I nod. “I’m right behind you.”
He leans down and kisses me. “Don’t forget I’m here if you need me.”
“This is going to get complicated,” I say.
He smiles. “Good thing you like complicated.”
I smile back, and as he hops in the black SUV and pulls away, I hold my phone up, trying to find a signal. One bar appears and I press Katrina’s number, but she doesn’t answer.
Then my phone trills in my hand, and I almost drop it. It’s Debby.
I swipe it open. “What’s wrong? Is he okay?” My heart pounds in my chest.
“He’s fine,” she says.
I release the breath I was holding. Debby says something, but it breaks up. “Hang on,” I say. I take a few steps away from the truck, until I get a better signal. “Say that again.”
“I’m a little worried about him,” she says.
“What’s going on?”
“He took my truck,” she says. “He’s coming down to where you are.”
I look at Johnny’s cabin. No way he’s coming here. “Natchitoches?” I say, my pulse regaining strength.
“I don’t know. He just said he had to meet someone down there.”
“Where exactly?”
“He didn’t say. But Rita,” she says, her voice trembling. “He took his shotgun with him.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Natchitoches, Louisiana
Monday, February 18, 2019
4:01 p.m. CST
My cell rings again as I turn for the truck.
“Dad?”
“It’s Katrina.”
My shoulders fall. “Where are you?”
“The hotel,” she says.
“Hang on.” I walk toward the back of the cabin, and the signal improves. “Did Detective Gautreaux come to the hotel?”
“Yes.”
“Is your dad there?”
“Yes.”
“Is my dad with him?”
