“Anyhow,” Remy went on, “Dad says that Cypress Oil is flying in their top lawyers, anticipating a court battle. He warned that you might lose your law license over this thing, if you’re not careful.”
“Did you bring that scientific equipment I asked for?” Luc asked him, undaunted.
“Yep,” Remy replied.
“What scientific equipment?” she asked.
“The stuff you and I are going to use in the next few days to test the tributary waters.”
She gave him a chagrined look.
“We need something to while away the time,” he explained.
“And you couldn’t have informed me of that? Or asked my advice about what equipment I need?”
“You probably would have given me another lecture.” He shrugged. “Sometimes it’s better to just do it than ask for permission.”
“Luc! For shame! That’s the same advice you gave me when I wanted to kiss Evangeline Arnaud in the fourth grade,” René pointed out.
They all had to smile at that.
“Hey, it’s a multi-purpose bit of advice,” Luc said.
“Back to the problem at hand,” Remy reminded them. “From what Dad said, or didn’t say, I have to tell you that you are going to be hit from every angle on this water-pollution issue. The DER, the EPA, Louisianans who depend on the oil industry for their paychecks, hired thugs. Are you sure you want to get involved?”
“I’m already involved,” Luc said.
René looked at his older brother as if he walked on water. So did Remy.
“Oh, and I forgot. Tee-John is missing and Dad thinks you’re to blame,” Remy added. Although he threw the news out flippantly, she could tell he was concerned.
“Tee-John! What happened? How’s long’s he been missing?” Luc asked with alarm.
“Since early this morning… almost twenty-four hours.”
“Why did he run away?” René asked.
“I swear, if Dad’s been beating that kid—” Luc’s fists were clenched and his voice icy with anger.
“Maybe he just hightailed it to Tante Lulu’s. We all did that when we were kids and the old man was in one of his rages.” René was speaking, but Remy nodded as well.
Then Remy shook his head. “She hasn’t seen or heard from him.”
Luc frowned, obviously worried. “I’d better stick around and see if I can find him.”
“No, René and I will handle it,” Remy said. “You’ve got enough on your plate as it is.”
“Why is Dad blaming me for the kid’s disappearance?”
Remy shrugged. “You started running away about the same age. Maybe he figures you’ve been giving the kid tips. Either that, or the kid isn’t even missing, and this is just a piling on of charges to get you in trouble with the police.”
“God, when it rains, it pours around you, Luc,” René observed.
“Who’s Tee-John?” Sylvie finally asked.
“Our half brother,” Remy explained. “He’s only ten years old and lives with my father and Jolie Guillot, his… uh, mistress. Don’t you be worryin’ none, ma’am. Tee-John is a tough little critter.”
Sylvie thought she heard Luc mutter, “As a LeDeux, he’d have to be.”
Luc pulled Sylvie aside then. “You can’t go back home till we’re sure it’s safe… both from the greedy bloodsuckers at Terrebonne Pharmaceuticals, and from your bloodsucking mother. Oh, and the voodoo fruitcakes, too.”
After hearing all that Remy had related about the dangers to Luc, she’d almost forgotten the warrant for her arrest, and the ludicrous notion that her mother might have her exiled to some remote resort. Both ideas were so preposterous they didn’t merit serious consideration, except that a niggling fear wormed itself into her subconscious. Desperate people did desperate things.
Sylvie didn’t even bother to protest his characterization of her mother. “I don’t know, Luc. I have a bad feeling about the two of us going off like this.”
He lifted her chin with a forefinger and forced her to make eye contact. “This is about us almost making love, isn’t it?”
She blushed till the roots of her hair felt hot, then lied, “No.”
“Liar.”
“I’m afraid,” she confessed.
“Of the bad guys?”
“Not at the moment.” Not while I’m with you.
“Of being arrested?”
“Well, yes, but it would be more embarrassing than anything. I couldn’t bear to think of making a spectacle of myself.”