Mystery on the Bayou

                                                                                        Chapter 9

                                                          I Get Along With the Help of My Friends

     Jessie, Esther, Doogie, Floyd and Ron stood just outside the shack wondering what to do next.  Suddenly there was a swishing noise and given the state of nerves they all suffered, the small group disappeared into a small bunch of trees beside the pathway.  The friends heard heavy footsteps trodding along the side of house where Jessie and the others had been standing.  "Uh oh," Essie breathed.  Then a loud voice said, "You can come out now!"

     Everyone recognized that booming voice.  They all hurried from their hiding places and Jessie said, "Frank.  What kept you?"  "How did you knew we were here?"  Ron asked him.  "I went to check on Jessie and Esther and...."  "Wait a minute," Doogie whispered and looking at all of them as though they were nuts, "The bad guy's in that shack.  Should we be talking this loudly?"

     "Don't worry," the sheriff said, "My deputies, Clark and Mike have him in custody," he assured them.  Just then the group heard the growling of two engines and then the sheriff's cruisers taking off down the road.  "Now, back to what I was saying," the sheriff begin, "I went to check on Jessie and Esther and saw the cab of your semi parked near the camper Ron.  So I knew you were back." 

     They suddenly all turned to eye the road in front of the house, for they had heard a rumbling sound.  The group saw a tow truck laboring down the soggy dirt lane to get to the red car.  "Well, they'll have that outta there in a jiffy," Frank said.  "Your story," Essie said impatiently.  The sheriff chuckled, "Oh yeah.  Well your door was unlocked Jessie," and he paused to gave her a critical look, "So I went in.  I looked everywhere in the house and couldn't find you two."

     "So I went outside.  I looked all around and then I looked across the river.  I was shocked and I nearly couldn't breathe when I saw you all standing there beside that shack.  I recognized the red car immediately.  So I got a hold of my deputies and told them to get over there, but not to run their sirens, and wait until I got there to do anything; but they were to watch the front door.  As you all know there isn't a back door; lucky for us, bad for the bad guy.  He had no place to run."

     "Now, I would like to asked some questions," Frank said, looking first at Jessie.  "What possessed you and Essie to go over there?"  Esther piped up right away and said, "It was my fault."  Then before the sheriff could answer, Doogie said, "No.  It was mine.  I saw that red car when I was boating some tourists this morning and I ran and got Floyd here and we went to tell Jessie about it."

     "And none of us wanted that guy to get away," Essie said passionately, "because he could be the guy that's trying to kill Ron.  So we went over there to keep an eye on him, so to speak, until we could get a hold of you or one of your deputies to come and arrest the guy," Essie said, ending with a very deep breath.

     "Thank you Essie for that very detailed explanation," the sheriff told her.  "And me and Doogie do have a couple of target pistols, that we were prepared to use, to keep him there until you or someone got there to help us," Floyd said, with half a smile.  Frank said nothing about what he'd just heard, instead he said, "Not that I'm not just thrilled to see you Ron," Ron grinned at him guiltily, "But what prompted you to come back?"

     "Well, I thought it was just to get my trip sheets I'd left in the camper.  But after I got them I couldn't resist taking a peek in the window of the main house, to see if I could get a glimpse of Jessie and Esther and see that they were okay.  Well, I couldn't find them anywhere, and that scared me.  I knew if they'd gone to town, Jessie would have locked the door."  So I went through the house to the back yard.  They weren't there either.  But as I was about to leave, I felt compelled to look across the river.  It was as if God tapped me on the shoulder, and said, look over there.  It was so powerful, I did it and then I saw them.  So I made my way over here."