Free Patricia Dusenbury - Claire Marshall 01 - A Perfect Victim by Patricia Dusenbury Page B

didn't want to see it. The family shrimp boat
was going back out first thing tomorrow. No killer could track him down on the boat. The old man
didn't know where they'd be one day to the next--it depended on the catch and the weather. He'd be
safe, but sanctuary came at a high price, two or three weeks stuck on a thirty-foot boat with his
father and three older brothers giving him orders like he was a little kid.
    He spat into the water. Like I have a choice. He motored back to Ray's, keeping an
eye out for unfamiliar boats.
    He winched his boat out of the water, unscrewed the plugs to let her drain and carefully
hosed off the salt. His boat was top of the line. A sixteen foot fiberglass bateau, it could float in eight
inches of water yet had enough freeboard to handle the Gulf on calm days. His motor was one of the
new four-stroke Hondas. It cost more but ran quieter and used less fuel than any two-stroke. He'd
worked hard to pay for that boat, and he took good care of it.
    At midmorning, the café was empty, but pots bubbling on the stove said Ray hadn't
gone far. Daniel heard voices and checked the back room.
    Ray's fat ass hung out of a booth in the corner, where he was talking to someone. Daniel
couldn't see who. He pushed open the bathroom door. The sign said unisex, but that was a joke.
Obscene suggestions and centerfolds torn from girlie magazines covered all four walls, and some
athlete had drawn a naked woman on the ceiling. If any female had ever walked into this dump,
forget used the bathroom, it was news to him.
    The sports page on top of the tank reminded him that the rest of the paper should be out
front. He hadn't wanted to seem too interested when he was talking to Bill Reese, but he wanted to
learn more about that fire. Like, did the sheriff's department suspect it was no accident? He finished
his business and returned to the front room. The newspaper wasn't on the counter.
    "Hey Ray," he hollered. "Where's the paper?"
    His cousin lumbered out of the back room, a balding man wearing a dirty apron over a
    t-shirt and the biggest pants Levi sold. He carried his morning beer in one hand and the newspaper in
the other.
    "You want the sports page?" He flipped through. "It ain't here."
    "It's in the can. I was looking for the rest."
    Ray put his beer down and leaned on the counter until his nose was inches away from
Daniel's and stared with this bug-eyed look on his face. Then he started shifting his eyes from one
side to the other.
    Daniel drew back. "What's with you? How about getting me a cup of coffee. You got a fresh
pot?" He picked up the front section.
    "Just coffee? Sure you don't want a bowl of gumbo?" Ray lifted the lid off a big pot. He held
the lid in one hand and twitched the thumb of his other hand toward the back room.
    "No thanks." The gumbo smelled good, but he was too worried to be hungry, and Ray's
weird behavior wasn't helping.
    Before he could ask what the hell was going on, Ray got back in his face. "Jason Corlette," he
whispered.
    Daniel caught on. Jason must be here asking about the fire. He nodded to show he got the
message. Jason wasn't a bad guy, but everyone knew he was the sharpest deputy in the department,
which made him the last lawman he wanted to see.
    "Did you hear about the cabin that burned over on Bayou Perdu?" Ray poured a cup of
coffee. "The paper says the propane blew. The owner was inside. A guy named Frank Palmer. You
know who I'm talking about? He'd stop in sometimes, pick up some gumbo to go."
    "I might know him if I saw him."
    "It was one of them tragic things," Ray continued. "Palmer was getting married next
weekend. This woman he was going to marry, she's already a widow. And now her fiancé,
he's gone too. Man, you got to feel for her." Ray wiped the counter with a dirty rag and put the
coffee down. "You didn't hear about this?"
    "Yeah, I did. I ran into Bill Reese and he asked me about it but I couldn't help him." Daniel
spoke loud and clear so that Jason could hear