Bayou Paradox by Robin Caroll Page A

“Just make sure you stay off my land while you’re getting whatever else you need. You’ve been warned.”
    â€œTrespassers will be prosecuted?”
    Tara narrowed her eyes at the woman’s condescending tone, then smiled. “No, trespassers will be shot and fed to the gators.”
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    â€œDo you have any idea where my sister is?”
    Bubba turned from the nurses’ station and stared at Alyssa LeBlanc Devereaux. Her husband trailed her, wearing a sheepish look. “I don’t know.”
    Alyssa shook her head. “I can’t believe she didn’t call me and isn’t here now.”
    â€œHave you tried her cell phone? I talked to her earlier. She was fine.” Bubba shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He’d dropped off the dishes from the LeBlancs’ at the lab, grabbed a quick sandwich and headed straight to the hospital, sure he’d see Tara.
    He’d been wrong. As he usually was in regard to her. Beautiful, but frustrating.
    â€œI’m sure she is. But she’s not here, and she’s not answering her cell. Someone should be with Grandmere all the time.”
    Bubba rubbed his chin, dismissing the stubble this time. “We can only go back into the ICU to visit for fifteen minutes every couple of hours. The rest of the time is just hanging out in the waiting room.” Boy, no wonder Tara had berated him for calling Alyssa. He’d forgotten how demanding she could be when provoked. He should’ve remembered. But in his defense, he’d been in ICU himself most of the time she’d been working to find out who attacked him.
    A fact he’d never forget.
    Jackson lay an arm across his wife’s back and extended his free hand to Bubba. “How’s your aunt?”
    Grabbing his old fraternity brother’s palm, Bubba gave a half shrug. “No change.” And every hour that passed had him more worried. Neither Aunt Tanty’s nor Mrs. LeBlanc’s condition had been upgraded from critical, and the fact that the doctors still had no clue what had caused their comatose condition concerned him greatly. Not to mention Tara’s admonitions. Or were they accusations?
    Jackson smiled at his wife. “Why don’t you check with the nurses to see if you can sneak in to see your grandmother while I talk to Bubba for a minute?”
    She gave her husband a knowing look, but complied. Jackson moved with Bubba toward a corner in the hall. “Listen, I tried to broach the subject of voodoo with Al, but she went ballistic. I couldn’t get anything useful out of her without triggering her curiosity about why I was interested.”
    Bubba sighed. Just what he’d been afraid of. “I guess I’m on my own here.”
    â€œNot necessarily. Al called CoCo and Luc. They’re cutting their honeymoon short and catching a flight home tomorrow. If anybody would know about the voodoo stuff, it’d be CoCo.”
    And she was less of a thorn in Tara’s side than Alyssa, that much Bubba knew for certain. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
    Jackson glanced over at his wife, who was giving a nurse an earful. “Tell me what you’re thinking, pardner.”
    â€œWhen I look at both cases side by side, the only common thing between them that excludes others in town is voodoo.”
    â€œWhat’s your gut tell you?”
    Bubba pondered that question for a moment. Was he letting Tara’s rantings skew his cop instincts? No. The scary part was that his hunch lined right up with her convictions that some person, some outside influence was the cause of what happened to Aunt Tanty and Mrs. LeBlanc.
    â€œI think the voodoo connection is the key to finding out what’s going on.”
    Jackson paused as Alyssa turned from the nurses’ station. “Let me see what I can find out. We’ll be staying at the house, so I’ll nose around a bit.”
    Eyeing Alyssa’s