Resurrection in Mudbug by Jana DeLeon Read Free Book Online Page A

I have an out-of-shape, cell-phone-toting ghost with a bad attitude against an unknown enemy who probably wants to kill me. It doesn’t sound like the best of odds.”
    “It’s not,” Maryse said. “Trust me, I know that firsthand, and one evening I will bring over catfish and a case of beer and Mildred and I will tell you all about our Helena-laden past. But Helena is not the only advantage we have.”
    “What else is there?” Jadyn asked.
    “You’re on alert,” Maryse said. “It’s harder to get at someone who’s expecting you because you’ll be more careful…more observant. And the one thing they definitely won’t count on is you coming for them.”
    “What?” Jadyn stared at Maryse, more confused than ever.
    “Part two of the plan is figuring out who wants to kill you,” Maryse said. “You have more of an advantage than I did. You’re a trained investigator. Being a lab rat, I was at a total disadvantage.”
    Jadyn considered this for a moment and decided that while completely ludicrous on the surface, what Maryse suggested made sense. 
    “Well, given that I’ve only been here a couple of days,” Jadyn said, “there’s only one thing I could think of that might be the source, and that’s what I was here to talk to you about.”
    Mildred’s eyes widened. “The boatload of money. Damn it. I hadn’t even put the two together. You know what this means?”
    Maryse frowned. “That someone we know is involved in something really dirty.”
    “And he’ll try to kill me,” Jadyn said as she slumped back in her chair.
    This was not at all what she’d signed up for.
     

 
    Chapter Seven
     
    “I don’t like this idea,” Mildred said as she paced Jadyn’s hotel room. 
    “Me, either,” Maryse agreed, plopping down on the end of the bed.
    “It’s too risky,” Mildred continued. “What if the bad guy is there and figures out what you’re up to?”
    Jadyn lowered her mascara and looked over at the two clearly worried women. “How would he do that?”
    “Because you’re in a bar, hitting on men,” Mildred said. “I can’t imagine that’s your normal scene, although I’ll admit, you look the part.”
    Jadyn smiled. “It’s definitely not my normal scene, but the thing is, no one in Mudbug knows that except you two. For all the rest of the residents know, I could be a game warden by day and floozy by night. May as well use that advantage now while I still can.”
    “She’s got a point,” Maryse said.
    Mildred stopped pacing and looked down at Maryse. “Why don’t you go with her?”
    Maryse laughed. “Because then everyone in Mudbug would definitely know something was up. I don’t ‘do’ the club look, and besides, I haven’t set foot in that bar since…you know. It might stand out if I show up now.”
    Jadyn picked up on something bad in Maryse’s tone and looked over at her. “Is the bar dangerous?” 
    “No,” Maryse said. “The bar owner was. He was the man who tried to kill me.”
    Mildred patted Maryse’s shoulder. “He was her father’s best friend and had always been like an uncle to Maryse. It was a harsh blow.”
    “Wow,” Jadyn said as a flood of emotion washed over her. She’d spent most of the afternoon going over the locals with Maryse and Mildred, but no one had stood out to any of them as a potential for this level of criminal activity. Hearing that Maryse had almost been killed by her dad’s best friend was a sobering thought. Clearly, the man’s psychotic nature had gone undetected by everyone who knew him. Why wasn’t it possible that someone else had managed the same thing?
    Jadyn held in a sigh. She’d already imagined it would be hard on Mildred and Maryse to find out that someone they knew was involved in something so sordid, especially since she’d spent the afternoon on her laptop, reading every online news report about all the happenings in Mudbug the year before. But the reports didn’t mention any of those kind of awful