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“Yep.”
“Okay then. Are you taking anyone with you?” she asked.
I sent her a smirk and looked down at Thorn before smiling at Kaye.
“You know my team only consists of Thorn and Kaye,” I said with a brief smile.
“You might want to reconsider. She’s not one to play around with, and Kaye is supposed to be on bed rest,” Cassie said with a worried tone in her voice.
“I can still work with one arm. I’m not a complete invalid,” Kaye spoke out with a growl.
“We got this,” I stated confidently. She will see. My team always completed the job.
CHAPTER 4
The Crescent City
Ravena
Igrimaced, pulling up to the rundown building with a lone rusted brown pickup truck out front. My McLaren stuck out like a sore thumb, but I wasn’t going to pass up a chance to drive my second baby. Since my parents had a few houses around the States, they insisted on having a car there for me. And when it came to assignments, they came in handy. God, I hoped we didn’t have to stay here long. We didn’t think to get an updated tetanus shot before we left. And by the look of this place, this was probably where that whole myth of getting herpes from a toilet seat came from. The breeze slightly rocked the lone shutter that drooped from the hinge of the front window. Dark clouds could be seen to the south, and they looked like they were rolling in with the storm that was brewing. Glancing back at our destination, I could imagine the building once stood out like a bright yellow beacon, but the faded strips of color hung as if it had given up on life and was waiting patiently for its turn to move on. By the looks of it, Julia might not need her full strength to completely wipe this spot off the map. I didn’t know how it was standing on its own.
‘Are you sure this is it?’ Thorn asked as he poked his head between the front seats of the car.
“Are you sure you didn’t accidentally type in Bates Motel into the GPS?” Kaye questioned as she took in our surroundings.
I glanced down at my GPS and back up at the building that looked more like an old hut than a motel. “This is the right place, guys. But we’re not staying, okay? We’re just looking for someone from Frenier.”
‘But according to the GPS, that’s miles away from here,’ Thorn pointed out.
“Yep, I know it’s miles from here, Thorn,” I answered out loud for Kaye’s benefit. “But that place was destroyed in the 1915 hurricane, or did you sleep through that lesson?” I gave him a knowing look, and he snorted. “The locals mentioned that this is where I could find the last relative of the only survivor of that hurricane. But you were probably too busy stuffing your face with beignets,” I said, unbuckling my seat belt and opening the door.
The humidity instantly hit me in the chest, and I leaned against the side of the car for a moment. It might have looked like I was waiting to let Thorn out, but in reality, I was trying to get used to breathing in the air’s moisture. I was from the Midwest, not the Deep South. This was a different type of heat. Hell, even the locals said it was hot for this type of year.
“Fuck this heat,” I murmured and quickly put my hair up into a messy bun. No matter how straight I got it, with this humidity, I was sure to be sporting an afro puff within the hour.
‘I agree. I already feel like a cheap whore,’ Thorn said as he hopped out of the car and looked around.
‘Those are probably the only ones that come here,’ I said, gritting my teeth at the bare establishment.
“Holy shit. This afternoon heat is going to fry me to death. Here, can you help me with my hair and spray this on my neck?” Kaye asked as she came around and turned her back to me. I quickly pulled her long red hair up into a messy bun so it was off her back, and sprayed the bug spray on her neck. She was a bullseye for insects. She kept the bugs off me, but she would swell up like a balloon if too many got to her.
As she grabbed her backpack from the trunk, I took a closer look around. The whole place was surrounded by old Cypress trees and gravel. The old Vacancy signpost only spelled can, which I took as a positive omen.
I used the end of my trusty leather jacket to wrap around the rusted door handle and opened it long enough for Thorn, Kaye, and me to slip into the building. Dark hardwood paneling and old green shag carpet met us as we walked in. Then, there was the stench of mold and old cigarette smoke, which practically made me gag as we walked up to the unmanned counter.
‘There’s a wet spot here that smells like blood,’ Thorn pointed out as he sniffed a darker part of the floor and gagged.
‘Well, it’s a good thing I’m not here to investigate that,’ I said and looked up when I heard shuffling. An older gentleman in overalls walked out of the back room. His skin looked as though he’d never used sunscreen a day in his life. Old and leathery, to the point I couldn’t tell if he’d had too much sun or was naturally that dark, just a few shades darker than my sepia skin tone. I doubted he was wearing anything below those overalls either by the glimpse I got of him scratching his balls.
He eyed me up and down, then gave Kaye a short glance before spitting out his chew.
I hoped there was a spit bucket down there, but from the splat and Thorn’s reaction, there wasn’t.
“We don’t take no pets,” he said as a greeting. His voice was rough with a deep southern twang I’d heard in the South before. I pulled my jacket around me as a chill ran down my spine that wasn’t coming from the AC. By looking at this place, they wouldn’t have known what an air conditioner was. “They gator meat.”
Okay then.
“I’m not here for a room. I’m looking for Jules Cormier?”
