Page 75 of Longest Ride

“Did you take her somewhere in your boat?” I asked Pierre.

“Nope. Did not.”

“Where is she, Pierre?” asked Annie.

“Don’t know. Sorry.”

“Carl came here to rent a boat, so you must have taken the two of them someplace,” said Annie. “Isn’t that Carl’s truck parked over there?”

“Could be, I guess.”

“Check the plate Harlan.”

“Copy that.”

“Where did you take them?” asked Annie.

Pierre shrugged. “No place. I didn’t take them no place, ma’am. Honest. A guy met Carl here and they took the girl and left. Last I seen them, they were headed down river.” He pointed to his left.

“But you have no idea where they were headed?” asked Virge.

“Do not. None of my business what Carl does. We both mind our own.”

“But you told his mother a girl shot him,” said Annie. “How did you know that if you weren’t with them?”

A flicker in Pierre’s eyes. “I heard it a day later from a fisherman who stopped in for a beer.”

“What was his name?”

Pierre shrugged and wouldn’t say anything else.

“Yep, that pickup belongs to Carl Levron,” I said.

“He and Tammy aren’t here, but Carl’s truck is.”

We piled into Annie’s Gladiator, and she was pissed. “Pierre took them someplace and he’s afraid to tell us where.”

“What does that mean?” asked Virge.

“It means the boat guy is afraid of the people who have Tammy,” said Mick. “She’s a fuckin goner.”

“Can we make Pierre tell us where she is?” asked Virge.

“No chance in hell of that,” said Mick. “Pierre is scared shitless of those people. He’ll never tell us.”

“Does this mean we’re going home without Tammy?” I asked.

“We have to go back, boys. This is a dead end for us. We’ll have to find Tammy some other way.”

Gold Mine Hotel and Casino. Lafayette. Louisiana.

Annie pointed at the sign for the hotel and Mick pulled into the parking lot. “It’s late and we’ll stay here tonight, have dinner inthe steak house and you boys can think about going back home tomorrow.”

“Sounds good to me. I ain’t never been so fuckin tired, Mom. I need to lie down and sleep.”

“Me too,” said Virge. “If we can’t find Tammy, we have to go home and help Dad with the fuckin murders.”

Chapter Fifteen

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