Like I care! She narrowed her eyes at the obnoxious oaf.
He continued to lie, all relaxed and gloating, on the hammock, while he pulled a wallet out of the back pocket of his jeans. Flipping it open, he handed it to her.
She couldn’t believe what she read. “FBI? You?”
He pretended offense by clapping a hand over his wounded heart. “Why is that so surprising?”
“Because you are so annoying.”
“What? FBI agents can’t be annoying?”
I am not in the mood for jokes. “You are sleeping with a woman old enough to be your mother.”
“I am not sleeping with your mother. She’s my cover.”
Cover? Cover? “Well, cover that,” she said, flipping over the edge of the hammock, thus tumbling him to the ground. He just laughed as he got to his feet and recovered his wallet.
“God, my wife would love you.”
“You’ve got a wife, and you’re boinking my mother? Forget about annoying. You’re despicable.” Men! God must have created them to torture women.
“I told you, your mother and I are not involved… that way.”
“So, let me get this straight. You and my mother are in cahoots… for what reason?”
“To protect you till the FBI arrests some major players in the Dixie Mafia.”
“Would that include Bobby Doucet?”
“It would. He was taken into custody this morning. Charged with loan sharking, attempted murder, and a half dozen other crimes.”
Nice for someone to include me in the loop. “Does that mean I won’t have to pay him any more money?”
“Sounds that way.”
She had to smile at that. “You’re still an annoying pipsqueak.”
“I love it when you sweet-talk me.”
“What is your wife… a masochist?”
He grinned. “Sometimes.”
She thought of something else. “How many people know you’re with the FBI?”
“Only a few.”
Don’t ask, Charmaine. You don’t really want to know. “Would one of them be Raoul?”
His face flushed, but he didn’t answer.
“Tante Lulu? Luc? Remy?”
His face turned redder, but still no answer.
She shook her head sadly at the circumstance she found herself in. Everyone she knew and loved had kept her out of the loop. Why? Could it be because they considered her too dumb to handle the situation? Too untrustworthy? Too insignificant? “I still want to wring your neck, but you’ll have to stand in line. A few other people are going to come first.”
The implications of what Dirk had just told her spun in Charmaine’s head. She could barely comprehend it all. So many questions remained unanswered.
Most important, why had Raoul sent her away? Had there been another reason? Had she been tricked by him, just as she had by everyone else around her?
Being blue on Bayou Black…
Finally, finally, finally. Charmaine had her life back.
She was again ensconced in her home on Bayou Black.
But it didn’t feel like home anymore.
She was free to go into her shops and resume work.
But she couldn’t drag herself out of bed.
She was blessedly alone for the first time in a month.
And the quiet was driving her bonkers.
It had been two days since Remy picked her up in his helicopter and brought her back here. The first thing she’d done was disconnect her phone and unplug the answering machine. She’d ordered Remy to relay a message to all her meddling relatives: “Leave Charmaine alone.”
Which they had done.
Darn it!
Charmaine had thought she needed time to sort out all the confusing questions in her mind. But all she had thought about was Raoul, which made her more confused than ever.
So now she did the one thing she never thought she would. She reconnected her phone and called Tante Lulu.
The phone picked up on the first ring. “Hallo!”
“Tante Lulu, it’s Charmaine.”
“It’s ’bout time you called, girlie. I bin worried ’bout you, but Remy made me swear an oath not to bother you till you wuz ready. I ’bout peed my pants waitin’.”
Charmaine took a deep breath, then asked, “What’s new?”
Tante Lulu chuckled with glee. “I’ll be right over. I got gumbo and Lost Bread right out of the oven. And a new St. Jude statue fer you… a teeny tiny one that can fit in yer purse.”