“Were you afraid of her?” Daniel asked curiously.
Jacque’s green eyes appeared to darken. “No, I’m not afraid of anything. Besides, I met Mystique one night not too long ago. I was fishing in a small pool of water and she was out lookingfor a particular kind of flower that only opened at night. She surprised me by sitting next to me on the bank and we chatted for about an hour.”
“Did she say anything that might help us find her killer?” Daniel asked.
“No, although she did complain about her man, Pierre Guidry. She said she was done with him. She was tired of their constant bickering. She mostly talked about her daughters and how much she loved them. Oh, she did mention that somebody was irritated with her because a love spell didn’t work.”
“Charles Lathrop,” Luke murmured.
“Anything else you can tell us?” Daniel asked.
Jacque shook his head. “I’m sorry I don’t have more to tell you.”
“There was an attack on Angelique. Do you know anything about that?”
“No, I haven’t heard anything about that.”
Daniel stood, and Clay and Luke also got up from the sofa. “I appreciate you speaking with us. Can you continue to keep your ear to the ground and let us know if you hear anything that might help us out in our investigation?”
Jacque also rose to his feet. “I can do that. Why don’t you give me your cell phone number? I don’t go into town much, but I can give you a call if I hear anything that might be useful to you.”
It took only moments for the two to exchange numbers, and then the three lawmen left the shanty. They didn’t speak until they got back to the car.
“Interesting guy,” Luke said as Daniel drove back toward town.
“Did you see all those books? I’ve never known a gator hunter who is a big reader before,” Clay said.
“I have a feeling Jacque isn’t swamp born and raised. I should have asked him how long he’s been there and where he came from, not that any of that matters,” Daniel replied. “One thing is for certain, Charles Lathrop just moved right up there with Pierre as a suspect.”
“I didn’t like that guy the first time we talked to him,” Luke said. “I thought he was very arrogant and more than a little bit creepy.”
“Yeah, it’s no wonder the man needed a love spell,” Clay added. “And apparently even that didn’t work for him.”
“We’ll see if he’s a killer as well as an arrogant creep,” Daniel replied.
The afternoon passed quickly as the search warrant for Pierre’s place came through and after the search was completed, Daniel requested a search warrant for Charles Lathrop’s home. Nothing of interest was found at Pierre’s, so Daniel was hoping they would find something at Charles’s house.
As they waited for that search warrant to come through, the three of them sat in the conference room dedicated to the murder and not only tossed out ideas about Mystique’s murder but also the attack on Angelique.
“It’s too bad Angelique’s sisters couldn’t come up with a single suspect for us,” Clay said.
“It’s too bad Angelique doesn’t have a clue as to who wants to harm her,” Daniel replied. “It’s hard to investigate a case when you don’t even know where to start,” he added in a frustration that was growing far too familiar.
“Hopefully Angelique scared the person away for good,” Luke said.
“I’d like to believe that, but I don’t,” Daniel replied. “My biggest fear is that the perp is going to try again, and next time Angelique might not be so lucky.”
Once again, his head filled with thoughts of the amazingly hot kiss they had shared. Kissing Angelique could definitely become addictive if he let it.
There was just something that made him want to know more about her. She’d shared a little bit about herself the night before, but it hadn’t been nearly enough to satisfy his curiosity.
Of course, in the end it all meant nothing. She was just a beautiful woman who intrigued him, and more importantly, she was the victim in two crimes. But she really wasn’t his type and, in any case, he had no time for romance. He had a murder and an attempted murder to solve.
He couldn’t do anything to save Mystique. She was already dead and gone. But somehow, someway he needed to figure out who had attacked Angelique before the person struck again with potentially deadly results.
ANGELIQUE WALKED THROUGHthe swamp with her mother’s knife held tight in her hand. It was early afternoon, and knowing she was cooking for Daniel tonight, she needed to go to the grocery store and pick up a few things.
She had always felt as if the swamp welcomed her when she walked through the junglelike greenery. Today was no different. A faint breeze rustled through the treetops. Birds called to each other in a sweet chorus overhead as small animals scurried through the brush. In the distance she heard the slap of an alligator’s tail against the water.
