Chapter Ten #3
“I guess she doesn’t have to know about your previous actions,” Daniel conceded.
“Thank you,” Monique replied with obvious gratitude.
They all fell silent, and Daniel got up and moved to stand at the back door. Monique looked small and vulnerable as she leaned into the corner of the couch.
As Jacque thought of how close the bullet had come to her head, his heart nearly stopped beating. He had started to believe she was safe from harm, but obviously he’d been very wrong.
Whoever the killer was, he’d marked her for death even though she was done with her snooping. Why? Who could be so threatened by her? Who the hell was this person? How was law enforcement ever going to catch him? These thoughts continued to cascade through his mind.
Time ticked by, and finally the four lawmen returned to the shanty. “We found an area where the grass was tamped down,” Luke began. “We believe that’s where the shooter waited.”
“By the grass pattern, we also believe the shooter was there for a while,” Clay added.
“That’s probably because we didn’t have an exact time that we were going fishing.
If the bastard was listening at my window, all he heard was we were going to fish after lunch,” Jacque said angrily.
“This creep has to be somebody in the swamp. Somebody from town would be noticed if they came all the way into my shanty. I wonder why he waited to shoot until we were almost back here.”
“If you were sitting on the bank to fish, then he didn’t have a great shot from where he hid until you got closer to the shanty where the ground is a little higher,” Clay said. “And unfortunately, we found nothing in the grass that could be used as evidence,” Clay said.
Daniel frowned. “I now think you’re right about the killer being from the swamp, and that’s where we’ll intensify our efforts once again. In the meantime, I hope Monique will remain safe here.”
“She’s not going anywhere,” Jacque said firmly.
“We had several men from the swamp on our initial suspect list. We’ll now look at those men more closely,” Daniel said.
“Can you tell me who was on that list?” Jacque asked. “I’d like to know so I can be aware of them.”
Daniel nodded. “Pierre Guidry is one. Maybe we need to sweat Lucien Rousseau and see if he lied to us when he alibied Pierre. Then there’s Louis Theriot. We know he was seeing Mystique just before her murder, but we don’t know why. Finally, we had Bill Stanger on our list of suspects.”
Two of the three were men who came here for reading lessons. Had Jacque invited the killer into his home? Had the killer come inside to see what weakness in Monique’s security he might be able to exploit? His blood ran cold at the very thought.
“Me and my sisters always believed Pierre killed our mother in a fit of jealous rage,” Monique said. “Of course, that was before Lucien insisted he saw Pierre fishing in the swamp at the time of the murder.”
“Monique, I know you’ve heard this a million times from me, but we’re going to get this guy. Now that we know where to focus our investigation, I’m hoping it won’t be too much longer now,” Daniel said.
Monique gave him a wan smile. “I know you’re doing the best you can, and I appreciate all your efforts.”
Minutes later the lawmen were gone, and Jacque was once again alone with Monique. She remained curled up and with her gaze at some point over his head. He hated to see her so beaten down…so frightened.
“There are some positive things,” he finally said, breaking the silence that had built up in the air.
She turned her gaze to him. Her eyes without their normal sparkle nearly broke his heart. “What kind of positive things?”
“Well, for one thing the bullet missed you. Second, you beat me at fishing. And third, that means we’re having a dance party after dinner.”
The last thing he wanted to do was dance, but she’d earned it, and she needed something to put the sparkle back in her eyes. He definitely didn’t want to begin to examine why her happiness was so damn important to him.
“Right now, I don’t feel much like dancing,” she replied.
“Maybe you’ll change your mind when the time comes.”
“We’ll see,” she replied and then released a deep sigh. “I was really beginning to feel safe again. I thought it was all over, and I would be able to go home and give you your life back.”
He smiled at her. “Trust me, my life was nothing special before you started staying here. Besides, I do enjoy your company.”
“Just not all the time,” she replied and this time a tiny sparkle was back in her eyes. “Trust me, I know there are times you just want me to shut up.”
He laughed. “Maybe just occasionally.”
“Honestly, Jacque, I don’t know what I’d do without you. I… I can never thank you enough for your kindness and protection. I’m just sorry I got you into this whole mess.”
“You didn’t get me into this mess, and I’m glad I can be here for you,” he replied.
It was at that moment Jacque realized the depth of his feelings for her.
He couldn’t be in love with her. He’d refused to ever do love again. But his feelings for her felt like love and that scared the hell out of him.