Trouble In Mudbug

by Jana DeLeon

  Wheeler paled and tugged at his tie. “Well, yes, of course there is that.”

  Maryse shook her head. “That’s the kind of option I was looking to avoid.” She drummed her fingers on the table and thought about her next move. “And the will you’re drawing up for me won’t be legal until the week has passed, right?”

  Wheeler nodded. “That’s correct. The land isn’t yours to give until after the probationary period has passed. The only way you could create a document legally leaving the land to another party before the week was up is if there were no other direct heirs in line to inherit, but since there’s Hank…”

  Sabine straightened in her chair and glared at Wheeler, her normal good manners shot to hell. “This is bullshit! You’re telling me she’s inherited this land whether it gets her killed or not, and she has no choice but to sit around and wait for someone to fire the shot?”

  Wheeler blotted his forehead with the napkin again. “I’m afraid that’s the long and short of it, and I am truly sorry. I never would have let Helena put you in this position if I’d had any idea it would come to this. I just never imagined…” the attorney trailed off, obviously not even able to put what he couldn’t imagine into words.

  Maryse sank back into her seat and considered the information. “So you’re telling me there’s no way to back out of this except to take a short ride in a long hearse. And if something happens to me, you have no choice but to pass the land to Hank, a direct heir, who will most certainly lease it to the oil companies before my body’s even cold. There’s no option to preserve this marsh other than me remaining alive for another three days?”

  Wheeler gave her an apologetic look. “You could kill Hank.”

  Sabine glared at him. “Do not give her any ideas.”

  Maryse patted her friend on the arm. “Don’t worry, Sabine. As satisfying as that may sound, particularly at this moment, I’d still have to find him first.” She leaned in closer to Wheeler and scanned the café, just to make sure no one could overhear. “Okay, Wheeler, so we agree there’s no legal way for me to get out of this inheritance except dying, which sorta isn’t a good option for me, so what if we drew up a fake document that said I was giving up all rights to the land inheritance and shifting the title to Hank?”

  Wheeler stared at her in obvious confusion. “But such a document wouldn’t be legally binding. That’s what we just discussed.”

  Maryse nodded. “I know that, and you know that, but would anyone else?”

  Wheeler’s face cleared in understanding. “Normally, I would never be party to such an act, and I’m not real clear on the legality of my drawing up such a document, even just for talk, but given the situation, I agree that this might be the only way to buy you the time you need.”

  “Then let’s do it,” Maryse said. “Who knows. I might get really lucky and bring Hank out of hiding long enough to serve him divorce papers. I’d really like a divorce before I die and not the other way around.”

  Wheeler cleared his throat and looked at her, obviously uncomfortable. “Of course, this plan will only work if whoever is after you intended Hank to inherit in the first place.”

  Maryse nodded and stared down at the table. She’d already rolled that one around in her mind, but really, what other choice did they have? Surely whoever murdered Helena thought Hank would inherit. If even Wheeler had to look up the complete restrictions of the land inheritance, could anyone else possibly know all the mundane details?

  Then there was the other thought, the thought still nagging at her from her earlier conversation with Luc. Maybe whoever wanted her dead hadn’t planned on Hank making it through the week either. What if by pretending to shift the inheritance to Hank, she made him the next target?

  “How long would it take you to draw up the fakes?” Maryse asked.

  “I can probably have something by this afternoon,” Wheeler said, “and there’s nothing stopping me from notifying all concerned parties now about the documents in the works if I knew where to find them. That would buy you some safety. I’ll give you my home number in case you locate Harold over the weekend.”

  “I don’t think locating Harold will be a huge problem, and I’d bet anything he’s in touch with Hank,” Maryse said. “I’ll tell Mildred to spread the word during her manicure at the beauty shop, and the whole town of Mudbug will know within a couple of hours.” Maryse said. “So if you have the fake ready this afternoon, then the fraud just has to hold for three days.”

  “That’s correct,” Wheeler replied.

  Maryse bit her lip. “Do it. I’ll track down Harold so you can let him know.” Maryse took a deep breath and stared out the café window, trying to assuage her guilt by thinking of everything rationally.

  After all, if she was wrong about everything, Hank would probably only have to worry about staying alive for twenty-four hours or so. Way better odds than her three and a half days.

  Luc insisted on taking Maryse back to the hotel after the meeting with Wheeler and Sabine seconded the motion, leaving her with no choice but to comply. Not that it mattered. She was sore and tired, and a nap probably wouldn’t be the worst thing that could come out of the day, especially since she had a loosely formed plan rolling around her mind. A plan that involved a nightly escapade.

  Maryse protested when Luc insisted on accompanying her to her room, but he refused to let her inside without checking the room first. Not wanting to waste valuable energy on an argument that she was going to lose anyway, she waved him inside. A minute later, he popped back in the hall and declared everything clear.

  Which would have been accurate if Helena hadn’t walked through the wall from the room next door, sending Jasper scurrying under the bed.

  “Oh, no,” Luc said, and pointed a finger at Helena. “You have caused quite enough trouble already. Maryse needs to rest, no thanks to you, and you need to start working on how to fix this mess you made instead of just popping through walls and aggravating people.”

  Helena looked a bit repentant, but it passed so quickly that if you hadn’t been looking closely, you would have missed it. “I am here trying to fix this mess. Do you think I meant for any of this to happen? I might have been a bitch…might still be…but I never wanted to get anyone killed. And I certainly didn’t want to roam the earth in cheap polyester.”

  Maryse waved a hand at Helena. “Don’t you two start. There’s no use getting your feathers all ruffled—or your polyester. Besides, I have something you might find interesting.”

  Luc narrowed his eyes at her, wondering what she had up her sleeve and why she hadn’t mentioned it before now. Helena looked expectant, like an eight-year-old opening birthday presents. “What is it?” Helena asked.

  Maryse reached into her pocket and pulled out a small ring of keys. “Christopher dropped these when he was scrambling in the storage closet. I figure one of them ought to open the door to medical records, right?” She dangled the keys in the air, jiggling them in front of Helena.

  Helena’s eyes widened, and she smiled. “Holy shit! Jackpot.”

  “Wait a minute.” Luc cut in. “You’re not thinking of breaking into the hospital, are you? That is just plain foolish.”

  Maryse turned to face him. “Oh yeah, and what would be less foolish? Letting Helena walk the Earth every day annoying the ever-living hell out of me until we find her murderer? Or maybe we should just let him get me first, then I can be stuck in limbo with her.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Of course, you’d be able to see and hear us both, right?”

  Luc’s jaw twitched at Maryse’s words, and Maryse could tell she’d struck a nerve. “So can I ask exactly what you think you can gain by reading medical records?” he asked.

  Maryse nodded. “I’m hoping that if I can figure out what someone put in the brandy snifter that killed Helena, it might tell us who did it, or at least narrow down the list of who I need to avoid for the next three and a half days. There can’t be that many people in this town who know poisons and
explosives.”

  Luc crossed his arms in front of him, silent for a moment and clearly not convinced. “Do you have any idea what could happen to you if you get caught? I don’t even want to know what kind of charges you’d be up on. Medical information has gotten to be such a big deal lately that the authorities could probably find a way to make it a federal case if they wanted.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Maryse said. “It would be a hell of a lot harder to kill me if I was locked up in a jail cell somewhere, right? So what’s the downside?”

  Luc placed his hand on her arm and squeezed. “You are not safer in jail. That I know for sure. Anyone in jail, including the guards, can be paid to get to you.”

  Maryse shrugged and pulled her arm away from his grasp. “So what do you suggest? That I sit around Mudbug and wait to die? Maybe I should spend every day standing in the middle of Main Street just to make it easier on everyone. At least that way, Mildred and Sabine would have a body to bury and would be less likely to be caught in the crossfire.”

  Luc crossed his arms in front of him again. “You put things in motion with Wheeler to cover you.”

  “Yeah, but can you guarantee that whoever is behind this will be fooled? They seem to know a lot about the inheritance rules. What if they don’t buy the fake?”

  “What fake?” Helena asked. “What have you done with Wheeler?”

  Maryse looked over at Helena. “I asked him to draw up a fake document to transfer the land to Hank. I was hoping it might throw the bad guys off my trail long enough for the title to pass.”

  Helena stared at her for a moment. “Hmm. That’s not bad, really.”

  “It’s not a bad idea,” Maryse agreed, “but it’s hardly foolproof. Whoever is behind this was making their moves before the will reading ever happened, so there’s always the chance they’ll know the transfer document isn’t legal.”

  Luc started to argue but apparently didn’t have a good enough comeback. “Hell, I guess I don’t like you taking chances, but you’re right—sitting still isn’t going to solve this problem either, no matter how much I hate admitting it.”

  “It has to be done, Luc,” Maryse said, “and probably a lot of other things that border on illegal and go beyond unethical. But I’m simply out of options and running out of time. Whoever is after me has made it very clear what he’s willing to do to get what he wants, and I’m not going to depend on a legal document to keep him from completing what he’s already begun.”

  “She’s right,” Helena said. “I’m dead proof of it. This land has caused a mess of trouble that I swear I didn’t even consider. I guess I really was beyond my prime if I didn’t see this coming.” She sank down onto the bed with a sigh. “All I was trying to do was avoid leaving the land to Hank. I couldn’t trust him to do the right thing—with the land, or with the cash he’d get from making a deal with the oil companies.”

  Luc frowned at Helena. “I know you think you were doing some great service for this town, but I have to ask—what made you so certain that Maryse wouldn’t sell out? How could you possibly know that she wouldn’t be swayed by billions of dollars?”

  He looked over at Maryse. “In fact, why the hell aren’t you swayed by that much money? Jesus, you could afford to relocate the entire town if what Helena says about the oil is true. So why bother to keep this place as is?”

  Helena looked over at Maryse, but when she never answered, Helena turned to Luc and said, “Maryse won’t give up this land until she finds the cure for cancer that native woman made for her father. She knows it’s out there, and she won’t allow one single sprig of green to be cleared out, paved, or removed from that marsh until she’s found her magic mixture.”

  Maryse spun around and stared at Helena. “How did you know?”

  Helena shrugged. “I give a lot of money to the university you’re using for the tests. It wasn’t hard to find out from them what kind of tests you were running.”

  Maryse let this information sink in without replying.

  “Cancer?” Luc said and looked a bit surprised. “Is that what you’re doing in that lab?”

  Maryse glared at Helena for letting out her secret and finally nodded. “Yes, but the subject is private and not open for discussion. Not now, not ever.” She nodded toward the door. “Now, if you two could please leave me alone. I’ve got to plan a breaking and entering, and I’m probably going to need some rest.”

  Luc nodded and pointed a finger at Helena. “You are to meet me in the parking lot. I have some questions about your worthless husband and his military service.”

  “Okey dokey,” Helena said, and flashed Maryse a grin. “I’ll be back tonight.” She waved goodbye and dashed through the wall, looking more excited than Maryse thought the situation warranted.

  Luc walked over to stand directly in front of Maryse. “If you’re going to go through with this crazy plan, at least let me drive you. You might need backup, or to leave in a hurry.”

  Maryse was surprised at his change in tune, but then she saw the compassion and admiration in his eyes. He got it. Maryse could tell. It probably hadn’t taken more than a phone call to his grandparents to find out how Maryse’s parents had died, and she knew with certainty that Luc understood why her research was so important, without her even saying a word.

  “Okay, you can drive,” she said, “but no more trying to talk me out of it.”

  Luc shook his head and stepped so close to her that she could feel the heat coming off his body. Her breath caught in her throat, and the overwhelming desire to have Luc LeJeune touch her crashed through every nerve ending in her body. When he placed his hand on her check and lowered his lips to hers, she felt her knees go weak.

  His lips gently pressed hers, and she was surprised by the tenderness in his kiss. Then he ran his tongue across her lips, and the room began to spin. Her mouth parted, and she groaned as he wrapped his arms around her and deepened the kiss. His tongue swirled with hers in an erotic dance, and he pressed his hips into hers, his body lean and hard in all the right places.

  She was just about to do something foolish, like rip off his clothes, or her own, when he ended the kiss, brushing his lips once more across hers. He released her and stepped back with a smile. “Just in case things go wrong,” he whispered. “I didn’t want to live with never having kissed you again.” He ran one finger down her cheek, then walked out of the room.

  Maryse shut the door and leaned back against it, not sure whether to head straight to a cold shower or fling herself out the window.

  In case things go wrong.

  Bastard. He’d just given her more to lose.

  Chapter Thirteen

  It was close to midnight when Maryse, Luc, and Helena pulled into the hospital parking lot in Maryse’s rental. There were only a few cars parked in front of the administrative building, which was a good sign. That meant staff was light and could probably be worked around. Plus, Maryse had the added advantage of the invisible scout, Helena. It took a little convincing, but Luc had finally agreed to remain in the car, ready to start the engine and haul ass at a moment’s notice, not to mention keep an eye on the outside just in case a sudden influx of staff should appear.

  Maryse looked at the building once more, took a deep breath, and stepped out into the dim light of the parking lot. Helena stepped through the back door of the car and Maryse did a double take. “You changed clothes. But what in the world are you wearing?”

  Helena looked like a Michael Jackson video combined with a Saturday morning streetwalker. The cat suit was solid black from neck to feet and had leopard patches across the boobs and each cheek of her butt, which amounted to a whole lotta leopard. Not to mention Maryse couldn’t help but think there should be a legal weight limit on who got to wear spandex. Lumps abounded in all directions, mostly in places that lumps weren’t supposed to be, and to top it off, she wore a black nylon mask that completely covered her head with only her eyes left showing.

  “You like it?” Helena
asked. “I thought I’d surprise you with my new ability. This is my covert operation outfit. Kind of a combination of James Bond and Catwoman.”

  Maryse frowned. That wasn’t exactly the combination she’d come up with. “You can’t run around wearing that, Helena.”

  “Why not?” The ghost put her hands on her hips and glared. “It’s not like anyone else can see me, so I can hardly attract attention.”

  Unable to hold it in any longer, Maryse started to laugh, then clamped her hand over her mouth to muffle the noise. Luc stepped out of the car to see what the holdup was and his expression, a mixture of horror and confusion, was enough to put Maryse in tears.

  “That is not necessary,” Helena huffed.

  Maryse peeked over at the ghost and saw she’d changed into black slacks, a black turtleneck, and black loafers. Thank God. There was simply no way Maryse could have followed that large leopard butt through the hospital without losing it.