Free Awash (The Forgotten Coast Florida Suspense Series Book 6) by Dawn Lee McKenna Page B

having to tell Wyatt she was going over to Boudreaux’s to possibly do him a favor. On the other hand, she had a sense of both relief and anticipation.
    She sighed as she stood up, then tossed her phone into her purse, grabbed her keys and headed down the hall.
    When she got to Wyatt’s office, it was empty. She tapped Dwight on the shoulder as he headed past. “Hey, do you know where Wyatt is?”
    “Oh, hey,” Dwight said. “Yeah, he went to physical therapy, he said.”
    “Oh, yeah,” Maggie answered. “Okay, I’m out of here. See you later, Dwight.”
    “See you, Maggie.”
    Maggie was already halfway down the hall, thankful to be able to put that one off until later. She might as well wait until she knew what Boudreaux wanted, so Wyatt could get worked up about everything at once.

    Paulette answered the door of the hotel room. She was wearing lavender shorts and a tee shirt with smiley faces all over it. Maggie couldn’t imagine the woman smiling, and thought someone else must have bought her the shirt.
    Maggie stepped inside and let her eyes adjust to the dimness of the room. Zoe was sitting at the small round table, an open textbook and her laptop in front of her.
    “Hey, Zoe,” Maggie said, as Paulette shut the door.
    “Hi, Coach,” Zoe said quietly. There were smudges beneath her eyes, and her hair was haphazardly atop her head, held by a plastic clip.
    “I just wanted to stop by for a minute and see how you’re doing.”
    “I’m okay,” the girl answered, not very convincingly.
    “Do you need anything?” Maggie asked her.
    Zoe seemed to think for a second, then shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
    Maggie looked over her shoulder at the aunt. “Ms. Boatwright?”
    The woman shrugged. “Vacation out of this town? I don’t like makin’ her go back there tomorrow.”
    Maggie nodded. “I’m sorry. This was all we could do. We just don’t have the funds to keep you here any longer.”
    “I know that,” Paulette said. “Just talkin’. I feel bad for her. I’d move if I could, but I don’t have the money. I waited almost two years to get that place.”
    Maggie nodded, then looked back at Zoe. “I’m sorry, Zoe.”
    The girl lifted one thin shoulder. “I have to go back sometime.”
    Maggie swallowed, wished she had something better to offer her.
    “Is anything happening?” Zoe asked her. “I mean, are you going to be able to find out who he was?”
    “We’re working on it really hard, Zoe,” Maggie said. “I promise.”
    Zoe nodded. “I know.”
    Maggie’s helplessness to give her a better answer, a safer life to return to, made her eager to leave. That made her feel like a coward. “I have to go, Zoe,” she said anyway. “But if you need me, you call me. Any time, any hour. Okay?”
    “Okay,” Zoe said, and Maggie saw her swallow hard. She wanted to scoop her up, hold her, take her away.
    “I’ll walk you out,” Paulette said. “I need a smoke.”
    Maggie followed the woman out the door. Paulette walked to the railing, pulled her cigarettes out of her shorts pocket and lit one. Maggie waited beside her, watching the sky turn darker. The cars passing by on Hwy 98 had their headlights on.
    “My brother got me off of crack when I was seventeen years old,” Paulette said after she’d blown out of mouthful of smoke. “Loved me off of it. Then, a little later on, I got into meth and hydros. I didn’t get off them till after Mack got killed. Did it by myself.”
    The woman didn’t seem to be asking for praise or validation; she was simply stating facts.
    “That’s quite an accomplishment,” Maggie said. “I’ve heard it’s a horrible process.”
    Paulette shrugged. “So is everything else,” she said. She took another drag, blew the smoke out toward the parking lot. “I ain’t no hero. I need my beer and my cigarettes. Now and then a blunt. But that’s the best I can do.” When she looked over at Maggie, her expression was a challenge.
    “Some people