Page 26 of Landry (Bayou Brotherhood Protectors #7)

“Why would the prison guard want to take me out on a date?” Camille asked. “And why wasn’t I informed of Richard’s release?”

“I can’t answer either of those questions,” Landry said. “Do you think your ex will come looking for you or Ava?”

Camille shook her head. “I don’t know. He hasn’t had any contact with her since he was incarcerated, and I filed for divorce, going for full custody. He signed without a fight.”

Landry shook his head. “Was he involved in Ava’s life before he went to jail?”

“She was only three months old when he was arrested. He never changed a diaper, never woke up with her in the middle of the night and spent more time away from home than with us. I could’ve used the help, but he didn’t bother.”

“The prison guard had to know something about the items your ex stole that weren’t recovered. He must think you might know where they are.”

“How would I know when I didn’t know Richard was stealing until he was caught?

” Camille’s brow dipped. “Mark agreed to meet me here at the fair, then called to say he’d be late.

” Her eyes widened. “Could he have made up the delay to keep me waiting for him at the fair...” she started walking toward Landry’s truck, “so he could search my house again?” She broke into a sprint.

Landry’s thoughts had been moving in the same direction.

He matched Camille’s pace and overtook her to arrive at his truck ahead of her.

He opened the passenger seat door and handed her up into the cab.

As soon as he closed her door, he ran around to the driver’s side and hopped in, settling behind the wheel.

Seconds later, he’d pulled out of the parking area and onto the road leading back to town.

He handed his cell phone to Camille. “Text Remy and let him know where we’re heading and why and tell him to send backup.”

Camille found the number and sent the text. “He said he’s on the way with backup.”

Landry nodded as he sped through town, uncaring if he caught the attention of one of the sheriff’s deputies on duty. The more the merrier if he ran into trouble.

He didn’t pass any law enforcement officers and shot out the other side of town, heading for Camille’s cottage on the bayou.

“I’m stopping short of your place and will go in on foot. If the prison guard is there, I don’t want him to know that I am there until I can get close enough to take him down—which means you need to stay in the truck.”

“It’s my house.”

“I know. I understand why you’d want to go with me.” He reached for her hand. “But, sweetheart, you’re not trained in hand-to-hand combat. We don’t know if he’s armed. You can’t risk your life for a house.”

“But it’s my home,” she said.

“And if anything happens to you, Ava will be like Billy Ray. Parentless. Maybe worse, she might be placed with her biological father.”

Camille’s fingers tightened into a fist within his grip. “He can’t take her. She doesn’t know him.” Tears welled in her eyes. “She’d be so scared.”

“All the more reason for you to stay back until I clear the area.” He shot a glance toward her. “Will you?”

She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, nodding. “I will.”

“And stay down in case he gets by me,” Landry said as he pulled onto the road leading down to her house. He switched off the headlights and slowed until his eyes adjusted. “You can’t let him see you in the cab.”

Landry drove the truck off the road, into the trees and parked behind a clump of bushes. Then he leaned across the console and caught her cheeks between his palms.

Starlight filtered through the overhead canopy of leaves and glinted off her blue eyes. “Stay here and stay safe. Ava needs her mother.”

She caught his hands in hers. “What about you? Don’t get yourself hurt.”

“I’ll be all right,” he said. “Besides, no one is depending on me like Ava is on you.”

She stared into his eyes. “I’m depending on you.”

“I’ll make sure you’re safe.” He brushed his thumb across her lips.

“I’m depending on you more than for safety,” she said. “Before I met you, I didn’t think I could ever trust another man with my and Ava’s lives and hearts. You made me realize there are good guys out there. You’re one of them.”

He forced a chuckle he didn’t feel. “Then you have a chance of finding one.” His heart squeezed tightly in his chest at the thought of Camille and Ava forming a family with another man.

“I don’t need to look,” she said. “I’ve already found one.” She leaned across the console and pressed her lips to his.

When her mouth closed over his, Landry couldn’t hold back. He kissed her hard, the walls around his heart crumbling.

All too soon, he pulled away. “If I’m going to catch him in the act, I have to go now. Please, stay down and stay safe.”

She nodded. “I will. Come back to me to finish what we started.”

He stared into her eyes. “Yes, ma’am.”

Then he pulled his Glock out of the console and left the truck with the keys in it. He tapped the window, motioning for her to lock the doors.

After she found the button and engaged the locks, Landry sprinted toward her cottage. Part of him wanted to find the place the same way they’d left it earlier. On the other hand, if he caught Harlan Mark Sanders in the act, he might put an end to her troubles.

Or he might just take one of the players out.

He moved as quickly as he could toward the cottage, careful not to make so much noise as to announce his presence.

As he approached the clearing where the cottage stood, he hovered in the shadows of the trees and studied the area surrounding the house. A dark SUV stood in the driveway.

Nothing moved.

Lights shone through the windows from inside, though Camille had turned them off before they’d left. A curtain rod hung halfway across one of the windows, the curtain gone as if someone had ripped it off the wall.

Was there more damage beyond?

He checked the area again, then made his move, sprinting across the opening to the SUV, but finding it unoccupied. From there, he darted to the side of the house. Staying in the shadows, he moved toward one of the windows and peered into the living room. His heart sank.

The cute little cottage Camille had filled with items to make it a home she and Ava loved had been destroyed.

Furniture had been overturned, cushions slashed, drawers emptied and thrown. Gaping holes marred the walls. He slipped through the front door and hurried through the house.

Every room had met the same demise.

Ava’s pretty pink comforter had been shredded, her pillows torn apart and every stuffed animal ripped into pieces.

The house was empty of people and full of hopelessness.

Landry hated the thought of Camille finding it this way.

The back door stood open, leading out onto the porch and the path down to the bayou.

As he stepped out onto the porch, he noticed a dark lump of something in the backyard that hadn’t been there before.

After checking all around, he descended the steps and closed the distance between himself and the dark lump.

The lump was a man lying on his side, facing toward the bayou, a black ski mask covering his head.

Landry rounded to the other side and knelt to feel for a pulse.

He didn’t find one, and if the dark stain on the ground around him was what he thought it was, the man had bled out.

He pulled the ski mask off the man’s head.

He’d found Harlan Mark Sanders.

Straightening, his heart pumping hard in his chest, Landry realized Mark’s killer was still out there and he’d left Camille alone.