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Carter peered inside the nylon bag and cursed under his breath. Whatever was in there, we didn’t want anything to do with it.
“Told you it wasn’t your business,” Ida Belle said, reading Carter as well as I did.
“It is now.” Carter yanked free a large plastic baggie filled with cash and passports. “Since you’ve already lied to an officer, I’ll give you one final chance to tell the truth. Why did Braylee have this bag in her possession?”
“If we were chasing her, it was because she had that bag in her possession, but we didn’t know what was in it.” Ida Belle pointed to the slingshot purse. “Those Breaux kids always get mixed up with the wrong people.”
Ida Belle and Gertie stared at one another and then nodded. Since I’d witnessed their mental note-swapping more than once, I realized they’d mutually agreed to tell Carter the truth.
“Braylee was inside Mrs. Walford’s house.” Ida Belle grimaced. “Agnes might have the cash, but she wouldn’t have passports. She never leaves the bayou.”
Carter smirked. “Walford moved to New Orleans. She was on a list I recently received.”
“What kind of list?” Ida Belle asked.
He hesitated before he said, “Sinful, Wasteland, and Cartier authorities were notified this morning that several homes in the area have been rented by the same person. Care to guess whose name appears on each lease?”
If my time in Sinful had taught me anything at all, it was how to read Deputy Charming’s expression. When Carter looked anxious, there was cause for concern.
“Don’t keep us in suspense,” Ida Belle said, pulling out a chair and pointing. “Take a load off and tell us what you know.”
“If I did, you’d run out of town and never come back.” He waited a beat. “Now that I think about it, if that’s the only downside, what’s to stop me from sharing?”
“Cute,” Gertie said.
“The information I have isn’t.” Carter’s shoulders stiffened. “Brigham Daigle is back in Louisiana. He rented Walford’s house and others, too. He and Jax are at war. I spoke to a lead detective in New York City and was told that Jax’s men plan to hit Brigham’s underboss, capos, and a few of his soldiers.”
I rested my hand on my cheek and considered what this all meant. Jax originally moved to Wasteland under the pretense of a concerned grandfather who wanted to protect his granddaughter. Elle had witnessed a crime and could identify those responsible, but a mob war didn’t exactly support his desire to keep his granddaughter safe.
“Are the Feds still involved?” Gertie asked.
Carter nodded. “Yes, but Sheriff Davidson and I aren’t in the loop. We don’t know who will be assigned to Wasteland now that Bob Myers is awaiting trial. And as far as I know, Jax is still planning to help the Feds set up a witness relocation program.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Ida Belle said, slapping the table. “That man is as dirty as Bob Myers.”
“I agree,” Carter said. “But now that Jax has placed hits on some of the most powerful men in his son’s organization, his time in Wasteland may draw to a close.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Ida Belle said.
“What about Elle?” Gertie spent a lot of time with Jax and his granddaughter when they first arrived in the bayou. She genuinely cared about Elle and wanted the best for her.
“Elle is a Daigle. We can’t forget that,” Ida Belle said. “When she was here in February, she was already a different kid.”
“Because her grandmother found a way to visit her while she was in witness protection,” Gertie said. “She would’ve been safer with us.”
I nodded in agreement. “Now may be a good time to mention that we shouldn’t offer up my home again in the future, at least not where the Daigles are concerned.”
Jax’s former wife was murdered in my living room. While I’d seen violent deaths in the past, I couldn’t shake this one. I would never forget the horrified look on Elle’s face as she’d stood in front of her grandmother, trying to protect her.
Carter said, “Because of Fortune’s cover, we don’t need the mob on our doorstep.”
I blew out a hard breath. “Too late for that.”
Whenever the Daigles were in Wasteland, they spent countless hours in Sinful, but with Brigham’s rental, they were too close for comfort. The house was centrally located and anyone who wanted to watch us could easily keep Swamp Team 3 in their sights.
“What’s our plan?” Ida Belle asked.
“We don’t have one,” Carter said. “I’ll stay in touch with Sheriff Davidson and Sheriff Cartier.”
Gertie said, “Sheriff Cartier is on the backside of seventy and more interested in finding a wife and having sons than running a sheriff’s department.”
I frowned. “In this day and age, do people still worry about carrying on the family name?”
“That’s anywhere, dear, and not only in the South.”
I sighed. “What’s this Sheriff Cartier like?”
Ida Belle groaned. “Weak. He’s the last Cartier to carry the name. He takes that to mean that he owns the town. There’s a beautiful downtown area on the water, but most of the stores are empty so there’s not a lot of vandalism or theft. When a crime happens there, it’s generally a drug deal over at the Cartier Motor Lodge and no one ever spends a day in jail. I doubt he even owns a pair of handcuffs.”
“You’ve been to the motor lodge.” Carter shot me a grin. “It was around the time when you were moonlighting as a cab driver.”
“Ha. Ha. Very funny,” I said.
At Christmastime, we assumed the role of rideshare drivers and offered rides to Wasteland’s Christmas lights. Thanks to our efforts, we were able to identify Stephen Carr, a member of the Northern Syndicate, before he attempted to collect the bounty on my head.
Ida sipped her water thoughtfully before she said, “Brigham won’t be able to get to Jax over in Wasteland. The old Hollowman Farm is like a fortress and he knows you’re competent. That leaves Cartier.”
I said, “Jax knows about the bounty on my head. He’ll assume there are other CIA agents watching the house. I have to agree with Ida Belle. Cartier is the weakest link if they’re planning to conduct mob business in Louisiana.”
Carter cringed. “I hope Bob goes away for a very long time. He was aware of your situation so Jax knows everything. Depending on Jax’s relationship with his son before this war between them escalated, Brigham could have that same information.”
“Which would explain why he rented across the street,” I muttered, coming to terms with the real possibility that I might need to leave Sinful.
“Not necessarily,” Gertie said. “I’ve seen how Jax interacts with Elle. He loves her and wants to keep her safe. He wouldn’t want an arms dealer here.”
“So we’re supposed to believe that he sent his men to New York to take out his son’s organization, but still wants to keep Elle safe?” Ida Belle asked. “I don’t buy it.”
“I don’t care what you believe.” A door slammed behind us and Jax Daigle walked in. Dressed in a red polo shirt, expensive leather loafers, and pleated navy pants, Jax looked as if he’d recently stepped off a golf course. “Believe what you must, but I’m here to warn you.”
Ida Belle draped her arm over the back of her chair. “Then you might as well sit down and tell us how you can help us.”
“I said warn, not help.” He sat next to Ida Belle. “But with what I’m about to tell you, you should be able to help yourselves.”