“Well now, you ain’t a cowardly woman. I know that because of how you ran off some of your trespassers, and how you beaned Guidry.” DeLille snickered. “Got to admire you for that alone.”
“So what?”
“So, a brave woman like you will try to escape. I may even have to shoot you to stop you. Or, you might get caught in that flood coming this way. I got the news that the levee’s breaking just before Guidry and I rode out here.”
“So, you admit you killed him.”
“I don’t admit anything.” He dragged her around, pushing her toward the stable door. “Let’s go into the house. I need to look for the murder weapon.”
She stumbled forward. “Luc,” she whispered. Would it be enough to warn him?
“Shut your mouth. You’re wasting time.”
Grace obeyed, praying for a way to get out of this situation. Maybe something would dawn on her. At the kitchen door, DeLillereached around her and opened it. “Get inside.” He followed her. Her valise was on the table where she’d left it. However, it was open. The music box and log book rested on the table beside the carpet bag. The key to unlock the box sat in its keyhole.
Luc must have done that, but why?
“Well now, ain’t that nice. You left me a present right where I could find it.”
“What? I didn’t leave anything for you.” Her glare stabbed him.
He backhanded her then kicked a chair away from the table.
Pain exploded in the side of her face and her vision grayed. She couldn’t cradle her cheek because of the manacles. She blinked to clear her vision and convinced her legs to remain locked, so she wouldn’t crumble. “Sit down and shut up,” he ordered. “Guess you thought you could run and I wouldn’t find you. However, you hadn’t finished packing.” He moved around the table to where he could see her and easily reach the silver box. She sat, so she could regain her bearings and her balance. Her pain faded to a throb. She would curse at him, but he had a gun, and she wanted to survive. He laid the pistol on the table. “Don’t think you can move fast enough to get away before I shoot you. You just sit nice and quiet while I look inside my present.”
“You won’t find anything,” Grace spat.
“You just don’t know where to look, and to think you had it all this time.”
“Had what?” She forced her eyes wide and peered up at him, playing innocent.
DeLille lifted the box, opened it and probed inside. Smiling, he took a pen knife from his pocket and cut open the green velvet. “There you are. I been looking for you all my life.”
The man is insane, talking to a box with torn lining.
Probing the cut he’d made, he pulled something from within the velvet. He held it up to the light, inspecting the gris-gris for any damage. “It’s still in good shape.”
“No!” She gasped unable to remain stoic.
“Yes. Yes indeed. I’m going to have my own personal pirate to steal for me, and no one will ever suspect me. You hear me, Lucien Flynn? I got your gris-gris. You appear to me here, right now.”
Grace felt something shoved into one of her hands in the moment before Luc materialized at her side. “Luc, I’m sorry,” she said.
“So, you know him.” DeLille’s brows drew tight, and he tilted his head. “I didn’t think he’d let anyone see him, or get friendly.”
Luc smiled. “Don’t worry, Grace. All will be well.”
She’d felt out that the thing in her hand was a key, probably a skeleton key that would open the lock on the manacles. “You’re sure of that?” She spoke loudly to cover any sound made while she manipulated the manacle key.
“Sure will.” DeLille smirked. “Flynn, you’re gonna take me and that box away from here.”
“What about Miss Thibodaux?”
“She can stay here. Since the levee’s broken all ofSweet Dreamswill be under water. She’ll drown and save me the trouble of having to kill her.”
“I don’t think I like that part of the plan,” Luc said, studying his nails.
“What you like ain’t important.” DeLille raised the gris-gris, waving it in Luc’s direction. “You must do whatever I say.”
