Chapter Twenty-Six Delphine

The bed is chilly when I wake up. Reaching over, I feel the now cold sheets on Dixie's side and know he's been gone for a long time. Glancing at the clock, I see it's just now turning seven. He must have gotten up very early this morning. Since there is no good reason to stay in bed, I get up to shower and dress.

Downstairs, I feel like I'm suffering from Déjà vu. Olivia is sitting at a table, her distress palpable. Same as yesterday. The only difference is she's not alone. Cleo, Shayna, and Sasha are sitting with her. All three of them of are reading through several documents scattered across the table.

"What's all this?" I ask when I join them.

"Information that Pirate discovered on the disappearances of my co-workers. The two I told you about yesterday. He sent me their missing persons reports and what the police have found so far. Which isn't much."

I select a document that has the picture of a young woman with light brown shoulder-length hair. She has pretty hazel eyes and a kind smile. Talia Bonaparte. She's 27 and a nurse at Tulane Medical Center. She'd been working for Tulane for two weeks, prior to that, she was working at Omega Hospital. Her roommate, a nurse who works at Tulane, reported her missing twenty-four hours after Talia didn't come home after finishing her shift at the hospital. The two had plans to go out dancing with other friends the night she went missing.

I place the document down and pick up the report on the missing doctor. The doctor is two years older than Talia, with short black hair and lovely green eyes. Like Talia, she previously worked at Omega Hospital before transferring over to Tulane. She was last seen at the hospital three days before her sister reported her missing.

"Do they have any leads?" Cleo asks Olivia, who is reading through a police report.

She shakes her head. "Nothing. The detective who is looking into Talia's case stated they have security feed that shows her arriving at work, but they couldn't find any feed showing when she left. He interviewed a coworker who saw her in the locker room after her shift, so they have a timeframe on when she planned on leaving the hospital. But no one saw her leaving."

"That's odd. Maybe she was in a crowd?" Shayna suggests.

"Maybe," Olivia agrees.

"What about the doctor?" Sasha asks.

"A different detective is working her case. He saw the recording of her leaving the hospital, but no clue about what happened to her."

"What about their vehicles?" I ask. "Did they drive to work?"

"They both had cars. The cops found Talia's car abandoned several miles away from the hospital and nowhere near her apartment. They haven't found the doctor's car. She had a Mercedes convertible worth over $100,000. The detective made a note that they tried to use the GPS tracking system, but someone deactivated it."

"You said they have two different detectives working each case. They don't think the two have a connection?" I ask.

"Not that I can tell. Although, each detective has included comments about the other's case. They just haven't stated that they've found a reason to link the cases together."

"I guess it is possible the situations aren't the same," Sasha adds.

"I can't help but feel like they are. But maybe that's because I learned about them at the same time. I made a list of everyone the detectives have spoken to. Since I know a few of them, I think I might call and talk to them. See if they know anything more."

Olivia stuffs the documents back into a folder when Nora and Levi exit the kitchen carrying plates piled high with food. They go back and forth from the kitchen before sitting down to join us. As we dig in, the front door opens and Irish enters. He's wearing a scowl that's even more pronounced than usual.

He nods at us before focusing on Nora. "I got your greenhouses. Took forever. Doesn't help that I got a flat tire on the way back. Hope they're worth the trouble they've caused. I'm fucking exhausted."

"I'm sorry," Nora says, but he waves away her apology on his way to the kitchen. He returns a few minutes later with his breakfast.

"I can help you unload everything," Levi offers.

"Where's Jack? He can do it," Irish says. "I need some sleep."

"He's doing something for Hex," Cleo says with a yawn. "Hex woke me up when Dixie called early this morning."

"We can pitch in and help," Sasha says. "That way, you can get some sleep."

"No, I'll help unload and get everything set up," Irish says. "I can sleep later."

When we finish eating and clearing the tables, we head outside to unload the SUV. We pull out boxes of metal frames and plastic sheeting. Nora's plan is to erect mini greenhouses around each bed. To keep us from tripping over each other, the guys take over moving the boxes from the SUV and placing them next to each bed. While we women split up into groups of two and start constructing the greenhouses. Each greenhouse has a metal frame that easily snaps together and plastic sheeting that wraps around the frame. Before long, we're in a rhythm and have them all set up. Stepping back, we admire the completed project.

"What do you think?" I ask Nora.

"Perfect. We need to add the mist irrigation system and we're done."

We laugh when Irish lets out a loud groan.

"Why don't you take a break? I'm sure we can put it together with Levi's help," Sasha says, patting his arm.

He grins at her. "No, I can do it."

"This looks great!" Jack calls out as he emerges from the path that leads to the future secondary clubhouse. He's pulling a heavy duty wagon piled with the equipment from the abandoned shack.

"What have you got there?" Irish asks.

"The equipment Mikel was using to spy on us," Jack says.

"Mikel?" Irish asks with a shout. "He's here?"

"Yeah, we caught him this morning," Jack says.

"Mikel came back here? "He's in the Farm, right?" Irish asks, turning toward the path that leads toward where I know the club takes those they want to question.

Jack grabs his arm to stop him. "You can't go in there. What are you thinking?"

Irish shakes off his arm, then nods. "Yeah, you're right. I'm not thinking straight. It's just that I owe that guy a beat down."

"I don't understand. Who is Mikel and what's happening?" Olivia asks.

Jack flinches, realizing he said more than he should.

Cleo comes to his rescue. "He's a snake. A horrible man. He used to work for my father and always gave me the creeps. I'm glad they caught him. Do they know why he was here spying on us?"

Jack shrugs. "I don't know, and I can't say. But Hex wants me to gather all his equipment and bring it back to the clubhouse. He said they're done with buildings if you wanted to get started."

"Need a hand?" Irish asks. "I can help after we finish with the sprinkler system."

"I thought you were tired?" I ask him. "You can rest, you know? When was the last time you got some sleep?"

"It's been a while," he admits. "I'll rest once we're done here."

After they finish hooking up the sprinkler system, Nora verifies it's working. Then we gather up the boxes and tools into a pile.

"Still want to clean out the buildings?" Jack asks.

"I'm game. I'd like to clean out the garbage so I can get a better look at how much demo we'll need to complete. Plus, I want to take measurements of the rooms," Shayna says.

"I need to get back to the kitchen. The guys will want breakfast soon, and then I'll start preparing lunch," Nora says. "I'll come out and look when I have time. Thanks again for the help with the garden. I can't wait until we have fresh ingredients."

"Let me get the garbage dumped and I'll come help," Levi says. "Want me to grab some tools or cleaning equipment?"

Shayna gives him a list of things to bring back before she heads down the path. Jack and Irish's rising voices draw my attention before I follow her.

"You can't go back there. I already told you," Jack hisses at Irish, grabbing his arm to stop him.

"That guy made a fool out of me," Irish complains.

"I know. I get it. But you'll make things worse for yourself if you go barging in there uninvited. Talk to Hex, I'm sure he'll give you some time alone with Mikel. Besides, when I left, they planned on knocking Mikel out and sticking him in a cell. I heard Lake said they were putting him in a drug-induced coma, so he couldn't hear you in any case. Go get some sleep. If I see Hex, I'll let him know that you'd like to get your own back. You know Hex. He'll at least consider it."