Bayou Heat (22 page)

Nate looked at her as if he were going to physically move
her out of the way. She watched as he glanced up at the ceiling and took a deep
breath.

He looked back at her. “I like Rob. Underneath that badass
attitude of his, he’s not a bad guy.”

“You’re one to talk.”

“Believe me, I know my faults better than anyone. Rob’s a
good guy, he’ll make you happy…but staying here, knowing my chance with you is
gone… Well, let’s just say it isn’t working for me.”

“Nate.” She reached out to lay a hand on his arm.

He pulled away. “Please don’t.”

Eris dropped her hand. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You’re not the one who lied about how you felt. I
didn’t tell you because I thought I’d lose your friendship if I did. Now I’ve
blown both. So if you don’t mind, I’m going to go lick my wounds and get
roaring drunk.”

Eris stepped aside, unable to think of any response to
Nate’s statement. She turned back toward the kitchen and spotted Rob and Zane
standing in the doorway. Zane said something to Rob before walking toward the
entrance.

She put her hand on his arm as he started by. “You knew. Why
didn’t you say anything?”

Zane put his hand over hers as he looked into her eyes.
“He’s my best friend, but you’re my sister. I kept his secret as a friend
should and protected you from feeling obligated like a brother should.”

“But…”

“I did what was right, Eris. Now I’m going to go make sure
he doesn’t do anything too stupid.” Zane dropped a quick kiss to her cheek
before heading out the door.

She stood there for several seconds in dumbfounded silence,
totally stunned by Nate’s revelation. Zane was right. If she’d known, she would
have settled for a marriage to a good friend even if her heart wasn’t in it.
Finally she mustered enough nerve to look at Rob. He stood backlit in the
doorway, arms across his chest, totally unreadable. She took a deep breath and
forced her feet to move toward him. When she reached him, she opened her mouth
to try to explain but no words came out.

She closed her mouth and for several minutes they stood
there studying each other with nothing to say. LD’s voice drifted to them from
the kitchen, reminding her how out of control her life had become.

Rob finally broke the silence. “You honestly didn’t know,
did you?”

“No. Did you?”

He shifted as if he was uncomfortable answering the
question. “I knew it the first time I saw you two together. It was written all
over him like ink on a newspaper. The only person who didn’t see it was you.”

Eris frowned at Rob. “But you sent us back to my place
together. Why?”

“I knew you were oblivious to his feelings and even if you
weren’t, I trusted you. I also knew he’d die trying to protect you like I
would.”

She looked into Rob’s eyes and knew every word he uttered
was true and she wasn’t sure how she felt about any of this. “I’m going to go
take a shower.”

She turned away, gathered her suitcase from the corner and
walked into the bedroom. She closed and locked the door behind her.

* * * * *

It was completely dark by the time a light knock sounded on
the bedroom door. She ignored the knock even though she was sure her stomach
was eating its way through to her backbone. Another knock sounded, slightly
louder.

“Eris, we’ve been asked to go down to the morgue.”

Ice water seemed to fill her veins. “I’ll be right there.”

“Okay.”

She stood and wiped the tears away as she slipped on her
flip-flops before looking in the mirror above the dresser. Jeez, she looked
bad. She finger-combed her short hair before wiping her eyes one more time.
Tears formed again and she pressed the palms of her hands to them in an effort
to stop the flow. She wasn’t sure why she was crying. It was either the
hopeless look on Nate’s face or Rob’s words, but it didn’t matter. She needed
to get a grip.

Rob was waiting for her when she opened the door. He looked
at her. “If you don’t want to go, I’ll call people to come stay with you.”

She took a deep, shaky breath. “I’ll go. Why are we needed
at the morgue?”

“Tarrington called and he wants us to come down and view a
body. He wouldn’t say anything else.”

Her stomach turned at the thought. “Fine. I need my gun.”

“Lost in the fire along with your purse. We’ll replace both
tomorrow.”

“Okay, but I really don’t like going out without one.”

Rob opened the front door and two men she’d been introduced
to this morning stood there waiting for them. He spoke to the pair and then one
took the lead and the other followed them to the waiting cars. They didn’t
speak as they drove through the dark streets to the city morgue. She kept
trying to think of something to talk about that would break the tension that
filled the car but failed. They were headed to the morgue and she couldn’t
think of anything good about that.

Tarrington was waiting for them when they entered through
the front doors. “Sorry about calling the two of you down here, but there’s
something you need to see.”

“What can you tell us about the victim?” Rob’s voice was
steady and calm as they followed Tarrington through the building to the viewing
room.

Tarrington opened a door and Olson stood on the other side,
waiting on them. “We’d rather not influence your impression, so we’ll talk
after you’ve seen the deceased.”

Eris swallowed. She was about to be sick and she hadn’t even
seen the corpse. At least she didn’t have anything in her stomach. She felt the
cold sweat break out across her body. Olson motioned for them to stand in front
of a closed, dirty window blind. Rob moved closer but she couldn’t.

“We’re waiting.” Olson’s voice was as hard and demeaning as
ever.

She forced herself to go stand next to Rob. “Okay.”

Eris backed a couple of steps until she hit the wall behind
her. Turning, she threw the door open and headed down the hall, back toward the
front of the building.

“Eris.”

“I quit, now leave me alone.”

“What do you mean?”

She turned and unleashed all the anger and fear that had
been building inside her for days. “The psycho bitch wins! I’m getting my
passport, cleaning out my bank account and leaving town. The sicko has done
what none of you could do—get me to back off. I’ve been threatened, run off the
road and almost turned into a crispy critter, but that—”

“Isn’t me.” Rob took a step toward her.

Eris backed away from him and shouted, “I know it’s not you,
but I’m not freaking dumb, I know what it means!”

“It’s a cheap-assed attempt to get us to run away!” Rob
shouted right back.

She held her hands up. “Well, it worked. I’m out of here.
I’ll send a postcard.” She turned and started back down the hall.

“Just like that you’re going to walk away and give up on
finding Orbit’s killer.”

She turned back to him. “You didn’t have to identify your
best friend’s body, now did you?”

“No, only my mother’s.”

She took a shaky breath. “I’m sorry, but I can’t stay around
and one day have to walk down these halls to identify your body. That man in
there could be your
twin
.”

“Princess, you’re stronger than this.” He closed the space
between them.

She shook her head. “No I’m not, and please don’t ask me to
stay.”

“This is nothing more than a mind game. You know that. What’s
unnerved you so badly? Talk to me.”

Her breath caught and a sob escaped as she started to turn
away. He gripped her upper arm and pulled her back around. She looked up at
him. “You don’t get it, do you?”

“Get what?”

“It would kill me to identify you.”

“You survived Orbit’s death,” he responded.

“This is different.”

“How? You’re not making sense.”

Tears blurred her vision as she placed a hand over his
heart. She could feel it beating beneath her palm and the warmth of his body
seeped into her. “I’m in love you with you. That’s the difference.”

Rob pulled her into his arms and held her tight against his
chest as emotions he’d never felt flared to life inside him. He needed time to
examine his feelings and figure out what the hell he was going to do about the
woman in his arms. He tilted her head up and lowered his mouth to hers. He
tasted her tears as he slowly kissed her fears away.

There were a thousand things he needed to think about but
they would have to wait until later. Right now, there was work they needed to
do because no matter what, there was a killer out there who needed catching. He
pulled back. “We need to talk with Olson and Tarrington to find out how the man
died.”

He felt her take a deep, shaky breath as she stepped out of
his arms. “Can we talk with them elsewhere? I don’t like this place.”

The feeling of loss that hit him was hard and unexpected,
making his chest tighten and his hands clench. He forced himself not to reach
for her. “Let me talk to Olson and see what we can do.”

Thirty minutes later the four of them were seated in a small
conference room in the police station on Royal Street. He could see the tension
in Eris’ face, the paleness of her skin, and knew she didn’t want to be here.
He turned his attention to Olson and what he was saying.

“The man’s body was found by the maid at a local hotel two
days ago. No one thought anything about it until the lab tech got hold of some
evidence.”

“Which was?”

“Long, red synthetic hairs.”

“The same as the ones found in the truck?” Eris asked in a
tight, controlled voice.

“Yes,” Olson answered even though it seemed to pain him.

“I’ve been telling all of you we’re dealing with a woman.”
Eris waved her arms as she spoke.

Olson gave a pained sigh. “I seriously doubt that, most
women aren’t into messy kills, they prefer poisons or pills. I’m starting to
think our killer has a female partner.”

The partner theory didn’t sound right to Rob, but he kept
his mouth closed, hoping that by not arguing with this pair he might actually
get more information out of them. “In this town, streetwalkers, dancers,
cross-dressers and the clerk at the city courthouse all wear wigs. It’s so
common that, unless we got some DNA off it, I’m not sure it’s much help. How
was he killed?”

“It looks like he was drugged then his throat cut,”
Tarrington replied as he flipped through the file in front of him.

“Any sign of a struggle or sex?”

“No, the coroner said he was unconscious when his throat was
cut. We found no prints to help us or anything that would give us a DNA
profile. The only thing out of place was the man’s wallet and identification
was missing,” Olson answered.

“So you haven’t ID’ed the man?” Rob continued the
questioning.

“We got lucky on fingerprints. He’s Leslie Adams from a
small town outside of Houston. He was here on business, no ties to the area. We
also found this beside him.” Olson pulled a plastic bag from his pocket and
placed a yin-yang playing card on the small table.

There was a pause after Olson’s last answer and Rob wondered
if he was thinking the same as him. “Any new information on who started the
fire or how?”

Olson flipped through his notes. “The fire marshall is still
working on his official report, but he said an accelerant was poured through
the front windows and tossed onto the outside of the building. He said the wood
in those old buildings is dry and can burn extremely fast without any help. Add
something to speed up the process and you have an inferno in a matter of
minutes like you two found out.”

“What about the people who shot up the place?”

Tarrington looked up. “The only people who would talk with
us were a tourist couple. The description they gave leads us to think a local
street gang is responsible, but they weren’t close enough to give us any
detailed descriptions. You know how elusive these people are, we might not ever
know who did this. Wish there was more to tell you.”

Rob caught the look Eris gave him but didn’t acknowledge it.
He stood. “When you have more information, let us know.”

He opened the door and followed Eris out into the hall. She
opened her mouth but he gave a slight shake of his head. She didn’t say
anything as they walked through the station. Rob checked the street and watched
as the two men with them drifted out of the shadows and moved toward their
cars. He guided her across the street and opened the door to the new vehicle,
which had been delivered to him earlier in the day.

After they were moving, he made a call to their front man
before speaking to Eris. “What did you think?”

“I understand there could be a second person but that scenario
doesn’t feel right to me.”

“The dreams you’ve had have two people in it.”

“No, my dream has one person with two different faces, not
two individual people. What’s your gut feeling?”

“That there’s only one person.” The car in front of them
took a left and he followed.

“Where are we going? Thought we were headed back home.”

“We’re going to go visit a friend, maybe do some dancing and
grab a bite to eat,” Rob answered as he took the freeway entrance ramp.

“There’s more to this than you’re telling me, and why are
you taking the bridge to Algiers?”

“Because Club Raga is located there and so is the person I
need to talk with.” Rob forced his hands to relax.

“You do realize we aren’t dressed for that place?”

“I’m aware of that.” He glanced over at Eris as she tugged
at her clothes and smiled.

“And by this time of the evening, the place is full. We’ll
never get in.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve got a standing invitation.”

Eris walked next to Rob as they made their way toward the
entrance to Club Raga. The crowd magically parted for them as they moved
through it. She wasn’t sure if it was because of the three very large men she
was with or the waves of anger and rage that were currently pouring off Rob.

She felt the change in him at the station while they were
talking with Olson and Tarrington. He’d managed to keep his feelings in check
for the most part until they got in the car. Now he was a man on a mission and
she pitied the person who got in his way. They reached the front door and a
small man stepped in their path, blocking the entrance.

“Tell Mr. Langtry that Rob Jackson is here to see him.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Jackson, but Mr. Langtry isn’t seeing people
tonight.”

Rob leaned forward and lowered his voice so others couldn’t
hear. Whatever he said obtained the desired result because the doors to the
exclusive club opened and all four of them entered.

Rob took her hand as they entered. “Stay close to one of us.
Don’t talk to anyone and for God’s sake, don’t make eye contact with people.”

“I’m not inexperienced, you know. I did grow up here.”

“True, but this place is nothing but a high-class cat house
and I’d hate to have to hurt some poor bastard who thought he was going to get
lucky with you.”

Eris laughed. “Don’t worry, this isn’t my type of place and
I’m not dressed for that kind of work. What’s behind those curtains?”

“This place is a two-story box with an open atrium area in
the middle that holds a large dance floor and stage. Those curtains are the
doors to private boxes that customers rent for the evening.”

“Sounds like you’ve been here before.”

Rob slowed his pace as they approached a closed door at the
far end of the building. “Once, princess, and that was only because I was
babysitting Marie for LD before they got together.”

Rob put his hand on the doorknob and pushed the door open.
She could see a well-dressed man seated behind a desk, tapping on a computer
keyboard.

The man glanced at Rob and the other two men before his gaze
landed on her. He stood slowly and she realized the man was as intimidating as
Rob in his own manner. He rounded the desk and held out his hand as he
approached them. “Come in and close the door, Rob. I’m Nic Langtry and you must
be Eris DuBose.”

She accepted his hand as she looked into eyes that gave
nothing away. “How did you know my name?”

“I have my ways, Ms. DuBose,” Nic answered as he released
her hand and turned toward Rob. “What brings you here?”

“I need to know who shot up and torched the FullMoon House
of Voodoo last night.”

Nic glanced over at her before turning back to Rob. “You
don’t want to go there, man. Those people make
you
look like an altar
boy.”

“I don’t give a damn about that. Which gang was it?”

“I’m telling you—”

Rob moved so fast, Nic never finished his sentence. There
was a loud thump as Rob’s body slammed Nic into the wall. She saw Nic reach for
his gun but stop when Rob held his to the man’s head. Eris looked over to see
if they were about to have visitors coming through the door, but it didn’t
budge. Rob said something to Nic and the man looked over at her then back to
Rob. Nic said something back to Rob that caused him to back off and lower his
gun.

Nic straightened his clothes. “It’s a death sentence if you
go after those people.” Rob stared at Nic for several seconds until the club
owner gave in. “Shit, you’re looking for the 9W gang.”

Eris finally found her voice. “9W?”

Nic moved behind his desk as he spoke. “It stands for Ninth
Ward, which is where the gang originated. Nowadays they recruit from all over.”

“Why did they do it?” Rob asked as he moved forward.

“Rumor has it they were hired to kill the two of you. Guess
they figured between the bullets and the flames, neither of you would walk
away.”

“How do I find them?”

“You don’t. Give me a few hours and I’ll have someone for
you to talk with.”

“I want a name and address.” Rob’s voice was hard and cold
and she wondered if he was about to shoot Nic.

Nic didn’t even flinch at Rob’s tone as he met his eyes.
“They’ll kill you. Her, they’ll keep alive. Picture that and tell me if you
still want to do it your way.”

Rob glanced over at her then turned back to Nic. She heard
the click of the safety on his gun and watched as he replaced it. “You have my
number. I’ll be waiting for your call.”

She waited for Rob beside the door. When he reached her, she
stopped him. “These 9W people, they’re going to try finishing the job, aren’t
they?”

“Not if I find who hired them first. I take him out and the
hit on us will disappear.”

She was horrified and turned back to Nic. “Is that true?”

“Yes. Rob understands enough about street gangs to know what
needs to be done.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you alive and safe,
princess, even if it means killing to do it.” Rob pulled her into his arms for
a second before letting go. “We need to get going.”

Rob put his arm around her as they walked back through the
club. “Let’s go home for the night. We’ve had a hell of a couple of days.”

* * * * *

Eris sat straight up in bed. Her heart was pounding like a
runaway freight train. Her dream had been unnervingly real, with her and Rob
and the blood. Deep red blood covering her, Rob and the floor of some strange
house. This dream hadn’t been one of those that reminded her of a cartoon, nor
was it in black and white. It was terrifyingly real, to the point she’d tried
to wake herself up but couldn’t. Thankfully the phone ringing pulled her from
the nightmare. She looked over at Rob as he closed his phone and waited for him
to speak.

“That was Nic, he has a meeting set up for two.”

Eris looked over at the clock. “Like in the next fifty
minutes?”