Read Missing in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law Mystery/Romance Series) for Free Online

ultimately, yes, I think she’s here for a specific reason. I also think she knows what that reason is.”
    “Why wouldn’t she tell us? She’s never short on words.”
    Sabine tapped her cup. “Maybe she doesn’t want to scare us. Or maybe it’s something she needs to do for her own growth and doesn’t want to admit it.” She shook her head. “I can’t put my finger on it, but I’m certain she’s holding something back.”
    Maryse took a big drink of water, what little bit of worry she had left now taken up by Sabine’s words. If Helena was keeping a secret, it could only be a bad one.
    Really, really bad.
    ###
    Colt dragged himself into the sheriff’s department late that evening, more frustrated and tired than he remembered being in years. He’d spent seven hours with the FBI, searching the swamp on both sides of the highway, and they hadn’t turned up so much as a footprint. The dogs never gave an indication that Raissa had entered the swamp, and his own observations of the turf and foliage had led to the same conclusion.  
    He grabbed a bottled water from the small refrigerator next to the filing cabinet and took a long drink as he stared out the side window at the bayou behind the building. As the cold liquid burned his throat and settled like lead in his stomach, he slammed the bottle down on a nearby table.
    “I guess you didn’t find anything,” Shirley, the daytime dispatcher, said.  
    “Not one damned thing,” he said as he turned to look at her.  
    Normally, Colt tried not to curse around Shirley, a hard-core Southern Baptist, but this time, she didn’t so much as lift an eyebrow, much less suggest he use better language as she usually did.  
    “What did the FBI have to say?”
    He shook his head. “Nothing that we didn’t already know.”
    “Do you think that’s all to it?”
    “Maybe…yeah…I don’t know. I mean, I’ve usually got a good feel for when people are holding back on me, especially other cops, and I think the agent in charge has told me everything he knows.”
    “But someone above him could be withholding information.”
    “Exactly. But if they’re not telling the man leading the search what he could potentially run into, then there’s no way they’re going to tell me.” He clenched his hand until his fingers dug into his palm. “If the car that hit Zach continued west, there’s nowhere else it could have gone but here.”
    “True, but that car could have turned around at any point and headed right back the way it came. You don’t have any reason to believe it did otherwise, do you?”
    “No,” Colt admitted. He didn’t have any concrete reason for believing the car had continued into Mudbug city limits. In fact, it would have made far more sense for it to turn around and head back toward New Orleans. But he had a feeling.
    And in his entire law enforcement career, that kind of feeling had never been wrong.
    “Have you talked to Jadyn about all this?” Shirley asked.
    “Briefly. She brought Mildred and Maryse to the hospital this morning.”
    Shirley gave an approving nod. “She’s a keeper, that one. Reminds me some of Maryse but with better social skills and not so clinical. Doesn’t seem a bit like her mother.”
    “You know her mother?” Colt asked, trying not to sound as curious as he felt.
    “Can’t say I really know her, but I’ve met her. One of those former beauty queens—beautiful in physical form, but nasty as they come otherwise. Only took a minute of exposure to know she didn’t care about anyone but herself. Makes you wonder how Jadyn did growing up with her, especially as she don’t seem the beauty queen type even though she’s quite lovely.”
    “Seems like she did all right.” Good heart and good-looking. Maybe she’d gotten the best part of her mother and the rest had come from her father.  
    “Seems like…well, speak of the devil.” Shirley pointed out the front window where Jadyn was crossing the street toward