Missing in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law #5)(61)

“I suppose that qualifies as a sport. Did you have horses growing up?”

“God no. Mother was allergic, or so she said, and no way would she allow me to be involved in something that might make me sweat or smell. Mother had very definite opinions on how ladies should act.”

“You and your mother don’t seem to have anything in common.”

A light blush crept up Jadyn’s neck and Colt knew he’d touched a sore spot.

“We are about as different as any two people can be,” Jadyn said. “I started disappointing my mother when I wasn’t born on her due date and it’s been downhill ever since.”

“That sucks.” Colt couldn’t even imagine growing up with parents who didn’t support and love their children. It was so different from what he’d had and his heart ached for Jadyn, who deserved so much better.

“It does indeed.”

“But now you’re here and have Mildred and Maryse and a host of others. They look like family to me.”

She smiled. “They are the best thing about coming here. I mean, I love the job and the opportunities it gives me, but the relationships I have with Mildred and Maryse were not something I ever expected.”

“You’ve found your place. Sometimes we have to search a while to find it. And sometimes we have to wander a while to realize we’d been there all along.”

“I can’t imagine you anywhere but Mudbug.”

“I can’t either. Even with all the recent trouble, I know it’s where I belong.” He took a drink of soda. “So, where did you learn to ride?”

Jadyn seemed a bit relieved at his change of subject. “I had a high school friend with horses. I used to sneak over to his house on my mom’s spa day. That way I had time to ride, then shower and primp before I went back home. In college I volunteered with an organization that teaches the disabled how to ride horses. The amount of joy they get out of the animals is incredible.”

She worked with the disabled. She just surpassed perfect and is headed for sainthood.

“A couple months ago, I saw a special on equine therapy on television and was impressed,” he said. “Do you miss it?”

She nodded. “Every day, but I’ve got a lot on my plate right now—moving here, making friends, learning a new job—it’s all kept me busy, especially as the job has turned out to be a bit more than I’d bargained for.”

“I’m sure it will settle down soon. Mudbug is more often quiet than rowdy.”

“I hate to sound ungrateful, but I’ll be glad to see the quiet side. Maybe if I get my own place with some land…who knows?”

Colt nodded. Jadyn on horseback was a vision he wouldn’t mind seeing.

The waitress interrupted, delivering their sandwiches, but before he could dive in, his cell phone rang. It was Shirley.

“What do you have for me?” he answered.

“My cousin says Mr. Pickett was admitted last week suffering from a mild heart attack. He was unconscious the first time she saw him and seemed a bit out of it the time after, rambling about fishing and hunting with his cousin. They held him several days for testing but he improved, so they sent him home.”

“Okay,” Colt said. So far, the facts lined up with Dee’s and Pickett’s stories. “What about the background check?”

“That’s where things got interesting. Our friend Mr. Pickett is no stranger to the police. All of the things he’s been arrested for have been linked back to several of the connected families in New Orleans, but they’ve never been able to make any of the more serious charges stick.”

“A hired gun?” Colt said.

“That’s what it sounds like. And with those people as clients, it’s no wonder he had a heart attack.”

“True. Thanks for the information.”

“There is one more thing. I thought the name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it, so I called my aunt. You know she remembers everything.”

“Yes.” Shirley’s aunt was well known for her long and unforgiving memory.

“Well, she said that Mr. Pickett has a second cousin from Mudbug.”

“Who?”

“Buddy Anderson,” she said. “There’s someone at the door. I’ve got to run.”

Colt dropped his phone on the table. Buddy Anderson—Bart’s dad.

“What’s wrong?” Jadyn asked.

He filled her in on the conversation, his lunch long forgotten.

“Wow,” Jadyn said when he finished. “Okay, it all has to fit together somehow, but how?”

Colt stared out the window for a moment, tapping his fingers on the tabletop as an insanely wild and highly improbable scenario came to him.

“What about this?” he said. “What if Pickett was doing a job for one of the families, carrying this merchandise that the kidnappers are looking for?”

“So it was hidden somewhere in his car and he was waiting to make the drop when he had a heart attack?”

“Exactly.”

She shook her head. “Talk about bad timing.”

“It gets better.

“Bart passes the diner every day that he goes to work in New Orleans. What if he saw the car sitting there, not moving, and decided to take it for his little side job?”