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“They’ll have the bullet that was in the dead guy when he got to the ER,” Carlos protested. “It won’t match the second bullet.”
“Then we need to make sure that the gun that fired the first bullet isn’t found,” Burke said with a shrug. “Molly?”
“I’ll take care of it,” she promised. “Now we need to get these folks to your place, Burke.”
“Not my place,” Burke said. “Not my main house, anyway. We’ll use my camp. I didn’t tell André because I didn’t want him to accidentally tell the wrong person where they’ll be.”
Cicely looked uncertain. “A camp? Like... a tent?”
Molly chuckled. “No, it’s a cabin, but folks down the bayou call their places camps. It’s a really nice place and isolated enough that anyone coming for you will be seen long before they get close enough to hurt you. It’s on the bayou bank, perfect for fishing and relaxing, but it’s also got a satellite for Wi-Fi and a state-of-the-art security system.”
“Plus, the deed isn’t in my name,” Burke added. “I’ve only taken a few people out there, so it would take the fake Paul Lott a while to even discover that it exists. I’ll take you there myself and stay with you until I can assign sufficient security.”
“I can make sure you stay fed,” Gabe offered. “I’ll get some groceries so that I can make you some meals.”
“I can cook,” Cicely said, brows raised. “I’m no fancy chef, but I can feed us.”
Carlos winced. “Oh, man. You dissed her cooking. This isn’t gonna end well.”
Gabe winced as well, clearly not having thought his offer through. “No offense meant to your cooking, ma’am, but I know that I’m going to be a wreck without something to keep my hands busy. So please allow me to supplement your cooking as long as you’re here?”
Cicely smiled at him. “That, I can understand. Thank you. We accept.”
“Yes,” Carlos hissed, fist pumping the air. “We’re going to feast like kings.”
Manny bowed his head with a sigh. “Our mother raised us better, I can promise you this.”
Gabe’s mouth curved in a genuine smile at the brotherly exchange. “I assume Molly knows how to get to wherever you’re going?”
“I do,” she confirmed. She hoped Gabe didn’t mind boats, because that was the only way to get to Burke’s camp. “We’ll take care of all of you while we search for this guy, too. I trust André to do everything in his power to find this guy, but he’s clearly got issues in his department, so we’ll make finding him our priority.”
“Thank you,” Cicely said fervently. “Thank you all so much.”
“Yes.” Xavier swallowed hard, his eyes suddenly glassy with tears. “When everything went down last night, I didn’t know what to do. Rocky said you’d help, Gabe, that we could trust you. He was right. So thank you all so much—for the protection, the place to stay, the investigation, the food. Thank you for believing me in the first place. Just...” His voice broke. “Thank you.”
“You’re my dad’s second son,” Gabe said, his own voice gone gruff. “And none of this is your doing, Xavier. None of this is your fault. He would have wanted us to make sure you were okay. It’s the least we can do.”
Tulane-Gravier, New Orleans, Louisiana
TUESDAY, JULY 26, 6:45 P.M.
“Why is traffic at a standstill?” Lamont grumbled from the back seat of the town car. “Surely the tourists have to go eat or sleep or fuck each other or something. This is far worse than yesterday. We’ve barely moved ten feet in twenty minutes.”
“The road’s closed up ahead by the police department, sir,” James said, his tone unusually tense. “Cop got shot. Shooter’s on the run.”
Lamont blinked. “I didn’t hear anything about that.”
“It’s been on the news, sir. My wife said she saw it online. Tourists posted videos of the shooting. Happened about fifteen minutes before you came down to the car. Traffic was bad before, but this road closure just snarled everything up.”
A bad feeling skittered along his spine. “How was the cop shot?”
“Some prisoner was being put in a squad car. He got loose, stole the cop’s gun, shot the cop, and ran. The cops just did a press conference.” He held up his phone. “I’ve been checking the reports. Have to say, knowing a gunman is roaming out here somewhere is making me nervous.”
“I don’t blame you.” He unlocked his phone and searched the news. Sure enough, everything James had said seemed true, but there was no word as to who this guy was.
If it was Eckert, that would be okay. But that was unlikely. Hodges had said that Eckert was already in lockup.
I don’t think even Eckert could escape from there. Not without a lot of help.
