Chapter 14
Lissette ran back through the house and out the other side, not stopping until she reached the skiff loaded with suitcases and the cage with Napoleon inside.
Xavier arrived right behind her, untied the line, and jumped in before Lissette spun the little boat around and opened the throttle.
The added weight slowed the skiff as she circled the island, scanning the dark for any sign of the boat that had taken her grandmother away.
“Damn it! Which way did they go?” she cried.
“It’s dark and only going to get darker as the clouds blanket the sky,” Xavier yelled over the sound of the motor. “We need to head back to the marina and let my team know what happened.”
“We can’t,” Lissette said. “We have to find her.”
“She could be anywhere in the bayou, Lissette. We’ll run out of gas before we find her. What good would we be if others have to rescue us as well?”
She circled a point where tributaries branched out in six different directions. Then she held her arm up to the moonlight that broke through the clouds occasionally. “Tell me which way I need to go, please,” she cried.
She slapped her arm to her side. “What the hell good is a spell if it doesn’t show me the way? I’m useless at casting spells, and the only one who could possibly teach me is gone,” she wailed.
Xavier turned on his seat to face her. “Go back to the marina, Lissette. We need help to find your grandmother.”
Tears welled in her eyes, making it difficult to see.
“But the hurricane is coming. We need to get her out tonight. I don’t want her to die.
I need to prove to her I can be a good person.
” She let go of the throttle, and the skiff glided to a stop.
Lissette buried her face in her hands, her heart breaking. “I failed her. This is all my fault.”
Xavier stood, rocking the boat. “Scoot,” he said.
Lissette slid her butt over enough for Xavier to sit beside her and take control of the tiller with one hand and slip the other around her.
“You’ll have to make sure I get back to the marina,” he said against her ear. “I’m not sure I know the way in the dark.”
With her telling him where to turn, he made it back to the marina and tied up to the dock.
Many of the bigger boats that had been there earlier were gone, their owners having moved them as far as they could get to avoid the hurricane. Those remaining would have to weather the storm.
Xavier tied the skiff to the dock, climbed out and helped Lissette out. As they walked slowly across the dock, he placed a call to Remy.
Remy picked up on the first ring.
“You’re on speaker with Lissette and me,” Xavier said.
“What’s happening?” Remy asked.
Xavier stopped walking and gave him the condensed version, ending with Madame Gautier’s abduction. “They took her on my watch.”
He blamed himself, as he had when his decision had cost his friends’ lives.
Lissette linked her arm through his and leaned into him. She, too, was blaming herself. She’d always felt as if her grandmother’s island was a safe haven. She should have been more alert to danger. Hell, they might have followed her there.
“Man,” Remy said. “I have Jean-Luc tonight. I can’t get out with him.
Shelby’s out on the bayou, Anton and Jacques are as well.
They’ve been spreading the word and helping folks load up and get out.
As of a few minutes ago, Anton and Jacques were still out of cell phone range.
I’ll call the sheriff’s station. They can radio Shelby.
She can keep an eye out for the boat. Unfortunately, the bayou is a vast maze.
They could be anywhere. I’m sorry to say I don’t think we can do anything to find her until tomorrow. ”
Lissette’s chest tightened.
“Let the sheriff’s office know,” Xavier said. “Is anyone at headquarters?”
“Only Lucas. He’s on comms until the others return and will be back at it tomorrow.
I expect everyone to call it a night and head in soon.
Can’t see much out there as the clouds have claimed the sky.
Tomorrow, the wind is expected to get a lot worse, with the first bands of the system expected to make landfall. ”
“What about Odette Prejean?” Lissette asked. “Did you locate an address?”
“Swede did,” Remy said. “He found a personal address, a business address and phone numbers for both. No one answers either. We’re sending someone out tomorrow morning. If Prejean hasn’t already bugged out with the other evacuees, we’ll tap her for any more information.”
“I can go tonight,” Xavier volunteered.
“It’s outside the parish,” Remy said. “You can’t take Lissette.”
Xavier frowned. “I can’t leave her.”
“The hell you can’t,” Lissette said. “Go. Maybe Odette knows where they would have taken her.”
“I doubt it. She’s not part of the New Orleans mafia as far as Swede could surmise,” Remy said. “She’s just selling the empty boxes.”
“If there’s any chance she knows where my grandmother is, you have to try,” Lissette insisted, staring up into Xavier’s eyes.
He brushed his hand across her cheek. “They’ve tried to grab you twice.” He shook his head. “As chaotic as it’s getting out there...”
“Anything could happen,” Remy finished. “Tomorrow, I’ll have Beau and Landry get out there early.”
“Can you rig the guys with cameras?” Xavier asked. “We’d like to know what she says as soon as she says it.”
“We have the comms for that. I’ll set them out. You and Lissette can watch from headquarters.”
“In the meantime, is there anything we can do to help?”
“Hang tight,” Remy said. “We’ll need all the help tomorrow. It’s going to get rough. I’d like to evacuate as many of the team as we can.”
Lissette shook her head.
Xavier’s nodded. “Lissette won’t leave if we don’t find her grandmother first, and I’m not leaving without her.”
“Mimi’s diner was boarded up today. The Crawdad Hole is on high ground. They plan on staying open as long as possible. Get some food and rest,” Remy said. “We’ll get an early start in the morning. If I hear anything tonight, I’ll let you know. Out here.”
Xavier slipped his cell phone into his pocket and turned around.
Lissette’s heart skipped several beats. “Where are you going?”
“To get your grandmother’s things. She’ll need them when we find her.”
“And Napoleon.” Her heart swelled at how considerate he was to remember her grandmother’s things. She hurried to follow him back to the skiff.
Between the two of them, they carried the suitcases and the bird cage to his truck. He could have placed Napoleon in the bed of the pickup. Instead, he laid the cage on the floorboard of the backseat.
Napoleon squawked at first but settled down in the dark.
Lissette called in an order for shrimp po’ boys at the Crawdad Hole. By the time they arrived, the food was ready.
“Do you want to eat here or take it back to the boarding house?” Xavier asked.
“The boarding house,” Lissette said, not wanting to wade through a bar full of people who would stare at her and mutter things about how she didn’t belong in their town. She didn’t have the energy to pretend it didn’t hurt.
Xavier drove to the boarding house, parked the truck and walked inside with Lissette, carrying the cage with Napoleon inside. “He can stay in the downstairs living room for the night.”
“Good. He wakes before dawn, crowing before it even gets light outside,” Lissette said. “Won’t it bother the other guys who live here?”
“Right now, it’s only me, Jacques and Anton.
They have rooms on opposite ends of the building, away from the common living area.
” He kicked the welcome mat away from the door and set the cage on it.
Then he walked up the stairs with Lissette, opened the door to his room and held it for her.
“You can be first in the shower while I unload the truck.”
She looked up at him. “You don’t want to join me?”
“Sweetheart, I want it more than you can imagine, but I have the feeling we’re going to need rest. Once the rain and wind start, tomorrow’s going to be physically and mentally challenging.”
Lissette nodded. “You’re right.” She forced a smile past the disappointment that tugged at her gut. He didn’t want her. Maybe the sex the night before hadn’t been great for him. He’d be glad to leave by the end of the week.
Her heart ached with the thought as she entered the bathroom and shed the clothes he’d let her borrow the day before. She’d been in her grandmother’s house and hadn’t thought to collect her own clothes. That’s how caught up in Xavier she was. What was wrong with her?
As she stood beneath the spray, she couldn’t help reliving the joy of making love with him in the bed and in the shower that morning.
Had it only been that morning? So much had happened that it felt like more time had passed. Now he was pulling away. She’d lost her grandmother to the people who’d tried to take her. What did that leave her?
She lifted her face to the spray and let the water mix with her tears. A sob rose in her throat and escaped before she could swallow it back.
Strong arms wrapped around her and pulled her close. “I’m sorry,” Xavier said against her ear. “Your grandmother would be with us tonight if I hadn’t lost focus. I’m so very sorry.”
She turned in his arms, her naked body fitting perfectly against his. “No, it wasn’t your fault. I brought them to her. It’s because of my sordid past that they came for her.” She leaned her cheek against his bare chest, the tears spilling down her face.”
“I know you need rest, but I couldn’t... I had to... I want you,” he said and buried his face in her neck. “I want you so much, I can’t think. You make me feel when I thought I couldn’t feel any more. You made me want to feel when I couldn’t bear to let myself care.”
“I thought you were tired of me, tired of the drama my past brings to my life.” She stared up at him. “You make me feel like I’m someone, not a ghost walking through everyone else’s world. You see me.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and clung to him, warm water pelting her back.