him. In such a small town, how could he get away with what he was doing?
And why did Renmar talk to him about me? I wonder what she could have said.
I couldn’t do any real work over at the Island until my mother got back with me. I pulled out my phone to check to see if I had missed any calls or texts from her. I didn’t want to get jammed up in a bunch of lies with these people here like I had done with FBI guy. They were such nice people.
Looking up from my phone, I saw Brie taking an order at a table across the room. I waved her over and she held up a finger. “Be right witc’ya, Honeybun,” she said and smiled. “You want me to bring some coffee?”
I nodded. The two cups of fruit was filling, but I figured I’d still order something to go with the biscuits that Renmar was bringing out for me.
I looked back down at my phone. No missed calls. No texts. I backed up a screen, figured I’d check the weather while I waited for Brie. I tapped on Safari and typed in weather . Lifting my eyes from the phone, I saw Brie go over and start to pick up a pot of coffee from the warmer, but someone coming in the front door distracted her.
Nearly dropping the glass pot, she ran to the door on the other side of the wall from where I sat. Once she went behind the wall I couldn’t see her, but I could hear her clearly.
Everyone could hear her.
“Bay!” I heard her exclaim. “I can’t believe ya’ here! Boy, com’ere. Give me a hug. Ain’t you a sight for sore eyes?”
Then she appeared from behind the wall back in the doorway pulling someone behind her. She called toward the kitchen. “Renmar!” she yelled. “Come here right now! You ain’t gone believe who’s here.” And then he walked into my line of sight.
I dropped my phone into my ramekin filled with fruit.
Oh crap!
I slid down in my seat. I wanted to crawl under the table.
It was the FBI guy from Itza.
Had he followed me here?
Was he here to arrest me?
Brie sure seemed to know him. But it seemed that everyone around here knew everyone else so that might not mean too much.
“Bay!” This time it was Renmar who screamed his name. She ran out from the back and practically threw herself against him and wrapped him in a bear hug.
“Hi, Ma,” he said.
She’s his mother? Jesus!
“My baby,” Renmar pushed away from him and gave him a once over, then she grabbed him and hugged him tight. Again. Over her shoulder she must’ve spotted Miss Vivee. “Mother,” she said breaking her hold on FBI guy. “Look what the cat drug in!”
“Grandmother,” Bay said turning to Miss Vivee just as she came into my sight. “Look at you. You look younger every time I see you.”
She put her arm out to him, a big grin on her face. “There’s my baby.”
And then everyone in the dining room got up to see him. Smiling. Kissing him. Shaking his hand. It was like a movie star had just graced their presence.
“Bay Colquett.” Loverboy Oliver Gibbons joined the chorus. “It’s good to see you,” he said shaking his hand
Not for me. I had hoped to never see this man again.
I dug in my satchel and pulled out the business card he’d given me.
Bay Colquett.
Sure enough that’s what was written on the front of it. He never told me his name. Just announced “FBI” and pushed his stupid badge in my face. And when he was finished interrogating me, he gave me the card and instead of looking at it, I just shoved it down in my purse.
I should have read it.
Because if I had, as soon as Renmar told me her last name, whether I thought they were related or not, I would have turned and bolted for the door. Down the steps two at a time.
I took my phone out of the fruit bowl and dried it best I could and wrapped it in one of the cloth napkins.
I had to get out without him seeing me.
I put my knapsack over my head and adjusted it on my shoulder. I slid out of the chair and looked over to the door that led to the kitchen. Only about twenty-five feet . . . If I could just get across the dining room without too much