Rutterman Logistics enjoyed a prime location north of the Mississippi, adjacent to an area Po referred to as ‘Gatorland’. At first Tess expected swamps, and actual alligators crawling about the streets, ready to snap up straying pets and unchaperoned children, but Po had laughed. ‘It’s where the moneyed N’Orleanians live,’ he explained. ‘Y’know, where they tie pastel-coloured sweaters round their necks and have little gators on the front of their shirts?’ He was quoting an old joke that was somewhat wasted on her, his eyes twinkling. Under his scrutiny she’d looked away, feeling heat in her chest, but not at a lack of humour.
The logistics depot was one of dozens of freight storage and transport companies on the waterfront. They parked on a slip road opposite, with a view of Rutterman’s fenced compound. It was approaching evening, but they’d still some time to wait until the workers left for the day. While they waited Po ticked off a few facts they’d confirmed.
‘OK, so we know that John Torrance and his buddy, who have connections to Sower, followed us here from Maine. We know they were the assholes that planted the tracking device on the Chicken Shack, then made the mistake of getting too close and had to ram us like a pair of amateurs to escape. We know that the car they were driving is registered to Rutterman Logistics over there. But that’s all we know as fact. Whether they were with the guy that snatched Wynne is still debatable, as well as if they’d anything to do with his murder. We’ve only a very basic description, from a drunken hobo, that they were the same guys that left the coordinates that led us to Wynne’s body.’
‘I’m positive it was them,’ Tess said. ‘Who else could it have been?’
Po didn’t offer an alternative. ‘They were driving an Audi when they left the card, but I doubt they returned here to collect it and it was probably sourced up in Baton Rouge after they dumped the wreck. I’m not certain they’d have any reason to come here. In fact, now that Wynne’s out of the picture, I fully expect they’ve flown back to Maine, and the murderer has gone with them.’ He peered across at Rutterman Logistics, contemplating. ‘We could be wasting time here, but we still have to take a look inside, right?’
‘We’re here now. We’d be fools not to.’
‘The thing I hate most is being made to feel the fool,’ Po remarked. ‘Thankfully it doesn’t happen too often.’
Tess wished she could say the same.
When she’d wakened on the hotel bed, she’d been snuggled up on her side, practically nose to nose with Po, his breath mingling with hers. He was already awake, just lying there, his turquoise eyes twinkling brightly as he watched her rouse. Tess had launched off the bed with a squeak, as if she’d caught him with his hands inside her towel, although he had them discreetly folded on his stomach. If anything, her hand was the one that had made an improper crawl across the bed to drape itself over him while they snoozed, her fingers playing across his chest in the very moment she’d started awake. God! How long had he been awake before her? She’d stammered an apology, while also staring daggers at him.
‘You were so sound asleep I didn’t like to disturb you,’ he’d said, and it wasn’t the counter-apology she’d expected. ‘Not when you seemed so comfortable where you were: nice dream, was it?’ She’d fled to the bathroom, splashing water over her face, more to be doing something other than light up like a bonfire before him. Now whenever she looked at him the twinkle was still there, and she was sure he was enjoying every second of her lingering embarrassment. She had mixed feelings, because even though she’d been horrified to wake in such an intimate embrace with Po, she was secretly thrilled that he hadn’t pushed her hand aside and climbed out of bed. Jeez, there were worse things to wake up to than a good-looking guy like Nicolas Villere.
No sooner had that thought crossed her mind than she took an unbidden trip back in time to earlier that morning. Crawford Wynne’s decapitated head, lips stitched, face nibbled by crabs, lurched out of her memory, and she squirmed in her seat to avoid it.
‘You OK, Tess?’
‘I’m fine. Don’t worry. It’s just been a strange day, that’s all.’
‘Let’s hope it ends on a more positive note than earlier,’ he said, and she couldn’t decide what exactly he was referring to. When she looked at him for confirmation his eyes twinkled. Rakish bastard! ‘You aren’t having second thoughts about breaking in?’
‘Second, third, and fourth,’ Tess admitted, ‘but I’m not going to back out. If we’re careful no one will ever know it was us. If we’re not careful, well, a breaking and entering charge might be the least of our worries.’
Surprisingly it was Tess’s decision to sneak inside Rutterman Logistics. Tying events together might prove difficult when all they had to go on was that some men had crashed a car registered to Rutterman’s into theirs. It didn’t prove that those same men had planted the coordinates to the murdered man on their car, or that they had anything to do with the abduction and murder of Wynne. If there were any connections between Sower, his hired thugs, the murderer, and Rutterman Logistics then they had to find it. To do that meant employing unconventional means, and there was always the chance of being caught. How could she explain their illegal actions even if they were performed with good intentions? Hell, why worry? They could end up dead in there, so best put any lesser concerns aside until another time.
Finally the workers began to leave, the lights went off behind the barred windows, and a steel shutter was lowered over the entrance doors. An old guy in coveralls ambled out and secured the gates with a solid padlock and chain, before he drove away.
‘Locked down as tight as a beaver’s butt,’ Po announced.
‘Empty,’ Tess said.
‘No. Not empty.’ Po adjusted in his seat so he could face her. He pointed at a van sitting in the compound. It had arrived earlier and disgorged two Latino women and a black man. ‘There’s a cleaning crew still inside. Probably a night watchman as well, who’ll let them out when their work’s done.’
‘Do we wait until the cleaning crew leave?’ Tess asked.
‘That’d leave only the watchman.’
‘Yeah. Easier to control if necessary.’
Po shook his head. ‘It’s best to enter while the workers are still there. It’ll be noisier, and the watchman will be less vigilant while the others are still there.’
‘It sounds as if you’ve done this kind of thing before?’
‘I plead the Fifth,’ Po said.
‘Fair enough, I don’t really want to know.’
By the time the sun had dropped below the horizon, and Po shifted wordlessly to get out the car, Tess was shivering with anticipation.