One Night in the Bayou: Miss Fortune World (A Miss Prim & Proper Mystery), #2
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About this ebook
Ignoring the fact that the Russian mob has a hit out on her, Stephanie St. James, AKA Miss Prim & Proper, throws herself into planning a glamping trip for Swamp Team Three. It's an uphill battle to convince Fortune, Gertie, and her great-aunt Ida Belle that they'll enjoy a weekend filled with facials, pedicures, and girl talk.
What Stephanie doesn't plan on is the discovery of a familiar looking corpse outside of their cabin or the arrival of a sexy F.B.I. Agent. But within the space of only a few hours, Ida Belle is arrested for murder, Agent Kase Mayeux becomes a shadow Stephanie can't shake, and Fortune manages to commit a felony even though she's under house arrest. The only way Stephanie sees out of the situation is to offer herself up as bait to a vengeful mobster, which is a risk she's just crazy enough to take.
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Book preview
One Night in the Bayou - Caroline Mickelson
Chapter One
SANGRIA SUNSET! THIS is my all-time favorite. Oh, and look at this one, I love this color too.
I lifted a bottle of nail polish from the box on the counter in front of me and turned it upside down so I could read the name of the shade. Parisian Pink. How perfect.
I held the bottle next to my fingernails and nodded approvingly. The demure shade of pink was genteel, ladylike, refined. Essentially, it was everything I aspired to be. I smiled at Walter. Thank you for placing this special order for me, Mr. LeBlanc.
Call me Walter, please,
the owner of Walter's General Store, who was also the uncle of Sinful, Louisiana's, Deputy Sheriff Carter LeBlanc, nodded his head. I'm glad you're satisfied, young lady. Why don't you finish taking a look through your order and make sure everything you need for your camping trip is here.
We're not going camping,
I corrected him. We're going glamping.
Glamping?
Walter's brow knit in confusion. I don't follow.
Lucky you.
My Aunt Ida Belle tossed a package of beef jerky onto the counter. Give me plain old
sleeping in a tent, cooking over a fire style camping over this new fangled glamour camping crap any day.
Now, Aunt Ida Belle, you agreed that you were going to keep an open mind,
I reminded her. I hadn't known my great-aunt for very long, less than two weeks actually, but it was obvious to anyone with a functioning set of eyeballs that she wasn't a woman who coveted luxury.
We might well be related by blood, but we were as different as night and day. Take the way we were dressed as the perfect example. Aunt Ida Belle had on a pair of well-worn denim jeans that were probably manufactured in the early nineties, a faded Coors beer t-shirt, and a pair of boots that would have looked far more appropriate on a construction site than on the feet of a woman her age. By contrast, I wore a white cotton blouse with cap sleeves, a multi-colored floral cotton skirt, and a pair of low-heeled lemon yellow sandals.
Aunt Ida Belle and her friends had not only welcomed me upon my arrival in Sinful, they'd managed to save my life when I'd been kidnapped by members of the Russian mob. This was no small thing, and I was more grateful than I could ever say.
So you're Miss Prim and Proper, eh?
Walter asked.
I looked up and smiled. He seemed like such a pleasant man, by far the most normal person I'd met in this town. That's right, I am. At least as long as my job at the newspaper holds out.
You need to get back to Boston in a real hurry then?
Not just yet,
I answered. My editor said he'd run some of my old columns until I send him some new ones. He suggested I write a series on Southern manners.
Well, here's your first tip,
Walter said, his eyes darting over to where my aunt was looking at some fishing tackle. Keeping your elders waiting isn't considered very polite in southern society.
When he smiled, his eyes crinkled at the corners.
Duly noted, Walter. Thank you.
I turned my attention back to the box of supplies. The box held a new makeup kit, several bottles of nail polish, fluffy hand towels, facial masks, and a set of body lotions from my favorite Swiss spa. It looks like everything is here. Oh, except for the champagne flutes I ordered.
Champagne?
Aunt Ida Belle crossed over to the counter and looked between Walter and me with a disgusted expression on her face. I don't know which one of you is more crazy. You, Stephanie, for thinking that Gertie, Fortune, and I are up for this level of nonsense, or you, Walter, for setting me up like this. You know I don't cotton with all this girly stuff.
I watched as an amused smile spread across Walter's lined face. Ah, so it was true. Gertie had filled me in on his unrequited feelings for my aunt, but I wasn't sure how fanciful she was being. Now I could quite clearly see a great tenderness in the way he looked at her. I didn't try to hide my smile.
Maybe this whole glamping adventure was going to be more productive than I thought. We could give Aunt Ida Belle a makeover and then invite Walter over for a candlelit dinner.
I have your glasses packed up with the wines you ordered,
Walter said. I'll have Scooter deliver it along with your food order in about an hour. That okay?
I opened my mouth to express my gratitude, but my aunt cut me off.
No, it's not okay. This is about the most fool thing I've ever been talked into. Wine glasses on a camping trip?
She narrowed her eyes. And what's this about food? What's wrong with taking some hot dogs and roasting them over a fire, huh?
Nothing is wrong with hot dogs,
I hurried to assure her. The last thing I wanted to do was get this trip off on the wrong foot. You've all been so warm and welcoming to me since I arrived here in Sinful that I wanted to do something special for you.
Walter's eyes twinkled. I saw some smoked oysters in your box of goodies. You'll like that, won't you, Ida Belle?
She groaned. Just shoot me now.
And then, realizing how ironic her word choice was, her eyes met mine and an unspoken understanding passed between us. A shooting, namely mine, was exactly what we were trying to avoid. I'd been walking around Sinful with an invisible target on my back.
The Russian mob, specifically the Sidorov family, was after me. Based on a tip from an organized crime unit back in Boston, we had every reason to believe that this was the weekend that Boris Sidorov planned to avenge his son's death by taking my life. I reached up and touched my pearl necklace for comfort. As brave a face as I was attempting to put on, I was more than a little scared, so I welcomed the chance to distract myself with a girls-only glamping trip. Although I knew my companions were reluctant participants, I also knew they were willing body guards. And I was grateful. Deeply and desperately grateful.
"Well, let's work on my order now, Aunt Ida Belle said.
I want some corn chips and cheese dip to go with that jerky. Let's see, how about a twelve pack of beer and some ear plugs to drown out Gertie's snores. She looked around the store as if she was taking a silent inventory of what she'd need for our weekend away.
That ought to about do it, Walter." She opened up her wallet and drew out a small wad of bills, which she handed over to him.
He counted them out but she'd given him too much. He held out a couple of twenties, but she waved them away.
Tell you what, Walter,
she said, intentionally not meeting my gaze, why don't you do me a favor and throw a couple of extra rounds of ammo in that box for me?
AS GERTIE'S BEAT-UP, rusted-out old Cadillac bumped over a rutted road somewhere deep in the Louisiana Bayou, I made a mental note to