Page 3 of Landry (Bayou Brotherhood Protectors #7)

Though she had a law enforcement officer following her, Camille still felt edgy, her gaze darting to shadows along the roadway. When she turned into the drive leading to her cottage, her breath caught and held until she came to a stop in front of her small home.

Deputy Clyburn got out of his vehicle and held up a hand, indicating she should stay in hers until he’d performed a check on the house and surrounding premises.

Once he’d finished, he returned to open her car door for her. “All clear,” he said.

“Thank you, deputy,” she said as she got out of her car. “Be sure to stop by the store tomorrow. I’d like to show my appreciation with a sampler box of chocolates.”

“That won’t be necessary,” the deputy said. “Just doing my part to keep the community safe.”

“Commendable,” Camille said with a smile. “Then let me gift your wife with a box of chocolates for supporting her husband in his civic duties.”

Deputy Clyburn dipped his head. “Thank you, ma’am.”

Camille opened the back car door to collect Ava from her booster seat.

As Ava settled against Camille’s shoulder, she murmured, “Need to say goodnight to...” a huge yawn split Ava’s face before she could finish on a sigh, “Billy Ray.”

“I’m sure he’s already asleep as late as it is,” Camille said, juggling her front door key in one hand and her daughter in the other. She let herself in, turned and waved toward the deputy. Then she closed and locked the door.

She went through the motions of dressing Ava in her pajamas and tucking her in with a kiss.

“But I didn’t say goodnight to Billy Ray,” Ava said, already fading fast into sleep.

“You can tell him tomorrow,” Camille said, convinced Billy Ray, being an imaginary friend, wouldn’t mind if Ava didn’t wish him a good night. He had to be imaginary, right? What parent would let their child wander around the bayou this late at night?

Once she had Ava settled in her bed, her blanket tucked around her body and Fuzzy nestled in the crook of her little arm, Camille went through the house checking door and window locks.

She’d always felt safe in her house. But the creep following her tonight had left her feeling uneasy. She’d yet to see if there was damage to her back bumper. It would have to wait until the light of day. She wasn’t going outside until then.

Satisfied her house was secure, Camille showered the dried sweat from her body and slipped into an oversized T-shirt and soft shorts. She checked on Ava, dropping a kiss on her cheek before padding barefoot down the hallway to her own room.

Camille glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand and groaned. She hadn’t stayed up past midnight since Ava had started sleeping through the night. She’d be tired when she went to the shop in the morning.

Still keyed up, she lay her head on the pillow, determined to get a few hours of sleep.

A lot had happened that night. She’d gone dancing for the first time in years, considered dating again and had topped it off with being followed and bumped into on the road home. It was a lot to process.

Pushing the swirl of thoughts to the back of her mind, she eventually drifted off.

Camille dreamed she was dancing with the tall guy, then Todd, then the tall guy again, only this time, she was spinning around and around. She couldn’t stop. The more she spun, the dizzier she became.

Just when she thought she’d pass out, a scream ripped through her consciousness, jerking her awake.

“Mommy!” Ava’s voice called out.

From dead sleep to wide awake in less than a second, Camille flew out of her bed, ran down the hall and burst through the open door into her daughter’s room. She hit the switch on the wall, filling the room with bright light from the overhead fixture.

For a moment, she could barely make out the shape of her daughter in her bed. Ava had burrowed into her blanket, drawing the edge up to her nose, her bright blue eyes wide and scared.

Camille hurried over to the bed, sat on the side and gathered Ava into her arms. “What’s wrong, baby?”

“I... I saw...a m-m-monster,” Ava said, her voice shaking.

“Were you having a dream?” Camille smoothed Ava’s dark curls back from her forehead.

Ava shook her head. “No. I saw a monster. It had a black head, but it didn’t have a nose or mouth, just eyes.”

“Do you want me to check for the monster beneath your bed?”

“No, ma’am,” Ava said. “It wasn’t beneath my bed. I saw it there.” She brought her hand out from beneath the blanket and pointed across the room.

It was then that a breeze lifted tendrils of Camille’s hair and fanned them across her cheek. She turned to find the window she’d secured earlier that evening wide open. Darkness loomed like an abyss beyond the windowsill.

A shiver rippled from the base of Camille’s neck down the full length of her spine. “Did you open the window, Ava?”

Ava shook her head. “No, ma’am.”

Camille frowned. “Did the monster open the window?”

Again, Ava shook her head. “No. Billy Ray opened it.”

“You’re imag—” Camille stopped herself short and amended, “your friend?”

Ava nodded. “He gets hungry. You’re not mad at Billy Ray, are you?”

“No, baby,” Camille said. “But we can’t leave the window open or unlocked.

” She left the bed and marched across the room to the offending window.

Taking a deep breath, she glanced through the opening.

A cloud scudded across a shiny moon, blocking the light for a moment.

When the cloud moved on, the moon shone down on the bayou.

Nothing moved in the semi-darkness, but Camille had the disturbing feeling someone was out there, watching her.

Camille closed the window, locked it and pulled the curtain over the glass, blocking both the view out as well as the view into the room.

If Ava’s imaginary friend, Billy Ray, had been the culprit to open the window, that meant Ava’s imagination had gone outside the box. Camille suspected her daughter had been the one to unlock the window and leave it open.

Camille hadn’t been concerned about Ava’s imaginary friend when he’d been someone Ava could confide in. Her daughter needed to feel comfortable sharing her feelings with someone. Why not an imaginary friend?

But when she opened windows for that friend, she left herself exposed to any lunatic who preyed on defenseless little girls.

Camille returned to the bed, slipped beneath the sheets and gathered her daughter close. “Go to sleep, Ava. I won’t leave you tonight.”

Ava snuggled against her mother’s side. “I love you, Mommy.”

“I love you, too, baby,” Camille said softly. Tomorrow, she’d have to address Ava’s imaginary friend and get Ava’s promise not to leave a door or window unlocked ever again.