The Vanishing

by Jana DeLeon

  Minutes later, he knew they’d found the right place.

  Four men stepped out of the brush, seeming to materialize out of nowhere. They surrounded him and Colette, shotguns leveled.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Hand me the shotgun,” one of them said to Colette then looked at Max. “And you, drop your pistol.”

  Colette flashed a glance at him and he nodded. She handed the shotgun to the man, her hands shaking as she passed it over. Max slowly pulled his pistol from his waistband and dropped it to the ground.

  “This way,” the man said and waved his shotgun in the direction they’d been walking.

  One of the other men picked up the pistol as Max took Colette’s hand and followed the first man through the brush.

  The hiding place was a smaller version of Cache. There weren’t as many shacks and no church at all, but Max figured for temporary housing, it worked fine for their purposes. The man led them to an open area in the center of the shacks. Villagers started easing out of the shacks toward the open area until they formed a circle around Max and Colette.

  “What are you doing here?” the man asked.

  “We were looking for you, the villagers of Cache. You’re in danger.”

  The man shook his head. “Don’t look like anyone’s in danger but you.”

  “Please,” Colette said. “My name is Colette Guidry. I work with Anna and she’s desperate to find her mother, Rose.”

  A woman burst through the circle and ran up to Colette. “You’re the woman that my Anna works for at the hospital?”

  “Yes.”

  “How is she? Is she all right? I expected her to come to us, but she didn’t.”

  “She was kidnapped by the bokor on the way to the village. Max found her in the swamp and we took her to the hospital in New Orleans. She’s going to be fine, but she’s worried about you.”

  For a moment, the woman looked relieved, then the panicked look was back. “We can’t do what the bokor wants, so we hid.”

  “We know about the coins,” Colette said. “And the bokor is just a man in a mask. A really evil man who wants the coins for himself.”

  “No.” Rose shook her head. “The bokor is real.”

  The man stepped closer to them. “You don’t know nothing about our business.”

  “I know,” Max said, “that the bokor is a man named Marshall Lambert. He bought the coins from the pawnshop where Anna sold them.”

  There was an intake of breath from the villagers, and Rose’s hand flew up to cover her mouth. “She sold the coins?”

  “To pay for her schooling,” Colette explained. “She’s very sorry, but I promise you the threat to you is from a very real, very human man.”

  The man who’d led them to Cache lifted his shotgun in the air. “So if we kill this one man, then we’ll be safe again.”

  The villagers began to cheer.

  “I don’t think so,” Max said. “Too many people know about the coins and Cache. Word will spread and you’ll constantly be watching for the next bad guy. But I have an idea of how to solve the problem.”

  “We can’t sell the coins,” the man said. “Even if we didn’t believe in the curse, we gave our word. That may mean nothing in your world, but it does in ours.”

  “You don’t have to break your word or risk the curse if you do what I’m suggesting,” Max said.

  The man stared at him, his eyes narrowed, and Max held his breath that they’d actually listen to him.

  “Tell us your idea,” the man said finally, “and then we’ll decide.”

  “I have a friend who runs a museum. She would like to display the coins at the museum for everyone to see with the agreement that they still belong to the villagers. That way they could never be sold, and no one would look for them in Cache any longer.”

  The man shook his head. “The coins can’t leave Mystere Parish.”

  “And they won’t. The museum is on the south tip of Mystere Parish. Barely in the parish lines, but there.”

  The man waved one hand in the air and several villagers huddled around him, including Rose. Max assumed they made the decisions for the village.

  Colette leaned toward him. “Do you think they’ll go for it?” she whispered.

  “I hope so.”

  After several minutes, the man finally turned around and said, “We’re interested in your idea. The villagers have had the burden of the coins for a long time. Some would like to leave the village and have different lives. Because of the coins, it’s never been allowed, which is why Anna ran. We don’t want our children and grandchildren to have no options. We’ll talk to your museum lady.”

  Relief washed over Max for a moment, then he was right back in cop mode. “That’s great, but we have a problem right now. The man who wants the coins is here somewhere in the swamp looking for you. He attacked the old woman, Marie, in Pirate’s Cove, trying to get information on where to find you.”

  “Oh, no!” Rose cried out. Another woman stepped up next to her and placed her arm around her shoulders.

  “Marie is Rose’s mother,” the man said. “When she started wandering off, we felt she’d be better off in Pirate’s Cove with a friend.”

  “Does she know how to find this hiding place?”

  “If her mind is working properly, yes.”

  “What can we do to protect ourselves?”

  Max took a breath, knowing the villagers would find his suggestion rash and hurried. “By turning over the coins. Get them out of the swamp and allow me to make it known to everyone that they’re somewhere safe.”

  The man turned to the small group he’d conferred with earlier and then all leaned in, their voices only a low rumble that Max couldn’t make out. Finally, the man turned and said, “We will give you the coins if you will take them to the museum lady, but if you are lying, not even prayer would save you from the wrath of the pirate who left us to guard them.”

  “I’m telling the truth. I have nothing to fear from the pirate.”

  The man nodded. “Then I will take you to where the coins are hidden.”

  “Thank you,” Max said. “You won’t regret this.”

  Rose grabbed Colette’s arm. “My daughter? You will tell her I love her?”

  “Of course,” Colette promised. “As soon as she gets out of the hospital, she can come visit.”

  Rose shook her head, a sad expression on her face. “Anna made her choice when she left the village. It is against the rules for her to return.”

  The man looked at the others then at Rose. “We will talk about that later.”

  He motioned to Max and Colette. “My name is Will. Come with me.”

  “Can I have my weapon?” Max asked. “In case we run into trouble.”

  Will handed Max his pistol and Colette the shotgun. “I hope we run into the man who’s brought the plague down on this village. I hope I have the clearest shot.”

  Max stuck the pistol in his waistband, unable to argue with Will’s sentiment. “Are we going far?”

  “No, but only Rose and me know how to find the hiding place, and only one of us can go there. The other must remain behind so that if something happens, there is someone left who knows where the coins are hidden.”

  “Then let’s get going. I want those coins out of the swamp before Lambert finds this place.”

  Will nodded and headed into the swamp. Max gave Colette’s hand a squeeze and they fell into step behind him.

  Max watched closely as Will picked his way through the swamp, but he could see no visible trail that the man was following. The foliage grew even denser the farther they traveled, to the point that it was brushing against them, scratching their arms and faces as they pushed through it. When he glanced back, he realized that the thick foliage had popped right back into place after they passed, creating a wall of branches and dying leaves behind them.

  It was a smart move, hiding the coins in an area that no man would elect to traverse, even to hunt. He glanced at
Colette and gave her an encouraging smile. She had been so strong through all of this, despite the fact that she had no training for such things and was completely out of her element. He could tell she was ill at ease in the swamp, but she’d refused to stay behind, and he couldn’t help but admire her for that.

  He checked his watch and realized they were almost at the twenty-minute mark. He was about to ask Will if they were close when the man stopped walking and pointed to an enormous cypress tree that must have been in the swamp for hundreds of years. The roots of the tree had broken through the ground and swirled around it like tentacles.

  Will stepped in between the tentacles and pushed a stone about the size of his head over on the ground. He motioned to Max. “If you don’t mind. It’s a bit heavy.”

  Max stepped in between the roots and looked down into the hole. Inside was a chest, about one foot in length and covered with tattered leather. The fake chests in toy stores were modeled after this chest, but this one was the real thing. The real thing with a real bounty of gold. He reached down for the handle on one side while Will grabbed the other and they lifted the chest from the hole.

  Max was momentarily surprised at the weight of the chest, but then remembered the density of gold. The chest must be full of it. “How did you manage this alone?” he asked Will as they hefted the chest over the roots and onto the ground next to Colette.

  “Well, it’s a bit of effort, but I wasn’t in a hurry then, either.”

  Colette reached down and tugged on one end of the chest. “Will I be able to help carry this out of the swamp?”

  “You won’t have to,” Will said. “I’ll help you get the chest to Pirate’s Cove.”

  The brush directly behind Colette shook, but before Max could reach for his pistol, Danny Pitre stepped through it, his shotgun pointed directly at Colette.

  “Help won’t be necessary,” Danny said. “I brought a backpack, and with all of you dead, I’ll be able to take my time getting out of here.”

  Colette gasped and the blood drained from her face. Will put his hands up, looking at Max for an answer he didn’t have.

  “People will come looking for us,” Max said. “People who already know what’s going on here.”

  “Sure they will,” Danny said. “And what they’ll find is you dead and Lambert missing, along with the coins. I should thank you for finding him. He’s a perfect cover.”

  “You called him and told him you knew where Cache was,” Max said, everything becoming clear. “You lured him to Pirate’s Cove and planted your boat in the swamp to support your story.”

  “Yep. He rushed right here, and the tail you put on him called you. If you thought Lambert knew where the gold was, I knew you’d try to beat him there. All I had to do was tie Lambert up, tell you he stole my boat and follow you to the gold.”

  Danny laughed. “All these years living in this town with nothing to offer and there was a fortune in my backyard. It boggles the mind. If that girl hadn’t stolen those coins, I never would have known.”

  “I’ll give her your thanks,” Max said.

  “No, you won’t. What I want all of you to do is put down your weapons. One at a time and starting with the pretty girl.”

  Colette’s hands shook as she dropped the shotgun on the ground at her feet. Her face was pale and her lip quivered. Max wanted so badly to wrap his arms around her and comfort her, and at the same time, he was mentally cursing himself for how all of this had played out. Once again, he had failed the woman he was supposed to protect, and this time, it meant losing everything.

  “Now you, pops,” Danny said to Will, keeping his shotgun trained on Colette.

  Will’s jaw flexed and Max knew he was thinking about taking a shot at Danny, but with his shotgun pointed at the ground, there was no way he could get it up and get off a shot before Danny shot Colette. Max held his breath and waited, praying that Will didn’t take that risk. Finally, Will tossed his shotgun on the ground in disgust.

  “Last up is the lover boy,” Danny said. “Slow and easy with that pistol, now, or girlfriend goes first.”

  Slowly, Max reached for his pistol, but he knew that dropping it was a certain death sentence. He didn’t know that he could get a shot off before Danny did, but his chances were a lot better than Will’s had been. What he knew for certain was that if he dropped his weapon, they had no chance.

  Colette looked over at him and his heart broke in two. He wanted so badly to tell her he loved her, that his entire view on life had changed for the better since meeting her, but he knew he couldn’t risk talking. Her eyes met his and the fear faded away from them. It was as if she understood everything he’d been thinking without his saying a word. She moved her head downward an almost imperceptible amount, but Max knew she was telling him to go for it—to take the chance even though it might come at her expense.

  Overwhelmed with her trust in him, with her willingness to sacrifice her own life for the others, he tried to focus his mind and body on the split second that was to come. He said a silent prayer that he could make the perfect shot, and hoped that Will was ready to spring into action to back him up.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Max eased the pistol out of his waistband, trying to put his fingers in the perfect position to make his move. A bead of sweat ran down his forehead and onto his cheek. Every second felt like an eternity as he waited for the right moment, the right second. Danny’s eyes were locked on him, his finger whitening on the trigger of the shotgun leveled at Colette.

  He inched the pistol forward, waiting, waiting, waiting…and then Danny blinked.

  He spun the pistol around in his hand and fired, then launched at Colette, dragging her over behind the cypress roots. Danny screamed and Max’s heart dropped. The shot hadn’t killed him.

  They fell to the ground with a crash and he popped up, ready to take another shot, but Danny already had his shotgun pointed directly at him. He had no time to aim. The shot rang out and he waited for the moment where everything went black, but instead, Danny’s mouth dropped and blood began to pour out of it.

  A second later he crashed to the ground. Behind him stood Tom, holding a shotgun.

  Max jumped up and aimed his pistol at Tom, but he lowered his shotgun and waved a hand at him.

  “You won’t be needing that,” Tom said. “Tell ’em, Will.”

  Will, who’d been standing in what appeared to be a state of shock, jumped to life. “Thank God, Tom.”

  Max lowered his pistol as Colette rose from the ground to stand beside him. “You know him?” Max asked.

  “Yeah. Tom’s our first line of protection. The village has always had one person living in Pirate’s Cove looking out for them, directing others away.”

  “The drawings I found in Cache,” Colette said. “The style was similar to the one you did. I just realized.”

  “All my family was good at drawing,” Tom said. “Each generation taught the next.”

  “You were the one in town keeping an eye on Rose’s mother,” Max said. “When she yelled that you were one that day, she meant you were one of the villagers.”

  Tom nodded. “I swear I didn’t know it was Danny behind all this, or things wouldn’t have gotten this out of hand. When one of the old-timers told me he saw Danny take off after you two, I figured there wasn’t any good coming of it. I was hoping to be wrong.”

  A million thoughts rushed through Max’s mind, but the one that kept repeating was You’re alive. He turned to Colette and placed his hands on her cheeks.

  “I love you,” he said.

  She sucked in a breath, her eyes wide.

  “I thought I wouldn’t get to say that,” he continued, “so I’m saying it now when I know I have the chance. I don’t expect you to feel the same and that’s fine, but I need to start being honest with myself, and I’m starting now.”

  Colette threw her arms around him and kissed him softly on the lips. “Are you crazy? Of course I love you.”

  “I wa
nt a life with you, but I have to warn you that I have a lot of issues to address.”

  “So do I. Maybe Alex will give us a group discount.”

  Max laughed and wrapped his arms around her, feeling complete for the first time in his life.

  * * *

  MAX WAS TALKING TO THE ambulance driver in Pirate’s Cove when Holt’s truck screeched around the corner and onto Main Street. He and Alex jumped out and ran over to Max, the worry on their faces clear.

  “Are you hurt?” Holt asked.

  “No.”

  Alex threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly, then released him. “Where’s Colette?”

  Max pointed across the street to the café. “Talking to Tom. He’s one of the villagers. A scout of sorts. Apparently, they have always had a lookout in Pirate’s Cove.”

  Alex gave him a wave and hurried across the street to the café.

  Holt glanced at the café then back at Max. “I have a feeling you’ve got a really interesting story to tell.”

  “Oh, yeah, and it ends with Danny Pitre.”

  “What about Lambert?”

  “We found him in the walk-in cooler in the gas station, single bullet through his head. My guess is Danny intended to feed him to the gators at first opportunity. Then he would have effectively disappeared.”

  “And everyone would have thought he got away with the coins,” Holt finished.

  “Yep. Danny played his part well. I never took him for anything else but a gas-station owner.”

  “Sir,” the ambulance driver interrupted. “If you wouldn’t mind identifying Danny’s body…”

  “Sure,” Max said, and he and Holt walked over to the gurney behind the ambulance.

  The driver pulled the blanket back and Max nodded. “That’s Danny Pitre.”

  He started to pull the blanket back up, but Holt caught the driver’s arm.

  “What’s wrong?” Max asked.

  The sleeve of Danny shirt was ripped, maybe during his trip through the swamp. Holt reached over and pulled the cloth aside up close to the shoulder, revealing a nick, likely made from a bullet, and a tattoo.