Chapter Six
Gambit
I call one of the few people I trust explicitly with my personal life.
“Well, lookee who’s taking time out of his busy schedule to call me.” My cousin’s thickly accented tone hits my ears. I can picture his easy smile and blinding pearly whites.
“I’m coming back tonight. I need you to pick me up from the airport and get T-Landry ready with a boat.”
“Lottie?” Guidry’s voice is full of concern.
“Is fine. Ro and her sister are M.I.A.”
“What? That’s not like her.”
“No, she hasn’t been seen since she left work the day the storm made landfall.”
“Fuck. I’ll get T-Landry and swing by her Pa’s house before I come your way.”
Closing my eyes, I bite my tongue to still my protest. The sooner we rule things out, the better.
Every hour that passes is worse for the rescue.
People go missing during storms all the time.
This is what happened with her mother. Maybe they had had their fill of her Pa and used the turbulent weather to mask their escape.
The uncanny similarities don’t escape me.
No. She’d never do that without telling my sister.
“We’ll find them,” Guidry promises. I hear the words, one way or another, in my mind.
The vibrant woman with a steel spine, smart mouth, and an ass that won’t quit can’t be gone.
Not before we have a chance to settle things between us.
I thought we had time is the most tragic sentence a person could live with.
“See you on the ground, cuz. I’ll call you once I know more. But you know how service will be once I enter the dead zone. That area got rocked hard. Could be she got trapped out there and they’re riding it out.”
“Maybe so.”
Neither of us believe that. If she’s there, it’s because shit went south. If it weren’t for her sister, she never would’ve returned to the house she grew up in.
“Talk soon.” He disconnects, and I say a prayer to the patron saint of lost things, Saint Anthony, for the girls to be found.
“Mother Mary, watch over those two. We both know they deserve better than the hand they were dealt.” Reaching into my shirt, I pull out the small cross handed down by my grandfather after my first communion.
She’s gotten me out of many a bind. Maybe this piece of metal infused with the love and life force of my family has another miracle in it.
Four hours later, Louisiana...
The moment I catch sight of the twin grave expressions on Guidry and T-Landry, I know it’s bad.
The swamper is an easy-going and jovial person by nature.
A hulking presence beside him, my cousin, shifts his weight from one foot to the other.
The family’s russet hair is brushed back from his square face and neatly trimmed.
He looks almost pale next to T-Landry’s golden-brown tan from a life lived on the water.
His brown hair is bleached a lighter shade of brown, the sun making his pale blue eyes a startling focal point.
Hands shoved into the faded blue jeans he paired with a white T-shirt, he’s the opposite of my cousin, Guidry.
Dressed in tactical black pants and a black t-shirt, he looks the part of a search team.
Two sides of a Cajun coin represent the different paths available out here. Walking toward them, I brace myself for an update.
“We’ll fill you in outside,” Guidry says.
“That’s all you got?” T-Landy frowns at the duffel bag I have over my shoulder.
“Always like to travel light.” Following them out the sliding doors, I keep my mind blank. They exchange a concerned expression as we walk to Guidry’s black Jeep. Climbing into the back, I toss my bag onto the floor at my feet. The doors slam shut. I grip the edge of the seat. “Tell me.”
“We went to the house, cuz. It’s bad. Flooded and not secured at all.” Guidry shakes his head, and my stomach clenches.
“Found their Pa floating belly up,” Landry admits.
“But no girls?” I ask anxiously.
“No. Not a trace,” Guidry assures me.
“It’s good and bad news, eh?” T-Landry turns and meets my gaze.
“Any news on the gossip front?”
“They remember letting her through the barrier to get Betti. That’s the last accurate sighting we have. Around seven o’clock,” Guidry informs me, glancing in the rearview mirror.
“Can you tell what the cause of death was for the old man?”
“Too long in the water to tell off the bat. We left him as is,” Guidry drawls.
“Can’t say he’ll be missed,” T-Landry scoffs.
“Hope he died terrified and alone,” I mutter.
“Be better than he deserved,” Guidry adds.
If she didn’t join Lotte, there was a good reason.
Were they there when their Pa died? Leaning back, the light flashes off my cross.
My mind goes to her grandmother. “I think I know where they are. Let’s get to the boat before it gets too dark.
We want the daylight to see the debris. We’re going deep into Bayou country. ”
Hold on, Ro. I’m coming for you. I calculate the days they’ve been out in a home that might not be fit to inhabit. A sense of urgency builds. I scoot to the edge of my seat. “Do you remember their grandmother’s place?”
“Vaguely. I thought it was sold after she passed,” Guidry replies.
“No. Her pa wanted to, but she left it to Rowan.”
“No one’s lived there for years. Is it even sound enough for them to go to?”
“I don’t know,” I whisper.
“Fuck. Speed up, bruh. It’s been a long time without proper supplies,” T-Landry speaks my thoughts.
He punches the gas, and I worry about what the hell we’re going to find. The kind of hurt I’d wished on her over the years was purely emotional. The thought of a world where she no longer exists is unfathomable. My stomach ties itself into knots.