The Awakening (3 page)

She sighed. “A couple of men on the crew left the job this morning. They’re spooked, and I probably won’t be able to replace them. Word is out and there are only so many qualified workers around these parts. Most are working reconstruction in New Orleans.”

“So you’re delayed a bit, but it’s not the end of the world.”

“If the delays continue, I can’t open the bed-and-breakfast on time. I have people booked for New Year’s Eve.”

“Why would swamp fencing hold up the opening?”

“Apparently, the insurance company considers it a liability if I don’t have the fencing and won’t write the policy I need to open.”

Okay, it was unfortunate, but not a crisis. “You can probably get some workers to come over from New Orleans if you pay a bonus. Worst case, you’ve have to refund deposits for the bookings and reschedule them if you think the property’s not inhabitable by then.”

“Yes, I suppose so.”

He studied her face, the way her hands shook as she poured the rest of her coffee into the sink. Why all the concern about not opening on time, but the lack of interest in paying a bonus to acquire enough workers to get things finished on time? Surely, not every contractor in Louisiana would be afraid to work in the Honey Island Swamp, especially if the price was right.

She was hiding something, but what? Holt had warned him that the hardest part of the job was figuring out if the things people were hiding were relevant to the case. He hadn’t been on the job five minutes and could already see that clear as day. He took a sip of his coffee to avoid sighing. This sort of issue was exactly why he’d chosen a career path in the swamp among the creatures. They didn’t present complicated problems like humans.

“Well, if that’s all,” he said, “I’d like to start by taking a look at the place you saw the creature.”

She hesitated for just a moment, and he thought she was going to let out some of what was really bothering her, but finally, she nodded. “Let me grab a long-sleeved shirt and put on my boots. Then I’ll take you there myself.”

She left the room without as much as a backward glance. He downed the rest of his coffee and stared across the acreage to the tree line where the swamp began. Something was moving below the surface. He could feel it.

The question was, how much did Josie know and how involved in it was she?

* * *

J
OSIE PULLED ON HER GLOVES
as they entered the trail in the swamp. Southern Louisiana rarely got cold enough for the gloves to be a necessity, but the bare branches and dying foliage were sharp and scratched the skin with direct contact. She noticed Tanner had pulled leather gloves from his jeans pocket as soon as they’d neared the tree line. He wore hiking boots and a long-sleeve shirt, which made sense as Alex had told her he was an expert tracker. Even the pistol shoved casually in his waistband only comforted her that she’d made the right decision.

But the rest of the picture was the absolute last thing she’d been expecting when he’d introduced himself as the detective she’d hired. She’d expected someone older, rougher, maybe someone who’d lived in the swamp for a while. Someone with graying hair, scars and maybe even a limp. Or maybe she’d seen too much late-night television.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts. Tanner’s looks should be the least of her worries. She had the bank pushing her every day for payment, and hiring a detective was the last chance she had to save her family’s plantation from foreclosure. It felt like a long shot, but if it worked, the money would be well spent, even if she had to suffer the discomfort of explaining her precarious financial position. She’d avoided the subject in the kitchen when he’d suggested paying higher wages for workers, but she wouldn’t be able to avoid it forever.

She was a bit surprised that Tanner hadn’t asked about the creature she saw, but maybe he thought she’d been mistaken. It rankled her that people discounted what she said simply because it sounded implausible, but she wasn’t going to lie just to make people comfortable. Now, if only she could convince him to work quickly, her New Year’s business might be spared.

“So, Alex tells me you were a game warden,” she said, unable to tolerate the silence or her mental wanderings any longer.

“Yeah, I’ve spent almost ten years in the Atchafalaya Basin.”

“But your family is in Vodoun?”

“They are now. Everyone scattered after high school, but my brothers have settled down there now with their wives.”

“That’s nice.”

“I suppose so. If that’s what you’re into.”

His dry tone made her smile just a bit. “It’s nice to know I’m not the only person in Louisiana jaded about love.”

He didn’t respond, but she didn’t think much of it. In her experience, most men weren’t exactly dying to have long discussions about romantic entanglements. At the moment, the last thing she was interested in was a romantic entanglement, which was a good thing since the tall, muscular man behind her was enough to tempt any woman with clear vision.

Something about his slightly unkempt brown hair and the two-day shadow on his face screamed masculinity in a way she’d never noticed in another man, and during her modeling days, she’d seen many prime specimens. The tanned skin and green eyes only made a beautiful picture perfect.

And familiar.

She frowned as the thought registered completely. There was something familiar about him. It was so brief and fleeting in her mind that she couldn’t get a grasp on it, but she had no doubt that she’d seen him somewhere before.

“Did you grow up in the area?” she asked.

“Mostly, but we moved around a lot. Never stayed in any one town for more than a couple of years, except Vodoun.”

That probably explained the familiarity. She’d been a cheerleader in high school, and her school had had a big rivalry with Vodoun High School. Tanner looked about the same age as her. She’d probably seen him at a game. He certainly had the build of an athlete.

“Is this the area?” His voice broke into her thoughts as they stepped into the clearing with the damaged fencing.

“Yes,” she said, switching her mind back to the present. “I was standing over there, just at the edge of the water. I saw...whatever it was poke its head through the bushes on the far-side bank.”

“And it was early evening?”

“The sun was setting, but it was just at the edge of the tree line. The light was still reflected off the pond.”

He stepped up to the edge of the water and studied the bank, probably trying to estimate just how good her view had been from that distance and in that amount of light. Apparently satisfied, he nodded and stepped away from the water.

“Did you search the bank on the other side?”

“Not that evening,” she said, embarrassed to come right out and admit she’d run for the house like a scared little girl. “But I came back the next morning with the plantation foreman, Emmett Vernon.”

“And that’s when you took the cast of the footprint?”

“Yes. And sent it to the Wildlife and Fisheries State Lab, along with some of the surrounding soil so that they could estimate weight.”

He looked back at her, frowning. “But they couldn’t identify it?”

“No. They said it didn’t match the print of any known animal in the universe, much less the state of Louisiana.”

“But surely, they gave you some information.”

She nodded. “They said it was made by a bipedal creature, over six feet tall and approximately two hundred pounds. The shape was somewhat similar to humans, but with only four toes and webbing between them.”

She studied his face as she delivered the description. Everyone from Mystere Parish and likely a lot of people around the country knew exactly what she was describing. All of this was in the information she’d given Alex the day before, but if there was ever going to be a time Tanner called her crazy, this was going to be it.

He gazed back across the pond and jammed his hands in his jeans pockets. “Well, I guess we’re going to find out if the legends are real.”

Josie stared at him. “So you believe me?”

“I believe you saw what you saw, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“But you don’t think it’s a swamp monster.”

“I don’t have to think it’s anything. I just have to track it down and stop it from vandalizing your property.”

He turned and started off down the bank around the perimeter of the pond. She stared after him, trying to squelch the growing frustration she felt over the entire situation. He was humoring her.

Fine by her.

If he was as good a tracker as he claimed, then he should have no problem finding the vandal. Then everyone who thought she was a frightened drama queen could kiss her skinny butt.

Starting with Tanner LeDoux.

Chapter Three

Josie put her hands on her hips and glared at the plantation foreman, Emmett Vernon. The man had worked for her father since he was a boy—over forty years—but he wasn’t going to make it to retirement if he kept up with his current attitude.

“I don’t understand your problem, Emmett,” she said. “The detective will take a big weight off our shoulders so that we can go back to the jobs we need to be concentrating on.”

Emmett took a gulp from his water bottle, swished it around in his mouth and spit it into the hedges near the front entrance of the house. She struggled to keep her cool. He knew she couldn’t stand his filthy habits, and she would swear he did it on purpose to aggravate her.

“You mean the business of turning your daddy’s life’s work into a hotel for snooty people?”

“How many times have I told you I don’t have a choice?”

“Yeah, right. You were gone for years prancing on that runway in France. You mean to tell me you didn’t get paid?”

“My financial situation is none of your business. You get your paycheck every week. I’m telling you to do your job to earn it.”

Emmett narrowed his eyes at her. “You saying I’m slacking?”

She drew herself up straight, not about to back down from him again. “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. Half the time, I can’t find you when I need you and neither can the work crew. You’re supposed to be managing the work on this plantation. Right now that work is in the swamp and that’s where I expect you to be, along with the crew.”

“You want me to stand around watching people work?”

“No, I want you to pick up a post and help. Like it or not, the days of you standing around spitting are over.”

The man glared at her, then spun around and stalked across the lawn to the barn. She let out a sigh and leaned back against one of the huge columns that stretched across the front porch of the house.

“Problems?”

Tanner’s voice sounded from the doorway of the house and she jumped. She’d left him inside earlier to have a sandwich and make some phone calls to Wildlife and Fisheries and see if he could get them to move faster on testing the blood she’d found at one of the work sites. She hadn’t even heard him open the door. Now she wondered how much of the conversation he’d overheard.

“Nothing outside of the norm, lately,” she finally said.

“Is your foreman always so rude to you?”

She frowned. “No, but ever since I went from boss’s daughter to boss, his attitude has gone downhill.”

“You think he could be the vandal?”

“No! I don’t... Oh, wow....”

He sighed. “It hadn’t occurred to you yet. I’m sorry I sprang it on you that way.”

She shook her head. “You’re just doing your job. And no, it hadn’t occurred to me, but I don’t think it’s him. I can see where it would look that way, but I can’t bring myself to believe Emmett would betray my father’s trust that way, even though he’s dead.”

“That’s okay. You don’t have to believe it. I’m going to get proof, but I have to tell you, Emmett’s a good place to start. I’ll need to know everything you know about the man, and the rest of the crew, for that matter.”

“Of course. I have personnel files for all of the crew. I’m afraid that’s about the extent of my knowledge of them, but Emmett has been here since before I was born. I can probably tell you anything you need to know about him.”

“Except where he disappears to during the day?”

She blew out a breath. “Yeah, except that.”

He nodded. “If you’ll show me to my room, I’d like to unpack and start on those personnel files tonight.”

“Your room?”

“There’s no hotel in town and I’d rather be on-site until I figure this out. You’re turning it into a B-and-B, right? So I figure you have rooms.”

She couldn’t think of a single good reason to tell him no—at least not one she could openly state without looking like a fool. But the thought of Tanner sleeping under the same roof sent her body tingling in places it had no right to tingle in.

Unfortunately, his idea made perfect sense.

“Sure. I have two rooms ready on the second floor. One on the north side and one on the south. You can have your choice.”

He nodded. “Where is your room located?”

She felt a blush creep up her face. “On the second floor, north side.”

“Then I’ll take the north-side room.”

Her mouth dropped just a bit and she held it there for a couple of seconds, unable to close it or speak. Finally, she said, “You don’t think I’m in danger, do you?”

“Until I can figure out who or what is doing this and their motive, I don’t want to discount any possibilities. If a man is vandalizing your property, then it’s personal, and that’s something I want to explore with you tomorrow. If he doesn’t get you to take whatever action he thinks he’s going to cause, he may escalate. Hiring me may inspire him to escalate more quickly.”

A flood of scenarios that she’d never considered washed through her mind. Locked up in her home with the sexiest man she’d seen in forever or alone with a potential madman or mythical creature on the loose.

She wasn’t sure which was more frightening.

* * *

T
ANNER ROSE FROM THE
small desk that held a stack of personnel files and peered out the bedroom window into the dimly lit courtyard behind the sprawling mansion. On the surface, everything appeared so peaceful, so normal, but he knew something was off balance. He’d felt it in the swamp. Something malevolent was at work below the surface at the plantation.