Hot Pursuit (20 page)

“Why not? She’s missing for God’s sake!”

“Teenagers run away, Evie. They do things
they shouldn’t. If the police put out an alert for every teen who
disappeared for a few hours, no one would take it seriously ever
again. There’s a definite protocol to follow before issuing
one.”

Her fingers dug into his bicep. “But we won’t
sit and wait for them to figure this out, right? You’re going to do
something, right? Call those men in black of yours?”

He put his arm around her, pulled her close,
and propelled them back to where he’d parked the car on the street.
“I’ll do everything possible to get her back.”

She pulled him up short, looked at him with
violet eyes full of both trust and uncertainty. “Have you ever
failed a mission?”

He looked her dead in the eye as his gut
twisted into a knot. “No. Never.”

* * *

They had to get the humidor. They’d been
sidetracked with the visit to the jail, and now they were on their
way to see Mama. But as soon as that was over, as soon as she’d
faced her mama and told her that Sarah was missing, they were going
to Julie’s house and retrieving her car.

Evie nibbled her lip, her insides twisting
and mixing like a spinning top as they took the elevator to the
second floor of William Girard Medical Center. They couldn’t go to
the police. Not yet anyway. She had no friends there, that was for
sure. They thought she’d killed David.

Rochambeau was a small town. Murder was
unheard of, unless it was a couple of fisherman fighting over traps
out in the bayou. That had happened last year. Eighty-year-old
Dancy Lafevre shot and killed a man a third his age for poaching
his crawdad traps. It took the police ten days, two helicopters,
and a team of dogs to bring him out of the swamp.

Murder in Rochambeau tended to be homegrown.
And she had a hell of a motive, no doubt about it.

“You never showed me how to defend myself.”
It was a long stretch from what she’d been thinking about, which
was getting the humidor and checking on Mama, but looking at Matt,
she couldn’t help but think about badassery. Right now, she wished
she were a badass too.

Matt’s aviator sunglasses hid his eyes. He
hadn’t taken them off when they’d come inside, and it certainly
added to his appeal. The man was a walking advertisement for
testosterone. A white T-shirt stretched over his chest. He’d
crossed his arms and tucked his hands into his armpits. He looked
like nothing less than a huge, menacing guard dog.

A sexy guard dog she’d like to strip were
circumstances less urgent.

“Give me your hand.”

“How is that supposed to teach me
anything?”

His mouth twisted in a frown. “You’ll find
out if you give me your hand.”

She thrust her hand out, trying her best to
ignore the frisson of heat that tingled under her skin when he took
it in his.

“Curl your fingers like this.” He pulled her
closer to him and placed her hand midway down his forearm. “Now, if
anyone ever grabs you and you get the chance, you dig in right
here.”

He pushed her fingers into his arm. All she
felt was hard bone and taut muscle.

She shook her head. Either he was funning
with her or she wasn’t doing it right. “I don’t get it.”

He pulled the glasses off and shoved them
into his waistband. Then he picked up her arm in the same place.
When he squeezed, she yelped. A sharp pain shot down her arm, up to
her shoulder, and through her body. It was like hitting your funny
bone, though worse somehow.

“Sorry, but I need you to understand.” He
took her hand again, wrapped it around his forearm. “If some guy
grabs you, do it hard, Evie, like your life depends on it. There’s
a lot of muscle in a strong man to go through.”

He nodded, his gray gaze deeply serious, and
she squeezed. Not like her life depended on it, but hard
nonetheless.

And watched pain flare in his eyes.

“More.”

She complied, digging in harder, and he
dropped to his knees.

She let go with a gasp. “Oh my God, did I
hurt you?”

He shook his arm out and climbed to his feet.
“Hell yes, but that’s the idea. Now if you get that hold on
someone, don’t let go. Take him to his knees and keep him there.
Kick him, do whatever you can to incapacitate him.”

Evie shivered. She’d had no idea such a thing
was possible. “Okay.”

He pressed two fingers behind her ear, at the
base of her jaw. “This is another point. Push hard.”

His hand dropped away.

“That’s it? Just dig my fingers into those
places?” She’d at least expected a karate chop maneuver or
something.

“The body has sensitive pressure points.
Those are only two of them, but they’ll do the job.”

“What if the guy has a gun?”

He shook his head. “No, there are other
techniques for that. Just remember these as a good way to take down
somebody who grabs you, okay?”

Evie nodded. Holy crap, she’d have never
guessed she could incapacitate a big guy like him with nothing more
than her fingers. It was empowering. And she never wanted to have
to do it for real.

The elevator came to a stop and she took a
deep breath. She had to face Mama and she had to tell her Sarah was
still missing. How would she get through it? Sarah was the baby,
the little girl who’d come along almost at the point when Mama
thought she’d never have another child. In some ways, Evie felt
like an outsider. It was self-imposed, certainly, but she felt it
just the same. She’d chosen to leave Rochambeau.

And now she had to inform her mother that
Sarah hadn’t come home and she had no idea where to find her little
sister.

“Evie.”

She looked up at Matt and realized he was
blurry. She turned her head, wiping the corners of her eyes.

Matt swore and punched the button to close
the elevator door. Then he pressed her against the wall, anchoring
her with his body. A finger beneath her chin tilted her head up. A
second later, he covered her mouth with his.

Evie gasped as warmth and sensation flooded
her. She clutched his shoulders, slowly wrapping her arms around
his neck. His tongue dipped inside and drew her into a luscious
stroking that filled her with heat and need.

He leaned into her, leaving no doubt he was
aroused and ready to take this moment as far as she wanted to go. A
second later, he broke the kiss and lay his forehead against hers.
His breathing was unsteady.

“You can do this, Evangeline. I’ll be with
you all the way.”

Evie shivered, in spite of the heat between
them. “I know I can,” she said softly. “And thanks.”

* * *

Matt had planned to hang outside the room
while Evie spoke with her mother, but she took his hand and led him
inside. Norma Breaux lay in bed, propped up, watching television.
She brightened considerably when her daughter arrived, though pain
lined her face. Her broken wrist was splinted around a metal
contraption that held the bones together, and she moved her arm
gingerly.

“Sugar!”

“Mama.” Evie went over and hugged her tight.
Norma held on, stroking Evie’s hair with her good hand. Matt
averted his eyes and rocked on the balls of his feet. His mother
had died so long ago he rarely thought of what it must be like to
still have one. He’d missed her badly when he was twelve. Hell,
he’d missed her every time he wanted affection, a human touch that
was reassuring and comforting. The senator had been gone far too
often to be more than a distant and somewhat frightening authority
figure.

The stripper-wives were studies in neuroses.
Misty Lee, his current stepmama who was actually four years his
junior, wasn’t like the others. If the old man had married a woman
like her when Matt was a kid, he might have had a normal home life.
Or normal enough, considering Misty Lee’s unabashed embrace of
human sexuality. She’d have been the mother who thought it
perfectly normal to buy him a prostitute the instant he showed an
interest in sex.

“Hello, Matt.” Evie’s mother was smiling at
him like she always did. Inside, his heart twisted. She had no idea
what was coming, and he hated that they had to tell her.

“Mrs. Breaux.”

She turned back to Evie. “Where’s Sarah?”

Evie sat on the edge of the bed, holding her
mother’s hand. “The doctor says you had a bad fall, but your wrist
will heal nicely. Do you remember what happened?”

Norma sighed, momentarily derailed. “I don’t
know. The police asked me the same thing earlier, but all I
remember is calling Reynier’s Retreat looking for you. And then I
woke up here.”

Normal reaction to being knocked out. It
happened in the field sometimes. Trauma to the head was tricky.
Victims often couldn’t remember the events leading up to the
incident even when they remembered everything that happened only
hours before.

“They said there was a murder,” she
continued. “A man.”

“Yes. He was my ex-partner.”

“But who would do such a thing?”

Evie stroked her mother’s arm with her free
hand. “I don’t know, Mama. David was a part of some things I didn’t
know about.”

Norma seemed to process that information.
“Where’s Sarah?” She sounded more strident this time as if she knew
she’d been derailed and it wasn’t happening again. “I called you
because she wasn’t home.”

“Yes, that’s right.” Evie took her mother’s
hand in both of hers. “Matt and I went looking for her. She was
with a boy.”

An understatement, but Norma Breaux didn’t
need any extra stress heaped on top of what Evie was about to give
her.

“Is she at home now?”

Evie looked fierce and determined. She was
holding it together well. Strong as ever, his Evie. In spite of the
ugliness of the situation, he was filled with a sense of belonging
just being here with her. He didn’t have to explain himself to
Evie. She glanced up at him as if she could feel him looking at
her. Understanding passed between them, and she fixed her gaze on
her mother again.

“No, Mama. The house is a crime scene. We
can’t stay there yet.”

Norma looked perplexed. But then her chest
started to rise and fall a little bit faster as her face screwed up
in concentration.

Matt’s alarm levels started rising like high
tide in the Gulf. Norma wasn’t going to take the news well. He knew
Evie had considered lying to her, telling her Sarah was with a
friend. But her mother would insist on speaking to her youngest
child and the whole thing would unravel. Evie knew she had to tell
the truth, no matter how difficult.

He shot Evie another look, tilting his head
toward the door. She nodded.

He slipped out to find a nurse or a doctor.
He made it to the nurse’s station right before a wail came from the
room he’d just vacated. His first instinct was to run back, to help
Evie.

He told the desk nurse what was happening and
asked if she could help.

The woman frowned as she got to her feet.
“There’s nothing I can give her after a head injury. But I can give
her some pain medication. That might help her sleep.”

Matt followed her back to the room. Evie was
holding her mother, tears streaming down her face as Norma sobbed
against her.

“It’s not right… It’s not right,” Norma said
in a choked voice. “Something’s wrong. Something’s happened to
her.”

The nurse hurried over and helped ease Norma
back on the pillows.

“Ms. Breaux, let’s get you your pain meds
now. Can you swallow those for me?”

It took a couple of minutes, but somehow she
got Norma to take the pills and sip some water. Norma continued to
cry while Evie rubbed her good arm.

“We’ll find her.” Evie sounded determined. “I
promise we’ll find her.”

Matt slipped out of the room again, feeling
like he was intruding on something he shouldn’t. He found a chair
in the hall and sat, elbows on the plastic arms, fingers steepled
beneath his chin. Somehow, he had to find Sarah. He always detached
himself enough to think coldly, to get the job done. This time it
was more difficult, and he knew it had to be because of what had
happened out in the field—the deaths of his men still weighed
heavily on him.

But Evie depended on him. And Sarah’s life
might depend on him getting this right. He wouldn’t allow a child
to die when he had the capability of preventing it. No matter how
much trouble it got him in with Mendez and the board.

A long while later, Evie emerged from her
mother’s room looking pale and tired. She managed a small smile
when she saw him. It sent a sharp pain right to his heart. Matt
went and put his arm around her, pulling her in close. She looked
up at him with such faith shining in her tear-stained eyes it made
his gut twist. She believed he would find her sister. Believed he
would bring Sarah home alive.

He prayed to God it was true.

* * *

The contents of Evie’s sad life were arrayed
on the garage floor of the carriage house. She surveyed the mess,
feeling a myriad of sensations crashing through her. My God, she’d
kept a corkscrew. A flipping
corkscrew
. As if she couldn’t
buy another one when she got settled wherever she ended up.

She thought of Mama, of the way she’d fallen
apart when Evie told her Sarah was missing for real. Evie hated
telling her mother her baby was missing. She hadn’t said a word
about Matt’s suspicions and she hadn’t said the part that terrified
her—that maybe Sarah was already dead. And if so, it was Evie’s
fault. Evie’s fault for letting David into her life, for trusting
him with her business. No, she hadn’t known anything was wrong—but
maybe she should have.

She dumped the contents of another box. How
had she crammed so much crap into her old VW convertible? Matt
looked up from where he was systematically going through a
different box.