It was almost eight o’clock before Beau made it back to Mudbug. After his conversation with the garage manager, he’d called a buddy who knew something about explosives and had agreed to come immediately and take a look at the car. His friend verified the manager’s assessment of the situation, but poking around the engine for a while and studying some of the pieces recovered from the blast, he concluded that whoever had constructed the bomb was no expert.
Damn internet.
All you needed was an ISP and Google and information of all sorts was at your fingertips. Beau parked in front of the hotel and rushed inside. He knew Maryse had been with Sabine the entire time, but ever since he’d found out about the bomb, he’d been counting the seconds until he could see Sabine with his own two eyes. The peanut oil had been clever and could have been deemed an accident, but strapping a bomb to someone’s car was an act of desperation, and that wasn’t a good sign at all.
Beau hurried up the stairs and knocked on Sabine’s door. Maryse gave him a brief quiz, then unlocked the door and let him into the room. He paused for a moment as he stepped inside, not sure what to think of the display. There was food everywhere—canned goods, boxes of crackers, chips, a loaf of bread, peanut butter, three different varieties of cookies, and he couldn’t even count how many pieces of chocolate candies.
Sabine sat cross-legged on the bed, a stack of photo albums and discarded chocolate candy wrappers in front of her. She looked up at him and smiled.
“Please tell me this did not come from either of your houses,” he said.
“No,” Sabine reassured him. “It was a, uh, wellmeaning friend.”
Beau glanced around at the grocery store display. “She kinda overdid it, huh?”
Sabine grimaced. “She tends to overdo everything.”
“Did you find out anything about the car?” Maryse asked.
Beau paused, not wanting to tell them about the bomb until he knew more about the device used and who had the ability to design it. His buddy had promised him that information as soon as possible. “Something caused the fuel line to catch fire,” he said finally, “but the manager’s still looking into it. We should know more by tomorrow.”
Maryse rose from the chair in the corner and picked up a stack of papers sitting on top of the scanner Raissa had loaned Sabine. “Looks like my shift is over.” Sabine rose from the bed and Maryse gave her a hug. “I’ve got to go feed the cat, and I’ll take a look at all of this tonight.” She looked at Beau. “Unless you need me to stay here tonight.”
“No,” Beau said. “I moved to the room with the adjoining door. That way Sabine can still have her space and I can indulge my paranoid, overprotective tendencies.”
Maryse grinned. “It’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you.” She stepped out of room and gave Sabine a wave. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” she said and closed the door before Sabine could even formulate a reply.
“I should really get new friends,” Sabine said.
Beau laughed. “I like her. The way she goes after life full speed, she probably doesn’t have a lot of regrets.”
“Ha. Before you start heralding all her living-life-with-gusto qualities, I’m going to inform you that prior to drawing the short end of the someone’s-trying-to-murder-me stick, Maryse was one of the worst introverts ever.”
“No way. Really?”
“She used to live in this two-room cabin on the bayou. You couldn’t even get to it without a boat, unless you wanted to swim with the gators. If she ran out of food, she’d go fishing before she’d drive into town to the general store. It was nothing for me to go a month without seeing her, unless Mildred and I ganged up on her.”
Beau stared at Sabine. “I never would have guessed any of that. What changed?”
“Well, someone trying to kill you tends to force you to take a closer look at your life, although I never really understood how much until now. And there was Luc.”
“So the handsome hero clinched the deal.” Beau reached over to the dresser and grabbed a bottle of water, looking for any distraction from the fact that he was in a hotel, with Sabine, alone.
Sabine smiled. “A storybook ending.”
Beau nodded. “Not bad considering it was a horror story.”
Sabine sobered. “Speaking of which, I know I’m working on a sequel, so why don’t you go ahead and tell me what you didn’t want to say in front of Maryse.”
Beau struggled to maintain his composure. “What makes you think I’m hiding anything?”
Sabine shrugged. “I just know.”
“So now you’re psychic?”
“No,” Sabine said and frowned. “I just know you weren’t giving us the whole story. As much as I’ve been trying to avoid it, I’m drawn to you in a way I’ve never felt before and can’t explain given the length of our relationship. It’s like we’re connected on some different level.” She laughed. “I know that’s probably all too woo-woo for you, but if I had a more scientific explanation, I’d give it to you.”
Beau couldn’t put his feelings into words, either. “I know exactly what you’re talking about, and I don’t have an explanation either, scientific or otherwise.”
“So you’re going to tell me about the car.”
Seeing no other way around it, Beau nodded. “It was a bomb.”
Sabine’s eyes grew round and she sucked in a breath. “A bomb. Oh my God. I mean, I was expecting something, but a bomb is so…evil. I know that sounds melodramatic—”
“No,” Beau cut her off. “It doesn’t. I believe evil is alive and well and flourishing in a society that wants to excuse away abhorrent behaviors. I sometimes think some people are just born bad.”
Sabine moved closer to Beau and placed her hand on his arm. “I’m glad you’re here with me. There’s an inner peace I have when I’m with you that I don’t otherwise.”
“You just feel safe.”
“No. It’s more than that. I can’t explain it.”
“Then don’t.” Beau leaned forward and brushed his lips against Sabine’s. He waited for her to pull away, and when she didn’t, he moved closer to her and pressed his lips to hers.