Read Showdown in Mudbug for Free Online Page B

found me.”
    “I didn’t say you should hide, since you’re right, that’s obviously not going to work. But I do think relocating to a more defensible location would help.”
    “You mean move? No, I can’t move. I have a business to run—”
    “ Which ,” Mildred interrupted, “you’ve already offered to cut down to part time to cover Sabine’s store for her honeymoon. Sabine will be at Beau’s place in New Orleans to night, and they fly out tomorrow. There’s no reason for you not to move here temporarily.”
    “I don’t know,” Raissa said, her mind racing with allthe reasons that involving more people in her mess was a really bad idea.
    “You should do it,” Helena urged. “It’s not like just anyone can come and go in Mudbug without being noticed. And you could stay at the hotel.”
    Raissa struggled to come up with a good argument, but had to admit that the idea wasn’t the worst one she’d heard. In fact, it came with the advantages Mildred had mentioned and a few that she hadn’t thought about. Finally, she nodded. “Okay. I’ll move, but just for the rest of the week, and I’ll still have to commute to my store a couple of times. I can reschedule my readings, but I don’t want to cancel on my regular customers.”
    Mildred frowned, and Raissa knew she’d wanted a full-time commitment, but it was something that Raissa just couldn’t offer without lying. One, because remaining in Mudbug wouldn’t allow her to do the investigating she needed to do in New Orleans, and two, because if her situation even came remotely close to putting her friends in danger, then Raissa was out of Mudbug like a gunshot.
    “What about your family, Raissa?” Mildred asked. “Do they know where you are?”
    “My parents are both dead, and we weren’t really tight with any relatives. So there’s no one missing me, if that’s what you’re asking.”
    Mildred nodded and studied her for a couple of seconds. Finally, she sighed. “You’re not going to bow out until you find that missing girl, are you? It’s somehow tied in to your past and the Heberts’.”
    “I think so,” Raissa said, “but I’ve never had any proof.”
    Helena’s eyes widened. “There have been others…other little girls that were taken?”
    “There were others before Melissa.”
    Mildred swallowed, then cleared her throat. “What happened to them?”
    “They were returned a week later without a mark on them and no memory of what happened to them after their abduction. There’s a very narrow window of opportunity to catch this guy and stop this from happening again.” Raissa rose from her chair, already mentally packing a bag of necessities for her stay in Mudbug. “I have to go home and get some things. One of my conditions for staying here is that you let me rig the hotel with security. It can all be done with fingernail-size lenses and infrared. I won’t install anything in the guest rooms, except for my own, but I insist on rigging at least the outside of your quarters, Mildred, or I won’t stay here at all.”
    Mildred nodded. “What ever you think is best.”
    “Good,” Raissa said, “because as much as I want to find out what happened to those girls, I’d prefer it not be firsthand. Abduction is not on my list of things to do, and it’s doubtful I’d come back without a mark on me…if I came back at all.”
    Mildred narrowed her eyes at Raissa. “I don’t suppose you really are psychic, right? I mean, not that I wouldn’t find that a bit creepy, but, well, we already have a ghost. I guess I’m willing to consider any edge we might have, even the strange ones.”
    “I wish I were,” Raissa said, “but it’s all a very clever front. Or at least, I used to think it was.”
    “But all those things you knew…How did you guess all those things and get them right? No one’s that lucky.”
    Raissa smiled. “It was never luck. I’m a highly skilled computer hacker and an expert at surveillance. Someone