Missing in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law #5)(62)

Jadyn whistled. “Pickett calls from the hospital during one of his bouts of consciousness, and the family sends someone else to retrieve the car.”

“But Bart had already taken it.”

He nodded. “Then Raissa and Zach leave the diner in a Cadillac like Pickett’s.

“So they see them leave the diner and decide to follow them, hanging back a bit because the bikers left right after Raissa and Zach.

“Then they come up on Zach and Raissa with the flat and steal the car.” He frowned. “But that still doesn’t explain why they kidnapped Raissa.”

“Because they couldn’t find the merchandise,” Jadyn said. “Since Pickett was a hired hand, the family probably didn’t know where he stashed goods for transport either. Since Raissa and Zach were FBI, they probably thought they’d confiscated the car as part of a bust and knew exactly what it contained.

“Except,” Jadyn continued, “why didn’t they just ask Pickett where he’d stashed the goods?”

Colt straightened in his seat. “What if he couldn’t remember?”

Jadyn’s eyes widened. “Because of the heart attack! He’s in and out of consciousness, so the hospital won’t let anyone in but family. Shirley’s cousin said he was rambling, so when they do manage to get a hold of him, the information he gave them was probably confusing and sketchy.”

Colt nodded. “When they can’t find the merchandise in the car, they dump it, thinking Raissa and Zach already removed it. But they hold on to Raissa, thinking she’ll eventually give them the goods. Since Pickett was rambling in the hospital about his fishing time with Bart’s dad, he could have told them about the camp without even realizing it.”

“Since they have no idea if Pickett will recover, they take advantage of the camp information and hold Raissa hostage to find out where she’s stashed the merchandise, probably hoping she hasn’t turned it over to the FBI yet. Raissa can’t give them the information because she doesn’t have it, so the whole thing stalls.” Jadyn blew out a breath and flopped back in her seat. “Wow. That’s thin.”

“Paper thin. But it fits.” He leaned forward. “Think about it—Pickett got really agitated when I told him the car had been torn down. He asked specifically what was removed, then immediately tried to arrange to have the car towed to his house.”

Jadyn sat back upright. “Because based on what’s remaining, he knows the merchandise is still on the car!”

“You know what this means?”

“Yeah. It means if you’re not totally off your rocker, we can find the merchandise and set a trap for Pickett.”

Colt smiled. “I suggest we get these sandwiches to go and head to Marty’s garage. If we can find what all these people are looking for, then we’ll know whether I’m crazy or not.”





[page]Chapter Fifteen


Jadyn stood next to what was left of Gordon Pickett’s car as Colt pressed the lever for the hydraulic lift. The car rose slowly in front of her and stopped when there was enough room to stand underneath.

“You sure you can trust Marty to keep quiet about the cars being stored here?” Jadyn asked.

“Positive. He had a run-in with Ross at the general store today. He’s not about to do anything that might make Ross happy.”

She grinned. “You gotta love Ross for making our job easier.” She looked at the bottom of the car. “So where do we start?”

“Based on my experience in New Orleans, I’d say let’s start with the gas tank.” He grabbed a wrench and went to work.

Once the tank was free, they slowly lowered it to the garage floor. The thin black box attached to the top of the tank was a dead giveaway.

“I’m looking less crazy by the minute,” Colt said. He removed the box from the tank and looked at Jadyn. “Want to guess what’s inside?”

“Something that doesn’t ruin in swamp water…or is well contained.”

“It’s too light for gold,” he said and he unscrewed the top of the box.

A second later, he lifted the lid off and pulled out a black bag. Even before he dumped the contents in his hand, Jadyn already knew what was inside.

“Diamonds,” she said as she stared at the glittering jewels covering his palm. “Wow.”

Colt looked at her and grinned. “You women and your jewelry.”

She reached into his palm to pull out a good-sized diamond, then held it up to the light. “I like a well-made watch, but this stone is fit for royalty. The quality is exceptional.”

“You can tell that just by looking at it?”

She put the diamond back in his palm. “Mother liked fine jewelry and she only wore custom pieces. I watched her reduce a diamond broker to near tears once.”

“Are you sure you weren’t adopted?”

She looked up at him and smiled. “That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever asked me.”

He laughed. “I bet. You ready to get this show on the road?”

“Oh yeah.”

He pulled out his cell phone and called Gordon. “Mr. Pickett, Sheriff Bertrand here. Listen, we’ve secured a location for your car, and I wanted to give you the address. Your insurance adjuster can show up anytime between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. to inspect the car.”