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“Still, a report needs to be made. Do you want to call him yourself, or do you want me to make the call?” Gramps asked in his no-nonsense tone.

Tears once again escaped as she remembered that moment of fear when the person first grabbed her. “You call,” she said on a barely suppressed sob.

Gramps made the phone call, and Chief Breaux said he’d be at their shanty as soon as possible. As they waited for him to arrive, she got her emotions back under control and then shared with Gramps some of the details of her dinner with Johnny.

“That boy spent his whole life trying to please the cold bastard that was his father,” Gramps said when she was finished.

“Apparently his father was a cold bastard even in death,” she replied.

“So, what’s next for you and Johnny? Do you intend to stop seeing him now that you’ve been warned to stop?”

She frowned thoughtfully. “I don’t know what’s next for us, but I’ll tell you one thing, I make the decisions in my life. I’m certainly not going to allow some masked man in the swamp to make my decisions for me.”

At that moment there was a knock on the door. She answered it and greeted Chief Beau Breaux. Two other officers followed him into the shanty. He shook hands with Gramps and then sat on the sofa next to Mimi while the other two men remained standing just inside the door.

Chief Breaux offered her a gentle smile. “Your grandfather told me on the phone that you were attacked tonight. First of all, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I was just very frightened,” she replied.

“Want to tell me what happened?” he asked.

For the second time that evening, she recounted how the person had grabbed her from behind and what he’d said to her. As she shared everything that happened, she fought against a new set of tears.

Beau pulled out a notebook and pen. He asked her about a description…if she’d smelled anything unusual and various other questions in an effort to glean any information that might help with an identification. However, she had nothing to offer that might assist him.

He then asked her if she could identify the place in the swamp where the attack had occurred. She told him approximately where it had happened, and he assured her that his men would check out the location to see if there was any evidence left there.

“Given what you’ve told me, the man has to be somebody you know. So, think about any men in your life who might not want to see you with Johnny,” Beau replied.

She frowned. She hadn’t thought about it before this very minute. She’d been too focused on the event itself to think about potential suspects. “I…uh… I do have some male friends who might not want to see me date Johnny.”

“Names,” he asked.

She hesitated for a long moment and then released a deep sigh. “River Dubois, Gus Martine and Jean-Luc Benoit. But they’re all my good friends. They could have just talked to me instead of grabbing me in the swamp and scaring me half to death.”

“Then are there other people who wouldn’t want you to see Johnny?” Beau asked.

She frowned once again. “No…nobody I can think of,” she replied. “I don’t think anyone else would care whether I see the man or not.”

“If you think of anyone else, please give me a call.” Beau stood. “In the meantime, I’ll check out these men and see if they have an alibi for the time of your attack tonight.”

“Thank you,” she replied as she got up from the sofa.

Minutes later, the chief and his officers were gone. “What are you thinking?” Gramps asked.

“I’m not sure what to think,” she replied. Her head spun with everything that had happened. “I just find it hard to believe that it would be any of the men I’ve been friends with for so long.”

“Face it, Mimi, it’s very possible one of those men you consider a friend tried to scare the hell out of you tonight,” Gramps said.

“I can’t believe this. I just can’t believe this happened,” she replied.

“Maybe by talking to them you’ll realize who it was,” Gramps replied.

“If I don’t, then I won’t know who to trust.” A shiver raced up her spine. “I wonder what will happen when I don’t stop seeing Johnny?” Her question hung in the air without an answer, but it stirred a fear deep in her soul.

JOHNNY TOOK OFF his T-shirt, the heat and humidity finally getting to him. He and four other men had been working all day at the gazebo site. “Let’s call it a day,” he called out to the others. They all could have worked another hour or two, but he could tell the men were completely exhausted by the heat and humidity.

“We’ll start up again tomorrow morning at seven,” he said. They all gathered up their tools and carried them to the small trailer Johnny had parked on the property. Once the tools were inside, he locked it up. This way the men didn’t have to carry tools to and from the job site. They all headed for their vehicles, and within minutes they were gone.