Soldiers of Fortune (28 page)

I appreciated that Ida Belle was keeping Kayla talking. Buying time was never a bad thing when you had a gun pressed to your head, but my options for a rescue were essentially none. Even if I dived for my gun and got off a perfect shot, it would take me at least two seconds to execute the move. Kayla could squeeze the trigger in less than a second, and even though I would get her in the end, it would be too late for Ida Belle.

“Kayla!” Nelson’s voice sounded to the side of me as he came through the breezeway and into the weeded plot of grass that separated the motel from the swamp.
 

“You were right,” Kayla said. “They’ve been watching you.”

Nelson walked closer, smiling. “Those tattoos. I recognize them from the Swamp Bar. I had a feeling about you two.”

“This is bullshit.” Benedict walked out of the breezeway and stared. “I didn’t sign up for this.”

“Actually,” Nelson said, “this is exactly what you signed up for. You’re security, remember?”

“I ain’t killing no old lady,” Benedict said.

“Then I’ll do it myself,” Nelson said. “Where’s the other one? They travel in threes.”

“She was sitting in the beat-up Caddy at the far end of the parking lot,” Kayla said. “I clocked her good. She’ll be out for a while.”

Nelson grinned. “Like forever.”

“I say we do this here and dump the bodies in the swamp,” Kayla said. “There’s cameras up front.”

“Sounds good.” Nelson pulled a pistol out of his waistband and started to lift it at me.

The shot came out of nowhere and I crumpled to the ground, certain that Kayla had shot Ida Belle, but when I forced myself to look, I saw Kayla staring at us, mouth and eyes wide open and a single exit wound in the middle of her forehead. She pitched forward on the ground and I sprang for my nine, yelling at Ida Belle to run.

Nelson fired a round at me and as I rolled, I could hear the bullet whizzing by me. I jumped up and fired back, then dashed into the swamp after Ida Belle.
 

“We have to circle around for Gertie,” I said, and pointed to the right.

We changed direction and ran through the brush. I could hear Nelson and Benedict thrashing behind us and hoped they didn’t start firing. Even an idiot could get off a lucky shot. I could see the parking lot lights through the top of the trees and veered right again when I saw the last light pole.
 

“Who shot Kayla?” Ida Belle managed to huff out as we ran.

“I don’t know, and we’re not waiting around to see.”
 

I burst out of the swamp and hit the edge of the parking lot, but Gertie’s car wasn’t parked where it was supposed to be. I looked over at Ida Belle, panic setting in. A second later the ancient Cadillac screamed around the corner of the motel and squealed to a stop beside us. The passenger door flew open and Mannie yelled, “Get in!”

I’d never been more confused in my life, but I dived into the front seat, Ida Belle right behind me. She didn’t even get the door shut before Mannie floored it and shot across the parking lot and out the entrance. I turned around and saw Gertie slumped over in the backseat.

“Gertie!” I yelled.

“She’s just unconscious,” Mannie said.

I looked up as Nelson and Benedict burst out of the swamp. They both started firing but neither was a good enough shot to make it count. Mannie swung the car around the corner and we disappeared from line of sight.

“They’ll come after us,” I said.

“No they won’t,” Mannie replied. He made a hard left and launched the car into the swamp, then killed the engine.
 

“What the heck are you doing?” I asked.

Mannie pointed to the road, and that’s when I realized sirens echoed across the swamp. Seconds later, two cars with red flashing lights on the dashboard and the words “Louisiana State Police” on the door sped by.

“Only one way in,” Mannie said and winked. He started the car and backed out of the weeds, then floored it, not slowing at all when he took the turn for the highway. As soon as we hit the paved road, he pressed the accelerator even harder and we sped off toward Sinful.

So many questions raced through my mind that I didn’t even know where to begin. “How did you know where we were?”

“Little thought you might take risks,” Mannie said, “and if you did, you’d need backup.”

“You were following us?” Ida Belle asked.

“Actually, we put trackers on all your vehicles back when you broke into the storage facility. Given the things you tend to get involved in, Little thought it would be a good idea to keep tabs on you.”

I wanted to be mad, but it was hard to be when Little’s paranoia had just saved our lives. “Who shot Kayla?” I knew it couldn’t have been Mannie, because the shot had come from the swamp, and he couldn’t have made the shot, then gotten to the car that quickly, not with Nelson and Benedict right there.

“You don’t need to know that,” Mannie said. “What you need to know is that the state police got an anonymous tip that a drug deal was going down at the motel. One of the drug dealers shot another one.”

“But the gun…” How in the world could Little make that one work?

“The gun was appropriated from Nelson’s private collection when he took the position of sheriff…insurance for Little in case he decided to occupy the position for too long.”

“Looks like Little got a two-for-one deal on this one,” I said.

Mannie grinned. “He’s really happy about that.”

I stiffened. “The backpack! We left it on the ground behind the motel.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Mannie said. “My associate retrieved it.”

 
“We have video of Benedict and Nelson talking about the explosion and the meth deal,” Ida Belle said.
 

“Really?” Mannie glanced over at us.

“Yeah,” I said. “We know it’s not admissible in court, but it should encourage the state police to build a case.”

“Where’s the footage?” Mannie asked.

I held up my cell phone.

“Send it to the number Little gave you,” Mannie said. “We’ll handle the rest.”

I wondered what Little’s plan for delivering evidence to the state police involved, but I wasn’t about to ask. All that fell under things we were better off not knowing.

“So we’re in the clear on this,” I said, not quite believing it.

“Looks like,” Mannie said. His cell phone rang and he answered. “Yep, got them right here. One down, two on site.” He paused for a minute and I could hear Little’s voice, but couldn’t make out what he was saying.

Finally, he hung up. “Little says to tell you it was excellent work. And he’d like you to keep the airboat as a token of his thanks.”

“Oh, I really appreciate it,” I said, “but I can’t do that.”

Ida Belle elbowed me in the side.

“I’m afraid he insists,” Mannie said.

“Well, if he insists.” I looked over at Ida Belle, who was grinning from ear to ear.

Who was I to argue with the mob?

###

 
It took Gertie another ten minutes after Mannie delivered us to her house before she started to stir. Or maybe “stir” wasn’t a good description. Mannie had carried her inside and placed her on the couch per Ida Belle’s instructions before hurrying back outside and jumping into a black sedan that disappeared as quickly as it had materialized.

When Gertie came back to life, she flew straight up off the couch, grabbed a lamp, and darn near clocked Ida Belle with it before she got a good look at her surroundings.

“What happened?” she asked. “I was reaching into my purse to get my gun and someone hit me across the head.” She reached up to touch the back of her head and swayed.
 

I grabbed the lamp and Ida Belle hurried to the kitchen. “Sit down,” I said, “before you fall down.”

Ida Belle came back with aspirin and a glass of ginger ale. “Take these. I think we should take her to the emergency room.”

“No way,” Gertie said. “It’s just a knot.”

“You’ve been out for a while,” I said.

“If I still have a headache tomorrow, we’ll go then,” Gertie said. “Now will someone please tell me what happened before I explode?”

Ida Belle and I took turns filling Gertie in on everything that had transpired at the motel, and played the video for her. She was shocked when we told her that Kayla was involved and was the one who’d knocked her out.
 

“I can’t believe it,” Gertie said. “She was never a wild one. Always kind of quiet and, I don’t know, forgettable. I can’t connect the girl I knew with meth dealing.”

“I think she’s an addict,” I said, and told them my theory about the weight loss and teeth replacement.

Ida Belle nodded. “That makes sense. She’d been busted for using and Nelson knew about it. So he blackmailed her into helping him transport through Sinful.”

“She was the perfect choice. With her mother still living here, no one would question frequent visits to town, and then they would be off to the next festival.”

“The next delivery location,” Ida Belle said.
 

“I don’t think Colby was happy about it,” I said. “Remember, he made the comment after the fire that the only reason they were here is because of her. At the time, I thought he meant they took the gig because she was from Sinful, but I don’t think that’s it.”

Ida Belle nodded. “And Benedict was afraid he was a weak link.”

“Maybe he’ll roll on them,” Gertie said. “That would certainly make the state police’s job easier.”

“With Kayla dead,” I said, “he has nothing to lose.”

Gertie shook her head. “It’s all so surreal. And I slept through it all. What a ripper.”

“Just be glad we’re out of this one clean,” Ida Belle said. “I can’t imagine trying to explain to the state police why we were even at the motel bugging Nelson’s room, much less being involved in a shootout where someone was killed. We’d be in jail until next week while they sorted it all out.”

“Yeah,” I said, “and jail is definitely not a good option for me.”

We were all silent for a minute, and then someone banged on Gertie’s door and we all jumped.
 

“No one knows we’re here,” Ida Belle said.

“Ally does,” I said as I headed for the door. “I texted her earlier after I sent the video to Little.”

I peered out the peephole and saw Ally standing on the porch, looking ready to explode. I opened the door and she ran past me and turned on the television.
 

“You’re not going to believe this,” she said and pointed to the special news report in progress.

We all looked at the screen and saw the state police shoving a handcuffed Nelson and Benedict into the back of police cars. The female reporter turned around with the microphone and looked at the camera.
 

“We’re on location at the Bayou Inn, where the drug enforcement task force with the state police acted on a tip and have arrested Nelson Comeaux and Benedict Granger, both suspected of cooking and distributing meth. This news comes as an even bigger shock because Comeaux was recently appointed sheriff of Sinful, Louisiana, by his cousin Celia Arceneaux, who was just elected mayor with a vote that is being contested by her opponent. The police aren’t giving more details at the moment, but we’ll be reporting as this story unfolds.”

Ally turned to look at us, her face flushed. “Can you believe it?”

“Wow!”

“That’s unbelievable.”

“I never would have guessed.”

We all spoke at once, and I had to admit, our surprise sounded darn convincing.

“I bet Celia is having kittens,” Gertie said gleefully.

“I know for a fact she is,” Ally said. “She was at the same shower I was. When the first report came on the news, one of the husbands yelled for us to come in the den. Celia passed out right there in front of the television, and I took off for Gertie’s house to make sure you guys saw it.”

Ally flopped onto the couch on the opposite end from Gertie and let out a breath. “I broke forty major laws on the drive over here and I was only three blocks away. I still can’t believe it. I mean, we all knew Nelson was a piece of crap human being, but even I wouldn’t have pegged him for the meth business.”

Suddenly, she stopped talking and narrowed her eyes at us. “You guys weren’t involved in any of this, were you? I never did find out what you were doing with the tattoos and wearing the fire extinguisher foam.”

“We overheard Nelson saying he was going to the Swamp Bar for the crawfish boil,” Ida Belle said. “So Gertie and Fortune went undercover to see if they could catch him doing anything that would get him thrown out of office.”

“Oh.” Ally looked slightly disappointed. “And the foam?”

“There was an incident with Gertie falling and a Harley-Davidson,” I said. “She might have sprayed them and got a little on us.”

Ally smiled. “There’s never a dull moment with you guys. But I’m glad you didn’t find out anything while you were there. Can you imagine if you’d clued in on Nelson’s drug dealing? He would have killed you.”