“I will give it to the man. He’s good,” Roxie said. “He didn’t break character even once. Major and I were waiting for him when the fishing boats came in. Arrested him right there on the dock and all he did was ask about how Carrie was. He gave some song and dance about how weird she’d been acting lately. I think he’s setting it up to look like she’s crazy.”

“The medical records will disagree with him.” Lila had explained it all as he’d driven them from Papillon up here to New Orleans. She’d described how Carrie couldn’t have possibly given herself the injuries documented in her records. In this, the Petrie family’s desire to be isolated worked against them. There was no one else to blame the abuse on since Carrie rarely left the island. Or had been allowed to leave the island.

Why the hell hadn’t he seen it?

“Well, he’s locked up nice and tight for the time being,” Roxie assured him. “I’m going to stay overnight and Major’s here until midnight. Vince comes on for the night shift, so we’ve got this covered. Judge won’t be in until eleven tomorrow. I’ve been told he goes fishing every morning and no one is to disturb him.”

Ah, the joys of small-town living. “I’ll be back before then, but it’s late. We checked into a hotel for the night. Noelle is going to stay at Beth’s, and Mabel said she would take Peanut home with her. I think Lila needs a night away.”

“She probably saved Carrie’s life, but you have to know this fight isn’t over yet. Bobby, for all his calm, isn’t going to go down easy. He’ll try to get Carrie back.”

“But you didn’t have trouble bringing him in?”

“Not a lick,” Roxie replied. “Like I said, it was almost like he knew this would happen one day. He’s smooth, and that makes him more dangerous in my mind. There’s something dark in that one. He did ask about Lila.”

A chill went through Armie. “What exactly did he say?”

He turned and looked back into the room he’d found for them. He still had connections here in the city, and he’d managed to get them a table at Arnaud’s. She’d seemed to relax after two Sazeracs. He was fairly certain a lot of memories were playing through her head, and none of them good. If he’d taken her home, she likely would have insisted on going back to the clinic and updating files. She would have found an excuse, but he’d put her in a corner, telling her he was too tired to drive.

She needed someone to take her out of her head for a while, and that was his new favorite occupation.