Bayou Justice Read Online Free Page B

retaliate.”
    â€œThat settles it. I’m going to find him and talk reason to him right now.” Luc lifted his case.
    Felicia’s hand stopped him. “What are you going to do if he won’t listen to you?”
    â€œThen I’ll think of something else. If I have to, I can move away and get a more permanent job, buy a house for you and Mom. With this last job, my reputation is solid enough now that any accounting agency would be thrilled to hire me on full time.”
    â€œDon’t be silly. I know you prefer consulting. If Frank proposes, then you don’t have to worry about me. I don’t want to be a burden anymore.”
    â€œYou’re not a burden. You’re my sister, and I love you.”
    â€œI love you, too.” Her hand moved to squeeze his. “You shouldn’t have to fight my battles as well as your own.”
    â€œIt’s high time someone stood up to him.”
    â€œAnd you think that person is you?”
    He squeezed her hand back. “Who better?” With God’s guidance.

    The purple hue of the setting sun nearly stole CoCo’s breath. She jerked her gaze from the window and laced her boots with haste. Only a few minutes of daylight remained, and she still needed to track two of the gators on her list. If she could prove they were multiplying at a less-than-normal rate, she could get more grant money for research from the Wetlands Preservation Center. And if her theory was correct, it could reduce the limits during hunting season. If only the cooyon from the State Wildlife and Fisheries would listen to her explanation.
    Hunters…just the thought of them made her spine turn to grits. They weren’t supposed to hunt any of the yellow-tagged gators, yet four were still unaccounted for since a month ago. Tracking these reptiles was her life’s work—why she’d gone to college and graduated with a degree in environmental protection. She’d loved the bayous and swamps she called home and felt compelled to do her part to save them. She still did.
    CoCo shut her bedroom door and whisked down the hall. Her fingers itched to fire up her airboat and get on the water. She made the turn at the top of the stairs, gripped the banister and then took the first step.
    Whispers halted her movement. Coming from her baby sister’s room.
    She backtracked up the step she’d just taken and moved to Tara’s door. Pressing her ear against the wood, CoCo held her breath and listened.
    She recognized the mumbled words. An incantation of a gris-gris. Icy fingers tickled down her spine.
    Jerking the door open, CoCo glared at her sister.
    Tara sat cross-legged in the middle of her bed, a voodoo doll held in one hand, red paint dripping from a brush in the other. The doll already had two streaks across its body.
    â€œWhat’re you doing?” CoCo placed her hands on her hips.
    Her sister didn’t even bother to try to hide her actions. Instead, she lifted her chin and met CoCo’s stare. “What you’re too scared to do.”
    CoCo inhaled through her nose, biting back the acidic retort stinging her tongue. “Tara, I’ve told you not to do this.” “I’ve told you—I’m twenty-four years old and you can’t tell me what to do anymore.” She tossed her long hair over her shoulder. Being outside in the summer had lightened it with streaks from the sun. “Besides, you’re just mad because Grandmere pays attention to me now.”
    Guilt at Tara’s even being exposed to voodoo nearly strangled her. “That’s not it at all. You know better. She’s only teaching you because I refused to learn anymore.”
    â€œYou’re just jealous.” Tara’s words might have sounded angry, but CoCo detected the hurt behind them.
    â€œOh, Tara.” She sat on the foot of the bed, her fingers absentmindedly tugging at loose threads in the pink coverlet. “I stopped