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“I’m considering quitting my job,” he said. “I don’t want to be away from you.”

“Please don’t do that. I’m not ready for the commitment, Austin. We might have jumped in too fast.”

“Why are you saying that? It’s because of Alphé Beaumont’s kids, isn’t it?”

“Yes, that has something to do with it. Not only was it inappropriate, it was cruel. I feel you took the crusade you have against Alphé out on his children.”

“I admit I was out of line. But is it unforgivable? I saw the change in you the moment it happened.”

“What you saw was a two-night lack of sleep. You’re starting to scare me, Austin. Don’t call me or text me again tonight, please.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Wow, I can’t believe this,” he yelled. “You were sucking my dick one minute, and the next minute I look cross-eyed at that murderer’s kids, you dump me.”

She hung up on him. With shaking hands, she keyed in Katrina’s number.

“Hey! I’m at Bayou Cottage. What’s up?”

“I won’t keep you, then. I wish I had a car; I’d join you.”

“I’ll stop by on way back, okay?”

“Thanks. Two times in one day! I’m getting to be a drag.”

“Not at all. You had a rough weekend. We need to be there for each other. I’m sure my day will come.”

They said goodbye and ended the call. “What’s going on?” Maggie asked. “It sounds bad.”

“She didn’t say, but I have a feeling that jackass is hounding her.”

“Call her back and tell her to meet me at the dock in fifteen minutes,” Maggie said, laughing. “An hour ago, I wanted to be alone here. Now I’m ready to open up a center for women.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. Hurry before my other personality kicks in.”

So Katrina arranged for Calista and her children to get a fun albeit brief boat ride to Bayou Cottage where they’d spend a wonderful afternoon.

Chapter 8

Monday night when Alphé pulled into the Cypress Cove public marina, he saw them waiting. Gus had radioed that the sheriff and a representative from the Coast Guard Investigative Service were waiting at the dock for his boat to come in.

“I’m hauling in my nets right now and will head back in just a few minutes. Over.”

Gus looked at them. “You heard the man.”

They took the offered coffee and beignets while they waited, and exactly fifteen minutes after Alphé answered the call, the sound of his trawler echoed over the marina.

“I remember this case,” Gerald said. “The net and Beaumont’s knife were evidence. They told the entire, horrible story. It was an accident.”

“An investigator from the Bureau of Land Management who is dating Beaumont’s widowed sister-in-law said that the deceased was having a long-term affair with the survivor’s wife,” the sheriff said. “He’s saying it was a motive for murder.”

“Interesting that we’re following up on a closed case on the word of a BLM investigator. I wonder why he’d interfere. I’m thinking he ain’t gonna be dating the widow for much longer.”

They laughed out loud. “Let’s go talk to our man.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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