Free The Helena Diaries - Trouble in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law Series Novellas) by Jana DeLeon

for a second, then bolted downstairs faster than I’d ever seen her move before. I hoped she’d head straight to Mildred’s room, as I was certain the hotel owner slept with a loaded gun, but Saint Maryse went barreling out the back door, obviously not wanting to risk anyone else’s safety.  
    I respected the girl, but her damned code of ethics made it really hard to protect her.
    I whirled around and assumed a linebacker position in front of the back door, but the killer ran right through me and barreled out the door and after Maryse. I stood in complete and utter shock.  
    Johnny was the killer!
    Maryse’s daddy’s best friend. Why on earth would he want Maryse dead? And more importantly, what was I going to do to stop it?
    It hit me in an instant and I whirled around and ran through the front of the hotel and down the street. A wave of relief passed over me when I saw that Luc’s car was still parked at the curb. I knew I’d never get there in time running, so I started waving my hands and screaming at the top of my lungs.
    I must have pretty damned good lungs because Luc jumped out of his car a second after I let out my wail and came running toward me. I managed to get out a couple of choked words, and he tore off for the alley behind the hotel.
    I slumped to the ground and lay sprawled in the middle of the street. Between the running and the screaming, I didn’t have an ounce of breath left in me.
    When I heard the shot, I jumped up and started running again.
    Hell, I didn’t need to breathe dead.
    I was praying like I’d never prayed before as I rounded the corner to the alley. What I saw stopped me in my tracks.  
    Luc had a very-alive and sobbing Maryse wrapped in his arms. Johnny lay dead on the ground behind them. My relief was so strong that I felt dizzy and staggered backward to lean against the hotel wall. Police sirens sounded on Main Street. I took one final look at Maryse, just to make sure she was okay, then slipped silently around the corner. They had enough to deal with without having me in the mix.
    The paramedics rushed past me and I smiled.
    I’d never been this happy in my entire life.
     
    Wherein Helena gives good advice, for a change
    I stayed out of sight for the rest of the fray, and it took most of the night. The paramedics, police, DEA, and an assortment of hotel patrons trailed through the hotel, taking statements, asking questions, and handing out hugs and advice. It was a bit overwhelming for me, and I was hiding in the next room listening through the wall. I could only imagine how Maryse must feel. For someone who preferred to live alone in a remote part of the bayou, all the people pawing at her had to have her feeling claustrophobic.  
    I stayed on the other side of the wall and took it all in—Maryse’s insistence that I’d been murdered and Harold had not been the culprit, Luc’s announcement that Hank had fled the hospital, leaving behind only signed divorce documents for Maryse but no note, Mildred’s hovering, Sabine’s relief. It was a lot to absorb.
    And then the bomb dropped—Luc told Maryse that her potential cure for cancer had actually been the result of illegal dumping. Between that and having her father’s best friend try to kill her, I figured she had been given more to grieve in a short span of time than most people had in a decade.
    That was the final straw for Maryse.  
    The thing that sent her upstairs to be alone.
    I gave Maryse a couple of hours to process everything, but I knew I couldn’t stay away forever. Finally, I made my way upstairs to talk to her.
    Maryse looked a bit surprised to see me. She’d thought since I hadn’t shown up before that the whole mess might have caused me to ascend, or whatever. She appeared a bit aggrieved that it hadn’t. I couldn’t really blame her. I’d brought nothing but trouble into her life, and trouble at a level most people never experienced.  
    But none of that stopped me from having my say.
    I told