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I DIDN’T WASTE PRECIOUS time apologizing for misleading Kase. Nor did I ask how he found us—time for that explanation later. The only thing that mattered now was filling him on the girls’ wild idea that Lenora Masters was the one who was behind the drug trafficking and the kidnapping. But after my words tumbled out in a rush, he didn’t reject their theory.
Instead, he frowned. “Well, I’ll be damned. And Gertie’s sure about this?”
I nodded.
“Fortune’s on board?” he asked.
“Yes, but I’m not about to give credence to her wild ideas. Her grasp on reality is tenuous at best.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You’re sure?”
I reached up and touched my necklace. “Sure enough that I bet my pearls on it.”
He drew his hand down over his face. “Where are Gertie and Fortune now?”
I pointed toward the cabin. “They wanted me to call for help, but I couldn’t get a signal.”
Kase furrowed his brow. “Wait here while I call for backup.” He took a few steps away from me but then doubled back to put a hand under my elbow. “Better yet, come with me.” He led me back to his truck and insisted I sit in the cab while he phoned in to the station.
“Tell them it’s Walter’s cabin. Carter will know the way here.”
Kase relayed the information and then shoved the phone in his pocket. “I want you to wait here.”
Acquiescence made complete sense, but instead I got out of the truck and moved a few feet away from him. “Aunt Ida Belle needs me.”
“Needs you to stay safe, yes, you’re right on that point.” He reached into his truck and pulled out a pair of handcuffs.
I gasped. “You wouldn’t dare.”
In answer, he took a menacing step toward me.
“Kase Mayeux, get that idea right out of your head.” I took several steps backward without taking my eyes off him. “Aren’t you supposed to be savings someone’s life right now?”
“Don’t get smart with me.”
Smart? The only smart thing to do was to get moving before he cuffed me to his truck. So, I did. I sprinted toward Walter’s cabin. I reached the door before Kase, and I didn’t stop to think. I flung open the door and stumbled right into a nightmarish scene.
Walter sat slumped in a chair smack in the middle of the cabin. Fresh blood stained his white dress shirt, the red in stark contrast to the gray pallor of his skin. “Oh, my God, Walter.” I rushed over and dropped to my knees beside him. “Who did this to you?”
He lifted his head and looked straight into my eyes. His breath was labored. “Ida Belle,” he managed to half-whisper.
I sat back on my heels. Good heavens, he was in worse shape than I thought if he was hallucinating. My great-aunt would never, never, hurt Walter. She loved him, and even if she didn’t want to act on her feelings for whatever reason, we all knew it to be true.
He sucked in a deep, shuddering breath. “Help Ida Belle. Please.”
“Oh, Walter, you love her.” Tears stung the back of my eyes. He wasn’t blaming her. He was worried for her. “I will, but we need to get you help first. Where were you shot?” There was so much blood it was hard to tell.
He tried to lift his right arm but he grimaced. “Left shoulder.”
“Help’s on the way,” I told him. I got to my feet and looked around. I needed a clean piece of fabric to press against his wound. No one else appeared to be here, but that couldn’t be right. Where were Aunt Ida Belle and Lenora? Where were Gertie and Fortune?
More to the point, where in the world was Kase? He’d been right behind me.
“Oh, my dear child, you shouldn’t have come.”
At the sound of Lenora’s voice, I whirled around. She stood in the cabin’s only interior doorway. “Mrs. Masters, thank goodness you’re safe.” I rushed to her side. “Help me find something clean to use as a compress on Walter’s wound.”
Lenora looked up at me, her blue eyes unreadable. Her hands shook. “Are you here alone?”
The poor woman, she was obviously in shock. “Help’s coming,” I repeated what I’d told Walter.
She shook her head. “That’s not good.”
I glanced around the cabin, looking for another chair so she could sit. I’d ask the paramedics to examine her as soon as they’d helped Walter. “Why aren’t there more chairs?” I wondered aloud. A farmhouse table stood in one corner.
“We’re using them.”
“Who’s using the other chairs?” Uneasiness began to creep over me. It was too quiet in here. “Where’s my great-aunt?”
She stepped to the side and swept her arm in the direction of the doorway that she’d just come through as if she were a museum docent giving a grand tour of a stately home. “See for yourself.”
I heard the cabin’s front doorknob squeak as someone on the outside ever so slowly twisted it. Judging by Lenora’s expression, I doubted she’d heard it. It was Kase, and he was about to barrel into the cabin. I bit my lip. Even though I didn’t see a gun on Lenora’s person, someone had shot Walter. The sickening realization that Gertie had been right about Lenora crept over me. I struggled to keep my emotions from my face. What I needed to do was distract Lenora so that Kase could get in without being shot.
“Lenora, let me help get you out of here before the kidnappers come back.” I took a few tentative steps toward her so as not to spook her. “We can get help for Walter as soon as you’re safe.”
Her wrinkled face grimaced as if I’d just offered her a glass of apple cider vinegar. “Walter doesn’t want my help. He’s never wanted anything from me.” The look she shot him was filled with pure malice. “The only woman he’s ever wanted is that crass, tacky, two-bit whore, Ida Belle.”
I strove to keep my tone of voice soothing. “Walter does care about you, Lenora. All we need to do is get his shoulder looked at and then we’ll sit down and he can tell you that himself.”
She shook her head emphatically. “I’ve done everything I could over the years to show him that I was the only woman in the world for him. I agreed to work with my idiot granddaughter on this whole cocaine nonsense to make enough money to buy Walter what he deserved. A new boat, a new store, anything he wanted. But he wouldn’t take a thing. I offered him the world but all he wanted was Ida Belle.” Her face crumpled. “What else could I do but shoot him?”
If I lived four consecutive lifetimes I knew I couldn’t answer that question. Perhaps telling her that her step-son had been killed would pierce through her obsession with Walter. “Lenora, I’m so sorry to have to tell you this, but Donny’s been shot.”
“Donny? Really?”
Merciful heavens, the only thing that could justify her dispassionate response was shock. Yes, that’s what it must be. Shock. I nodded. “Yes, your step-son, Donny. He’s been badly hurt.” I couldn’t make myself tell her the horrible truth.
“Hurt? Not dead?” Lenora shook her head ruefully. “She said she was going to kill him. I didn’t figure her to be such a chicken.”
This was taking Sinful craziness to a whole new level. I glanced at Walter, the poor man looked as if he were only half conscious. I didn’t know what else to do but keep her talking until Kase got here. “Her? You mean Carmen?”
She shook her head. “Not Carmen, Cassandra. Donny threatened to turn her into the authorities if she didn’t put a stop to the trafficking.”
Cassandra? Good God, I hadn’t seen that coming. “You’re telling me that your granddaughter shot her father?”
“Step-granddaughter.”
Well, this hardly seemed the time to split hairs. Where in the name of God was Kase?
“You needn’t look so horrified, Stephanie. She’s a very determined girl.”
Well, that was one word for her. A murdering bitch was the word choice I would have run with.
“Did she do away with her brother?” Lenora asked.
I felt sick in the presence of such cold-blooded cruelty. “What do you mean?”
She glanced at her dainty wrist-watch as if to check if it were time for tea. “I imagine Shawn should have over-dosed by now.”
I flinched as I heard the front door hinges creak, but I didn’t indicate that I’d heard anything. Obviously, Lenora hadn’t. But once Kase opened the door, she’d see the light streaming in. The idea that she could possibly get a shot off at Kase terrified me. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to stop her. “Oh, Lenora, I’m so terribly sorry. I feel your pain.”
Now that I was within arm’s reach of her, I laid a tentative hand on her shoulder. When she didn’t flinch, I mustered what little courage I possessed and grabbed the back of her three-strand pearl choker. Lenora made a horrible gagging sound as I twisted it. Her hands flew to her neck. She clawed at her choker as I pushed her to her knees.
“Stephanie, get her down flat.” Kase was suddenly beside me, his weapon drawn. “Good, that’s right. Keep a tight hold on her while I restrain her.” In what was obviously a much-practiced move, he dropped to one knee and singlehandedly cuffed Lenora, all the while keeping his gun trained on her. He rose and helped me to my feet. “Great job, darlin’.”
The look in his eyes was so admiring that I would have loved to have basked in the warmth of his approval, but there wasn’t time. Instead, I pointed to Walter.
“I’ll see to him,” he said. “The paramedics will be here any minute. Start looking for your aunt.” He motioned to the open door with his head.
I headed straight for the second room, more than a little afraid of what I’d find. My eyes widened in shock when I stepped in the room.