Rita Herron - Say You Love Me

His mother patted her on the back. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. Fine, thank you.” Her eyes caught Jean-Paul’s for a moment, and he detected a wariness that made him more curious about her past and what she wasn’t saying.

He lowered his voice, aware of the restaurant patrons. “Don’t take this lightly, ladies. Trust me, this guy is one sicko. You don’t want to wind up like the young woman we found.” A shudder nearly tore through him at the very thought.

Catherine and Stephanie exchanged a silent sisterly look as if they were preparing to gang up on him. He didn’t give a damn. Better they be mad at him and alive than the contrary. Tonight, he’d call Catherine’s husband, explain the situation. Not that he’d have to force the man to protect her. In spite of Cat’s protests, Shawn guarded her and their daughter like a watchdog. And he’d sic his other brothers on Miss Independent Stephanie. At least Steph carried a gun.

“Tell us more,” Stephanie said over the rattle of silverware and dishes at the neighboring table. “The only thing the news reported was that a woman had been killed in the bayou.”

“We haven’t identified her yet or released any information, so I can’t talk about it.” Jean-Paul threw some money on the table, then did the usual dance with his mother about not paying.

“Maman, we’ve been over this before. I won’t eat here free.”

She huffed but kissed her pinched fingers, then placed her fingers on his cheek. “We will go to church Sunday and pray for the girl and her family, oui?”

“I’ll try to make it, Maman.”

“Bring Britta, too.” She slanted Britta a sideways wink. “We always have room for one more at our table.”

Britta shook her head. “Thank you so much, Mrs. Dubois, but I couldn’t impose.”

“Impose?” His maman waved the napkin again, this time at Jean-Paul. “You tell her she could never impose. We love company. Now, you bring her, Jean-Paul.”

“We’ll see,” he said softly. He lay his hand over his maman’s for a moment and squeezed, his gaze catching the odd look on Britta’s face. Did she think it was strange that he and his family showed their affection in public? Or did the family scene make her uncomfortable?

Why did he care what she thought? When the hurricane had stolen his parents’ home and business, they’d banded together to rebuild their lives.

The tragedies had taught him about what was most important. Material things could be replaced, but loved ones couldn’t. But he didn’t want his family getting the wrong idea about their relationship.

Besides, a madman might be after Britta. He’d protect her with his life but he refused to lead the killer back to his own family’s door.

His cell phone jangled and he pressed the phone to his ear to hear over the din of laughter and voices. “Detective Dubois.”

“Dubois, it’s Carson. Listen, there’s a bartender down here at the House of Love who recognizes our victim.”

A break they needed. “I’ll be right there.” He stood and gestured toward Britta. “We need to go.”

“Always working,” his mother hissed.

Stephanie punched his arm. “Stay safe, brother.”

Catherine hugged him. “Yeah, watch your back. You’re not invincible either, you know.”

He nodded, then slid his hand to Britta’s waist as they left the restaurant. It was out of the way to walk her home, but the House of Love was a divey bar with nasty floors, cheap strippers and raunchy patrons.

“What’s wrong?” she asked as they stepped into the cloying humidity.

“My partner found someone who recognizes our victim. I’ll take you home, then I’ll go talk to him.”

She lifted her hair off her neck to cool herself, drawing his gaze to a tiny scar beneath her right earlobe. “That’s right around the corner.”

“I know, but it’s not the kind of place I usually take a woman.”

Emotions flickered in her eyes…relief, surprise. Then she shrugged nonchalantly. “I’ve seen worse,” she said. “Besides I’m not the sweet, domestic type like your little sisters. This is about the case. It’s not personal.”

He shook his head, but his body hardened at the way her eyes darkened in the moonlight. “No, not personal at all.”

And he would keep reminding himself of that, even if she decided to turn her seductive powers on him.

After all, she wasn’t shy or the wholesome girl next door like his sisters. She didn’t seem to like the family scene, either. And she had refused his mother’s invitation to dinner as if a homey gathering would bore her.

Worse, she printed erotic confessions in a magazine. Watching a performer take money for stripping probably wouldn’t even faze her.

THE NIGHT FELT as if it would never end.

Britta entered the wall-to-wall packed House of Love, fighting the memories that rose from the depths of the forgotten to haunt her. Thick smoke, sweat, beer and the stench of tawdry sex filled the air; the hint of drunken lust added a layer of tension over the sea of anonymous faces.

Nausea filled her. She’d grown up in places just like this. Had watched her mother entertain night after night. Then seen her duck into the curtained-off areas to perform private lap dances….

“It’s not a bad way to make a living,” her mother had told her one night when she’d caught Britta staring through the curtain. “It’s just sex, nothing more.”

No emotions. Just the simple exchange of bodily fluids and money.

Disgust gnawed at Britta’s throat as she banished the images. She’d hated seeing her mother degrade herself. Hated even more the strange men’s grunts and groans at night, watching her mother delve into booze and drugs, knowing filthy hands touched her….

“Come on,” Jean-Paul mumbled, “I see the bartender over there.”

The strobe light blinked to the beat of the contemporary rock music, the center stage occupied with two busty half-naked women gyrating and dancing around poles. A slender black girl tossed off her spangled top and double-Ds swayed as she rode the pole, tassels of silver and bright yellow twirling as she bounced her breasts. Beside her a brunette with three-inch red nails—and red stilettos to match—tossed her gold top into the groping milieu of men. Catcalls erupted as her pasties followed. Playing to the audience’s excitement, she crawled across the stage on hands and knees, slithering her ass upward. The black girl shimmied, then began to slowly peel away her G-string, inch by inch, teasing the men thrusting dollar bills toward her.

Jean-Paul coaxed Britta through the crowd toward the opposite end of the bar, casting only a quick glance at the stage. “It’s a damn shame girls turn to that kind of lifestyle. Didn’t their mothers teach them any better?”

The censure in his voice raised her defenses. “Not every girl comes from a Cosby home like yours, Detective Dubois.”

He slanted a frown over his shoulder. “Not everyone who has problems turns to drugs, alcohol or hooking, either.”

The jab hit home and Britta clamped her mouth shut, humiliation heating her face. How could he possibly know what drove some people to make the choices they did? She’d never understood her mother, but she claimed she’d worked at the bars for Britta, so they could survive.

“You’re a bad girl, Britta. Just like your mama.”

The words echoed in her ear, reminding her of her roots and the vast difference between her and this cop. She wondered about his personal life, about the woman in the photo at his parents’ restaurant. His girlfriend? Lover? Wife? Where was she now?

He wasn’t wearing a ring. And his family would have mentioned if he was married. And the woman…she’d looked so sweet, delicate. Nothing like Britta.