False Pretenses - Kathy Herman [72]
“Then let’s hope we don’t need help,” Pierce said. “Did you get us a prepaid cell phone?”
Ethan nodded. “Yes, it’s been activated. You have five hundred minutes. That should give you more than enough to contact the sheriff and tell him everything. Just remember, you can’t call Vanessa or me at home or on our cell phones, just in case Shapiro has the capability of listening in on our calls. If he knows we’ve been in contact, he might try to force us to tell him where you are.”
Vanessa turned and looked over the seat. “Maybe it’ll be over before he even realizes you’re gone.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice?” Zoe said. “I just hope he doesn’t try to pry information out of our staff. We didn’t tell any of them what was going on—just that we’re dealing with a family emergency.”
“I doubt he’ll draw attention to himself,” Ethan said, “especially if he’s able to track your cell signal—again, assuming he really does know how to do that. I’m not so sure that he’s not bluffing. But why chance it?”
Zoe nodded. “Pierce and I turned our cell phones on and left them in the apartment.”
Ethan pulled down the visor and looked at them in the mirror. “Good. At least your signal will be emitting. Maybe by the time he realizes you’re not there, you will have been able to get through to Sheriff Prejean.”
Sheriff Jude Prejean, eyelids heavy, stood outside Hargrave Medical Center, a few yards from where black activists carried placards and shouted accusations that whites were taking justice into their own hands, without any proof that it was blacks who murdered Remy Jarvis.
Jude heard static coming from his walkie-talkie and then a male voice.
“Sheriff, this is Castille. Do you read? Over …”
“Affirmative,” Jude said. “What’s up?”
“Four Trojan horses are in the corral south of HMC. Over …”
“Copy that,” Jude said. “How big is the herd?”
“I see thirty-two. Ils sont noirs. Repeat: Ils sont noirs. They’re hoofing it to the watering hole. Should be in your sights shortly. Over …”
“Copy that.” Jude glanced over at the deputies who were standing between the two groups hurling verbal insults back and forth. “Have the cowboys arrived from Lafayette or New Iberia?”
“Negative. We’re standing by, saddled up and ready to go.”
“Let me know when they’re here.”
“Will do, Sheriff. Out.”
Jude squinted and looked beyond the crowd to the next block and saw the new arrivals walking toward him. How long would his crowd-control team be able to maintain order?
Deputy Chief Aimee Rivette walked over to him, a row of lines on her forehead. “Four vehicles with thirty-two black activists? We’re stretched thin as it is.” She shook her head. “Some of our people have been on the clock for over twenty-four hours. Focus is becoming a problem.”
“You’re reading my mind.” Jude glanced over at a media crew doing a live broadcast. “Get with Chief Norman and find out when he expects those reinforcements to be here.”
CHAPTER 23
Zoe stood next to the church van, under the shade of a huge live oak, and looked up at the stately pillars that graced the front of Langley Manor. Under different circumstances, camping here with Pierce might be an adventure—perhaps even a romantic one. Could she ever have imagined there would come a time when she dreaded being alone with him?
“That’s everything,” Vanessa said. “Why don’t you come take a look?”
Zoe followed Vanessa inside the old plantation house, instantly hit with the smell of old wood and the stark realization that whoever hung Remy Jarvis had probably hidden here too.
Vanessa led her to the back of the house, to the bedroom nearest to the kitchen, where Ethan and Pierce were inflating two air mattresses.
“I went by the storage locker and