“I wish,” Amelie said. “She’s the most famous female chef in the world.”
“In the 1800s?”
“No. Today.” Amelie shook her head. “I’ve been following her success story.”
“So, Eugene agreed to a fictitious name. Maybe he forgot the real one.”
“Or the whole story was a bunch of hooey.” Her brow furrowed. “If he read all his great-grandmother’s letters from Armand’s great-grandmother, you’d think he’d remember the name. And like I said, I never saw him visit Armand. And Armand never said anything about a Eugene Peltier. For the last three years I worked with Armand, I was his confidant.”
Maurice stared out the window. “Why would Peltier make up a story like that?”
“Why would he come all the way from France to Bayou Mambaloa?” Amelie drove the van around to the back of the bakery and parked. “What Frenchman even knows where Bayou Mambaloa is on a map?”
“Even if he didn’t visit Armand, he knew who he was.” Maurice pushed his door open, grabbed the bags of groceries and followed Amelie. “And he knew you worked in Paris. I suspect he knows your true connection to Armand.”
Amelie’s lips pressed into a tight line. “Makes me think he came here on purpose.”
“To find you.” Maurice didn’t like that idea.
A box lay on the ground at the back door of the bakery.
Amelie bent to retrieve it and read the label. “Yay. It’s the surveillance system I ordered.” She glanced up and grinned. “I know what I’ll be doing for the rest of the day.”
“Good. If we need to, we can get some of my teammates to help us set it up. I want to get it up and operational as soon as possible.”
“It’s supposed to be easy. I ordered the idiot-proof one.”
“Then, between the two of us, we should be able to install it.”
As they carried the box and groceries up to her apartment, Maurice worried they hadn’t seen the last of Peltier. Was he the danger Schulz had warned them of? Or was Schulz actually the man they should watch out for? There were too many moving parts.
Maurice figured it would be best to be wary of both men until they knew more.
* * *
Amelie put Maurice to work opening the box while she put away the groceries and carried the box of condoms into the bedroom. She didn’t want to advertise the fact she’d purchased such a big box and appear overly confident he’d stick around to go through all of them. But it didn’t hurt to have a supply on hand.
She shook out a few packets and tucked them into the top drawer of her nightstand, right next to the lubrication jelly she kept on hand for when she powered up her battery-operated boyfriend. A thrill of anticipation sent heat throughout her body to pool low in her belly. Maybe they could use one of those packets after installing the surveillance system.
She shoved the box containing the rest of the condoms under her bed. Within easy reach. Who knew? She could be lucky enough to go through the handful she’d dropped inside her nightstand pretty fast, especially if he stole her panties again.
She almost stripped them off again just to tease him. Maybe she could climb the ladder while he braced it at the bottom.
With a sigh, she left her panties on. The bakery might be closed on Monday, but it was on Main Street. They would be hanging the cameras on the exterior of the building. She didn’t mind Maurice looking up her skirt to her naked bottom, but she sure as hell didn’t want to moon the rest of the town.
They spent the next two hours installing cameras at all four external corners of the building, as well as one in the kitchen, one at the front of her store where the display cases were and another in the living room of her apartment.
Once they were all in place and operational, Amelie connected them to the internet. Following the detailed instructions, she set it up so she could monitor the perimeter of the building from her cell phone or from the desktop computer on the counter at the front of the bakery.
“This is so cool.” Amelie paged through the various camera views by swiping her finger across her cell phone screen.
Maurice leaned over her shoulder and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “I’m glad you drew the line at the bedroom.”
She laughed. “What? You don’t want to make our own X-rated videos?”
“I prefer to do rather than just watch.” He turned her around, pulled her into his arms and held her close enough she could feel the hard evidence of his desire pressing into her belly. He reached into his pocket and held up a foil packet. “I’m a little more prepared than I was last night.”
She laughed and took the condom from his fingers and tucked it between her breasts. “Now?”
