The Awakening (2 page)

* * *

J
OSIE CLENCHED HER HANDS
down by her sides, afraid that if she lifted them above her waist, she’d punch Bobby Reynard straight in the mouth. The fact that he was currently the sheriff probably wouldn’t play to her favor.

“So you’re not going to do anything?” she asked, trying to keep her voice calm.

He puffed out his chest, which still didn’t force it to extend beyond his belly. “I am an officer of the law. I don’t waste my time and taxpayers’ money by investigating the ridiculous claims of a bunch of superstitious swamp people, especially when it’s all happening on private property. You got a problem at your house—it’s your problem, unless there’s a crime.”

“A brand-new section of my fence was torn down three times in the last two weeks. Vandalism was against the law the last time I checked.”

He shoved his hands in his jeans pockets and stared past her out the window, clearly bored with the conversation. “A bear is probably tearing down that fence. Sounds like you’re fencing what he considers his territory. Problems with the local wildlife are not problems for the sheriff’s department.”

She glanced down at his protruding belly and then back at him. “Looks to me like nothing but drinking beer down at the Gator Bar is your business.”

His face reddened and he drew himself up straight, trying to suck in the gut and failing miserably. “You better watch your mouth, sweetheart. Everyone may have kissed your butt in high school, but this is the real world now and you aren’t any better than anyone else in this town now that all that family money is gone.”

“Oh, I imagine I’m still better than some,” she said, then whirled around and left the sheriff’s office before he could retort.

Not that there was any danger of him coming up with something witty in the next hour or so. Bobby Reynard had been a bully and an oaf in high school and he’d made a profession out of it as an adult. She only hoped some desperate woman didn’t marry him so that the cycle could end with him.

“Don’t let him get to you, honey, or he wins.”

Josie stopped digging for her car keys and looked up to find Adele LaPierre standing in front of her. The spry, little silver-haired woman claimed to be sixty-five, but Josie’s mother had always said she was every bit of eighty.

“You’re right,” Josie said. “But it’s just so stupid. High school was ten years ago and he’s still stuck there.”

“Some things never change. You were the most beautiful girl in high school and you had no interest in him. Now you’re the most beautiful girl in the Honey Island Swamp and you’re still not interested in him.”

Josie smiled and gave Adele a hug. “You always know the right thing to say.”

“You’re a good girl, Josette. Your parents would be proud of the way you’re trying to save their home. Don’t let anyone make you feel differently.”

She sighed. “All my work is going to be for nothing if I can’t stop the vandalism. The crew is already spooked and threatening to quit. Without the crew, I’ll never have the house ready to open for New Year’s, and without that revenue, the bank will start foreclosure in February. And all that is assuming the work they do isn’t destroyed by whoever is doing this.”

Adele narrowed her eyes. “Whoever or
whatever?
”

Josie stared at the sidewalk for a moment before lifting her gaze back to Adele. “I haven’t told anyone, but I went into the swamp that day and I saw what the men said was out there. I can’t afford to tell the truth. People will think I’m crazy. If that story gets back to the bank, they may take away my extension. I shouldn’t even have tried convincing Bobby, but I was desperate.”

“What if I told you I knew someone who could help? Someone who would believe the real story and find out the truth?”

“I’d say that’s great, but I don’t have the money to pay trappers and hunters.”

“It’s a detective agency I have in mind, not hunters.”

Josie blew out a breath. “At this point, I’m willing to try anything, but I don’t have the money for a detective any more than I do a trapper.”

“Don’t worry about the money, dear. I’ve got some savings and I don’t think the people I have in mind would try to gouge you.”

Josie shook her head. “I can’t take your money.”

“And why not? My money’s as good as the bank’s, and if I can’t help my oldest friend’s daughter, then what in the world do I have left to do with it? We can work out a payment plan later on, after you get the bed-and-breakfast going.”

Josie sniffed, touched once again by Adele’s huge heart. “I don’t know what I’d do without you. You’ve been such a rock since Mom and Dad passed.”

“Your mama was a good woman. One of the best I’ve ever known. It makes me proud to see her daughter grow up like her. I’ve got my sons, but if I could have had a daughter, I would have wanted her to be like you.”

“Oh, Adele, you completely undo me.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “I really appreciate the thought, more than you can ever know, but I can’t imagine a detective agency would care about a case that seems nonexistent.”

“This one will. An old friend of mine who died years ago had a daughter who just opened a detective agency in Vodoun with her husband. They specialize in things the police won’t bother with. I think they’ll take your situation seriously.”

A tiny sliver of hope ran through Josie for the first time in days. “If you think they can help, then I’d like to try.”

Adele nodded. “I’ll call the daughter, Alex, as soon as I get home and explain things. She’ll want to talk to you, I’m sure, to get more particulars.”

“Of course. Have her call me at home.”

Adele patted her arm. “Don’t you worry, honey. We’re going to fix this.” She crossed the street and climbed into an ancient Cadillac.

Josie lifted a hand to wave at her as Adele drove off.

What in the world had she just agreed to?

* * *

T
ANNER
L
E
D
OUX STOOD ON
the dock, staring at his two half brothers, certain they’d lost their minds. “Absolutely not,” he said.

“You said you were interested in working for the detective agency,” argued Holt, the oldest of the three brothers.

Tanner shook his head. “Not if it means going back into the Honey Island Swamp. I left there when the last day of high school was over and have no intention of returning. Not now. Not ever.”

Max, the middle brother, jumped into the fray. “Look, I get it. I wasn’t happy about my first case, either, but it turned out fine.”

Tanner laughed. “You ended up back in your hometown and acquired a wife. I call that a living nightmare, not fine.”

Max shrugged. “Before now I would have, too. Things change and this time it was for the better.”

“The bottom line,” Holt said, “is that we need you. I’m already committed to another case that’s keeping me hopping. I have two cases in the pipeline, but you are the most qualified to handle this one. Max is a good tracker, but he’s not you.”

Tanner looked over at Max, expecting his brother to launch an argument on that assessment, as he had done since they were kids, but he just nodded.

Well, didn’t that just beat all?

Tanner shoved his hands in his jeans pockets, trying to come up with a reason for refusing that sounded even remotely sane. He wasn’t about to tell them the truth. The two men standing in front of him had their lives together. The more difficult the task, the more excited they’d be about it. They couldn’t possibly understand the baggage he carried around with him that he was unable to release.

Finally, he sighed. “You really think I’m the best person for the job?”

“You’re the only man for the job,” Holt said. “This case is time-sensitive and we can’t afford to lose even a day.”

“Fine,” Tanner said, “I’ll do it.”

Holt and Max both broke out in grins.

“That’s great,” Max said.

Tanner wished he could share his brother’s enthusiasm. “So, are you going to tell me what I’m tracking?”

The grins vanished from their faces and Holt glanced at Max, who looked off down the bayou. A bad feeling washed over Tanner. What in the world had he just agreed to?

“It’s not a what,” Holt said. “It’s a who, maybe.”

“You don’t know what I’m tracking? You said this was a vandalism case. It shouldn’t be hard to determine animal from human destruction.”

“This case isn’t that cut-and-dried.”

Tanner felt his frustration with the stalling increasing. “Just spit it out, already.”

“The eyewitnesses saw something that matches the description of the Honey Island Swamp Monster.”

Tanner stared at his brother. “You
have
lost your mind. I suspected it earlier, but now I know for sure.”

Holt held up a hand. “I know how it sounds, but the vandalism is real and the witnesses are credible, especially the one who hired us. Whether it’s a man trying to scare her or a real monster, we need to know and we need the vandalism to stop.”

“Her? The client is a woman?”

“Josette Bettencourt. She inherited her family’s plantation when her dad died and is turning it into a bed-and-breakfast. Do you know her?”

Tanner nodded, afraid the flood of emotion that coursed through him would filter out if he spoke. Yeah, he knew her, all right.

She was one of the main reasons he’d vowed never to return to the Honey Island Swamp.

Chapter Two

Tanner stood at the threshold of the massive front doors of the Bettencourt family home and wondered what the hell he’d let his brothers talk him into. Of all the things in the world he’d never wanted to do, returning to the town of Miel and the Honey Island Swamp was number two on the list. Seeing Josie Bettencourt again was number one.

He lifted his hand to ring the doorbell, then dropped it again and glanced around. No one had seen him drive up. There was still time to leave and tell Holt he’d made a mistake. Max could take the case. He was a decent tracker.

Before he could cement his decision, the front door flew open and Josie Bettencourt jumped back with a startled cry.

Tanner stared, at a complete loss for words. She was even more beautiful than he remembered, and that was saying a lot. Her long auburn hair fell in waves across her shoulders, and the morning sun reflected off her light green eyes. She was taller than he remembered, but still had a body that was both athletic and feminine at the same time.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t hear the doorbell.”

“I just got here,” he said, angry at himself for fumbling for words. “I hadn’t rung it yet.”

“Are you from the detective agency?”

“Yes. I’m Tanner LeDoux.”

He studied her face to see if the name registered with her. Granted, when he was old enough to make the decision, he’d dropped his father’s last name and taken his mother’s name like his half brothers, and no one had called him by his first name, William, in years. But he’d wondered if his appearance would create a spark of recognition with her.

She smiled pleasantly and extended her hand. “Josie Bettencourt. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

He shook her hand, not sure whether to be relieved she didn’t recognize him or disappointed that he’d never left an impression on her to begin with.

“So,” she said, “where would you like to start?”

“I read the case file before coming, so I’m aware of everything you told Alex. Has anything happened since you spoke with her?”

She motioned him inside. “I just put on a pot of coffee. Might as well have a cup while I fill you in.”

Tanner stepped across the threshold and into the old plantation home for the first time in his life and followed Josie down a long hallway to the back of the house. It worried him that so much had happened in the span of a day that it took having coffee to cover it all. Josie’s voice, when she’d invited him back, sounded resigned, frustrated and more than a little worried—none of them good signs.

The enormous kitchen stretched across the back of the house, floor-to-ceiling windows making up most of the back wall. The view of the pool and gardens was beautiful, in spite of the deadness of winter. Pots of poinsettias lined a brick patio and chairs with overstuffed cushions surrounded an outdoor fireplace. The house had always held a level of class above anything else in town and so had the occupants, a fact Josie’s father had been quick to point out to him many years ago.

“How do you like it?”

Josie’s voice broke into his thoughts and for a split second, his mind flashed to something other than coffee. One look at her slim, toned body in formfitting jeans and T-shirt was enough to remind him of things he had no right to consider.

“Black is fine,” he said.

She handed him a steaming mug of black coffee and smiled. “You’re easy.”

He took the cup and downed a big gulp of the hot liquid, trying not to think of the connotations of that phrase, either. At the moment, it hovered dangerously close to the truth.

“I like to keep things simple,” he said, as much to remind himself as answer her.

She poured herself a cup and added a bit of sugar to it. “I prefer that, as well, but it seems the universe is working against me.”

“Why don’t you tell me what’s happened since you talked to Alex?”

“My work crew found another section of fencing down. They’d just installed it the day before.”

“So more of the same things happening?”

“Not exactly. This time it was different.” She set her mug on the counter and blew out a breath. “This time there was something red on the fence posts. It looked like blood.”

Tanner straightened up. “Did you take a sample?”

She nodded. “I sent it to the Fish and Wildlife Laboratory in New Orleans for testing, but they said it could take weeks with their backlog.”

“I’ll make some phone calls and see if they can speed things up.”

“Thank you,” she said, her relief apparent.

“Is that everything?”

“Yes.” She looked down, averting her eyes from his.

“Are you sure?”

She raised her eyes back to his. “It’s everything that you need to deal with. The rest is my problem.”

“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”