Missing in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law #5)(41)

“Do you realize how bad things could have been if someone besides Agent Ross had walked up on you?”

“No,” she said honestly. “I don’t realize how bad things could have been because you won’t tell me anything.”

“Is my word not good enough for you? Do you really trust me so little?”

Maryse’s gaze dropped to the floor. He’d hit her exactly in her guilty spot. “I never thought about it that way. I just wanted to help find Raissa.”

Luc ran one hand through his hair. “Look, I get it. I want Raissa found as much as you do. I’m not trying to diminish the seriousness of the situation, but you’re not a trained detective. Even if there were no risk from my end of things hanging over you, it would still be dangerous for you to insert yourself in the middle of the investigation. Someone kidnapped a federal agent and tried to kill another. Do you think they’d even blink at doing the same or even worse to you?”

“No, I guess not,” Maryse said, the enormity of the situation crashing into her like a tidal wave.

Luc crossed the living room and lifted her head with one hand so that she looked directly at him. “I love you more than life itself. If something happened to you, I don’t know how I’d make it.”

Tears filled her eyes and she threw her arms around her husband. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you worry or think I don’t trust you.”

He pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. “I know you didn’t. And part of the blame is on me. I should have given you more information.”

“I know you can’t tell me things, and that’s something I have to learn to live with.”

“That’s true, but this is different. This time, the potential threat was toward you. I should have bent the rules and told you more. In that sense, I guess I didn’t trust you either, and I was wrong. I’m sorry.”

Maryse released him and he wiped the tears from her cheeks with his fingers. “We’re two sorry people,” she said, managing a small smile.

“Everyone can improve,” he said and motioned to the couch. “I’d like to tell you why I’m so worried. If you still want to know.”

“Of course!” Maryse sat in the middle of the couch and Luc dropped next to her. He was silent for several seconds, staring out the living room window and into the street, then finally he cleared his throat.

“Remember six months ago when I was gone for a month?”

“How could I forget? It was the longest thirty days of my life.”

He smiled. “Even longer than the first time Helena showed up?”

“Okay, the second-longest thirty days of my life.”

“I was working undercover on a big drug case in New Orleans. The supplier is a real piece of work. He targeted middle school and high school kids. Got them hooked on meth.”

Maryse’s hand involuntarily flew up to cover her mouth. “Oh my God.”

“Yeah, he was smart about it, too. Picked wealthier areas where the kids would have plenty of disposable income but parents who were too busy working or traveling to give them much attention. He used kids to do the dealing, so it made it even easier to convince the others to use.”

“And once they tried it…”

“They were hooked. Go too long without it and the kids would fall into a state of depression that they couldn’t handle.”

“So they’d go looking for more drugs.”

Luc nodded. “After a couple of deaths in the same school district, the DEA went in to try to identify the supplier. With the middle school’s approval, I took a position as a substitute teacher.”

Maryse stared at her husband. The husband who, like her, wasn’t convinced he ever wanted kids. “How’d that work out for you?”

“Ha. Yeah, in some ways, it was the hardest undercover case I’ve ever worked. But I managed to spot the dealers quickly and since they were young and unseasoned, it wasn’t hard to track them back to the source. I reported all my findings for a month and then at the end of thirty days, the DEA made the bust.”

Maryse shook her head, slightly confused. “I don’t understand. It sounds like everything went well. And that was six months ago, so why is it a problem now?”

“Because Antonio Rico, the head of the supply chain, made bail right after his arrest, then instead of heading straight for his attorney’s office to plan his defense, he launched his own investigation to figure out who the narc was. Word has it that Antonio is not all that stable and is hell-bent on revenge.”

Maryse felt her chest constrict. “Does he know it was you?”

Luc nodded. “We think so, and to make matters worse, no one has seen him in over a week.”

“And you think he may come after me to get to you.”

Luc nodded. “The wife and children of another agent on the case disappeared two weeks ago, and they still haven’t been found.”

Maryse’s heart pounded in her temples and she felt slightly dizzy.

“We have no proof that Rico was involved,” Luc continued, “but we have no other viable suspects.” Luc reached over and clasped her hand. “I am so sorry about this. I never thought my work would come back on me like this, much less you.”

Maryse sucked in a breath and slowly blew it out. “You see it in movies all the time, but I always figured it was just a plot device…you know, something that didn’t really happen that often.”