“Holy crap,” Ida Belle whispered. “Do you think it was her running away from the camp and not another man? The women hadn’t seen everyone there.”
“But they thought it was a man’s voice,” I said.
“Maybe he’s trying to get her to tell him where that last guy is,” Blanchet said.
“Regardless, we can’t sit here and watch him shoot her, and I wouldn’t put it past him,” I said. “If she’s involved, I want her to go to prison and mourn that BMW and designer handbag, but only after she’s told us everything she knows about the drug running. Start up the boat and head over there. He can’t do anything stupid with four witnesses.”
As soon as Ida Belle fired up the engine, Hermes turned around. When he caught sight of us, he snarled.
“Just keep going,” he said as we approached. “You’ve already made enough trouble for me today, but I’m going to be the one who wraps this all up. Then we’ll see who gets the credit.”
Blair looked at me, her eyes wide, and I could see mud and leaves caked in her forehead. From running through the swamp? Or was something entirely different going on here?
“Get going!” Hermes ordered.
I lifted my pistol at them. Something was off. Way off.
Then I saw the flash of pink.
“I don’t think so,” I said and fired.
CHAPTER TWENTY
I caught Hermes in the right shoulder and sent the pistol flying out of his hand and over the side of the boat. Ida Belle gunned it and I leaped into the boat before Hermes could go for another weapon. I twisted his right arm up behind his back and forced him down into the bottom of the boat. Blanchet jumped in behind me with rope and tied him up. When he pulled up Blanchet’s sleeve, he saw the pink paint.
“It was you,” Blanchet said. “All this time, it was you. You weren’t blowing off the investigation because you’re incompetent. You were covering for them.”
“I got nothing to say to you. When the ADA hears that woman shot me, it’s going to be hell to pay.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. Not if Special Agent Johnson has anything to do with it.”
Blair jerked out of her shocked stupor and stared at me. “How did you know?”
“Just out of the academy, right? They thought since you hadn’t developed cop habits no one would catch on. But you weren’t counting on one of the bad guys being law enforcement. Hermes was tipped off that the FBI was working this, and he locked onto you because he’d heard a fake social services woman was asking questions.”
“Yes, but that still doesn’t explain how you knew.”
“Because your presence here didn’t fit. But to be honest, it didn’t dawn on me who you were until I saw Hermes holding a gun on you. Then there was that flash of pink, and I was certain we’d had things backward all along.”
“If I bleed out, you’re going to the electric chair,” Hermes said.
Blanchet kicked him hard in the stomach.
“That’s assault!” Hermes yelled.
“Look, he finally got the law right,” Blanchet said. “Unfortunately, no one saw it happen. And when you’re trying to cover up being a human-trafficking, drug-running, woman-and-child-abusing piece of crap, accidents occur. I think you tripped trying to get away and fell on a stump.”
“Seems plausible,” I said.
Blair’s shoulders slumped as it finally started to register that she wasn’t going to die.
“Thank you,” she said. “Thank you for saving my life.”
I nodded. “Let’s get this idiot turned over to the state police. I’ll follow in the sheriff’s boat. Blanchet, you can take point.”
Blanchet sat gleefully on the bench in front of Hermes, clutching his pistol. “If you so much as break wind, I’ll shoot you and claim you were going for my weapon.”
Hermes took one look at Blanchet’s face and knew he wasn’t joking.
“If you don’t mind,” Blair said, “I think I’ll ride with the ladies.”
I fired up the boat and followed Ida Belle out of the channel. Gertie had sent Harrison a text and he was going to contact the state police and give them our position. We’d just reached the point where the main bayou connected to the lake when I spotted one of their boats speeding our way.
Blair stood as they drew alongside and immediately identified herself, then told them that Hermes had been about to shoot her when I tagged him in the shoulder. One of the cops called someone and then gave us a nod.
“The captain is thrilled,” one of them said to Hermes. “He’s insisting on booking you himself. You’ve really burned a lot of bridges.”
He looked over at Blair. “Captain says as soon as you’re fit for it, give him a call and he’ll set up an interview.”
The other cop grabbed Hermes by the injured shoulder and pulled him up. Hermes yelled as if they were killing him. The cop smiled. “You think that hurts? Just wait until you get to prison. How many guys have you put in Angola, Hermes?”
“The real question is how many actually belonged there,” I said. “Oh, and something I forgot to tell you earlier. That girl we’ve been looking for? She’s safe. I’ll reunite her with her mother when we get back to Sinful.”
Blair’s jaw dropped and one of the cops whistled.
“You’ve been busy,” he said with a grin.
“Do you want to take the sheriff’s boat?”
“If you can handle it, then we can get this guy straight to lockup.”
I nodded. “Then we’re happy to help. We’ll take it back to Sinful for use by real law enforcement.”
The cops headed out with a now-sullen and slightly scared Hermes. I think it was just now dawning on him that this whole farce was truly over. I looked over at Blair Johnson.
“Are you up for some of the state’s best boudin?” I asked. “I’d like to have a chat and I figure a bathroom and something to eat and drink would be better than quizzing you in these boats.”
“That sounds great, actually,” she said.
We headed for the General Store, and I noticed Otto wasn’t behind the counter when we went in. “Otto off today?” I asked.
“He had a doctor’s appointment in New Orleans,” the guy behind the counter said. “Should be back this afternoon, though.”
“No problem. We’re going to grab some drinks. Hook us up with some of that boudin.”
Five minutes later, we were sitting at a picnic table outside and Blair was eating her first bite of the state’s best boudin.
“So how did you wind up on the other end of Hermes’s gun?” I asked.
“The FBI was tipped off last year about heroin coming into Louisiana from Mexico, all supplied by one of the major cartels, and everything tracked back to this area. We didn’t find anything and started to expand our search when some loose talk about the Brethren among inmates at Angola made it back to us. Hermes got on our radar a couple days ago by anonymous tip. The person knew enough that wasn’t common knowledge for us to take them seriously. Then when we heard he’d gone straight to the governor to get the temporary sheriff’s position here, we thought it would be a chance to bring down the whole group.”