Page 64 of Beau

“They can’t come up with sufficient evidence or keep witnesses alive long enough to take him to court,” Remy said.

The knot in Beau’s gut tightened. “And he was in Aurelie’s cottage. Did they find anything on the video footage from the château?”

“Yeah.” Remy’s tone didn’t bode well. What could be worse than having Johnny Lansky after Aurelie?

“Were they able to identify the man in black who attacked Aurelie?”

“Yeah. Ever heard of Slash Duon?”

Beau’s stomach roiled. “Fuck.”

“Right?” Remy continued. “He was at the masquerade ball. They identified him by the dragon tattoo on his left hand.”

“How the hell did he get in?”

“They figure his ticket was purchased under the name of a recognizable donor, and he had an ID made to match.”

“So much for security.” Beau shoved a hand through his hair. “He was in the ballroom and probably followed Aurelie when she left the building.” He was still kicking himself for not sticking with her when she’d gone down the hallway leading to the bathrooms.

A goddamn hitman. He could easily have stabbed her, snapped her neck or shot her before tossing her into the bayou.

“As soon as I heard those two names,” Remy was saying, “I passed them to Swede. He’s been running background checks on some of the corporate talking heads Miss Anderson met with in her efforts to protect the bayous. He didn’t find much on the internet, but when he took the names to the dark web, he found images of some of her CEOs at parties in New Orleans.”

“By chance, was Patrick Holzhauer at JBK Chemicals one of those CEOs?” he asked.

“As a matter of fact, yes,” Remy said.

Beau braced himself, knowing the parties weren’t what was important so much as who was there with the CEOs.

“Here’s the thing,” Remy said. “In each of the images, the different CEOs were with Manny Marceaux.”

“As in the Cajun Mafia kingpin, Manny Marceaux?” Beau breathed in and back out. “When I was a kid, my father told us stories about the Marceaux family in New Orleans. He warned us that whatever we did, stay away from them. And Manny was the worst of them. What is he…in his seventies now?”

“Rumors on the dark web say he’s got cancer,” Remy said. “Some think he’s making a big push to get as many of his people in place as he can before he dies to make sure the family carries on, even without him to lead them.”

Beau shook his head. “Then what’s his end game? Why pick on a bayou activist?”

“She’s causing problems with the people he has in place. Maybe he’s getting kickbacks from the companies.”

“And when the EPA shuts them down, they don’t have money for payola?” Beau paced the length of the porch and back. “Still, she can’t warrant two of his best hitmen.”

“Sorry, buddy,” Remy said. “Your client hit the jackpot on the best of the worst. Do you want me to send backup?”

“Yes.” Beau groaned. Aurelie was already chafing at having him running interference. “No. At least not yet. Let me bring Aurelie up to date and let her get used to the idea before we overwhelm her.”

“Will do,” Remy said. “But don’t wait too long to ask for reinforcements.”

“Roger.”

“Out here.” Remy ended the call.

Beau stared out at the bayou, the water so still it reflected the puffs of white clouds drifting overhead.

“Fuck,” he muttered and turned to find Aurelie standing in the doorway, dressed in navy slacks, a white silk blouse and black heels. She’d pulled her dark hair back into a neat bun at the nape of her neck. She’d applied makeup that accentuated her beautiful brown eyes and a dark red lipstick.

She held Lady in her arms, a frown denting her forehead. “What’s wrong?”

Where did he begin?

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