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“What are you talking about? What package?” Theo asked.
Michelle decided she needed to start at the beginning. Propping her elbow on the table, she placed the bag of peas against her forehead and said, “I recognized one of them.”
“And you’re just now telling me?” He jerked upright, sending the bag of carrots flying. John Paul caught the bag in midair, then reached over and slammed it down on Theo’s knee.
She cringed because the shout made her head hurt more. “The man who was running toward us while we were trying to get to my boat . . . he’s the man I recognized. You turned the flashlight on his face, remember? He was the messenger from the Speedy Messenger Service. He came up to me while I was sitting in the bleachers at the stadium watching you work with the football team . . .”
“I saw the guy at the stadium, but I didn’t see his face. He was wearing that cap. You’re talking about the guy I shot at?”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill him?” John Paul wanted to know.
Theo’s mind was racing. “No,” he answered impatiently. “I missed. Michelle, I still don’t understand why you waited so long to tell me that you knew one of them.”
“When did I have time to tell you? While they were shooting at us and chasing us? Or when we were hiding in the swamp and you wouldn’t let me talk?”
“You’re absolutely certain it was the same man?”
“Yes,” she said emphatically. “You know what’s really odd? When I was talking to him at the stadium, I had this feeling I’d seen him before, but then I thought I had probably run into him at the hospital. We’re always getting deliveries there.”
“Did you recognize any of the others? What about the guy in the boat?”
“I didn’t see his face,” she answered. “He jumped into the water when you shot at him.”
“Did you kill him?” John Paul asked.
“No, I missed.”
John Paul looked incredulous. “Why do you carry a gun if you don’t know how to use it?”
“I do know how to use it,” he snapped defensively. “I’ll be happy to demonstrate.”
“He might have winged him,” Michelle said hopefully, then recognized the irony. She was supposed to be dedicated to saving lives, not destroying them. Getting shot at had certainly turned her moral code upside down.
“Yeah, right,” John Paul grunted with disgust. “How far away was this guy?”
“We were getting fired at from both directions,” she said. “And Theo was busy trying to shield me and shoot at the same time.”
John Paul ignored her explanation. “Why do you carry a gun?” he asked.
“Because I’ve been ordered to carry one. I get a lot of death threats.”
“I can see that,” John Paul said.
“Will you stop fighting with one another? We’re in a mess here. Theo, I think I know what’s going on now. The man, or men, who tore up my clinic were looking for a package. The guy who came up to me at the stadium said another employee of Speedy Messenger had delivered the wrong one to me, and he was trying to get it back. I called the staff secretary and told her to look for it and give it to him. I sent him to the hospital, but never followed up to see if he got the package,” she said. “Remember Elena dropped that box of mail off earlier? I think the men who came to my house last night thought it was there. But I went through the box, and there was no special delivery in it. My guess is that they didn’t find it at the hospital yesterday and they thought she brought it to me last night.”
“There’s only one way they could have known Elena was going to drop anything off,” John Paul said.
“They tapped into her phone line,” Theo said. “Damn, why didn’t I check?”
“I’ll find it,” John Paul offered.
“Do you know what to look for?”
Her brother looked offended. “Of course.”
Theo thought for a second and then said, “When you find it, leave it alone.”
“Why?” Michelle asked.
“Because I don’t want them to know we’re aware of it. We might want to give them some false information.”
“Tell me exactly what the guy said to you,” John Paul said, and Theo noticed he wasn’t quite as antagonistic now.
“He said there was a mix-up at the delivery service,” Michelle said. “Frank — that’s the name he gave me — told me that another messenger named Eddie inadvertently switched labels on two packages he picked up. Whatever I got by mistake is obviously what they’re after.”
Theo shook his head. “And you know it was a mix-up because . . .?” He didn’t wait for the light to dawn. “Nothing is true until it’s proven, and we aren’t going to believe the package was misdirected until we open it and look inside.”
She nodded. “Because the man shooting at us could have been lying.”
“Jeez, Mike. Use your head,” John Paul said.
“My head aches, John Paul.” Upset with herself because she’d been so slow, she sighed. “Of course he was lying.”
“Not necessarily,” Theo qualified.
“You just said . . .” she snapped.
Theo smiled. “He could have been telling the truth. It could be a misdirected package. When we find it, we’ll see what it is. Until then . . .”
“I understand,” she said wearily.
“You remember telling me you had the feeling someone was following you? I think you were right. Whoever he is . . . he’s good. I never spotted him, and I was looking.”
“Maybe they were watching the house,” Michelle suggested.
“What do you think about all this?” John Paul asked Theo.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “When we find that package, we’ll know what we’re up against.”
“You’re going home with me, Mike. I can protect you.”
“Are you saying I can’t?” Theo asked, angry now.
“When I shoot, I shoot to kill. I don’t miss.”
Theo was ready to punch him again, but Michelle put a stop to the hostility.
“Excuse me, gentlemen,” she snapped. “I can and will protect myself. John Paul, I’m going to the hospital with Theo.”
“Mike —”
“That’s the way it’s going to be.”
“She’ll be okay with me,” Theo said, and was surprised when John Paul didn’t argue. Rubbing his brow, Theo added, “Noah’s in New Orleans. I’ll want him to stay there and do a couple of things before he drives back to Bowen.”
“Noah is —” Michelle began, thinking to explain.
“I know who he is. FBI.” John Paul snapped the words out, his disdain apparent.
“So, in the meantime,” Theo continued as though neither one of them had interrupted his train of thought, “you keep your dad close.”
Michelle dropped the bag of peas on the table. “You think they’ll go after Daddy?”
“I’m just covering every possibility I can think of until I have time to figure out what the next move should be.”
Theo finished his beer and set the bottle on the table. “We should get going.”
Michelle asked, “John Paul, will you get the pickup started? Daddy hasn’t driven it in over a week now. He told me something’s wrong with the starter, and he hasn’t had time to get it fixed.”
“I’ll get it started.”
Exhaustion was finally catching up with Michelle. She slowly stood. “Then let’s get going.”
Theo handed her the bag of carrots to put back in the freezer as he stood and tested his knee by slowly putting weight on it. The ice pack had helped. His knee didn’t buckle, and it wasn’t throbbing much at all now.
Michelle held the bag of peas against her forehead as she headed to the kitchen.
“We have to stop by the house first,” Theo reiterated.
“Because Ben will be waiting for us? I could call him —”
“No,” Theo said. “Because I want to pick up my cell phone, and I need more bullets.??
?
He knew what was coming before John Paul opened his mouth.
“What do you need more bullets for?”
“I’m almost out.”
“Seems like a waste to me.”
Michelle had had it with her brother. Turning around, she said, “Don’t shoot him, Theo. I know you want to because my brother can be a real pain in the backside. But I love him, so don’t do it.”
Theo winked at her.
John Paul scoffed, “I’m not worried.”
“You should be,” Michelle said.
“Why?” John Paul asked. “If he shoots, he’ll miss.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
While Michelle stood by the car talking to Ben, Theo went inside her house. He left his shoes by the door so he wouldn’t track in mud, then ran upstairs, stripped out of his clothes, and took a quick hot shower. He was relieved he didn’t find any ticks or leeches. He was back outside ten minutes later, carrying both Michelle’s and his cell phones and her charger. He had already reloaded his gun and stuck an extra magazine in his pocket.
“Ready to go?” he asked Michelle.
“John Paul got your car started,” she told him as she got inside. “Keys are in the ignition.”
“Where is your brother?”
She nodded toward the side of the house. John Paul was sprinting toward the pickup he’d left parked on the road.
Theo intercepted him and handed him Michelle’s cell phone and charger.
“I don’t want that.” There was a look of repulsion on John Paul’s face as he stared at the phone.
“I have to be able to get hold of you. Take it.”
“I don’t —”
Theo wasn’t in the mood to argue. “What are Michelle and I supposed to do if we need you? Send up a prayer?”
John Paul relented. He grabbed the phone and charger and headed for the pickup. He heard his sister call, “You take care of Daddy, John Paul. Don’t let anything happen to him. And you be careful too. You aren’t invincible.” Theo got in the car and was closing the door when Ben shouted and came running.
“I think we just got a lucky break,” Ben said.
“What’s that?”
“Dispatch just called. There’s a detective from New Orleans waiting to talk to me. Says it’s urgent.”
“Do you know what the detective wants? No way New Orleans could have found out what happened last night. Not enough time.”
“I’m on my way back to the station to find out, but I’ve got a feeling this,” he said, waving toward Michelle’s house, “and the detective from New Orleans are connected. They might know something that could help us.”
“Call me at the hospital as soon as you know anything,” he said.
It didn’t take them long to get to the hospital. Michelle led the way through the back corridor into the emergency room. She hadn’t looked at herself in a mirror, and it wasn’t until she noticed the staff staring at her that she realized she should have taken time to clean up. She thought she probably smelled awful too. Megan, the young, newly certified nurse working the emergency room, did a double take.
“You look like you fell in a garbage truck,” she said. “What the heck happened to you?”
“Fell in a garbage truck.”
Another nurse named Frances looked up from behind the nurses’ station. She was also young, but had earned the nickname “Grannie” because she acted like a ninety-year-old. Michelle told her she needed a tray prepared for stitches.
Frances got up and hurried around the counter. Her rubber shoes squeaked with each step she took.
“You stay here, Theo,” Michelle said. “I’m going to go into the doctors’ lounge and take a shower.”
“I’m going with you. It’s quiet there, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I’ve got to call Noah.”
Megan was wide-eyed and gawking as they walked past her. Michelle noticed her full attention was directed on Theo now.
Michelle led the way into the spacious lounge. There were lockers against one wall, a sofa and coffee table on the opposite side of the room, a couple of recliners, and a desk. Just inside the door was a narrow table with a coffee urn and plastic cups. In the corner sat a refrigerator.
A narrow hallway led to two doors. While Michelle was getting clean clothes out of her locker, Theo opened both doors to see what was inside. Each was a fully equipped bathroom with a shower.
“Nice setup,” he remarked as she passed him on her way into the bath. Grabbing a container of bottled water out of the refrigerator, he sat down at the desk and dialed Noah’s cell phone. A second later he was listening to Noah telling him to leave a message. He had a pretty good idea where Noah was, but he would have to wait until Michelle finished showering to get the phone number.
Next, he dialed the hospital operator and asked her to page Elena Miller. He heard the sound of papers rustling in the background, then the operator told him that Elena wasn’t on duty yet. Although she refused to give Theo the woman’s home number, she finally agreed to dial it for him. Elena answered on the second ring, and after identifying himself, Theo asked her to describe the messenger who had come by the hospital to pick up the package on Wednesday and to tell him what the man had said.
Elena couldn’t wait to tell Theo all about the rude man. “He had the gall to shout at me,” she said.
Theo made notes on a notepad he found on the desk and asked her several questions. When he was finished, he hung up, then looked up the phone number of the Speedy Messenger Service in New Orleans in the yellow pages he found in the bottom desk drawer and called them. Three people later, he got to the supervisor. The man sounded frazzled and didn’t want to cooperate until Theo threatened to send over a couple of policemen to get the information. The supervisor was suddenly happy to help. He explained that all the deliveries were kept in the computer. He typed in Michelle Renard’s name and told Theo when and where the package was delivered.
“I want to know who sent it,” Theo said.
“Benchley, Tarrance, and Paulson,” the supervisor replied. “The package was signed for at the St. Claire Hospital at five-fifteen according to my records. You want me to send you a copy?”
“That won’t be necessary,” Theo said.
By the time Michelle had showered and washed her hair, she felt pretty good. She thought she looked like hell, but she felt good, and right now, that was all she cared about. She got dressed, combed her hair, wincing when she accidentally hit her tender scalp. Tucking the strands behind her ears, she decided to let it dry on its own. She was walking toward Theo, pulling the drawstring tight on her pants and tying it, as he turned to her.
“Did you talk to Noah?” she asked.
“Not yet,” he answered. “I did talk to the supervisor at Speedy. Guess what?”
“There’s no Frank or Eddie, right? God, I feel like such an idiot.”
“No, there isn’t any Frank or Eddie, but why would you feel like an idiot? There was absolutely no reason for you to be suspicious.”
“Theo, I’m telling you, I’ve seen that man before. I assumed I had run into him at the hospital, but that obviously isn’t the case. So where did I see him?”
“It will come to you,” he said. “Try not to force it, and when you’re thinking about something else, that’s when you’ll remember. You know what else the supervisor told me?”
Michelle crossed the room to the sofa, sat down, and bent over to tie her shoelaces.
“Tell me,” she said.
“The package was sent from Benchley, Tarrance, and Paulson.”
“Addressed to me?”
“Yes,” he answered. “I called the firm, but no one is going to tell me anything over the phone, so I’m sending Noah over there. Oh, and I also talked to Elena Miller. She was on a tirade.”
Michelle nodded. “Elena’s always on a tirade about something. What did she say?”
“The messenger was hostile.”
&nbs
p; “We already know that.”
“When she couldn’t locate the package for him, she said he started shouting at her. He threatened her too. She was so furious she was going to call the messenger service and report him, but she got busy and forgot about it.”
She stood and walked over to the desk. Noticing the way he was staring at her, she asked, “What’s the matter?”
“I just noticed how tired you look.”
“I’m okay.”
“I’m worried about you. You look like you’re about to fall over.”
“I’m fine,” she insisted.
She didn’t look fine. Her complexion was pale and she was tense. She needed to take a couple of minutes to chill out, he thought. Her nervous energy was going to run out, and then she would crash.
“Come here.”
“Theo, we have to get moving. I’ve got to stitch your arm and find that package.”
“The stitches and the package can wait a few more minutes. Take a deep breath and try to unwind. You want something to drink? A cola or something?”
“No, thanks.”
“Come here.”
“I am here.”
“Closer.”
She took a step to the side of the desk. “Theo . . .”
“Closer.”
The man was irresistible. She knew she shouldn’t allow him to sidetrack her. They both had too much to do. Folding her arms across her chest, she frowned at him. “Now isn’t the time to fool around.”
He pulled her onto his lap. “Why do you think I want to fool around?”
His hand had moved to the back of her neck, and he was slowly pulling her toward him.
“I don’t know . . . it’s just a feeling I have that you might want to kiss me,” she said as she placed her hands on his shoulders.
“The thought never entered my mind. We can’t fool around now, sweetheart. We’ve got too much to do.”
He was nibbling on her neck. She closed her eyes and tilted her head to the side so he could kiss her earlobe.
“Then I must have misread the signals,” she whispered.
“Must have,” he agreed a scant second before his mouth captured hers for a long, scorching kiss. His tongue slid inside her warm mouth, and, oh, God, the slow, lazy penetration drove her wild. He teased and tantalized until she was trembling and gripping his shoulders in a silent demand for more.
