Rumble on the Bayou (30 page)

Maylene lowered the bottle of brew long enough to wave one hand in the air and start a stream of words. "Too much noise. Day and night. Damn boats. No one should be driving that fast. Don't understand it. Should be against the law."

Dorie raised her eyebrows at Richard and waited for the tirade to end. Maylene's mouth must have gotten dry, because finally she took a break from griping and put the bottle back to her lips.

"So what you're saying is that boats are running past your house all hours of the day and night and you would like it to stop. Is that correct?"

Maylene lowered the bottle and stared at her. "Of course that's correct. Weren't you listening to a damn thing I said? Now, I want those boats to stop."

Dorie nodded, not sure whether to be alarmed or amused. "Okay. And which night exactly did you hear the boats?"

"Last night, damn it," Maylene yelled."l already told you. Last night. Loud as hell. Shook all my bottles."

Dorie nodded and pretended to make a note on a pad of paper. "Okay, Maylene. I'll check that out right away and see that it stops. Is there anything else I can do for you today?"

Maylene lowered her bottle again and shifted her gaze from Dorie to Richard, who began to squirm. "No. There's nothing else you can do, unlessing you'd like to leave your man here while you take care of business. I've got business of my own he could attend to."

Richard choked back a laugh and cleared his throat. "Not this time, Maylene. Dorie might need help finding those boats, and a woman with your incredible looks shouldn't have her beauty sleep disturbed."

Maylene shrugged and looked a bit disappointed. "Guess not. Smart of you anyway, Dorie, to keep him on the job." She gave Richard a wink. "Once a man has a bit of Maylene, it ruins him for other women."

Richard smiled back. "I don't doubt it," he said, and somehow managed to keep a straight face until they were back at the jeep. "Jesus," he said and made a face like he'd just taken in a mouthful of saltwater. "That was a close one. What was her husband like?"

"Before or after the fall?" Dorie asked with a grin.

"After."

"Drunk"

"What about before?"

"Pretty much the same."

He smiled. "I guess that would explain it. So what are you going to do about this boat thing? You can't tell people when to operate a boat, can you?"

“
No, nor how fast to drive them," she said and jumped in the jeep. "And wouldn't have to even if I could."

Richard followed suit and gave her a questioning look. "Why not?"

Dorie smiled. "Because it's obvious that Maylene is hallucinating. Remember, I told you that the nearest water source to Maylene's is over a mile in any direction. There's no way she heard boats, especially closed up in her house and drunk as hell. More likely she left her TV on NASCAR, and got a bit confused. One time, watching Animal Planet had her convinced there were elephants in her living room. It took us almost two hours to get her to come out of the bedroom closet."

Richard laughed and looked past Maylene's house down the narrow shell road. "What about this road? Does it go through to anywhere?"

"Not really. It dead-ends right smack in the middle of the game preserve. I let the grass grow over it as much as possible. I don't want anyone getting any ideas of trying to fish back there. The place is loaded with gators."

She looked down the road and squinted her eyes in the sunlight. "Still, I guess I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't check it out. Prepare for another bouncing ride," she said and gave Richard a smile.

"At least I'll be on the seat this time. Tell me. How is it that you have four perfectly matched tires, and I had to drive all the way to Lake Charles on something I can't even describe?"

Dorie snorted. "In my line of work? Hell, I learned real early to have spares. I probably have four or five sets still over in Joe's garage."

Richard stared at her in obvious surprise. "You go through that many tires here? What happens to them? Is there a lot of trash in the roads?"

"Nah. It's gators mostly. They don't really like people coming into what they consider their home. I usually lose seven or eight tires a year to gator bites."

She put the jeep in drive and squealed out of the driveway, leaving a shower of dust behind.

"And are we on our way right now to one of those tire-biting locations?" he asked.

Dorie grinned.

"Great. Nothing death defying has happened in a couple of hours at least. I was starting to get bored."

C
HAPTER FOURTEEN

Joe walked up and down Main Street, taking a critical look at the town around him. Everything looked normal, but yet it couldn't possibly be. Everyone in Gator Bait went about business as usual, completely unaware the town was under siege. Well, that wasn't exactly accurate. People were more than a little concerned about Dorie's boat being blown to bits, but as soon as they found out she was all right, it would just be another day.

Joe shook his head. What was wrong with these people? Did they really brush up against death so often that someone else's misfortune was merely conversation for Pete's Bar? Or were they like Dorie and resigned to the fact that everyone had to go sometime? Joe looked at the church and sighed.

All those years of his father preaching about the hereafter-at church, at home, on vacations. It had never made Joe comfortable with death, and he was the one person in town who ought to be. After all, he probably knew more about heaven than the angels.

He shifted his gaze to the diner. Now was the time. If he was going to cast his lot with Dorie and Richard, he'd better ask Jenny out while he was still breathing. With a new resolve, he strode across the street and pushed open the door to the cafe.

Jenny looked up in surprise as the door banged on the inside wall. "Sorry," Joe said sheepishly. This was starting off well.

Jenny smiled. "It's broken. It's supposed to be fixed this afternoon."

He nodded, relieved he wasn't destroying her restaurant, and took a seat at the counter. It was too late for lunch and too early for supper, so the diner was empty.

"Can I get you some coffee?" she asked. "Or maybe a soda?"

His mind raced over the simple question. Coffee gave you bad breath. He reached up to his shirt pocket. Damn. No mints. "Soda, please."

She fixed the soda and set the glass in front of him. "How's Dorie doing?"

"She's fine. As far as I can tell anyway. Hell, you know Dorie."

Jenny nodded. "Yes, I do. That's why I worry about her. She keeps things all bundled up inside. It's not healthy. I'm afraid one of these days she's going to blow."

He took a gulp of the soda and swallowed, trying to clear his throat. "Let's just hope if she blows anytime soon, it's around Dick's bad guy."

Jenny stared at him, her face drawn tight. "I'm really worried about her this time. This is worse than anything I've ever seen and I probably don't even know the half of it. You would tell me if there was a problem, right?"

Joe looked her straight in the eyes and considered his answer. He opened his mouth and tried to let the lie out, but couldn't speak at all. Finally, he sighed and dropped his gaze to the counter. "If something was wrong with Dorie that she didn't want known, I'm afraid I wouldn't tell you."

He raised his gaze back up to Jenny's face, expecting anger, but instead, she smiled. "You're a good man, Joe Miller. Will you do me the honor of escorting me to the Contraband Days Dance in Lake Charles?"

Before the last words left her mouth, he choked on his soda and tried to swallow, but it was impossible. Unable to breathe, he finally spit the soda back in his glass and coughed. Jenny laughed and dumped his glass in the sink behind the counter.

"Did you think I was going to wait forever?" she asked. "If you're gonna keep hanging out with Dorie and Richard, I figured I better get my time in fast."

Joe laughed. "The funny thing is, I was thinking the same thing on my way over here. I came in with the specific intention of asking you out."

"Well, then why didn't you?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Nerves, I guess." He lifted her hand from the counter and held it in his. "You're something special, Jenny. I guess I've never been sure I deserved something that good."

Jenny sighed. "Just make me one promise.”

"What's that?"

Although they were all alone in the cafe, she leaned across the counter and whispered in his ear. "Promise me you won't take so long to get around to
everything
."

***

The jeep screeched to a halt in front of a tall barrier of marsh grass, and Richard gratefully relaxed his grip on the roll bar above him. Dorie stepped out of the jeep, walked to the edge of the marsh, and took a look around.

"I don't like it," she said as he made his way over to her. "Someone's been out here. Recently." She pointed to a section of broken grass off to the left.

"Fishermen?"

She shook her head. "I doubt it. City people wouldn't know how to find this and the townspeople are smart enough to keep away."

"Is it safe to follow the trail and see where it goes?"

She grinned. "No, but that's never stopped me" Pushing the remaining grass aside, she stepped into the marsh.

He hesitated for a moment, studying the thick wall of grass that could be hiding darn near anything. "Oh, hell," he finally said and followed her into the muddy water.

They pushed their way about a quarter mile or so through the grass and came to a small clearing of hardened bayou mud that rose just far enough out of the water's path to stay dry. Dorie stepped onto the dirt and pointed to a section of broken grass just off to the left of the clearing.

"Whoever it was continued through there," she said. "And based on the boot prints in the soft mud at the edge of this clearing, it was definitely human and not animal." She looked around again and blew out a breath. "I don't know about this, Dick. I don't think we should go any farther on foot. We probably ought to come back with a small boat. At least that would get us out of the water."

He looked around and suddenly realized he couldn't see a thing beyond the small circle of dirt they were standing on. Maybe a boat was a good idea. Besides, if Dorie wasn't comfortable, he ought to be worried as hell. "Whatever you think."

Dorie nodded and had just stepped off the dirt and into the marsh when the alligator charged at Richard. The animal had been hidden in the grass just to the right of them and apparently didn't appreciate them disturbing his resting place.

Richard whipped his head around and stared at the alligator, completely horrified and frozen in place. Before he could even contemplate movement, gunshots rang out, and the gator dropped dead at his feet. He spun around and looked at Dorie, but her gun was already holstered, and she was standing calmly in a foot of water shaking her head. It was like Gunsmoke on the bayou.

He let out the breath he'd been holding with a whoosh. "Jesus Christ! I thought you couldn't kill anything in the game preserve."

She raised her eyebrows and gave him an amused look. "Did you expect me to cuff him and read him his rights?"

Realizing how ridiculous his comment sounded, Richard laughed nervously. "No, I guess not. I guess I was just expecting to die," he said in complete honesty. "I really didn't think beyond that point."

Dorie nodded and her expression turned serious. "That's why I said no one in their right mind would be out here." She looked across the dirt at the trail extending deeper into the marsh. "You know what that means?"

"Someone in his wrong mind made this trail?"

She gave him a small laugh. "Now, that would describe darn near everyone in Gator Bait, but yeah, that's the idea. Except even people in Gator Bait have more of a mind about the game preserve than to go wandering around it on foot. This had to be someone stupid enough, or desperate enough, to try to make it through here, and I don't know of a single person who fits that bill."

"Roland?"

Dorie stared at the dead alligator and shook her head. "Maybe you are chasing a ghost, Dick."

***

Joe left the cafe, a huge grin on his face when Jenny rushed out the door after him. "Joe, wait," she yelled. "Sherry at the retirement home is on the phone looking for Dorie and she sounds in a bad way."