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“Oh,” she whispered, letting out a breath as she shook another thumb drive into her hand. “Let’s see what it says.” Quickly she opened the drive on her laptop.
Then stared. “Motherfucker,” she muttered.
“What?” Burke, Gabe, and Xavier all asked in unison.
“Only one document. It says, ‘Call Aunt Gigi ASAP when you find this. I love you.’ ”
“What the hell?” Burke exploded. “Dammit, Rocky.”
Expression weary, Gabe tried calling his aunt, but his call went straight to voice mail once again. “She’s still got her phone turned off. I’ve left messages for her and I even called all of the cruise lines again, but I keep getting their voice mail. I don’t know what else to do.”
Burke exhaled heavily. “Now what?”
“We talk to Ducote’s wife number three,” Xavier said from behind the driver’s seat.
“No,” Molly said without even looking back. “You’re going back to Burke’s camp.”
Burke checked his watch. “It’ll take over two hours to get him to the camp and come back here. And that’s after we get out of the city.”
The Quarter was packed with SummerFest revelers. It had taken them over an hour to get to the Choux once they’d exited the interstate into New Orleans. Molly had nearly turned around, but Xavier had convinced her that they’d spend just as long trying to get out of the city as they would getting to the Choux. Everyone had been so hopeful that Gabe’s angel would have the information Rocky had promised he’d leave them, so she’d kept going.
Molly wanted to sigh. That hadn’t panned out very well. Rocky Hebert had been a little too careful. Although he had been spot-on when he’d hidden his phone’s SIM card under the car floor mat. Still, it was hard not to be frustrated. If Joelle Ducote didn’t pan out, they were back to brainstorming again.
At the rate they were going, they might be coming back tomorrow. If they showed up at her house too late, she might not answer the door.
“Just go to Ducote’s house now,” Xavier said.
“No!” Molly, Burke, and Gabe said together.
“Are you insane?” Gabe demanded. “He’s the one who wants to kill us—you especially.”
“He might not even be home,” Xavier argued. “And all the other people who are trying to kill me are either dead or arrested.”
Molly stared at Burke, who actually looked like he was listening to Xavier’s arguments. “Burke?”
“He has a point,” Burke said. “Let’s find out if Ducote’s even home. Hell, his wife might not be home, but we need to try to talk to her, to find out what she knows about her husband. If that clerk back at the UPS store was texting Ducote, he knows we’re getting closer. He might run for it and then Xavier and Gabe will never be safe. They’ll always be looking over their shoulders.” He shrugged. “My gut’s telling me that this is urgent. That we don’t have that much more time.”
Molly sighed. “I agree with Gabe that this is insane. But... what would be your plan?”
“You call Ducote’s office. Find out if he’s left yet. If he’s still there, I’ll drive us to Ducote’s house. You can talk to Joelle and I’ll stay and guard Xavier and Gabe, who will keep their heads down. If Ducote’s not at the office, we’ll go back to my camp and start again tomorrow.”
“It’s a good plan, Molly,” Xavier said cajolingly.
“I promised your mother that you’d be safe,” Molly said, hating the situation.
“You are keeping me safe,” Xavier said, with the confidence of a twenty-two-year-old. “I’ll stay hidden. Burke’s windows are tinted and bulletproof.”
“Bullet resistant,” Burke corrected.
“Whatever,” Xavier said. “Molly, the longer we sit here, the more of a target we are. Let’s get moving.”
Rolling her eyes, Molly searched for Ducote’s office number online, then dialed. “They’re probably closed. It’s almost five now,” she said, then blinked, surprised when someone answered.
“Hello, this is Mr. Ducote’s office,” a woman answered. “Can I help you?”
“May I speak to Mr. Ducote?” Molly asked.
“He’s in a meeting,” the woman said. “Can I take a message?”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll call back on Monday morning. Thank you.” Molly ended the call and met Burke’s gaze. “I don’t like this.”
“It’ll be faster to get back to Burke’s boat by going south to the Garden District where Ducote lives,” Xavier said excitedly, “than it would be backtracking through the Quarter. We gotta go that way anyway.”
“No, we don’t gotta,” Molly said. “There are lots of other ways to get to the boat launch.”
“Molly.” Gabe sounded exhausted. “Just drive. The faster we talk to Ducote’s wife, the faster we can get Xavier back to safety.”
“Let me drive,” Burke said, opening his door. “You can go talk to Joelle and I can be ready to drive Xavier to safety if it gets dicey.”
Feeling outnumbered, Molly switched places with Burke, hoping they weren’t making a deadly mistake.
