Read Bayou Heat for Free Online Page B

expression away. Now he
looked more than peeved at her and she could deal with that.
    “I know exactly where Intempo is located, considering I’ve
visited it a few times.” His words were short and clipped.
    That didn’t surprise her at all; he looked like a
high-priced playboy. “So why are you here and not there?”
    “Because I have an assignment to do whether I like it or
not.”
    “Ah. The responsible type.”
    “Very much so. You, on the other hand, go running off
without thinking twice about it.”
    “True, but there is nothing wrong with that.” She put her
hands on her hips and glared up at the man. Boy, he sure was tall.
    “Didn’t say there was anything wrong with that. If you would
have stayed put another ten seconds we wouldn’t have needed to walk in this
heat and we wouldn’t both be standing here looking like two melted ice-cream
cones.”
    “How so?”
    “We could have retrieved my car from where I left it.”
    “Then I would have been stuck doing things your way.”
    “True, but then we would have gone to the club, talked to a
few people and found that Debra’s been hanging with a guy named Jerome
Broussard. Then, after a phone call or two, we would have come up with an
address for the guy, which happens to be on the other side of town.”
    The smile was gone from his face and she knew he wasn’t
happy with her, but she refused to back down. “How do you know all of this?”
    “I made some phone calls while following you on this
cross-country hike through the Quarter and learned everything we needed to
know.”
    Eris considered his words for a few moments then dismissed
them. He didn’t understand how she worked. “You didn’t learn everything.
Jerome’s address might be on the other side of town, but Debra is here.”
    “I hope you’re right. Because soft-shoeing it back across
town in heat pushing one-hundred degrees isn’t my idea of fun.”
    She hoped she was right also because she couldn’t get a good
read on Debra and really didn’t want to face this man if she was wrong. Maybe
the extreme heat was distorting her ability. Once again she’d gotten so
involved in following someone’s essence path she hadn’t paid attention to the
world around her. Now that he mentioned it, she noticed the way her clothes
clung to her damp body, making her uncomfortable. She could only imagine how he
felt wearing a suit and tie.
    She turned toward the house. “Well then, let’s go find out.”
    She walked toward the house, not waiting for a response. The
closer she got, the more distorted the aura became. A hand on her arm stopped
her from entering the house, and then it was gone.
    “Don’t tell me you’re going in there?”
    “Okay, I won’t.” Opening the screen door, she walked into
the entryway of what once was a grand house. The screen door slapped shut and
she heard a muttered curse as the door opened and closed again. Then Rob’s
presence was behind her, strong and dependable, like the man.
    There were two doors on the bottom level and stairs at the
end of the hall leading to a second floor. Her guess was the house had been
divided into four apartments.
    “Which door?” Rob’s asked as he moved past her.
    “We’ll have to try them one by one.”
    Moving to each door in turn, she dismissed them both after
studying the auras that surrounded each. Upstairs, she stopped in front of the
first door. She placed her right hand against it and swayed at the anger
emanating from within. Dropping her hand, she stepped back.
    “She’s in there.”
    “You’re sure?”
    “Yes.” She crossed her fingers behind her back as she told
the lie.
    Rob raised his hand to knock, but she stopped him. “What? Do
we have to wait for Venus and Jupiter to align before we can find out?”
    She rolled her eyes. “No. It’s just that there is some bad
stuff going on in that place. Two people are in there, and at least one of them
is in an out-of-control rage.” Without a second thought, she