Page 42 of Cutter's Hope

I slipped back into my seat when I heard Joe clear his throat up the aisle. He sat down and looked me over. I looked back and knew my expression was grim, haunted somehow.

“What the fuck, Joe?” I asked in a harsh whisper.

“Took police from the city and three different Parishes to deal with that mess, some dumb-assed frat boys from Seattle got theyself’s mixed up with a drug runner’s riverboat party. Their friend decided to get mixed up with a Quarter lap dancer. He was the smart one,” Joe shook his head.

“Anyways, his dumb assed friends text the kid or some such, and he and the lap dancer decide it’s time to go git ‘em. They stumble on this prostitution deal, but it’s not, it’s much worse than that. A lot of these girls they got chained up like animals in storage lockers. Some of ‘em was justkids,Hope. I ain’t seen nothin’ like it…”

I stared at Joe, just stared at him, “Joe, what happened to my sister?” I asked.

“Here’s the thing Cheri, the foreign ones, they get the help. Sent back to family or wherever they come from, the local ones? From here? They usually get brought up on charges ‘cause they say just about anything to keep theyself outta trouble. I’m sorry, Baby. I called as soon as I saw her name but Plaquemines got they own ideas and think they know it all.”

Joelookedsorry too. I took a deep breath in through my nose and out through my mouth. I was going to kill someone. A lot of someones… and I didn’t feel one iota of guilt for it.

“I’ve got to find her,” I heard myself say. Joe nodded and put a hand on my shoulder.

“Be careful, Girl; they arrested some Russians involved in this shit and everyone ‘round these parts knows, they is not to be messed with.” I gave Thibault a hard look and he put up his hands. I nodded.

“Warning received loud and clear, Detective Thibault.”

“Yeah, I just bet it is, you go do what you gotta do, Cherie; you just keep it on the down low. You got it?”

“I got it, thanks.”

I pushed to my feet and said quietly, “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me, Baby Girl. I know what I just done.”

“And what is it you think you’ve done?” I asked.

“I just signed some men’s death warrants, but Darlin’… I was there. I was there, Baby Girl, and I hope you find your sister, I hope you get her out and get ‘em good. I ain’t never gonna be able to close my eyes again andnotsee what I saw. I’m gettin’ too old for this.”

“You and me both,” I murmured and we gave each other a crooked grin. Joe Thibault was entering into his fifties, he had about twenty years on me and I honestly didn’t want to think too hard about what I would be like when I got to his age if I got much further into this. I was terrified of what I would find when I got to Faith, at the same time, after seeing her mugshot, I was terrified I wasn’t going to make it in time.

I gave my visitor’s badge back to the desk sergeant and took my unhappy ass outside where I took deep, cleansing breaths of river air. I straddled my bike and shot a text to Cutter and tried to call my littlest sister, Charity again. She answered.

“Hope?”

“Yeah, Blossom.”

“Where are you?”

“New Orleans, listen Blossom, I’ve got a hard line on Bubbles but it isn’t pretty…” I told Charity. I told her everything, it was our deal since Mom had died. We didn’t keep shit from each other. No matter how ugly or fucked up.

“Find her, sis. Find her and bring her home no matter what shape she’s in, and you call me. I’m packing a bag and having it ready. I’ll be waiting,” she said and I could hear the tears. Tears I refused to let fall. I held onto my rage with everything I had until it turned my heart into a pit of ice in my chest surrounded by fire in my veins.

“I love you, Charity,” I said, well aware that what I was about to do was beyond dangerous. That my littlest sister might lose both me and Faith when the smoke had cleared. I swallowed hard.

“I love you too, you come back, the both of you.”

“Do my best, I’ve got to go. I don’t have any time to waste.”

“Kay, be careful.”

“As I ever am,” I said and started up my bike. Charity laughed and I ended the call just as one from Cutter rang through.

“Where you at?” he asked before I could say hello.

“Headed back to you. Be there in fifteen.”

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