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Wow. That woman really loved her phone. She loved it so much that when it wasn’t in her hand, her friends knew something was wrong.
Maybe Brian had been doing the world a favor.
He’d just called a raccoon Brian and seriously considered that the critter had pulled off the heist of a cell phone. He was finally truly a citizen of Papillon.
“She lost it,” Major said. “I’m trying to help her find it.”
“I did not lose it. That rodent stole my phone.” Diane was right back to righteous rage.
“She would never lose her phone,” Gavin agreed. “It’s a part of her soul. She doesn’t feel right when it’s not with her. You should have seen her when we were all in Central Europe filming a few scenes. Someone knocked out the cell tower and it was three days before we got coverage again. The poor woman runs on 5G. She can make it on four, but anything under that and she’s practically nonfunctioning. We have to find it.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do.” The last thing he needed was for Gavin to join the hunt. He and Diane often bickered like an old married couple. It didn’t help that the actor had followed Armie for a week and now thought he was an expert on law enforcement. “I’ll go check the woods. They can’t have gotten too far. I’m surprised they’re out at this time of the day. They’re nocturnal.”
“Well, they’re obviously working overtime.” Diane sniffled and moved closer to Gavin. “I was talking to the head of casting about a role for Ally in a nighttime drama he’s working on. She would be so perfect for the ingenue role.”
“Then I’m glad that animal stole the phone from your hand, because you were making a mistake,” Gavin said with a righteous huff. “Have you listened to anything I’ve said? I told you, she should stay away from simpering virginal roles.”
“Are you saying my daughter isn’t a virgin?” Diane shot back, her spine straightening.
Gavin stared at her.
Diane’s eyes rolled. “Well, she can play one on TV. After all, you played a priest in a movie once and we all know you’re not exactly saintly.”
Major walked away because they were going to be of no help. He should send her into town to buy a new cell, but he was pretty sure she would have to go all the way to Houma.
Maybe all the woodland creatures of the bayou had gathered together and formed their own crime ring. Brian and his cohorts would take the stolen cell phone to Otis, who would find the rougarou and fence the sucker for meat and sweets. Yeah, this was his job. He wasn’t sure which was weirder, the fact that he was out here looking for trash panda felons or that he could hear Brynn’s parents arguing about whether Ally should have taken a job playing a wisecracking stripper in a buddy-cop movie.
He took a long breath and tried to listen to something other than the argument. The way those two were yelling should have every critter nearby taking shelter.
He should go back and ask for Diane’s number. He needed to call it and see if he could hear it ringing. His talk with her had thrown him off, and he wasn’t thinking straight. It wasn’t like he was going to walk through the woods looking for a raccoon’s hideout.
That was when he heard it. A chiming sound in the distance.
He turned, because Gavin must have thought to call the phone.
Instead of Gavin, Brynn was standing there. She’d changed into shorts and a T-shirt, flip-flops on her feet. She held up her phone. “I realized we should probably call it, and you don’t have her number. I don’t track her phone or I would offer to find it that way. There’s no need to track her phone. She’s always around. Though you should know that she tracks mine and could show up at any moment. Well, she can do it when it hasn’t been stolen by furry bandits.”
“Unless we go somewhere there’s no cell signal.” Major walked toward the dock where Sera and Harry kept a small airboat. The chiming was louder and then stopped.
“I’ll call again.” Brynn moved closer to him.
The chiming started up again and he switched directions, navigating to a log where the sounds seemed to be coming from. Sure enough, there was the cell phone. He reached in and prayed he wasn’t the one who would need to be tested for rabies this time. He pulled the cell phone out and winced.
“I hope your mom has a good disinfectant. I’m pretty sure this has been thoroughly licked.”
Brynn’s face lit with amusement. “She will clean it like it was her precious baby.”
He pocketed it and promised himself he would take a hot shower after touching that thing. Diane would have to figure out how to douse it in antiseptic. “Your mom thinks I’m going to throw your whole career off track.”
