Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Ida Belle turned off the road and into the drive for the cabins. I scanned the woods as we drove, looking for any sign of movement, but the only thing I saw was birds. The parking lot in front of the office was empty as well.
“There’s no police tape here,” Ida Belle said.
Mildred nodded. “I called and asked. Carter wasn’t in but Deputy Breaux said the only area off-limits is Eleanor’s cabin. We’re okay to check the office, although I don’t see what we would find. The alarm is on and hasn’t tripped.”
“Let’s take a look anyway,” I said. “I didn’t get to see any of the property before, and I’d like to get the lay of the land.”
“Sure,” Mildred said and pulled out her phone. She disarmed the alarm and pulled out a set of keys. “This a full set to everything. Usually, I keep the cabin and outbuilding keys in the office, but given the situation…”
I helped Mildred out of the SUV and we headed into the office. The front room was a small lobby with a counter in the middle with a desk forming an L on the left side and a hallway beyond with two doors on each side. On the left wall was another door. We headed that way first.
“This is the dining area,” Mildred said as she pushed it open.
I peered in and saw five tables with seating in a large sitting area and a long bar with an open kitchen behind it. There were no other entries or exits to the room except for the windows, which all appeared to be closed and latched save for one door in the far corner.
“What’s that lead to?”
“A half bath to serve the dining area.”
“Does it have a window?”
“No.”
“Okay,” I said and stepped back into the lobby.
“This is where everyone checks in.” Mildred waved at the counter before moving around it. “This is Kim’s desk behind it.”
We followed her down the hall and she pushed open the first door on the right. “This is the office supplies, janitor’s closet, and maintenance storage, I guess you’d say.”
She pushed the door open and flipped on the light. “It’s all cleaning supplies and things to make repairs, air filters, all of that.”
“And who did the repairs?”
“Eleanor did a lot of them. She was pretty handy. We had a local guy for things she couldn’t or didn’t want to handle herself.
Across the hall is the bathroom,” she said and pushed open the door.
“Got a full one with walk-in shower since this was a family cabin at one time. Came in handy for me as my cabin only had a small tub.”
We continued down the hall and she pushed open the door on the right. “This was Eleanor’s office.”
We walked in and I looked around. It contained a nice desk in the center with a credenza behind.
Two chairs in front of the desk and a couch on the inside wall shared with the storeroom.
A big painting of sunrise over the bayou hung on the wall behind the couch.
A large window on the back wall opened to a view of the forest, where I saw the smallest hint of water glimmering through the trees.
“Nice,” I said. “Does anything look out of place?”
Mildred frowned and walked around behind the desk. She pulled open the drawers and peered inside, then shook her head.
“I don’t know why I’m looking,” she said. “It’s not like I had an inventory of Eleanor’s office, but it all looks the same to me. The same as when the cops were here anyway.”
I nodded. “I assume your office is across the hall?”
“Yes,” she said as we exited and headed over to it.
Mildred’s office was easily 30 percent smaller with no room for a cushy couch or even guest chairs.
A single folded metal chair stood in between the filing cabinet and the wall, and a sturdy desk sat just inside the door, providing a side view out the window on the back wall that mirrored Eleanor’s.
Gertie frowned. “One would think you’d get the bigger office as you were spending the most time here and doing all the paperwork.”
“Oh, Eleanor had to meet with people and she had to plan all the classes and work on advertising and stuff with Kim. As long as I have a good office chair and reliable computer, I’m fine. And the view is the same.”
“It’s definitely pretty,” I agreed. “And everything in here looks good?”
“Same as before. I’m really sorry I dragged you out here. It was probably nothing.”
“It’s not a problem,” I said. “And like I said, I wanted to put everything in perspective anyway.”
“And I’m getting another look at my future purchase,” Ida Belle said.
“Yes, I guess there’s that,” Mildred agreed.
“Let’s take a look at Eleanor’s cabin next,” I said. “I know we can’t go inside, but if someone was here then the only two places that make sense to go are the office or Eleanor’s cabin. How far is it?”
“To be honest, I haven’t been down there since I was a kid,” she said.
“Less than a quarter mile,” Gertie said. “But it’s a decent hike. Nice wide path though. Three cabins are off that path but much closer in than Eleanor’s, and the others are on the other side of the parking lot down a different path altogether.”
“Can we drive any closer?” I asked.
“I’m afraid not,” Mildred said. “Eleanor kept saying she was going to buy a UTV so that I could get around the property, but I didn’t see the point as I really didn’t need to go anywhere but my office and my cabin, which is the closest one on the other side.”
“Do you want to wait here while we check?”
She looked conflicted but finally nodded. “If I had my walker with me, I’d give it a go, but I don’t think I can make it there and back without a good sit in between. And I’m assuming her porch is off-limits as well?”
“Probably so,” Ida Belle said. “Do you feel safe here alone or would you prefer one of us stays with you?”
“Oh! I guess I hadn’t thought… I don’t see any reason to feel unsafe, I suppose.”
“How about you lock yourself in the office and turn the alarm system back on. It’s got an audible signal as well as being monitored, right?”
She nodded.
“And you have my cell phone. Call if you hear or see anything.”
Gertie reached in her purse and pulled out a nine-millimeter. “You can borrow this. I have more.”
Mildred stared for a moment, then took the gun, giving Gertie’s purse a sideways glance. I understood her apprehension.
“Okay, we’ll just take a look around the cabin and be right back. It shouldn’t take long.”
We headed out and I heard the front door lock behind us as Gertie pointed to the path.
“At least it’s wide and hard packed,” Ida Belle said.
“And there hasn’t been rain lately,” Gertie said. “I heard Eleanor saying something about paving all the sidewalks. I know it wouldn’t be as natural but a good ole Louisiana downpour would turn this into a mud walk in a minute.”
“Unfortunately, a hard path means no footprints,” I said.
“Heck, I didn’t even think about that,” Gertie said. “Do you really think someone was out here?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know but I think it’s strange that the motion detector went off. Surely, if it was so easily tripped by birds or bugs or whatever, Mildred would be getting notices all the time.”
“That’s true,” Ida Belle said.
“There’s my cabin,” Gertie said, and pointed to a small cabin about twenty yards off the path. “Ronald was just beyond me. I spotted Kim on the trail just up from me when I was headed out.”
We continued on the path as it wound through the woods. I had to admit it was pretty and peaceful, but it was definitely a ways back. I wondered if Eleanor had deliberately selected the most remote cabin so people were less likely to see what she was up to with Zion.
Finally, we rounded a corner and Gertie pointed. “There’s the roof of Eleanor’s cabin.”
I saw the roofline through the trees and made another ninety-degree turn. The path opened to a clearing and the cabin came into full view, police tape draped across the front porch like Christmas lights.
“It has decent-sized rooms from what I saw,” Gertie said. “It would be a great camp, but there’s only one bedroom.”
“I could turn the sauna into a bunk room,” Ida Belle said.
Gertie stared at her in dismay. “I’m not sleeping where someone died.”
“I’ll change the flooring.”
“Well, that makes all the difference in the world.”
I stared at the front door as we approached. Since Gertie had blown the lock off, I assumed one of Carter’s deputies had put a latch with a padlock on it to secure the scene, but as we got closer, it looked as if the door was open a crack.
Maybe it was shadows or the police tape was distorting my view, but as I stepped up to the porch, all doubt was removed. The door was cracked open an inch, a latch with a padlock hanging from the side where it had been pried off.
I pointed to the door and put my finger to my mouth. Ida Belle and Gertie nodded as I directed them to flank me on each side of the porch. I was going in.
I said a prayer that the porch was sound and the hinges on the door oiled, pulled on gloves, pulled out my nine, and crept up the steps.
I peered in the crack and listened for the sound of anything inside, but it was quiet.
Then I heard something rustling. It sounded as though it was coming from the back of the cabin.
I inched the door open and slipped inside into a sitting area with a hallway on the right side of the room.
The door was off center toward the right side of the cabin, but not so far right that I had a clear view down the hallway.
Which was good, because it meant if someone was back there, they didn’t have a clear view of me either.
I scanned the room, looking for potential places to take cover.
A leather couch stood against the wall just inside the door to the left.
A coat rack on the right. A love seat stood on the far wall, and two chairs and a table on the back wall.
The coffee table in front of the couch was wicker and wouldn’t even slow down a bullet by a millisecond.
The couch and love seat weren’t much better.
I’d just have to avoid being shot.
I eased over toward the hallway and flattened myself against the living room wall listening for any sound that whoever had broken in was still in residence. I still wasn’t certain that the sound I’d heard was coming from inside the cabin. It could have been brush rubbing against the outside.
Then I heard a floorboard creak and a thud. Someone was definitely inside.
I peered around the opening and saw that the hallway was clear.
I remember Gertie saying the sauna was toward the back of the cabin next to Eleanor’s bedroom.
That meant the door at the end of the hall, facing the living room, must be hers.
I eased down the hall, listening at each closed door as I passed, but couldn’t pick up any sound inside.
The sauna had a glass window in the door, and I ducked down below it, then inched up to peer into the room.
It was clear, so I knew the intruder must be in the bedroom.
I crept to the bedroom door and crouched down because when most people fired through a door, they aimed high. Then I reached up with my left hand and slowly twisted the knob. When the latch had completely released, I gently pushed the door open, my nine ready to return fire.
The curtain at the back window fluttered in the breeze, the window wide open.
I ran across the room and looked into the woods that crept almost right up to the back of the cabin.
The brush was so dense that I didn’t see anything at first, but then I made out a break in the tree line and what looked like a trail.
As I pulled myself through the window, a shot rang out and the window shattered, sending glass down on top of me. I threw my hands over my head and rolled, then dashed to the corner of the cabin where Ida Belle was crouched.
“Take cover, Gertie,” I yelled because I was pretty sure the shot had come from the other side.
A couple seconds later, Gertie rounded the side of the cabin from the front, her face red and breath ragged.
“Got to add sprints to my workout,” she huffed. “I saw someone in the woods, just behind the cabin. The bayou is west of here, I think.”
I nodded. “I’m going after whoever that is. Get back to the office and make sure Mildred is covered.”
They took off running down the path, and I peered around the corner and into the woods, Nothing.
It was only twenty feet to the tree line, so I had to go for it.
I dashed across the open area, praying that whoever had taken that shot was on the move and not poised like a sniper, and pushed out a breath of relief when I hit the woods and drew up behind a huge cypress tree.
There was no sound except the gentle rustle of trees and foliage.
The shooter was either hiding, ready to take a shot, or fleeing and well ahead of me.
Neither was a great option, but I’d worked with worse.
I sprang around the tree and pushed through the brush, headed for where I’d seen the trail.
When I found it, I saw that it was nothing more than a narrow strip of dirt that led straight into the woods, but that had to be where the shooter had gone.
I ticked my pace up to a slow jog, figuring the shooter had a car or other transportation stashed on a road nearby.
If they got to it before I got to them, it was over.
I’d gone a good way when I rounded a corner, then slid to a stop where the path split.
One continued straight and another veered off to the left.
The hard-packed ground and dense, lush foliage left no indication which way the shooter had taken.
With time, I probably could have found a sign, but I didn’t have time.
I was just about to continue straight when I heard a crashing in the woods to the left. In a split second, I pivoted and took off down the alternative path. I was still at a slow jog when, ahead of me, I heard noise again and started to run.
And just when I thought I was going to apprehend the shooter, I ran into the bear.