Where The Devil Won't Go: A Lucas Peyroux Novel (25 page)

“I’m going to the Apex dock to get the
evidence I need to shut this down. The party was tonight, so I’m guessing the
girls will be moved tonight. Your career is done here, Tabby. I love you.”

“I can’t go with you, Cozy. This is your
mission, however tragic the ending.”

“Tragic for who?” Cozy hopped to her
feet. “We can be together after all of this, if you just
give
in to it.”

“It’s not meant to be, honey.” Tabby
stood and rounded the desk.

Cozy accepted her advance, putting her
face in Tabby’s neck, squeezing tight. After a moment of listening to Billy
Idol’s Mony Mony through the thin walls, Tabby cupped Cozy’s cheeks and kissed
her tenderly.

“If you end this tonight, if you get the
vengeance you want for your sister and make it back to me, then yes, I’ll run
away with you. But, you have to get out of here. Now.”

“Walk me out?”

“Sure.”

With their fingers entwined, Tabby led
her into the hallway, but before entering the main room, she stopped short and
clenched Cozy’s hand. “Ray’s here.”

At the entrance, Ray’s eyes scanned the
crowd until falling on Cozy. He reached behind his back and came back with a
gun and barreled toward her, needing to dodge other patrons and dancers who
hadn’t noticed anything wrong yet.

“Oh, shit. What do I do?”

 
“Damn, he was on his way here the whole time.”

“He’s probably upset with me,” Cozy said
with a nervous laugh. “I’ll leave out the back.”

“He’ll chase you down. The bathroom has a
window,” Tabby offered. “He’ll think he has you trapped while you escape.
Hurry, before he makes it back here.”

Cozy was well on her way toward the
bathroom when a shot echoed and splinters of wood exploded in front of her.
Screams from the main room overpowered the music as her shoulder slammed
against the bathroom door, opening it just enough to squeeze through, not
realizing Tabby had been behind her the whole way. Cozy fell onto her butt near
the sink as Tabby barricaded the door with her entire body.

“Lock it.” Cozy whispered.

“There are no locks. Go! The window.”
Tabby propped her back flush against the door until her butt hit the tiled
floor, using her hands and feet for leverage. Bullets penetrated the door above
Tabby’s head.

Cozy climbed onto the toilet of the
middle stall and opened the tiny window wide, revealing a well-lit courtyard
shared by the adjoining building. “What’s back there?”

“There’s an alley that will lead you to
Royal. Go.”

“What about you? I’d say you’re done here
after this.”

“I’ll be fine. Get out of here.” Her body
jolted forward as something akin to a battering ram thumped against the door.

Cozy gave her one last smile as the door
almost jumped off its hinges. Ray got his foot in the bathroom and used his
leverage to push Tabby across the floor. When Cozy saw the gun, she wasted no
time sticking her arms and head out of the window, pulling her body out and
landing hands-first in a garden. More shots followed and she prayed his aim was
at her and not Tabby. She cringed when she realized she forgot the purse with
the gun in the office.

Her feet uprooted hunks of a flowerbed
while escaping, scurrying through the dark alley to the wrought iron gate and
onto Royal Street where she steadied her pace to match the crowd. If anything
happened to Tabby, Ray would come to sorely wish she had killed him.

Chapter 37

The LeCoure Mansion had been abandoned. No
cars were in the lot or around back where staff usually parked. George Singer,
the overweight, bearded plantation manager, met us on the front steps as we
arrived, looking around perplexed. After a short introduction, he opened the
huge double doors wide.

He flipped on a switch that lit up every
chandelier in sight. “I thought they’d be here all night. This place is clean
as a whistle. Maybe they canceled it?”

“Who should be here?” Tara asked.

He pulled a piece of paper from a large
manila envelope. “Ryan Diamond. He rented the place for a retirement party.
Paid with cash.”

I moseyed near the adjoining rooms. “No
credit card on file for a damage deposit?”

“All cash. Came in a fancy briefcase and
all.”

“That didn’t signal any red flags?”

“Unusual, yes, but what method of payment
is illegal?”

I turned away from him. “So, no
paper trail
.”

“Only this form and copy of the receipt I
gave him, which I can assume by the looks on your faces probably has false
information. He showed me a driver’s license with his picture on it. Gave me
his business card.” George handed it to me.

“You didn’t verify this business
address?”

“These weren’t college kids on Spring
Break. We host these kinds of parties all the time. Usually we offer our staff
to serve drinks and hors d'oeuvres, but they paid extra to clear the house
tonight. Normally, we’d never do that, but he…”

“He let you have a taste,” Tara finished.

George’s puffy cheeks flushed under his
impeccably groomed beard. “Thirty thousand for the night.
Four
grand in my pocket.
Said he was happy to pay extra for the privacy. Too
much to turn down, detective.”

“Would you recognize him?”

“Sure.
Older man, maybe
upper sixties or a good-looking seventy.
He was a little over six feet,
short gray hair, very expensive suit. And thin lips. I remember lips because I
look at them while people talk. I’m slowly going deaf.” He pointed at his ears.

“Sorry to hear that… To know that,” I
said.

“He was driven here in a limo. It was
supposed to be a retirement party with professional types.”

“Any video cameras around the property?”
Tara asked.

“Sorry. The guy requested they be shut
off. Said some big-shot celebrity was coming to perform and didn’t want to be
recorded.”

“Seriously?” I asked as my teenage
daughter would.

“You should hear what some of these
celebrities want. One time John Goodman had a party here and…”

“Mind if we look around on our own?”

“Knock yourselves out. I’d like to see if
anything was stolen myself.”

#

As expected, our search of the mansion
resulted with a goose egg. We watched from my car as George’s tail lights
floated down the Oak lined entrance and disappeared onto River Road. Tara
fidgeted in the passenger seat as I stared into the ghostly darkness,
disappointed having just missed the party.

“Cozy could be in the Mississippi by
now,” I said.

“Don’t think like that. It seems they knew
we were coming. They cleared that place out pretty fast.”

“Think Tabitha’s call warned them? Like
that was an abort number? She was dressed as if she’d be attending some kind of
gala.”

“That makes the most sense,” Tara agreed.

“Tabitha and Captain Dobson were the only
ones who knew where we were going.”

Tara popped a stick of gum in her mouth.
“Wheelhouse didn’t have to tell us where Cozy was in the first place.”

“Knowing she could warn them in time.”

“Or Captain Dobson… Or anyone Dobson
might’ve told. That’s just great. Is it too far-fetched to think those Feds are
working both sides of the fence?”

“I never thought of that.” We stared at
each other under the glow of the dashboard. I spoke after a moment of silence. “C’mon,
let’s get back to Molly’s and question Ms. Wheelhouse.”

Just before putting my car in drive,
Tara’s cell rang. “Gray.” She listened for a moment. “What? No. What? We’re on
our way.”

“Where to?”

“Your in-law’s house.”

My eyes grew wide. “Why?”

“There’s been a fire. Your in-laws’ house
burned down.”

#

We arrived to a smoking, charred shell of
a house. Two fire trucks were parked in front, but their hoses had been put
away and cops had the block cornered off. I advanced as far as the firefighters
would let me with Tara at my side.

“I’m Detective Peyroux. Where’s my wife?
My daughter?”

The fire captain answered, “Calm down,
detective. So far, we haven’t found anyone inside the house. It appears to have
been empty.”

“I looked around the crowd for Heather.
“Empty – you’re sure?”

“We checked thoroughly.

I
looked at the cops that had conjugated while dialing Heather’s cell. “I need to
find out where my family is.” My eyes went from the driveway to the street and
I didn’t see Heather’s car. Her cell phone continued to ring.

Tara waited in anticipation. “Maybe they
went out to dinner or a movie. The good news is no one is in there.”

“Or they were
taken
.” I took a deep breath of burnt wood. “She’s not answering.”

The responding officer put his hand on my
shoulder. “Let the fire chief do his job here and we’ll let you know if we find
anything at all.”

I nodded. “Where’s the security detail
that was watching the house?”

“Don’t know of any detail.”

My cell rang and I looked at the display.
“It’s Chance,” I said to Tara.

“Answer it.”

I slid my finger across the screen.
“Chance.”

“Where are you?” He sounded frantic.

“Believe it or not, I’m standing in front
of my in-laws’ house that was burned to a crisp and everyone is missing,
including the cops assigned to guard it.”

“I just heard about the fire. They’re
with me. Everyone… Alicia, Heather, and her parents.”

“Why are they all with you?”

“I got nervous with Harry and you going
to Alexander. I didn’t know something was going to happen specifically, but
like I told you, I know the type of people you’re investigating.”

“Scumbags.”

“Just breathe easy. Everyone’s safe.”

“Jesus, Chance. As soon as my heart defibrillates,
I’ll be right over.”

#

Our embrace lasted an eternity, Heather
and Alicia cried in my arms as my in-laws sat upset, albeit impressed with the
Mayor’s palatial house. Chance’s assistant offered everyone tea as we sat
around the dinner table. He had brought pizza at Chance’s request and stayed to
help. The same detail that had been positioned outside of my in-laws’ was
staked out in front the entrance and on the street.

“I don’t know what to do anymore,” I said
to the room.

My daughter spoke up, “Why are they
trying to kill us, Daddy?”

I grabbed Alicia’s hand. “Because I’m
trying to send some very bad people to jail.”

“Then stop. Let someone else do it.”
Tears ran down from her searching eyes.

“Listen to your daughter,” Heather’s
father demanded. “You’re going to get us all killed.”

My shoulders collapsed. “Then, we should
stop.”

“My people in Shreveport are fine. I’ll
support any decision you make, Lucas.” Tara lifted her glass of tea at me.

Chance walked in front of us, used to
having control. “Lucas, you know my opinion. But, my home is open to Heather,
Alicia, your parents and with all the protection it has to offer. I can have
round the clock staff and security.”

“That’s great, Chance, but they have to
leave the house sometime.” My eyes found Heather, however our connection was
disturbed when my cell rang. I answered. “Peyroux.”

“Lucas, is Tara with you?”

“Yeah, did something happen with
Corondelet?”

“Jesus, I hate when you do that.” My
captain spoke more seriously, “Yes, I need you and Tara over at Molly’s Girls.”

“What’s going on?”

“I got a call from the station. Shots
fired. Witnesses say Corondelet shot up the place. Uniforms are there trying to
sort it out, but apparently Cozy Robicheaux was there, but bolted and
Corondelet’s on the lamb.”

“We’re on our way.”

“Lucas, wait.”

“Yeah?”

“This may be my last official order to
you. I’m resigning.”

“Wait – why?”

“Just know it’s been a pleasure working
with you. And don’t blame yourself. I was on board the whole time.”

“They got to you.”

“We’ll talk soon.” She ended the call and
I found Heather’s curious face. “Shots fired at Molly’s Girls. Corondelet’s
gone ballistic. He was trying to kill Cozy.”

Her face softened and she nodded, standing
behind Alicia with her arms around our daughter. Heather’s face nestled near
her ear. “Baby, there’s a young girl out there, just a little bit older than
you and she’s in trouble. Your Daddy has to find her before these men hurt
her.”

“Will you find her tonight?” Alicia asked.

“There’s a good chance.”

Alicia and I nestled into a hug,
something I had been missing for a very long time. Her grip on me tightened as
she spoke, “Go find her, Dad. We can stay here one more day.”

#

Two squad cars and an ambulance had taken
position in front of Molly’s Girls. The entire block was quarantined, however
people were able to watch from their hotel balconies, some drunk and dangling
beads for the boys in blue.

I approached the first cop just outside
the door. “What happened?”

“According to witnesses, the owner,
Raymond Corondelet, came into the main room firing his gun. Everyone scattered
and ran out. One witness says he walked towards the back offices before
shooting. One of the bouncers said he might have been shooting at an ex-dancer
named Keri.”

“Any casualties?” Tara asked.

“No casualties, however two people were
injured while fleeing and the manager, Tabitha Wheelhouse, has a concussion.
Officer Harvin is trying to get her in the ambulance.” His thumb jutted over
his shoulder.

“Frank Harvin’s here? Wonderful. Thanks
officer.” We walked towards the ambulance, seeing Tabitha being escorted by the
arm by Harvin in plain clothes as a paramedic waited. Tabitha appeared
agitated, trying to pull from Harvin’s grip.

We heard her voice rise. “Let me go.” She
yanked her arm away and when Harvin reached again, her elbow shot up into his
mouth, splitting his lip. Tara and I sprinted the rest of the way.

“Whoa, there.” I separated Tabitha from
Harvin, who was bent over, wiping blood from his chin. “Harvin, why do people
feel the need to kick your ass?”

“Fuck you, Peyroux. She assaulted me.
Arrest the bitch.”

“For what?” Tabitha screamed. “I refused
medical treatment and you were forcing me into the ambulance.”

“She’s right, Frank.” Tara added. “You
have no cause to subdue a witness like this.”

“She has a concussion and I was holding
her steady. I’m filing a complaint. That was assault. I’m not letting this go.”
Harvin turned to engage the paramedic who had retrieved supplies to treat his
lip. They walked to the back of the ambulance.

“That was an
accident
.”

Tara touched my arm. “I’ll check inside.
You interview Tabitha again.”

“Alright. Meet you back out here.”

I opened up the door of a squad car and
let Tabitha sit with her feet hanging down toward the street. The paramedic’s
partner ran up with an ice pack for her cheek. She smiled at me. “Not a typical
night at Molly’s Girls.”

“Looks like you had quite a scare.” I
stayed outside the car, but faced her.

“Ray kind of flipped out.”

“You want to tell me what happened?”

“He came in shooting, looking for Cozy. We
were in my office just before he got here.”

“What happened to
Cozy
?”

“I told her to turn herself in and I
think she was going to. Ray came in with guns blazing. I scooted Cozy out the
bathroom window. Don’t know where she is now.” She lifted the ice pack to show
a bandage over a laceration and a swollen face.

“No idea where Ray would go look for
her?”

“Not a clue.”

“Any idea where Cozy would be?”

“She might be back at her hotel room at
the Days Inn. Maybe she’s at a police station.”