“Why?” Barb asked. “Then you take him back to New Orleans?”
“Perhaps,” Kelly said, frowning. “But I don’t actually have anything to hold him on. All I can do is ask questions. If he gives me the runaround, there’s not much I can do.”
“So… why did you tell me about the medium?” Barbara asked.
“Ah, Madame Charlotte,” Kelly said, regaining the thread. “Madame Charlotte told me that Carlane had come down here, back to his swamp. But she also told me that that Carlane was playing with powerful ju-ju. More powerful than she was willing to play with. And that I was in grave danger, which is no surprise since we’re talking about at least six people who are willing to involve themselves in rape and murder. Last, but not least and most important to you personally, she told me that I should look for help from the sign of the princess,” he finished, looking at her chest again.
Barb quirked an unnoticed eyebrow and lifted her shirt outward.
“Bingo,” Kelly said, grimacing. “I wasn’t seriously looking for the sign of the princess, but lo and behold, there it was. Talking with a rather unhelpful deputy shortly after the death of the local sheriff.” He looked back up and stared in her eyes. “So, Mrs. Everette, what do you know about Carlane Lancereau?”
“Oh, come on,” Barbara snapped. “I’m on vacation and my car broke down. It’s in the shop; want to go look at it? All I want to do is get the heck out of this place!”
“But that doesn’t explain why Madame Charlotte would tell me to look for the sign of the princess,” he said, gesturing at her chest. “I’m trying to figure out why she told me that, well, a soccer mom was my only hope of survival.”
“Lots of girls wear shirts that say princess,” Barb pointed out with a shrug. “Maybe I’m not the right sign of the princess.”
“There’s that,” Kelly replied. “But I was wondering… would you care to assist me in my investigations?”
“Can I at least leave my bag in your car?” she said, shrugging with her left shoulder to indicate her clothes bag.
“Of course,” Kelly said. “Want me to carry it?”
“I can carry it as far as your car,” Barbara said, smiling.
Chapter Five
When he popped the trunk on the unmarked police car, Barb let out a whistle and bent down into the trunk. Although he tried not to notice, Kelly was forced to admit that all her assets were not up front.
“What the heck are you doing carrying around an AR-10?” she asked, dropping her bag into the back. “Is it the carbine or the full auto version? Never mind. It’s the full auto, I can see the markings on the reverse. And a pump twelve gauge?”
“Deer hunting,” Kelly said, shrugging as she straightened back up.
The AR-10 was a .308 version of the venerable M-16 rifle. It was actually designed to mimic the M-16A2 but used a much heavier round. The M-16 used a high-velocity 5.56 millimeter bullet whereas the AR-10 fired a high-velocity 7.62 millimeter bullet. An M-16 round tended to wound a man rather than kill him. An AR-10 round tended to put him in the morgue.
“Yeah, right,” Barbara scoffed. “You know those things tend to jam about every tenth round?”
“I noticed,” Kelly admitted.
“Not enough gas blowback,” Barb said, shrugging. “And the tubes get fouled. It gets really bad over a hundred rounds. There’s a type of powder that cuts down on it but not many .308 rounds are made with it. They need a lighter buffer spring, too.”
“You do say?” Kelly said. “If I have to fire more than fifty rounds, I’m in the wrong fire-fight. I’m a detective, not a tac-team member. And I don’t think even they fire more than fifty rounds in any situation. Where did you learn about AR-10s?”
“All that is gold does not glitter,” she said, grinning. Then she tossed him her purse.
Kelly caught it, noticing the additional weight immediately, and frowned.
“That is highly illegal in the state of Louisiana,” he said, tossing the bag back. “Don’t get caught with it by, say, a local cop. Or you might end up in the local slammer and I really don’t think that would be a good idea.”
“I’ve got a concealed carry permit for Mississippi,” Barbara said, frowning. “Louisiana has a reciprocal agreement, so I’m covered. But, while I’m not into resisting arrest, I think I would if it meant dealing with local justice. The term ‘prison movie’ comes to mind. I… did not like that deputy.”
“As a professional police officer, I do of course feel that resisting arrest would be the wrong thing to do,” Kelly said. “As a thinking being, however, I suggest that if it comes to it you use every bit of force, short of lethal, necessary to avoid being arrested by Deputy Mondaine. The other question that comes to mind is, can you use that thing? Because if you can’t, you shouldn’t be packing, Mrs. Everette.”
“I’ve probably put ten times as many rounds through it as you have your service pistol,” Barb said, shrugging. “Including on tactical ranges. Not that I’ve had much chance lately. But what I aim at, I hit. And it’s a court of last resort, anyway. I have… other skills. Which I will use on you if you make any ‘packed and stacked’ cracks.”
“What… are you, Barbara Everette?” Kelly said, carefully.
“I’m just what you called me,” Barb said with a frown. “A soccer mom. I had to have one da… danged weekend where I wasn’t taking care of somebody else. Just one. And I ended up… here,” she said, waving her hands around. “In… this! Fortunately I had a father who thought his girls should be able to defend themselves.”
“Okay,” Kelly said, nodding. “I’ll play it as it lays, then. I don’t suppose your cell phone works?”
“Nope,” she said. “No towers around here. I asked.”
“In that case, we need to find a pay phone.”
“Down by the Piggly Wiggly.”
At the Piggly Wiggly he bought a phone card and went out to the pay phone to call in. While he was doing that she went to the drugstore next door and bought her own phone card, a small black backpack, a six-pack of bottled water, some cold Pepsi in twenty-ounce bottles, a bag of ice and some energy bars. If worse came to worst she could survive on those for the weekend. As she was walking back to the front she stopped by the drugs section and picked up some Tylenol and Claritin-D.
When she’d paid for her items she passed Kelly, still talking on the phone, and went in the Piggly Wiggly to use their bathroom. It was only marginally dirty as such places went. She emptied half the ice in the sink and put the half-filled bag in the backpack, then stuffed the drinks in the ice. Once that was done she put the energy bars and drugs in the side pockets and carefully disposed of her trash in the overflowing trashcan.
When she came back out, Kelly was finally off the phone and she called home. Still no answer so she left an updated message and called Mark’s cell phone. No answer there, either. He’d probably turned it off.
What she wanted to do was ask him to come down and pick her up. A creepy town was bad enough. A creepy town with a tough cop who was looking to her for a chance for survival was worse. She was trained to stay alive and get out of danger situations. The first position in every self-defense class is the running position. And everything in her was telling her to run.
But Mark was going to be in no condition to come pick her up and even if he was the drive would be hell on both of them and she’d be paying back for years.