Cursed (Decorah Security #21) - Rebecca York Page 0,36

And neither could the voodoo priestess.

With deliberate steps, she crossed to the night table and turned on the light. The warm glow was comforting.

Now that she was alone, she couldn’t help wondering if the jaguar had been real—or if she had made him up.

She didn’t know, but suddenly she felt cold all over. In the bathroom, she turned on the shower, waited until the water heated, then stepped under the hot spray, letting it pound against her back and shoulder, soothing her jangled nerves.

After drying off, she went back to bed.

To her relief, she fell asleep quickly. When she woke in the morning, nothing had disturbed her sleep.

###

Full of renewed energy, she changed into jeans and a tee shirt and went downstairs. When she walked into the kitchen, Janet looked up. “Andre asked me to tell you he won’t be available today.”

Suddenly deflated, Morgan demanded, “Where is he?”

“He left early to go get some supplies.”

“In St. Germaine?”

“No. He needed some things he could only get in New Orleans.”

“He could have asked if I wanted to go with him,” she snapped.

“He wanted to get an early start. And you were still sleeping.”

Morgan struggled not to take out her frustration on Janet. Instead she ate a quick breakfast, then cleared her throat. “Can I borrow a knife?”

“For what?”

“I feel funny poking around in the swamp without any protection.”

“You shouldn’t be poking around in the bayou at all!”

“It’s part of my job,” she murmured.

Janet sighed and gestured toward one of the kitchen drawers. Opening it, Morgan took a medium-sized knife, then exited the kitchen, holding the weapon down beside her leg as she stepped outside and descended the steps, heading for the trees, thinking that Janet was probably watching her. But she refused to look around to find out for sure.

She had seen the cat under an oak tree. When she reached it, she stopped and couldn’t hold back a curse. Someone had raked the dirt, obliterating any chance of finding the prints.

Her jaw set in a determined line, she began walking in a circle, her eyes fixed on the ground, widening the circle every time she came back to a spot opposite the lawn where she’d started. It took her ten repetitions, but she finally found the tracks—leading away into a stand of small pines.

So, the cat hadn’t been her imagination!

Well, that was something, anyway. She was already pretty far into the swampy area. She glanced over her shoulder, thinking she should go back to the house. Instead, she deliberately went in the opposite direction—toward the bayou. Before she reached the island, she used the knife to cut off a sapling, then stripped off the small branches. If the water wasn’t too deep, she could use the pole to steady herself as she walked across the log.

With the pole in one hand, she walked along the bank—searching for the island. It materialized out of the shadows several minutes later, looking dark and menacing. But she was pretty sure she was projecting her mood onto the place. It was just a patch of ground—like any other.

Before she could change her mind, she stepped up on the log and probed at the mud. As she had hoped, the water was only a couple of feet deep.

Feeling more confident, she moved the pole, taking each step slowly and carefully.

She was a quarter of the way across the log when the pole sank into thick muck, throwing her off balance. Her feet slipped on the treacherous surface, and she dropped the stick, pinwheeling her arms to keep from falling into the water.

As she went down, she heard the alligator make a sudden splash in the water. From the corner of her eye, she saw it glide toward her. Faster than she could blink her eyes, it shot out of the water, jaws open, aiming at her dangling foot.

Chapter Eight

Desperately, Morgan yanked up her foot, just as the animal’s teeth clanked together, millimeters from her tennis shoe.

She heard a scream and knew it had come from her own throat. But she didn’t waste any more energy on terror. Fighting not to plunge into the water, she pulled herself back onto the horizontal surface, teetering as she struggled to keep her body parts out of the jaws of the creature below.

She breathed out a sigh, but she knew she still wasn’t safe up here. Not when she’d seen how far the beast could jump out of the water. Although she had planned to visit the island, she abandoned