by Jana DeLeon
Max shook his head. “I don’t know, but I have to tell you, I don’t get a good feeling about this.”
As they approached the gas station, the two old men who’d left the café walked out the front door and hurried down the sidewalk, careful to avoid making eye contact. Colette looked beyond the gas station to the dense swamp behind it.
She didn’t get a good feeling, either.
Max held open the door and they walked inside the station. A man, probably in his thirties, with unkempt brown hair and wearing a greasy shirt and jeans was stocking a beer cooler and looked up when the bell above the door jangled on their entry.
“You folks need gas?” he asked.
“No, we were hoping for some information.”
The man straightened and walked over to them. “My name’s Danny Pitre. I own this station.” He extended his hand to Max, who shook it, and then nodded at Colette.
“What kind of information you looking for?” Danny asked.
“We’re looking for Cache,” Max said.
Danny narrowed his eyes. “You the people from the café?”
“Yes.”
“Old Joe told me you was looking for a missing girl that claimed she was from Cache.”
“That’s right. She’s my fiancée’s friend and coworker. She hasn’t reported to work for several days and we can’t reach her by cell.”
Danny rubbed his chin and studied them for several seconds. “Truth is, I had a boat stolen last week. One of the old-timers said he saw a young girl with dark hair in it but figured I’d rented it to some city fool, which is why he didn’t tell me about seeing it till I mentioned it was missing.”
Colette felt her pulse spike. It must have been Anna who stole the boat, trying to get to the village.
Danny looked over at her. “Your friend a thief?”
“Not usually,” Colette said, “but her message said it was an emergency. I suppose she may have borrowed your boat intending to return it.”
“Did you ever find the boat?” Max asked.
“Yeah. A fisherman towed it in yesterday. He found it floating loose out in the swamp.”
Colette felt her back tighten. Surely Anna would have known the proper way to secure a boat. Had something happened to her while she was on it? Had she fallen off somewhere in the swamp and met with one of the many deadly predators? Colette didn’t want to think about the many unpleasant possibilities.
“Tom over at the café said you may know where some of the swamp people live,” Max said. “I figure if we could find some of them, even if they aren’t the girl’s family, word may get back to them.”
“Ain’t no way to get back to the swamp people but by boat. You got one?”
“No. I was hoping to rent one, but if that’s not possible here, I guess I’ll head back to New Orleans and rustle one up.”
Danny shook his head. “Well, I sure do give you dedication to your word. I can loan you the boat that was stolen, no charge. It’s small but you can’t fit much where you’ll be going. I’ll have to charge you for the gas, though. It’s been a slow month.”
“That’s no problem. I appreciate the loan.”
“You may not be so grateful once you get out into the swamp. It’s no place for the untrained. Did you grow up around these parts?”
“Vodoun. I did plenty of tromping through the swamp as a boy.”
“I thought your accent was local,” Danny said. “Well, then you might be all right, but I’ll loan you my shotgun, just in case.” He waved to the back door and started walking toward it. “Boat’s out back. Let’s get it in the water and then I’ll tell you where to start looking.”
Colette struggled with feelings of relief, anticipation and fear that they were already too late to help Anna. If everything turned out badly, she had to be ready to accept that at least she had an answer. Living without one would be something she never could have accepted.
Max helped Danny push the tiny, flat-bottom, aluminum boat into the bayou, and Danny tied it off at the dock. Then he pointed west down the bayou.
“You’re going to want to head that way about a mile,” Danny said. “When you come to the cypress tree that’s been split by lightning, take a right into that channel. Follow it for another two miles or so into the swamp. When you see a line of crab pots, look east and you’ll see a dock almost hidden in the undergrowth. There’s a cabin about fifty yards back from the dock. You got that?”
“Yeah, it seems straightforward enough.”
“Finding a cabin isn’t the problem. The real danger comes if you find the people. They don’t take kindly to strangers, and they’re just as apt to shoot you as talk to you. Make sure you tell them straight out that you’re not the police. They probably don’t even know the rules, much less follow them, so it causes them some problems with the law on occasion. There’s no love lost there.”
“I’ll make sure I yell it loudly.”
“Just a minute,” Danny said and walked back inside the gas station and came back a few minutes later with a shotgun that he handed to Max.
Max checked the gun and took the handful of spare bullets that Danny offered. “Thanks. I hope I won’t need to use this.”
“Me, too,” Danny said. “The walk from the dock to the cabin is probably the most dangerous part. Be sure to watch for snakes and alligators, and of course, any unhappy swamp people. You don’t stand much of a chance against any of them in a one-on-one fight, except maybe a snake, and I guess I don’t have to tell you how far off the hospital is.”
Danny looked over at Colette. “Ma’am, are you sure you want to go? You’re welcome to wait here if you’d like.”
“No, thank you,” Colette replied. “I’m the one who made the promise. I can’t let someone else take all the risk for keeping my word.”
Danny grinned. “You got spunk. I like that.” He walked toward the gas station and gave them a wave. “I’ll be here when you get back.”
“You know, he’s right,” Max said. “You don’t have to come. In fact, it would probably be safer if you didn’t.”
“I don’t know that I agree.” Colette glanced back at the town. “I don’t get a good feeling about this place.”
Max nodded. “There’s definitely an undercurrent of something unpleasant. More than just resenting nosy strangers.”
“Do you think they know something about Anna that they’re not telling us?”
“Maybe, or they may be hiding something completely unrelated that they don’t want us to stumble onto. It’s impossible to say.”
“Well, despite the many dangers of the swamp, I’d rather be out there with you. Besides, if we find people who know Anna, you won’t be able to answer questions they may have about her. I can. And the reality is, you’ll probably look less threatening to them with a woman tagging along.”
“That’s true enough.”
“There’s something that bothers me,” Colette said. “Anna took money out of her account before coming here. Why would she steal the boat when she could have rented it?”
“You said she wasn’t supposed to return, right? Maybe she didn’t want anyone knowing she was coming. If she’d rented the boat, word would have spread. A young girl traipsing around the swamp alone would raise some eyebrows.”
“I guess so.”
Max pulled his cell phone from his pocket and frowned. “No service. I figured as much, but it means we have no backup. You still sure?”
She should have known that cell phones would be useless this deep in bayou country, but it hadn’t even crossed her mind. Still, it didn’t change what they had to do.
“I’m sure.”
“Okay,” he said and motioned to the boat. “Hop in and I’ll push us off.”
Colette stepped into the boat and took a seat on the narrow bench in the middle. Max untied the boat and pushed it from the dock, stepping into the boat as it backed away. He took a seat at the back and started the outboard motor, then powered the boat down the bay
ou in the direction Danny had indicated.
As soon as they were out of sight of the town, he slowed down to a crawl. “Do you know how to fire a shotgun?” he asked.
“Doesn’t everyone in Louisiana? The natives, anyway.”
Max smiled. “Probably.” He handed her the rifle. “I have my pistol, but I didn’t want to turn down the offer of the rifle. If you’re comfortable handling it, then I think it’s better if we’re both armed.”
Colette took the rifle and laid it across her legs. “I can handle it.”
The weight of the rifle across her legs provided a bit more feeling of security. She trusted Max to protect her to the best of his abilities, but sometimes the swamp offered up more than any one man could handle. If the legends were to be believed, the swamps of Mystere Parish could offer up more than a team of men could handle.
Max increased the boat’s speed and they continued down the bayou. The farther they progressed, the narrower the channel became until the trees from each bank met each other at the tops, creating a dark tunnel.
Colette blinked a couple of times, trying to hurry her eyes to adjust to the dim light. She scanned the bank as they went. She told herself she was looking for a sign of habitation, but Colette knew that deep down, she was hoping to spot Anna standing on the bank, alive and well and ready to go back to New Orleans and resume her new life again.
Ready to escape this dank tomb of moss and dead vegetation.
Max slowed the boat’s speed even more as the waterway became narrower and more clogged with debris. Decaying water lilies spread out in front of them, a cover of death over the still water. The smell of salt water, mud and rot filled the silent air. Only the hum of the boat motor echoed around them.
Even for the middle of the day, which was traditionally nap time in the swamp, it was too quiet. It was as if all living things had gone still in order to watch them as they moved deeper into the abyss. For a practical woman like Colette, it bothered her how unnerved she felt. One look at the grim expression on Max’s face let her know he wasn’t any happier with the situation than she was.
“Over there,” he said finally, breaking the silence.
She looked toward the shore where he pointed, and could barely make out a dock, hidden in the tall marsh grass. Max guided the boat over to the dock and inched it onto the bank.
“The dock doesn’t look too sturdy,” Max said. “We’re going to get our feet wet, but I don’t think stepping out on that relic is a good idea.”
“I agree,” Colette said and handed Max the rifle while she stepped out onto the muddy bank. She sank several inches in the soupy, black mud and felt mud and water ooze into her tennis shoes.
She took the rifle back from Max and plodded up the bank until she hit firm ground. “I hope we don’t have to run. I just added ten pounds of weight directly on my feet.”
“Yeah,” Max said as he stepped carefully out of the boat. “You can move slowly to minimize impact, but Louisiana mud is still going to claim a portion of your legs. We really weren’t prepared for this. We need boots.”
“Do you think we should have gone back for equipment?”
“No. We were already here, and the longer Anna is missing, the more likely something bad will happen. We can take a look around, and if we don’t find anything, we’ll come back tomorrow better prepared.”
“I guess we tipped our hand by coming here, right? If we’d left earlier, it would have given them all the time in the world to design stories and hide things. Assuming the locals are part of whatever Anna got into.”
“Yeah, but sending us on a wild-goose chase would give them the same opportunity.”
“I hadn’t thought about that. Danny could easily have sent us off in the wrong direction.” She sighed. “I would make a horrible criminal.”
“Fortunately for law enforcement, most people do.” Max scanned the brush and pointed just to the left of where they stood. “I think I see the trail there.”
He walked about ten feet into the undergrowth and paused, scanning the area again. “It’s definitely not well traveled, but I don’t see signs of another trail. This must be the one.”
Colette peered down the tiny path, but within a matter of feet, the dense undergrowth had swallowed up the tiny trail. She took a deep breath, trying not to think about all the things that could go wrong following this tiny trail into the unknown.
“You ready?” he asked.
“As ready as I’m getting.”
“Make sure you keep the shotgun handy, but stay close to me. The last thing we need is an accident with that gun.”
He pushed some brush aside and started down the trail at a steady pace. She swallowed, then clutched the shotgun and fell in step a foot behind Max. Far enough away not to bump into him but close enough that she couldn’t lift the shotgun and fire on him if panicked. He set a slow, deliberate pace, scanning the brush in front of them as well as the sides. The cypress trees clustered closer and closer together, reducing visibility to the equivalent of twilight.
She clutched the gun, tucking her arms as close to her body as possible. The dying bushes and brambles scratched her bare arms as they passed down the trail. When tiny rays of sunlight managed to slip through the canopy of trees, huge spiderwebs glittered.
“Watch overhead, will you?” he asked. “I’m casing the ground and scanning ahead and to the sides, but snakes may still be in the trees.”
Colette said a silent prayer as she looked up into the branches ahead of them. If a snake fell out of a tree onto her, the investigation would be over. She was certain she’d have a heart attack on the spot.
“If someone lives back here, why isn’t this path more worn?” she asked.
“Given that the dock was also falling apart, my guess is they have another way to get to the living quarters and have abandoned the old one.”
“Assuming anyone still lives out here.”
“Yep, which is questionable given that we don’t know if the source of the information is trustworthy.”
“How did you do this every day?”
“Ha. In all my years of police work, I never once tromped through a snake-infested swamp, but I assume that’s not what you’re asking.”
“No. I meant questioning people and trying to figure out what was the truth. Considering that everyone is probably lying about something, and trying to figure out whether it’s about something important.”
“I don’t know that it’s much different from what doctors do when diagnosing a patient. Basically, the symptoms are the answers, but some of the answers may be inaccurate or related to something else completely. Sometimes you have to track a symptom back to the root to determine it’s benign or unrelated to the bigger problem. It’s the same with answers.”
“Yes, I guess you’re right.” Colette appreciated his take on her line of work. It was a perspective she hadn’t considered before.
The light dimmed suddenly, and Colette looked up through the narrow slit between the trees to see a dark cloud covering the sun. “Is it supposed to storm today?” she asked.
He glanced up at the sky and frowned. “No, but that doesn’t mean it won’t.”
The last thing Colette wanted was to get caught out in the swamp in a thunderstorm. “How much farther, do you think?”
“I’m just guessing at distance, but we should be close.”
“Too close!” A burly man wearing overalls stepped out from the brush with a shotgun leveled directly at Max’s chest.
Chapter Five
“You’re trespassing on private property,” the man with the shotgun said.
An involuntary cry escaped from Colette before she could stop it. Max drew up short and put his hands in the air. Figuring it was a good idea, she followed suit, lifting the shotgun above her head. The man studied them, his finger never leaving the trigger.
“I’m sorry, sir,” Max said. “We didn’t mean to disturb you. Danny, the gas station owner in Pirate’s Cove, thought y
ou might be able to help us.”
The man narrowed his eyes. “You got the stench of big city all over you, and the swamp ain’t no place for a woman lessin’ she was born here. What do you want?”
“We’re looking for Cache.”
The man’s jaw set in a hard line. “Wrong answer.”
“Please,” Colette said. “My friend is missing. She told me she was from Cache. I just want to make sure she’s safe.”
The man lowered his gaze to Colette and she reminded herself to breathe. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest under his scrutiny and hoped that her worry and sincerity showed in her expression.
“No one leaves Cache,” the man said.
“She told me she did. I’m not lying to you. I just want to find my friend. I’m afraid she’s in trouble.”
“If she’s from Cache, how do you know her?”
“She works for me at a hospital in New Orleans.”
“You a doctor?”
“No, sir. I’m a nurse. My friend is a nurse’s aide.”
“What does she look like?” he asked.
“She’s twenty years old and Creole. Tall, thin and has long dark brown hair. She usually wears it in a ponytail. Her favorite color is blue and she usually wore blue T-shirts when she wasn’t working.”
The man studied her a bit longer then nodded. “I seen a girl the other day that looked like that. It was a ways back in the swamp. There was a boat pulled up on the bank and she was walking into the trees. She wasn’t dressed right to be back here—no rubber boots—and I didn’t see a firearm.”
Colette’s pulse quickened. “Do you remember what day it was that you saw her?”
“Don’t have much use for time out here, but I reckon I’ve slept five nights since then.”
Friday.
Colette looked over at Max, not sure which direction to take their conversation next, especially as the man had yet to remove his finger from the trigger of the shotgun, much less lower it.
“Sir,” Max said. “The girl never returned home, and we’re afraid she ran into trouble. If you could just tell us where you saw her, we’ll be happy to get off your property and go look for her there.”
