Missing in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law #5)(26)

Jadyn nodded. “We wanted to get out of sight of the feds before daylight.”

“How’s Colt going to get around jurisdiction? Didn’t Agent Ross tell him to stay out of the swamps? He could probably make trouble for Colt if he wanted to. I’d hate to see him get ousted from his job over this.”

“No worries,” Jadyn said. “As sheriff, Colt may not have a valid reason to be in the swamps, but I do. As of five o’clock yesterday, Colt is officially on vacation from the sheriff’s department. And as of first thing this morning, he is officially a contractor working for the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.”

Mildred smiled. “That is brilliant. Do you think it will hold?”

“Even if the FBI pushes Wildlife and Fisheries to change their mind, it will take days or a week to get anything through that quagmire. At the very least, we’ll have time to inspect all the camps.”

“That’s my girl. Beautiful and smart.”

Jadyn felt a blush creep up her neck. She wasn’t used to being complimented, especially by matronly women. Her own mother had been less than complimentary about, well, mostly everything that had to do with Jadyn.

“It was actually Colt’s idea,” she said.

“Fair enough,” Mildred said, “but he’s not as pretty as you.”

Jadyn laughed. “He’s probably okay with that.”

A buzzer rang at the front door of the hotel and Jadyn glanced at her watch. “Colt’s not due for another thirty minutes,” she said as she jumped up and headed down the hall for the lobby.

She could see the silhouette of a person outside the frosted glass of the front door, but the figure didn’t look tall enough to be Colt. She checked for her weapon, then unlocked the door and opened it a bit.

Maryse peered through the crack at her. “Stop staring and let me in,” she said. “I haven’t had coffee yet.”

Jadyn opened the door for Maryse to enter and she headed straight down the hall to the kitchen without another word. Jadyn hurried behind her, wondering what had caused her normally upbeat and late-sleeping cousin to take on sullen and early riser.

She entered the kitchen a few steps behind Maryse, who went straight for the coffeepot. Jadyn looked over at Mildred, who raised one eyebrow. Jadyn shrugged and slipped back into her chair. Whatever had caused Maryse’s personality shift was bound to come out sooner or later. So far, Jadyn hadn’t seen any indication that her cousin was a closet brooder.

Maryse sat her coffee down so hard on the table that it sloshed over the side. She cursed and grabbed a handful of napkins, stuffing them all under the cup before dumping even more sugar than Mildred had used in her cup. Jadyn briefly wondered if it wouldn’t be healthier to forgo the sugar and just add a shot of whiskey.

“So,” Mildred asked, “what brings you out this early?”

“Don’t want to talk about it,” Maryse grumbled and set to stirring her coffee with the force of a Category 5 hurricane.

Jadyn looked at Mildred, hoping to take a cue from the hotel owner, but she was staring at Maryse, looking as perplexed as Jadyn felt. Okay, so whatever was up with her cousin was so far outside of the norm that even Mildred didn’t have a guess.

Finally, Maryse stopped stirring and looked at Jadyn. “You going to tell the feds about what that biker said?”

“Not right away. I’m going to talk it over with Colt first and see what he thinks. All that information does is answer the question of why that particular location and why Zach was out of the car. It doesn’t help at all with finding Raissa.”

Mildred nodded. “And if the feds find out we were at the diner asking questions, they’ll bring a rash of crap down on Jadyn. Ross is just looking for a reason to get Wildlife and Fisheries to bench her.”

“Ross is a douche bag,” Maryse said. “Most feds are.”

Because her cousin was married to a federal agent, Jadyn wisely decided to remain quiet. Luc hadn’t seemed remotely douche-baggy to her, but perhaps Maryse’s comment was an indication of why her mood was so foul. Marital discord couldn’t possibly be fun.

“Is Colt picking you up here?” Maryse asked.

“Yes. He should be here any minute.”

“You taking Helena?”

“God no! Last time she was supposed to be shadowing me, she couldn’t keep up with a walk down the street. Can you imagine her keeping up with Colt and me getting in and out of the boat and tromping through the swamp? Not like I can tell Colt to wait for her to catch up.”

“You’d end up leaving her somewhere in the swamp,” Mildred said, “and then we’d have to hear about it for the next hundred years.”

“I’m going with you,” Maryse said suddenly.

“Oh.” Jadyn looked over at Mildred who shook her head. “I thought Luc wanted you to stay out of the swamp.”

A flush started on Maryse’s neck and crept up her face. “I don’t give a damn what he wants. This is an emergency.”

“An emergency that Jadyn and Colt can handle,” Mildred pointed out.

Maryse shook her head, her expression leaving no doubt that she’d dug in her heels. “They can’t cover all the camps in one day. If I cover part, we can get them all done.”

“Luc wouldn’t ask you to stay away from the swamps unless it was critical,” Mildred argued. “It’s too dangerous.”