The Awakening. Jana DeLeon

in truth.

      She scanned the work area one last time and blew out a breath, unsure what she expected to find. There was nothing to see here but another afternoon of unfinished work. Another half day of lag to add to the week they were already behind.

      As she turned to leave, a twig snapped behind her. She whirled around and looked across the pond where the noise had come from. The sun was setting, creating a dim orange glow over the pond. She peered into the foliage on the opposite bank, but didn’t see anything.

       You’re spooking yourself.

      She let out the breath she’d been holding, chastising herself for getting worked up. It was probably just a deer. Then the bushes on the opposite bank parted and a head emerged. It was completely gray and neither human nor animal. Yellow eyes locked on her and she froze. One second, two seconds, three.

      And then as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared in the brush without a sound.

       The Tainted Keitre.

      For a split second she wondered how something so big could move through the dying brush without so much as a whisper of noise, but then common sense took over and she turned and ran down the trail to the plantation as fast as her legs would carry her.

      JOSIE CLENCHED HER HANDS down by her sides, afraid that if she lifted them above her waist, she’d punch Bobby Reynard straight in the mouth. The fact that he was currently the sheriff probably wouldn’t play to her favor.

      “So you’re not going to do anything?” she asked, trying to keep her voice calm.

      He puffed out his chest, which still didn’t force it to extend beyond his belly. “I am an officer of the law. I don’t waste my time and taxpayers’ money by investigating the ridiculous claims of a bunch of superstitious swamp people, especially when it’s all happening on private property. You got a problem at your house—it’s your problem, unless there’s a crime.”

      “A brand-new section of my fence was torn down three times in the last two weeks. Vandalism was against the law the last time I checked.”

      He shoved his hands in his jeans pockets and stared past her out the window, clearly bored with the conversation. “A bear is probably tearing down that fence. Sounds like you’re fencing what he considers his territory. Problems with the local wildlife are not problems for the sheriff’s department.”

      She glanced down at his protruding belly and then back at him. “Looks to me like nothing but drinking beer down at the Gator Bar is your business.”

      His face reddened and he drew himself up straight, trying to suck in the gut and failing miserably. “You better watch your mouth, sweetheart. Everyone may have kissed your butt in high school, but this is the real world now and you aren’t any better than anyone else in this town now that all that family money is gone.”

      “Oh, I imagine I’m still better than some,” she said, then whirled around and left the sheriff’s office before he could retort.

      Not that there was any danger of him coming up with something witty in the next hour or so. Bobby Reynard had been a bully and an oaf in high school and he’d made a profession out of it as an adult. She only hoped some desperate woman didn’t marry him so that the cycle could end with him.

      “Don’t let him get to you, honey, or he wins.”

      Josie stopped digging for her car keys and looked up to find Adele LaPierre standing in front of her. The spry, little silver-haired woman claimed to be sixty-five, but Josie’s mother had always said she was every bit of eighty.

      “You’re right,” Josie said. “But it’s just so stupid. High school was ten years ago and he’s still stuck there.”

      “Some things never change. You were the most beautiful girl in high school and you had no interest in him. Now you’re the most beautiful girl in the Honey Island Swamp and you’re still not interested in him.”

      Josie smiled and gave Adele a hug. “You always know the right thing to say.”

      “You’re a good girl, Josette. Your parents would be proud of the way you’re trying to save their home. Don’t let anyone make you feel differently.”

      She sighed. “All my work is going to be for nothing if I can’t stop the vandalism. The crew is already spooked and threatening to quit. Without the crew, I’ll never have the house ready to open for New Year’s, and without that revenue, the bank will start foreclosure in February. And all that is assuming the work they do isn’t destroyed by whoever is doing this.”

      Adele narrowed her eyes. “Whoever or whatever?”

      Josie stared at the sidewalk for a moment before lifting her gaze back to Adele. “I haven’t told anyone, but I went into the swamp that day and I saw what the men said was out there. I can’t afford to tell the truth. People will think I’m crazy. If that story gets back to the bank, they may take away my extension. I shouldn’t even have tried convincing Bobby, but I was desperate.”

      “What if I told you I knew someone who could help? Someone who would believe the real story and find out the truth?”

      “I’d say that’s great, but I don’t have the money to pay trappers and hunters.”

      “It’s a detective agency I have in mind, not hunters.”

      Josie blew out a breath. “At this point, I’m willing to try anything, but I don’t have the money for a detective any more than I do a trapper.”

      “Don’t worry about the money, dear. I’ve got some savings and I don’t think the people I have in mind would try to gouge you.”

      Josie shook her head. “I can’t take your money.”

      “And why not? My money’s as good as the bank’s, and if I can’t help my oldest friend’s daughter, then what in the world do I have left to do with it? We can work out a payment plan later on, after you get the bed-and-breakfast going.”

      Josie sniffed, touched once again by Adele’s huge heart. “I don’t know what I’d do without you. You’ve been such a rock since Mom and Dad passed.”

      “Your mama was a good woman. One of the best I’ve ever known. It makes me proud to see her daughter grow up like her. I’ve got my sons, but if I could have had a daughter, I would have wanted her to be like you.”

      “Oh, Adele, you completely undo me.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “I really appreciate the thought, more than you can ever know, but I can’t imagine a detective agency would care about a case that seems nonexistent.”

      “This one will. An old friend of mine who died years ago had a daughter who just opened a detective agency in Vodoun with her husband. They specialize in things the police won’t bother with. I think they’ll take your situation seriously.”

      A tiny sliver of hope ran through Josie for the first time in days. “If you think they can help, then I’d like to try.”

      Adele nodded. “I’ll call the daughter, Alex, as soon as I get home and explain things. She’ll want to talk to you, I’m sure, to get more particulars.”

      “Of course. Have her call me at home.”

      Adele patted her arm. “Don’t you worry, honey. We’re going to fix this.” She crossed the street and climbed into an ancient Cadillac.

      Josie lifted a hand to wave at her as Adele drove off.

      What in the world had she just agreed to?

      TANNER LEDOUX STOOD ON the dock, staring at his two half brothers, certain they’d lost their minds. “Absolutely not,” he said.

      “You said you were interested in working for the detective agency,” argued Holt, the oldest of the three brothers.

      Tanner shook his head. “Not if it means going back into the Honey Island