—letting things out into the consciousness that were better off buried.
He’d heard the ruckus before he ever opened the door to the bar and knew right then that the likelihood of sipping a beer in peace and quiet had just flown right out the window. What he hadn’t expected was to see Jadyn in the middle of a brawl, and certainly not looking hotter than any woman had the right to.
Sure, he’d noticed her looks and her body at the pond and again this morning, going through the boat, but when she enhanced all that natural beauty and stopped hiding her body in jeans and T-shirts, it was a sight to behold. Jadyn St. James was quite frankly the most gorgeous woman he’d ever laid eyes on.
And he’d bet a year’s salary that she knew it.
The hair and makeup…that dress…all carefully calculated to get the local population wagging tongues. And it probably would have worked quite well if Junior hadn’t gotten sideways.
Speaking of which.
Before his thoughts trailed off into places they never belonged, he jumped out of his truck and hauled Junior out of the backseat. The big man was still drunk and would be sporting a heck of a shiner the next day, but he didn’t protest as Colt led him inside and locked him up in the corner cell.
“Problems at the bar?” Eugenia, the night dispatcher, asked as he walked back into the main office area.
“The male ego sort. When he sobers up, cut him loose. I’m not interested in doing the paperwork.”
“You got it, boss.”
He headed into his office at the back of the building and closed the door.
As he sat down at his desk, Jadyn’s words came back to him.
“…or it’s someone who’s above reproach.”
He turned on his computer and sighed. Maybe it was time to dig a little deeper into Bill and Marty.
Maybe it was time to dig a little deeper into everyone.
Chapter Nine
“You’ve got to get these off of me.”
As she hurried downstairs in her normal nighttime outfit of yoga pants and T-shirt, Jadyn heard Helena whine for at least the hundredth time.
“I’m trying.” A clearly frustrated Maryse poked at the hole in the cuffs with a bent paper clip. “I’m not a criminal, Helena. This isn’t in my skill set.”
Maryse looked up at Jadyn as she stepped into the lobby. “I don’t suppose you have any at your office?” Maryse asked, sounding a little desperate.
“No, sorry,” Jadyn said. “If I’d known the state wasn’t going to have my equipment here when I arrived, I would have bought some supplies of my own and brought them with me.”
“Cut it off,” Helena said.
Maryse sighed. “I’m not even sure what kind of saw it would take to cut that cuff off, but I’m certain I don’t have one. Give me a minute.”
Maryse pulled out her cell phone and tried again to reach Luc. She’d made several attempts before Jadyn had gone upstairs to change, but they’d all gone straight to voice mail. Jadyn was surprised when Maryse actually started talking.
“Do you have your handcuff key on you?” Maryse asked.
There was a slight pause, then Maryse blushed a bit. “No, it’s not that kind of night. Actually, I need you to stop by the hotel on your way home. I’ll explain when you get here.”
Maryse slipped her cell phone back into her jeans pocket.
“He should be here in a couple of minutes,” Maryse said.
Jadyn looked from Helena to Maryse and bit her lip. “What are you going to tell him…I mean to get the key without showing him what’s going on?”
“Hiding all this mess isn’t necessary,” Mildred said as she walked into the lobby with a tray of coffee. “Luc knows all about Helena.”
Jadyn’s stared. “Seriously?”
Maryse nodded. “Luc’s Native American. When we first met, he shocked me by admitting he could see her, then for a couple of weeks, he saw more than he ever wanted to. After he shot Johnny, she disappeared…to him anyway. When she ascended last year, Luc hoped it was permanent. Although he hasn’t had the pleasure of sharing the same space with her again, he’s not happy she’s back.”
“So you think he’s going to be pissed about the handcuffs?” Jadyn asked as Maryse paced the hotel lobby.
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��He’s not going to be pleased,” Maryse said.
Jadyn sighed, wishing her cousin wasn’t in this situation. “I wouldn’t be, either.”
“That’s rude,” Helena complained, “since I’m wearing these cuffs because I was protecting you.”
Jadyn shook her head. “That idiot Junior would never have touched me. The only thing you accomplished was assaulting the sheriff and stealing his handcuffs. I hope Junior was the only one who saw them floating. At least Colt will dismiss that as a drunken hallucination.”
Helena crossed her arms and huffed. “See if I try helping again.”
“Why didn’t you call, Helena?” Maryse asked. “That was the whole point of the cell phone. Not only did you forget all about the phone, you went running off down the street, leaving Mildred and me with no idea what we were walking into.”
“I guess you think a floating cell phone wouldn’t have looked out of place.”
Maryse threw her arms in the air. “Then go into the storeroom or a bathroom stall or step outside behind the bar. You’ve got more options for avoiding detection than a human ever could, but you refuse to take them into consideration when making these half-assed decisions.”
Helena clammed shut and went into pout mode, which meant she knew Maryse was right but wasn’t about to admit it. Apparently, over a year of being a ghost still hadn’t seeped into Helena’s decision-making process.
Maryse’s narrowed her eyes at Helena. “Do you even still have the phone?”
Helena looked at the floor. “It might have fallen out of my cleavage at some point.”
A red flush started on Maryse’s neck, but when she started to respond, headlights flashed across the front of the hotel. Maryse shot Mildred a worried look before she hurried to the front door. “He’s here,” Maryse said.
Jadyn inched over to stand beside Mildred, a little antsy about meeting Maryse’s mysterious husband. She’d hoped for happier and more casual circumstances, but very little about her life in Mudbug had been happy or casual since the moment she’d set foot in the town.
Maryse opened the door and kissed a man before standing aside and allowing him to enter. Jadyn had to admit, her cousin had chosen well. Luc LeJeune had perfectly chiseled features, long black hair drawn back into a ponytail, and dark skin. But even more attractive was the smile he wore as he looked at his wife.
