Page 73 of Xavier

“I can do that after I drop these,” Xavier said.

“No need. I can carry it and these two.”

“Okay.” Xavier walked down the steps and a few steps further, but paused to wait for her. He enjoyed watching Lissette as she descended the steps, set her cases on the ground and pushed between the azalea bushes. In the gloom of dusk, she reached beneath the porch.

Xavier should have insisted on retrieving the cage. Any manner of creature could have taken up residence beneath the porch.

He started to put down the heavy cases when Lissette pulled a wire cage through the bushes. There were spiderwebs on it, which she quickly brushed away.

She tucked one of the little cases under her arm, grabbed the other by the handle with that same arm, snagged the cage in her other hand and followed Xavier down the hill to the skiff.

He loaded the heavy suitcases onto the floor of the boat and came back to take the little cases from her. “I’ll take those,” he said.

“I’ll load Napoleon.” She opened the cage door and stood it up so the door was on top. “Come on, you mean old bird,” she said as she grabbed the handle of the fishnet with one hand, the bottom of the net with the other and flipped it over the top of the cage.

Napoleon curled his talons around the net strings and hung upside down.

“Come on, it’s for your own good,” Lissette said.

The rooster flapped his wings and squawked his indignation.

Xavier dropped the suitcases in the skiff and returned to help. “Let me hold the handle.”

She passed control of the handle to him and started peeling the bird’s claws from the net.

Finally, Napoleon dropped into the cage.

Xavier jerked the net out of the way.

Lissette slammed the door shut and laughed. “Great teamwork.” She leaned up on her toes and pressed her lips to his.

Xavier dropped the net, pulled her into his arms and kissed her for real.

By the time he lifted his head, they were both breathless. “I love it when you laugh,” he said.

“I love when you kiss me,” she said and leaned up to kiss him again. “Let’s go get Grand-mère.”

They returned to the house, climbed the steps and entered the house.

“Grand-mère, are you ready to go?” Lissette called out, rounding the corner into the kitchen.

The box her grandmother had been filling was still on the counter, but some of the jars she’d been loading lay broken and scattered across the floor.

Xavier pulled the gun from his waistband. “Stay here,” he ordered Lissette and hurried down the hallway, checking in each bedroom until he reached the mudroom at the rear of the house. The back door stood open. The boot Madame Gautier had worn to protect her sprained ankle lay on the ground at the bottom of the landing.

An engine roared to life on the other side of the small island. In the gathering darkness, Xavier saw the shadow of a boat speeding into the bayou's darkness.

Lissette ran across the field. “No! Oh, sweet heaven. No!” She stopped, spun, and ran back to the house. “We have to go after them. They have her. They have my grandmother!”

Chapter 14

Lissette ran back through the house and out the other side, not stopping until she reached the skiff loaded with suitcases and the cage with Napoleon inside.

Xavier arrived right behind her, untied the line, and jumped in before Lissette spun the little boat around and opened the throttle.

The added weight slowed the skiff as she circled the island, scanning the dark for any sign of the boat that had taken her grandmother away.

“Damn it! Which way did they go?” she cried.