Mischief in Mudbug

by Jana DeLeon

  “No,” she agreed. “You’re definitely not the stupid one in this equation.” She sighed. “Before Mildred gets back and more importantly, before I say something I’ll regret, I need to tell you about something I did last night.”

  Beau felt a momentary wave of disappointment, but it was quickly gone. As much as he would love to hear Sabine say something she’d regret, the fact that she’d apparently done something the night before that she didn’t want the hotel owner to know about had him intrigued. “Okay. Shoot.”

  Sabine took a breath. “I snuck into the medical records room last night, hoping to get some background information on my family.”

  Of all the things she could have said, this wasn’t even on the list. “You broke into the medical records room?”

  “No, it was unlocked,” Sabine said, but the look on her face immediately told him that she wasn’t being completely honest.

  “Okaaay,” Beau said, deciding it was easier to let however she’d gained access to the room slide. “And did you find out anything?”

  Sabine told him about the missing files and the corresponding list.

  “Wow.” Beau shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around the information Sabine had given him and the repercussions it had on his investigation. “I don’t even know what to think.”

  “Me either.”

  “I don’t like it.” Beau turned to face Sabine. “You’ve been looking for your family for years. Even if someone has always known you’re related to the Fortescues, why go after their medical records right before you hired me? I could understand if this had happened after I started poking around, but this makes no sense at all.”

  “I wish I knew, but I’ve run through every possible scenario and there’s simply nothing I’ve done recently or in the past to warrant this kind of action. Unless it was a past life.” She gave Beau a shaky smile.

  “You’re not safe in your apartment,” Beau said. “Until we figure out what’s going on, I don’t think you should stay there.”

  “It’s my home, Beau. I have to stay there.”

  Beau shook his head, ready to argue. “I couldn’t find a single sign of forced entry. That means whoever got in had a key. Even if I installed deadbolts only on the inside of the doors, I still wouldn’t think it was safe. Someone is too close…their access is far too free.” He took in a breath and before he could change his mind said, “Let me stay with you. I can sleep on the couch.”

  Sabine instantly shook her head. “No way!”

  “I promise I won’t do anything to make you uncomfortable. I won’t even tell you you’re beautiful.”

  “I can’t. I can’t have you in my space that way. My apartment is tiny. There’s no way I could feel comfortable staying there with you even if you were a mute. This isn’t about you, Beau, it’s about me. You scare me.” She ran one hand across the top of her head. “Not like the someone trying to kill me scares me. The way you make me feel scares me. I’m afraid if I cross that line with you, there’s no return, and a future between the two of us is filled with impossibilities, most of which you don’t even know about.”

  “So explain them to me.”

  “No. There are certain things I can’t talk to you about.”

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  “Doesn’t matter. You’re going to have to take my word for it.”

  Beau struggled to hold in his frustration. Why was she making things so hard? She felt the same pull that he did. Why was she struggling so hard against it? And why are you pushing so hard for it? “Fine. Then at least consider staying at the hotel until this is settled. That way you can have your own private space, but Mildred and I are close by to keep watch.”

  Sabine was silent for a moment, then nodded. “I’d feel better knowing you and Mildred were close.”

  “Just not too close and only me.”

  Sabine looked down at the bed. “No,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.

  Beau rose from the bed. “Then I guess since we got all that decided, I’ll take off. I’ve got to drop off the stuff for testing at a lab in New Orleans, and then there’s a couple of other things I want to look into before I come back. I’ll see you sometime this evening, okay?”

  Sabine looked up at him and nodded. “Thanks, Beau. For everything.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said and left the room before he did something even more stupid than telling her how beautiful she was. Like kiss her.

  Again.

  It was after noon before Sabine was ensconced in a room at the hotel. It had been a relief to find that Beau had kept the Mudbug police’s destruction of her apartment to a minimum, but it was still going to take hours to get everything back where she wanted it. Since she wouldn’t be living there anyway for the time being, she supposed it shouldn’t matter. She’d endured almost an hour of Mildred’s puttering around the hotel room, bringing her some soup and crackers for lunch, fluffing her pillows, and generally treating her like an invalid, but Sabine understood that Mildred wouldn’t feel good unless she thought she was doing something to help.

  Finally, Mildred had gone downstairs to balance the books, and Sabine was left in the peace and quiet she’d been waiting for. She grabbed one of the four tote bags she’d packed and pulled out the hospital files that Helena had stolen. Raissa had gladly agreed to loan her the scanner and would meet Beau somewhere in New Orleans so that he could bring it back with him that afternoon or evening, whenever he managed to finish up and return to Mudbug. Sabine figured as long as the files were already stolen she might as well get a copy of everything. If nothing else, it would save the trouble of ever having to break into the hospital records room again.

  Sabine already knew what Maryse was going to say. Maryse had warned her nine ways to Sunday about Helena and her shenanigans, and Sabine was just starting to get a clear view of the problem. Helena was definitely a pro. She came out with these outlandish requests when she knew you were at a personal low and somehow made them seem completely logical and necessary. Then when the dust had settled, you were left wondering how you’d gone temporarily insane.

  Sabine opened Helena’s folder and started to read the autopsy report again. She hadn’t been mistaken—Helena definitely had cancer, and it was very advanced. In fact, Sabine doubted the woman would have had more than six months to live. She flipped past the autopsy report and through the other papers in Helena’s file. This file only contained the last ten years, but it was a revealing ten years. Helena had asthma and her blood pressure was borderline, but otherwise, she’d been deemed healthy at every checkup. If she’d been sick with colds or the flu or the occasional virus, she hadn’t been to the doctor for them.

  And there was absolutely no other note about the cancer other than the autopsy.

  Which made no sense. Helena should have had some symptoms—dizziness, lethargy, pain. If the cancer had been caught soon enough, she most likely would have been given a round of chemo, then progressed to the radiation treatments. If that didn’t work, she would have been a candidate for a marrow transplant, like Sabine. But apparently, no one had known.

  Sabine closed the file and bit her lower lip. Could Helena really have ignored the symptoms that easily? Or even stranger—could she have really lived with cancer advanced to the stage it had and had no symptoms at all? Was that possible? She was just about to open Hank’s file when Maryse burst into the room.

  “Are you all right? What did the doctor say? What did the police say? Where’s that investigator and what the hell is he doing about all this?”

  “Whoa,” Sabine said and laughed. “One question at a time or my brain might explode.”

  Maryse grimaced and sat down on the end of the bed. “I know the feeling. Start talking, woman.”

  Sabine spent the next fifteen minutes filling Maryse in on everything that had transpired, including her newfound ability to see Helena and their break-in at the hospital. Maryse listened closely, occasionally interjecting an “oh no,” “good L
ord,” or “shit.”

  When Sabine was finished, Maryse blew out a breath and stared at her for a moment. “You’ve got some nerve, Sabine LeVeche, trying to one-up me on this. Wasn’t one attempted murder enough?”

  Sabine smiled. “Raissa told me Mildred yelled at you.”

  “Yelling would have been polite. That woman scalded my eardrum over the phone. I snuck in the back door of the hotel to come see you. I’m not sure I can take another round.”

  Sabine laughed. “I think that was stress and temporary insanity on her part. Mildred knows you didn’t have anything to do with this. If I hadn’t insisted on finding my family, none of this would be happening. I should have let this go years ago.”

  “A week ago, I would have agreed. But things are different now. We need to find a donor and your family is the best possibility. Besides, the break-in at your house and the hospital happened before you found your family. Maybe the two aren’t related.”

  “Someone stole all of my family’s medical records and you think that’s not related?”

  “Okay, so maybe it’s related. But you still have no idea who did it or why. You say the Fortescues seemed surprised…what if there was a third party trying to connect the dots? A reporter or something. It will be a huge story. ‘Missing daughter of heir to millions finally found.’ I can just see the headline already.”

  “Maybe, but it’s a stretch.”

  “I think you should ask Beau to check into it. He might have connections that can get information we can’t. We can’t even ask without admitting we know what was stolen.”

  “You’re right. I should probably ask Beau.” Sabine stared out the hotel window for a moment and sighed.

  Maryse narrowed her eyes at Sabine. “You make that sound like such a chore.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “I do. I mean, I did before you protested, but now I’m dying to. C’mon, Sabine. Luc’s been gone for days. Please tell me that one of us is getting some action.”

  “I am not getting any action. I’m surprised at you. You know I don’t play fast and loose, and with everything else going on, the last thing on my mind is getting some action.”

  Maryse raised her eyebrows. “Methinks she doth protest too much. Granted you have a lot on your plate, but I still don’t think sex is the last thing on your mind. Remember, I’ve seen the guy, and I know from experience that even attempted murder does not squelch the desire for a hot man—especially if the hot man is interested in you.”

  “You don’t know he’s interested in me.” Sabine struggled to direct the conversation away from her. “He’s just doing his job.”

  Maryse laughed. “I saw the way he looked at you in the café, and I’ve seen that look before. Thank God, I stayed alive long enough to see that look on a regular basis.”

  “He kissed me,” Sabine blurted.

  Maryse stared. “And…”

  “And what? That’s it. He kissed me and I asked him to leave.” Sabine felt a flush start to creep up her neck.

  “Oh boy!” Maryse bounced up and down on the bed like a child. “I remember the first time Luc kissed me. My whole body was on fire and I thought my head was going to pop off my shoulders and into outer space. I went stomping out of the office, mad, flattered, sexually charged, and scared to death.”

  Sabine felt all her resolve crumble. “God help me, Maryse. I am scared to death. I’ve never felt this way about someone. I mean, I hardly know him. How can he have this effect on me?”

  Maryse reached over and took her friend’s hand. “I don’t have an answer for you, even now that I’ve lived it myself. You were always the one that believed everything had intent and purpose—bad and good. Maybe people are linked before this life and if they find each other again, that link overrides everything lived this lifetime.”

  “I don’t know that I believe in past lives,” Sabine said.

  “Okay, so what if your souls were hanging out in the same office before they were assigned a mother? Whatever you want to believe. I just know that when I met Luc, I felt things I hadn’t felt before, and I’m not just talking about the sexual attraction—although certainly that was part of it.” She blew out a breath. “As a scientist, I want to think maybe it’s pheromones or some other biological draw that happens to fit Luc and I together better than I’d fit with others. Maybe he’s the first man I’ve met with the same biological imperative that matches mine.”

  Sabine studied her friend. “You don’t believe that for a minute, do you?”

  “No. I believe it’s love.”

  Sabine squeezed Maryse’s hand, so profoundly happy for her friend and yet scared to take the same gamble herself.

  “There’s no scientific explanation for love, Sabine, but we can’t deny its existence.”

  “I barely know him,” Sabine argued.

  “Yet you’re drawn to him.”

  “It might just be lust.”

  “What’s the downside if it is?”

  Sabine stared down at the bed. “What if I die?” she whispered.

  Maryse hugged her. “What if you don’t?”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Sabine shoved the medical files Helena stole into a backpack for Maryse and played lookout since her friend insisted on sneaking out the hotel’s back way to avoid Mildred. Sabine had barely made it back to her room before her cell phone rang. It was a number she didn’t recognize and she was surprised and pleased to hear Beau’s voice when she answered.

  “I’m at the lab in New Orleans. Raissa dropped the scanner off here, so I’m heading back that way in a few minutes, but something else has come up.”

  Sabine felt her pulse quicken. “With the tests?”

  “No. It will be a while before we know something for certain on that end. I got a call from the Fortescues’ attorney. He wants to talk to you at his office this afternoon. I started to say no because of everything that happened last night, but I didn’t want to tip our hand on the poisoning. If he hears through the grapevine, that’s one thing, but I thought we’d better keep it quiet as long as we can.”

  “Definitely. No, you did the right thing. So did you tell him I’d be there?”

  “I told him I’d check with you. He got a little agitated and asked for your cell number, which I refused to give him.”

  “What do you think he wants?”

  “I don’t know, but my guess is the Fortescues are putting some pressure on him about something. I don’t think he’ll be put off forever. More likely if you don’t show up there, he’ll show up in Mudbug.”

  Sabine stepped to the window and looked out across Main Street at her shop. “You think I should go?”

  “I think…oh hell, I don’t know what I think. I’m in a bad position here, Sabine. Professionally, my mind is screaming for you to go because whatever he wants might give us some insight into all the other things going on. Personally, my mind is screaming at me to drag you to New Orleans and put you in a safe house.”

  Sabine thought about her upcoming radiation treatment. “That’s not an option. I have something important to do next week.”

  “Something worth risking your life for?”

  Sabine pressed her fingers to her temple. The irony was overwhelming. “In this case, yes.”

  “Care to tell me what it is?”

  “No. There are certain aspects of my life that I intend to keep private. This has nothing to do with the other situation, I assure you.”

  “Fine.” His voice was short and Sabine could tell he was frustrated with her.

  “Do you have the attorney’s number so that I can schedule the appointment?”

  “I’ll do it. Is four-thirty okay?”

  Sabine glanced down at her watch. Two and a half hours from now. “I’m sure it will be fine. I just need to check with Maryse about driving me there. Mildred is hellbent on me not driving and won’t give me back my car keys.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I plan on going with you. I wa
nt to see what Mr. Alford has to say.”

  “That’s not necessary.”

  “Yes, it is. I have a lot of experience at reading people and probably know more about the law than you do. I want to make sure this attorney isn’t trying to pull something off for those nuts.”

  “Fine, but there’s someone else I want to try to see while we’re there, if she’ll meet with me, that is.”

  “Who?”

  “Someone who might have known the Fortescues back when my father was a kid. Unless you think it’s a bad idea.”

  “No…no, I think it’s a really good one as long as her memory is sound. I’ll pick you up around three-thirty, okay?”

  It was just shy of four-thirty when Beau and Sabine pulled up in front of Martin Alford’s office. It was a beautiful antebellum home just off the main street in town. What was once most likely a carriage house had been converted into his place of business, a small, tasteful sign identifying his estate law practice. They walked up the beautifully landscaped path to the office entrance and Beau rang the buzzer at the side of the door. Sabine looked around nervously and plucked a New Orleans newspaper from the top of the bush beside the door. She twirled the loose end of the plastic wrapper around on her finger, every possible scenario imaginable running through her mind. The attorney opened the door a minute later and motioned them inside.

  They took a seat in two overstuffed taupe leather chairs placed in front of an ornate redwood writing desk, and Sabine handed the attorney his newspaper. Alford thanked her and took a seat behind the desk, his expression almost one of embarrassment. “I’m so sorry to ask you here on such short notice, but we’ve had a situation arise.”

  Sabine sat up straight in her chair. “What kind of situation?”

  “Catherine asked the domestic staff to keep your identity confidential, at least until all the particulars could be worked out, but apparently Adelaide has been talking at the grocery store, and news is starting to spread.”

  “Why would she deliberately disobey Catherine?”