Casting the Dice Read online

  More silence.

  He finally gave her a time. She thanked him profusely and disconnected. A pent-up breath swooshed out of her lungs.

  Hal caught the door as she pushed outside and took the spiral notebook from him.

  “I’ll meet you at the marina location.” Mitch climbed into his truck, prepared to follow them.

  Hal opened his passenger door. “What did the contractor have to say?”

  “He agreed to talk to me if I meet him at his house.” She climbed in and waited for him to get behind the wheel. “Tonight, at eight, but don’t worry. You’re racing a deadline, and I don’t want to disrupt your schedule. I’ll get someone at home to send money, but for tonight, I need to borrow taxicab fare.”

  “No.” Hal leaned against his door.

  “Then I’ll ask someone else.” His brothers or his aunt.

  “No,” Hal repeated and signed the word, too.

  “It’s not necessary for you to come.” She crossed her arms. “The phone call was nerve-racking, but talking to him face-to-face will be easier. With luck he might even be gracious.”

  A muscle in Hal’s jaw jerked. “The police haven’t caught those triggermen from the garage. I don’t want you roaming around the city by yourself. I’ll take you.”

  “Thanks.” The concern underlying his offer lighted up her insides. “Now all I have to do is figure out how to get Prejean to remove the lien.”

  “Pay him off.” Hal cranked the engine.

  “That’s obviously the best way. I’m hoping he’ll listen to reason and give me more time, but he sounded grumpy.”

  “You can overcome that attitude with your sparkling personality. Wow him with your climbing skills.” A corner of Hal’s mouth lifted. “Maybe he’ll even ask you to talk to his Elks Club.”

  “I don’t think Prejean is a rock-climbing kind of guy.”

  “You’re going to turn right at the next stoplight.”

  “O.K.” Hal signed. Even though Annie couldn’t see with her eyes on her cellphone screen, he liked making the physical movements. If he learned more words, he and Annie could then talk more easily.

  He squeezed the wheel, staring through the darkness to the pool of light at the next corner. When she left, he would miss her the same way he had the baby animals. So that was why he’d shut her down at lunch?

  A dull ache started in his gut. He’d sworn he would never use his father’s tactics, but he’d acted exactly like his old man.

  He rolled to a stop for a traffic signal, and she looked over. Her braid had fallen over her shoulder, and he tucked it back. “Thanks for helping me with Kurt.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Tonight. When we were eating supper.” On their way home from the airport and the marina, he and Annie had bought some locally favorite spicy fried chicken to share for supper. “Kurt needs to be more willing to interact with the world again.”

  “No problem.” She glanced at the phone map. “We have two more blocks on this street before another right turn. The contractor’s neighborhood has nothing but one-way streets, and his is one we can’t enter from this end.”

  He followed her directions, turning onto the main riverfront truck corridor along the wharf. Small bungalows lined the opposite side. Light stanchions lit the shipping container yards behind a flood wall, but the dark street stretched ahead empty of traffic.

  He rounded a curve. Uh-oh.

  Up ahead, a repair crew blocked the street, and two men wearing reflective vests crossed their headlight beams. Hal squeezed the wheel. They did not need this delay. He touched Annie’s leg. “Do you see anywhere we can turn off?”

  She enlarged her phone map. “We want the next street on the right. Can we get there?”

  “I don’t know.” This must be an emergency, like a water main repair, because the crew still hadn’t set up the detour.

  A workman stepped into his lane and flagged them down. Hal stopped and scanned past him to an empty street. Something was off, he couldn’t say exactly what, and he tensed.

  Both men rushed forward as if on a secret signal. The Blazer’s headlights picked up pistols in their hands.

  His pulse thudded. He slammed into reverse and motioned to Annie. “Get down.”

  She ducked under the dash. He whipped into the first side street behind them, tires squealing and killed the headlights.

  Hell. Nobody was coming at them, but he had to watch out. They drove against the one-way direction.

  Headlights flashed in his mirrors.

  They hadn’t even gone half a block. He inched up his speed. “What do you bet that’s the same men from the roadblock?”

  He hunched lower in the seat, groping under his seat for something to throw out the window to make the other drive stop.

  Nothing.

  “Anything under your seat? Glove compartment?” He mimicked twisting and opening, but Annie didn’t understand.

  Hal ran a stop sign he barely noticed. Too bad. He could have turned. Not now. Keep moving. Keep looking.

  Was that a driveway up there?

  No good. Lights glowed inside the adjacent house. He tightened his grip on the wheel. Come on.

  They needed to find a hiding place. Like yesterday.

  The headlights behind them brightened. A second car followed the first one, and they were both closing in.

  Hal gestured for Annie to crawl onto the seat. “We have to ditch the car. Get ready to jump out.”

  He spun into the next driveway, his wide vehicle brushing the high hedges on either side. A separate garage structure loomed in the gray light. He killed the engine, snapped off his belt and shooed Annie out her door.

  The windows of the house beside him were black. The residents didn’t seem to have a barking dog. That was in their favor. Annie ran up beside him, pulling her purse strap over her head. “What are we—”

  He pressed his fingers against her lips. “Keep quiet.”

  She grabbed his hand, and he led them into the backyard. With luck, the men hunting them would drive past without seeing their vehicle. Once he could be sure they hadn’t been found, he and Annie would return to the car, but they had to keep out of sight for now.

  Humidity smothered them in a hot, moist blanket as he hurried across thick grass to a chorus of crickets and frogs. The branches of shrubs guarding a rear fence wove a solid wall of vegetation. They’d have to bushwhack through that if they wanted to go over.

  The toe of his boot bumped a slab of cement, and he halted, tugging Annie to a stop. “Look out here.”

  “I told you I have to see your face—”

  He squeezed her hand before spelling, “O.K.”

  Lounge chairs blocked their path. They traipsed around a swimming pool and into the shadows beyond. He couldn’t hear any traffic, the only sound, the faint mechanical whine of the wharf crane.

  He checked the glowing numbers on his dive watch and eased out a breath. Annie stared at him. He wrapped an arm around her waist.

  A sudden rumble had him turning toward the drive. Headlights reached around the shadow of the Blazer and reflected off the front of the garage. The residents were home.

  Not a minute later, a blinding light pinned them. A male voice rang through the quiet. “There they are.”

  “About time,” another deep voice added.

  Not residents. The gunmen from the fake street crew.

  Hal grabbed Annie’s hand and raced around the opposite side of the house—and smack into a chain-link fence—with a padlock.

  “Back fence.” She charged back through the yard. With bullets nipping their heels, they rushed toward the small opening at the end of the shrubs.

  They had no choice. They had to go over. Hal linked his hands for a stirrup, but Annie took a running leap, jumped and grabbed the top of the vinyl fence. Her purse caught momentarily before she yanked it free. She swung over and vanished from view.

  A bullet whizzed past his ear. Hal pulled himself up. The fence
wobbled, though, and he lost time steadying himself. A splash and a cry came from the pool area, followed by loud cursing. He was grinning as he scaled the fence and dropped into the soft earth on the other side.

  Lights shone from the dwelling in front of them. These people were home. He and Annie crept through the yard, staying low, to the sidewalk. She gripped his arm and pointed. “That big broad street we came down earlier is that way.”

  They managed to cover a block before headlights swung around a corner in front of them. Hal pulled her into a thicket of vines cascading over the side of a garage. The headlights never reached them, and the engine shut off.

  Was this car a neighbor coming home? Or had their pursuers parked to come after them on foot?

  Hair rose on the back of his neck.

  18

  Hal stepped in front of Annie and waited for them to be discovered. His gut twisted. His shoulders tensed. Nothing more happened, but if they were safe, why did his instincts still ripple like Morse code gone mad?

  A metallic squeak came from behind him, and he whirled, his Glock ready. Annie pushed open a gate in a chain link fence and gestured to him. He stowed his weapon and followed, wincing at the screech. They circled the house on that property.

  Lights and the din of motors beckoned at the end of the block. They panted to a stop under a streetlight. Safety lights flashed atop orange and white barrels in the center of the avenue.

  He glanced over his shoulder at the dark neighborhood they’d escaped. No headlights prowled the darkness. No cars trawled the wide-open avenue. No running gunmen searched the sidewalk, but they were still exposed.

  With Annie’s hand in his, he dashed across the four traffic lanes to the other side. This put more distance between themselves and the thugs, but getting off the sidewalk and out of sight would be even better.

  The houses facing them looked to be doubles with two front doors or large houses with multiple mailboxes and raggedy front yards. The men following them wouldn’t give up, but he’d be damned if he’d jeopardize an innocent party’s safety.

  They needed an alley. A dumpster. Something that would shield them from view.

  Then movement caught his eye. Across the avenue, a man in a reflective vest panted to a stop on the corner where he and Annie stood seconds ago. The goon appeared to be talking on a cellphone and scanning the area.

  Hal towed Annie into the yard of a two-story double and behind stairs leading to an upstairs apartment. A huge camellia bush provided cover, and the scent of the jasmine growing on the house washed over him.

  This would be a perfect summer night for sitting on the porch, sipping lemonade, and listening to the neighborhood. Instead, the drone of a television filtered through the walls.

  “There’s something familiar about those men at the roadblock,” Annie whispered beside him.

  He turned to face the light and nodded. “We know them.”

  “You mean—?” She clamped both hands over her mouth.

  “I think one or maybe both of them were the men who followed you out of the casino.” Hal peered around the bush.

  The traffic cones obscured the opposite sidewalk, and he could see only the empty street directly in front. They would have little or no warning if either of their pursuers strolled down the sidewalk. “I don’t know how they found us. I’m positive no one followed us from home.” His whole body thrummed. “That wasn’t an official roadblock.”

  “I agree,” Annie whispered.

  So how could these guys be lying in wait? He tapped his thumb against his thigh, nerves whining as he put everything together. “Annie.”

  She looked at him expectantly, and he held out his hand. “Let me see your phone.”

  She nudged him with her cellphone.

  He swiped through her icons. Nothing unusual jumped at him. He opened several applications, stopping when a chill washed over him. He moved away from their hiding place. The thug who’d run out to the opposite street corner, cell phone in hand, had disappeared.

  An invisible hand tightened around his throat. With two strides he reached the low wrought-iron fence in front of the house. At an intersection a block away, a pickup truck turned, heading their way.

  “What’s wrong?” Annie trailed him out of the yard. “Can’t you get reception?”

  Hal took aim and threw Annie’s cell onto the asphalt directly into the path of the pickup. Seconds later a big front tire rolled over the device.

  Annie spun on him, her mouth open. “Why did you do that?”

  “Shh.” He put a finger to his lips and reached for her arm. She ran into the street. He raced past her and ground his heel into the phone fragments.

  “Are you crazy?” Annie beat her fists on his chest. “We spent days looking for my phone. How can you destroy it now?”

  There was no time to answer. They had to get away from this spot. Now.

  A crowd congregated in front of the large frame building where he’d noticed the turning truck. Lights along the side illuminated the distinctive logo of Mudwumps. “Come on.” He reached for her hand and jerked his chin. “Let’s go down to that club.”

  “I want an explanation.” Annie crossed her arms.

  Any minute the guys tracking them could reappear. Hal handed her the handkerchief from his hip pocket and mimicked tying it under her chin. “B-l-o-n—”

  “Cover up.” He grabbed her hand.

  “Why?”

  Hal put a finger to his lips. Tension in his posture made her own heart pound. They were standing in plain view.

  She tossed the shattered phone bits and tucked her braid inside her collar. The bandanna hid the rest. Noise and music poured from the building on the corner. The doorman demanded an entrance fee. Hal paid, and they stepped into a space so dark and packed, she didn’t dare let go of him.

  Lights behind the liquor bottles at the back of the bar painted the faces of patrons red. A Cajun band—according to the sign at the door—played on a low-rise stage, and couples waltzed to the fiddle and accordion music. Only the guitar looked amplified so she might be able to hear Hal well enough to understand him. He steered her around the back of the dance floor and stopped in the shadows of a staircase.

  She crossed her arms. “I want an explanation as to why you acted so strangely.”

  “I know.” He patted a stool. “Have a seat.”

  She ignored him.

  He lowered the zipper of his jacket and blotted his fist against his upper lip even though frigid air blasted them. “You lost your phone,” he explained. “Didn’t get it back until Mattie gave it to you. Anyone could have loaded your cell with tracker software.”

  She gasped. That would mean… “Someone could follow me.”

  Suddenly weak, she shifted the stool away from a downdraft and hitched herself onto the seat. “I didn’t see anything unusual on my screen, but I wasn’t looking. Did you find something?”

  “No, but I’m not sure I would have recognized the app even if I’d seen it. That’s why I had to eliminate the whole possibility.” He shook his head. “Nothing else made sense.”

  Nothing in the last week made sense. She rubbed her arms, still freezing.

  “Those guys laid an ambush for us, but how did they know we’d take that particular route?” Hal asked. “Tonight? At that particular time? How did they find us?”

  She huffed out a sigh, realization dawning. “I should have turned off my phone.”

  “Not sure that would have worked. They followed us, but could have just lucked into the construction ploy. But when I saw one of them on the phone a minute ago, I made the connection.” He looked miserable. “I had to act fast.”

  “You always act fast.” With complete confidence. Without explanation, though tonight they couldn’t have communicated in the dark. “If I hadn’t been so defensive, I would have realized sooner you were acting in our best interest. I’m sorry.”

  He squeezed her shoulders. “It’s okay. You followed my lead.”

/>   “It was hard to do.”

  “I know.” He grinned.

  She grimaced. “You do realize trashing my phone was totally out of character for you. I was worried you’d gone crazy.”

  He shook his head. “I was protecting you.”

  “I know, I know. And I thank you.” She patted his arm. He smiled and covered her hand, and her insides warmed. “I should have waited to explode at you.”

  “Yes.”

  She laughed. Count on Hal to give it to her straight. “Somehow I can’t see Matilda Lemoyne installing spyware on a cellphone. She seems like the type to hire a detective to follow us.”

  “She might not have known anything had been done to your phone. She didn’t even know the phone was yours. Remember she said the housekeeper found it, but someone else could have dropped it by her house before that.”

  “Like Mr. Persistent? He might stop by the mansion often.” She sagged and shook her head. “He certainly claims to know Randy.”

  Hal straightened the crooked shoulder strap of her top. “I could be wrong about your phone, but don’t worry. I’ll buy you another one.”

  “I certainly hope so.” She stood and rummaged in her purse. “Give me your phone.”

  “Should I be worried you want payback?”

  “I’d have to go outside, and that’s not happening yet.”

  He handed over his phone. She found the slip of paper the lawyer had given her, and opened his contacts. “I’m going to type in the contractor’s phone number. Prejean complained about my pulling a no-show the first time. He may never speak to me again if I stand him up tonight. But can you please explain that we’re running late?”

  She keyed in Prejean’s number and hit Call before handing Hal the phone. “It’s ringing.”

  The band launched into another song, and couples migrated to the dance floor. Hal turned and plugged his free ear. Annie moved around, but he stared at the floor. When he continued ignoring her efforts to catch his eye, she gave up trying and took in the music hall.

  Customers still flowed through the entrance. College-aged. Middle-aged music fans. Gray-haired hipsters. Three guys homed in on the bar where a bartender filled glasses lined up on the mat from a shaker. Wait a minute…