What Washes Up Read Online Free PDF Page B

answer that. She wasn’t sorry that either man was dead. She folded her arms across her chest. She didn’t want to talk anymore about the subject. She was unused to it, and its foreignness left her feeling cold and unprotected.
    “Did you kill Fain?”
    “Did I kill Fain?” he asked, surprised. “Am I now under suspicion for every homicide that takes place?”
    She didn’t answer him. He sighed and almost smiled.
    “To be honest, I asked you to meet me because I thought maybe you had,” he said.
    “Me?”
    “It crossed my mind, yes.”
    “I was with Wyatt and Deputy Dwight Shultz when that boat was set on fire.”
    “But it was set on fire,” he said.
    “What’s your point?” she asked.
    “If you want a shoot a drug dealer, you do it and be done with it,” he said. “You don’t bother with symbolism.”
    “Well, I didn’t do it.”
    “Clearly,” he said. “But it seems to me that someone tried to make it look like you might have, someone who didn’t know you’d have such a good alibi. I could amend that by saying someone tried to make it look like one of us might have done it.”
    “Why would someone think that you would be a likely suspect?”
    “You suspected me.”
    “That’s because…” Maggie trailed off, shaking her head.
    “Because of what?”
    “Because of this…weird relationship we have going on,” she said, not finding the words that felt more accurate.
    “Well, but we’re not the only people who know about that, are we?” he asked mildly. “People have seen us at Boss, they saw you dance with me at the festival. They might not know the nature of our relationship, but there are quite a few theories going around.”
    Maggie nodded slightly and then shook her head.
    “What’s Wyatt’s theory? I’m sure he has one.”
    “That you want me on your payroll,” she answered.
    “Well, you and I have already cleared that up.”
    “What is your interest, Mr. Boudreaux?” Maggie asked tiredly.
    “It started because you were wronged, horribly, by someone in my family,” he answered. “Now I just like you.”
    He held up a hand, though she hadn’t been ready to say anything. “It’s nothing romantic, I assure you, although that theory’s been bandied about as well.”
    It had never actually occurred to Maggie that his interest would be sexual, and if the rest of their conversation wasn’t so upsetting, she would have laughed.
    “Did you know Charlie Harper, Mr. Boudreaux?”
    “No. I’d never heard of him until I saw his name in the paper.”
    “Why would he mention your name?”
    “I don’t know the answer to that question, Maggie. But I didn’t send him.”
    Maggie didn’t know if she really believed him, or if she just felt like she did because she wanted to.
    “I can’t keep all this from Wyatt anymore,” she said. “I can’t keep working the Wilmette case. I never should have handled your nephew’s case. I’m going to have to tell Wyatt about my connection with them.”
    “Do you need to do that for professional reasons or personal ones?”
    “Both.”
    “You care for him. Wyatt.”
    Denial was on the tip of her tongue, but who was he going to tell? “Yes,” she said simply.
    Boudreaux nodded. “Good.”
    They looked at each other a moment, then he broke the silence. “Do what you need to do, Maggie. We’ll let the chips fall where they may. I’m a lot more careful than old Sport was.”
    For just a moment, Maggie felt a flash of protectiveness for Boudreaux. It confused and upset her, and she needed time and space. Space that he wasn’t in.
    “I need to go,” she said shortly. “I’m sorry. Goodnight, Mr. Boudreaux.”
    “Goodnight, Maggie.”
    Maggie turned and walked back the way they’d come. After a few steps, though, she stopped and turned around. He was still leaning against the rail, watching her.
    “For the record, I want it to be true,” she said.
    “For what to be true?” he asked.
    “That you didn’t try to hurt