Savage Nature (37 page)

“So what does it mean?” Saria asked. “Charisse can’t know how the males react, or she would have destroyed the flower. I know her. If she’s been slowly perfecting this plant, she’s looking for a fragrance to manufacture—probably a signature fragrance worth millions.”

“How long have the flowers been growing on Tregre land?” Drake tapped his finger on his thigh, his mind racing. If Charisse had been experimenting for years, then the flowers could have been subtly influencing the lair.

He had traveled extensively and had seen many lairs. None had the degree of inner destruction this one had. Something was terribly wrong, but, like Joshua, it was difficult to imagine that a flower’s scent would be responsible for the slow disintegration of an entire lair.

“I only went there for the first time a couple years ago,” Saria said. “The old man was scary and
mon pere
would have switched me had I gone near him. When he died, I braved it, and met Evangeline. I honestly can’t remember when I saw them for the first time, but I always take photographs and I’ll have those in an album somewhere. I always record dates and places and time of year when I put them in my albums. Seriously, though, I doubt more than two years.”

“Talk to Charisse. She should be able to tell you,” Pauline encouraged. “She always writes everything down, she has to.”

Drake shook his head. “I don’t want you telling your sister or Charisse.” He gave Amos a hard look. “Or Elie. Nothing that’s been said here can leave this house, not until we complete our investigation. We’ve got a serial killer on the loose and he’s one of us. Finding him has to be our first priority. I’ll talk to Charisse myself. Agreed?” He wasn’t asking. Technically, Pauline wasn’t a member of the lair, but Amos was and he had sworn his allegiance.

Amos immediately nodded, but Pauline bit her lip, looking upset. “I don’ understand. You don’ suspect Charisse of any wrongdoin’, do you?”

“I don’t want news of this to get out during an investigation of a serial killer. We’ve got to be careful. I don’t want to put Charisse or anyone else in danger by shining a spotlight on them.” Drake chose his words carefully.

Saria glanced at him sharply as if she might protest, but subsided when he lifted his hand in a subtle gesture to stop her. She pressed her lips together and swallowed as if choking on her obvious need to defend Charisse. She knew he hadn’t exactly answered Pauline and truthfully, he couldn’t answer her, not right at that moment.

Pauline seemed to accept his explanation at face value. “Okay. I won’ say anything, but Drake, you get to the bottom of this fast.”

“Yes, ma’ am,” he agreed.

“I’m goin’ up to see the damage in Saria’s room. Do you really think whoever was here is the serial killer?” Pauline asked.

“Yes,” Drake said. It was the stark, raw truth. He knew the killer had been in the house—that he’d come for Saria. The evidence in the room showed rage—a very personal rage. The killer knew Saria, or at least he fantasized that he knew Saria. Whatever the circumstances, her being with Drake was some kind of betrayal in the killer’s mind.

“I’d rather not go back up there if you don’ mind,” Saria said.

“Drake can come with me,” Pauline decreed. “Amos, you stay here. Your ribs are cracked and climbin’ all those stairs won’ be good for you.”

“Joshua, Jerico, stay with Saria,” Drake ordered.

Her eyes glittered at him a little dangerously, but she didn’t argue, which was good, because as far as he was concerned, she was getting protection. He wanted to warn her brothers as well. If the killer planned on making this personal, anyone she loved could be at risk.

Pauline led the way up the sweeping staircase, stopping at the top in the circular library to turn back toward him. She rested one hand on the stone fireplace and looked him in the eye. He waited, knowing she’d maneuvered the situation to get him alone.

“Do you think this man came here to kill Saria?”

Her stare was direct and for the first time, Drake could see the leopard in her. She was as fiercely protective of her chosen daughter as any birth mother could possibly be. She might not be able to shift, but her leopard was strong.

“Yes I do,” he said, respecting her with the truth.

It wasn’t what she wanted to hear and he could see her take the blow, but she took a breath and nodded, still studying his face.

“You look at her the way my Amos always has looked at me. You won’ let anything happen to her.” She made it a statement.

“No, ma’am, I won’t.”

She stared at his face for a few more long moments and then, apparently satisfied, she led the way to Saria’s room. “She’s a good girl, you know. Smart and funny and filled with courage. She won’ ever be happy away from her swamp for too long. It’s always been her refuge.”

“Tell me why her family didn’t pay attention to her.”

“You mean Remy and the boys? Saria was a mixed blessin’ for her parents. They had five sons and then Aimee got sick. Her health had never been good, you understand, but LeRoy he wanted lots of children. He was very old school, a very hard man. Don’ get me wrong, he loved his wife and his children, but he ruled and he just never saw that Aimee was weak. She became pregnant with Saria and she just sort of slipped away. She retreated from reality. The boys knew and loved her and it was a tryin’ time for them, losin’ her that way. She stopped talkin’ and just took to her bed.”

“Saria’s father didn’t mistreat his wife?”

Pauline shook her head, one hand on the doorknob to the room. “No, he wasn’ like that at all. Stern, but he would never have laid a hand on Aimee, he adored her. When she died, he took to drink. He withdrew just as Aimee did. In a different way, but he was determined to drink himself to death and he did.”

Pauline pushed open the door and stepped back, one hand to her throat, staring at the damage. Saria’s clothing was in shreds, much like his had been the first night he’d arrived. There was no doubt a leopard had been in the room and had thrown a temper tantrum.

“How could he do so much damage and no one hear him?”

“This would have taken minutes,” Drake said. “An angry leopard can da tremendous amount of damage in a confined space in seconds. He was in and out of here right under our noses. There was only one guard awake at a time and this is a big property to patrol.”

Pauline closed the door and leaned against it. “Saria is an unusual girl. She didn’ have a mother and barely had a father. Her brothers were consumed with grief and far older, leavin’ the house to get away from all the death there. Saria took care of her father. It wasn’ all bad. He took her into the swamp, huntin’ and fishin’, treatin’ her like a son. I was never sure he noticed she was a girl. She just took over runnin’ things while he drank himself to death. She would come here, this little girl with a mop of blonde hair and eyes too big for her face. I never had children and she wormed her way into my heart.”

Pauline looked at his face and read his reaction. He couldn’t help it. Saria should have been looked after as a child—cherished, not left to take care of a drunken parent.

“Saria knew no other way of life. I tried to get her father to let me take her—and he agreed—but she refused to go. Every night she went out the window and went back to her house. I gave up. Maybe it was wrong of me, but there is no arguin’ with Saria. She doesn’t argue, she’s stays quiet, says no once, and then does what she wants. She was determined to take care of her father and she did.”

“Saria deserved a childhood.”

“She had one, Drake, just not one the world would approve of. She went everywhere with her father as a toddler, and young child. She learned to shoot so she could help him hunt alligators. She knows how to track game, trap, fish and hunt. She can take care of herself and for all his failin’s, LeRoy gave her that. She’s a strong woman and when the boys came back and actually noticed they had a younger siblin’, it was too late to take control of her. She did what she always did, she goes her own way quietly. There’s no drama with Saria and she’s as honest as day. The only thing I can take credit for is convincin’ her that school was important.”

Drake smiled at her. “I doubt that was the only thing you did for her. It’s obvious you’re her mother, Pauline. She loves you with everything in her.”

Pauline’s eyes brimmed with tears. “Why would this killer single her out?”

“I have no idea. Maybe because she figured it out that he was leopard and she sent for help. Sometimes, a very sick person can fixate on someone. She’s entering the Han Vol Dan. She’s very close and every male leopard in the lair is well aware of it. It’s possible he believed he would claim her and then she betrayed him by choosing me. There’s no way of saying what triggers a sick mind to do terrible things, but clearly, he’s angry with her.”

“She won’t let you protect her.”

Drake looked her straight in the eye. “I’ll take care of her, Pauline. Nothing will happen to her, I give you my word. She can do whatever she wants, and I’ll be right beside her. Where I go, my men will go and they won’t make the mistake again of letting him get close. The killer pissed them off royally.”

Pauline started down the stairs and then stopped again, resting her hand on his wrist. “You won’ take her too far from me will you?”

“I don’t think Saria will ever go far from you for long, Pauline,” he said. “I want to show her the rain forest, but I know this is her home. This is the place she loves, and she is not going to be happy if she’s away from you or the swamp.”

Pauline beamed at him. “I knew you’d understand.” “I’ve lived my life all over the world,” he said. “I’ve never had a home until I found Saria. She
is
home to me. It won’t matter to me where I live, as long as I have her with me. I travel for work and will have to continue to do that for a while, but this will be our home base.” He sighed. “After all, that man of yours tricked me into challenging for leadership.”

“It was a win-win situation for him. If you hadn’t challenged, Remy would have, or one of Saria’s other brothers.”

“He talked it over with you first. That old wily coot.”

“Of course he did. We both wanted to ensure Saria’s best interests. If you hadn’t challenged, you weren’t in love with her and she shouldn’t be with you.”

“I can’t believe that old man skunked me.”

Pauline laughed. “That old man has a lot of tricks up his sleeve.”

Drake shook his head. Now that he’d had a brief glimpse at Amos Jeanmard, he could understand how he had achieved a leadership role. Now it was up to Drake to find out how much damage Charisse Mercier’s hybrid flower, bad decisions and poor bloodlines had done to the lair and who among them was a serial killer.

15

ELIJAH Losposto
s was a steely-eyed, extremely handsome man in a tough, scary way. He had a wealth of gleaming black hair spilling down into eyes the color of mercury one moment and as dark as night the next. Saria stood at the helm of her boat, winding her way through the choppy water, trying not to think about how dangerous he looked or why he would take orders from Drake Donovan. Elijah and his partner, Jeremiah Wheating, two more members of Drake’s team, had spent the night in the swamp and they waited for nightfall for the entire team to return.

The rain poured down in thick silvery bands, making it difficult to see as she tried to keep the boat in open water as much as possible on the way to the strip of land facing Fenton’s Marsh. She had five men in her boat, all silent, all grim-faced and all knowing something she didn’t. On the other hand, Drake hadn’t hesitated in asking her to take them into the swamp. She had the feeling none of them needed her as much as she thought they did.

She sent another quick look at the five men who took orders from Drake. They were all dangerous men. The lair had no idea how very dangerous these men were, and yet—they all took orders from Drake. A small frisson of fear slid down her spine. She didn’t know Drake quite as well as she thought she did, not if he commanded men like these.

She turned her face up to the skies. Dark clouds rolled and churned, driven by a vicious wind. Her legs absorbed the pounding of the boat as it skimmed over the rough water. She noted none of the men seemed adversely affected by either the foul weather or the bumpy ride. She wasn’t certain why they were going out on such a night, but they were all armed. Whatever Elijah had told Drake earlier in the day, he had emerged from the meeting grim-faced, his eyes, usually s warm, were flat and cold and frankly quite scary.

She hadn’t asked questions as she normally would have, because he had told his men she was coming with them and his tone said not to question his judgment. She saw the shock on their faces, although they tried to hide it.

“You warm enough?” Drake asked.

He stood close to her, close enough for her to feel his body heat right through her windbreaker. He rested one hand lightly—possessively—on the small of her back. She felt her stomach do a slow tumble. It didn’t matter that her brain was trying to warn her that she was in over her head with him, her heart—and all the rest of her body—reached for him.