Page 31 of Landry

Landry frowned. “Do you have the key?”

She nodded. “I have a spare key hidden close by.” After locking herself out twice and relying on her landlord to drive over from Thibodeaux, she’d placed the spare key under a paving stone and set a potted plant on top of it. She was the only person who knew where that key was and doubted anyone would think to look under the stone. Under the pot, maybe. Not under both.

Landry grabbed the life jackets from the hook. “Go,” he said. “We’ll put them on once we get to the boat.”

Starlight shone down brightly enough that they didn’t need the flashlight. Camille and Ava ran down to the wooden dock with Landry close behind.

Landry handed a life jacket to Camille, then quickly slipped the child-sized one over Ava’s shoulders and cinched the buckle around her middle.

Camille’s heart warmed at Landry’s concern for her daughter’s safety.

Landry dropped into the boat and reached up for Ava.

She went to him willingly, trusting that he’d be there to catch her.

Once she was settled on the bench in front of him, he held out his hand to Camille.

Like Ava, she trusted him to guide her safely into the boat. Not having known him for long, she should have been surprised at how naturally she trusted him with her life and Ava’s.

Her gut told her he was an honorable man who wouldn’t lie, steal or cheat. But then, she’d blindly believed in Richard, completely naïve to the crimes he’d been committing under her nose.

As she settled on the bench across from Landry, she told herself Landry was not Richard. Remy Montagne would not have hired him on with the Brotherhood Protectors if he didn’t have full faith in his loyalty and integrity. Camille had heard Shelby say more than once that Remy trusted each of his men with his life and with the lives of those he loved, including Shelby and their baby, Jean-Luc.

After several attempts to pull-start the little outboard motor, Landry succeeded. The engine chugged to life, belching smoke before it settled into a reassuring rumble.

Camille turned on the bench to face forward as Landry untied the line from the dock and headed out into the bayou, navigating by starlight as much as possible.

“Do you know your way around the bayou?” Camille asked.

Landry shrugged, “Not as well as Shelby and Remy, but I have an idea of where we need to check first.”

“Oh, yeah?” Camille glanced over her shoulder at the man at the helm, his blond hair tinted indigo blue by the starlight. Her heart skipped several beats.

Damn. She could fall in love with a guy like Landry.

Camille sucked in a breath. She had to get those kinds of thoughts out of her head. The truest love was the love she felt for her daughter. She’d do anything for her. Anything else was temporary until the other person bailed, finding relationships too hard.

Landry steered the skiff through the bayou. “A couple of months back, I went out with a guy who does personalized fishing charters, a J.D. LaDue, to have him teach me how and where to fish in the bayou.”

Camille snorted softly. “J.D. likes Rocky Road fudge and my candied pecans. Sometimes, he trades fresh fish for candy.” She shrugged. “He’s a wheeler-dealer, but basically harmless and often helpful.”

“I got that impression. He tried to sell me a fishing vacation off the grid. He took me by the place. Said it looked worse on the outside than the inside. I couldn’t imagine the inside looking better. The place needed work. A lot of work. When I told Remy about J.D.’s proposal, he laughed so hard, he pulled a muscle.”

“What was so funny?”

“When Remy first came back to the bayou, he bought into J.D.’s vacation destination, only to discover it was a shack in the bayou with no running water and no electricity. The last hurricane ripped off half the roof. J.D. hadn’t replaced it. As far as anyone knows, J.D. hasn’t rented it out to anyone since Remy rode out a storm in it.”

“You think Billy Ray paddled all the way out to J.D.’s shack?” Camille asked.

“Maybe,” Landry replied behind her.. “He had a head start.”

“We have to find Billy Ray,” Ava urged. “He needs us.”

“Do his parents know he’s wandering around at night in the bayou?” Landry asked.

“He doesn’t have a mommy or daddy,” Ava said. “He’s all alone, except for me. I’m his only friend. But now, he has Fuzzy, too.”

Camille shook her head. Kids didn’t just live alone in the bayou. It was infested with alligators and drug runners.

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