New Year Heroes: The Sheriff's Secretary / Veiled Intentions / Juror No. 7

Lucas nodded, then looked at Mariah. “Initially, I want you to sit and watch outside of the room,” Lucas said to her. “Let me and Agent Kessler have a go at him and see what happens.”

“Before you do that, Louis got some information about Phillip Ribideaux you might find interesting,” Wally said.

“And what’s that?”

“It seems that ne’er-do-well Phillip has been cut off. According to his friends, his daddy got fed up with him and stopped the gravy train. Young Phillip now has to get a job and pay his own expenses.”

Mariah watched the play of emotions on Lucas’s face. He looked slightly dangerous, with a muscle ticking in his jaw and his dark-brown eyes narrowed. It was hard to believe that this was the same man who had minutes earlier held her so tenderly and kissed her with a fire that had momentarily chased away the arctic chill that had possessed her for the past two days.

“Louis is still sitting on him?”

Wally nodded. “But no offense, chief, somebody’s going to have to take over for him so Louis can get some sleep.”

“When Ed comes in this morning, put him on Ribideaux for the next twenty-four hours.” Lucas looked at Mariah. “Maybe this is about a ransom after all. Maybe Ribideaux got desperate when his father financially cut him off.”

“Then why hasn’t he made a ransom demand?” Mariah asked.

Lucas’s eyes were dark as he held her gaze. “Right now the only answer I have is that whoever is holding Billy and Jenny is enjoying the game. Once the ransom demand is made, the game is over.” He took her elbow and nodded to Agent Kessler. “Come on, let’s go see what Remy Troulous has to add to this mix.”

Lucas led her to a closet-size room with a window that looked into the next room. Inside the bigger area was a long conference table, and seated at the table was a handsome dark-haired young man.

He was sprawled in the chair with the arrogance of youth, legs up on the table and a smirk on his full, sensual lips. He wore a pair of worn jeans and a sleeveless shirt and had a large tattoo on his right shoulder. The tattoo was two letters—VP. Mariah guessed it stood for Voodoo Priests.

“I’ll be right back,” Lucas said as he gestured her to a chair.

She sat and stared at the young man, wondering if he had entered her home and somehow tricked Billy and Jenny into going with him, or forced them from the house at gunpoint. Or perhaps he’d encountered them in the park and seen an opportunity.

Although he looked like a punk, he didn’t look evil. She had to remind herself that evil often wore a benign face. True evil could hide behind an easy smile and laughing eyes.

She drew a deep, tremulous breath and stared at the man in front of her. Did the answer to Billy and Jenny’s whereabouts rest with Remy Troulous?

She moved to the edge of the chair as she saw Lucas and Agent Kessler enter the interview room. “Get your feet off the table,” Lucas said to Remy. “You might do that at your house, but you’re in my house now.”

For a moment Remy didn’t move. He stared up at Lucas with insolent challenge, and Mariah could feel the tension between the two even though she wasn’t in the same room.

She released a small sigh as Remy pulled his feet from the table and sat up straighter in the chair. “Why is it that whenever anything goes wrong in this town one of your men hauls me down here?” Remy asked.

“Because when things go wrong, you’re usually in the middle of them.” Lucas remained standing. He looked fierce, like a warrior facing his enemy. “You know my sister is missing?” Kessler stood just inside the door, obviously not intending to be an active participant in the questioning.

Remy laughed. “This is a small town, Sheriff. Somebody coughs in one house and the next-door neighbor calls somebody else to tell about it. Nothing much happens here that everyone doesn’t know about.”

Mariah studied Remy’s face, watching his handsome features for signs of something, anything that would indicate he was behind the kidnapping.

“I don’t know why your deputy dragged me down here,” Remy continued. “I don’t know anything about your sister’s disappearance.”

“One of her friends told me she’d been seeing you.” Lucas took a step closer to where Remy sat.

“That’s crazy,” Remy exclaimed as he broke eye contact with Lucas. “What would somebody like me be doing with the sheriff’s sister? Get real, why don’t you?”

“Where were you on Friday between the hours of ten and five?”

Remy laughed once again, the sound deep and pleasant. “I’m not sure where I was last night. I sure as hell don’t remember where I was on Friday.”

Lucas sat in the chair next to Remy. “I think maybe you need to try harder to remember.”

Remy frowned and rubbed a hand across his forehead. “I don’t know, I was probably hanging out with my boys, that’s what I do most days. You can check with one of them, they’ll vouch for me.”

“You mean they’ll lie for you,” Lucas replied. “When was the last time you saw Jenny?”

“I don’t know. I might have passed her on the street last week sometime. I got me a girl, Sheriff, I’m not interested in Jenny like that.”

“Then why was she seeing you?” Lucas pressed. “What interest did you have in her?”

Remy’s eyes narrowed and he blinked several times. “I told you already I wasn’t seeing your sister, and that’s all I got to say on the matter.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t know where your sister and that little boy are. I don’t have anything to do with them being missing. And unless you’re going to charge me with something, I’m leaving. Are you arresting me?”

Lucas shook his head. “Not at this time.”

“Then I’m out of here,” Remy replied.

Panic shot through Mariah as Remy stood. He was their best lead, and if he walked out, who knew if and when they would get the opportunity to question him again.

Remy headed for the door and Lucas followed him with Agent Kessler trailing behind. Mariah jumped up from her chair and met them in the hallway.

“Mr. Troulous,” she said. “I’m Mariah Harrington and it’s my little boy who is missing with Jenny.” She grabbed his hand and tried to ignore the smell that emanated from him, the odors of stale sweat and cheap beer and swamp. “Please, if you know anything that might help us find them, if you had anything to do with it, please tell me.”

She held his hand tightly, as if it were a rope that held her dangling over an abyss of grief. If she released him, if he walked away, then she was afraid she’d fall and crash into a million pieces.

Remy looked distinctly uncomfortable as he tried to pull his hand from her grasp, but she held on, refusing to allow him to move away from her.

“Billy, that’s my son. He has asthma and if he gets scared or stressed out he’ll have an attack. He’s a smart boy and he loves school and learning about new things. He loves to play baseball and he doesn’t like the dark. He needs his medicine but more than anything he needs to be home with me. I need him home with me.” A sob welled up in her throat.

“Look, lady. I’m sorry for your troubles, but I don’t know anything about it.” Remy looked at Lucas for help.

Lucas stepped closer and placed a hand on Mariah’s shoulder. “Let him go, Mariah,” he said gently.

She didn’t want to let him go. She wanted to hold his hand until he confessed he’d kidnapped Jenny and Billy. She wanted to cling to him until he told them where he had the two stashed and how she and Lucas could bring them home safely. But his dark, heavy-lidded eyes let her know she could squeeze his hand through eternity and he wasn’t going to give her the answers she needed.

Reluctantly she let go and dropped her hand to her side. Remy raced for the exit as Lucas took Mariah by the arm and led her out of the hallway and into the interview room, Kessler following just behind them.

Lucas pulled out a chair and motioned her to sit, as if aware that her trembling legs threatened to give out beneath her. Once she was seated, he left the room then returned with a bottle of water and set it in front of her.

She smiled at him gratefully and uncapped the bottle and took a drink. “You okay?” he asked as he perched on the table next to her chair.

She shrugged. “I guess I was expecting a Perry Mason moment. You know, you lean on him and he breaks and tells us everything we need to know. Stupid, huh.”

“Not stupid,” he protested. “Just maybe a bit naive.”

“I’ll tell you what was smart on your part. Talking about Billy like you did,” Agent Kessler said.