Butterfly Bayou (Butterfly Bayou 1)

“He’s been talking about retiring for the last twenty years,” Armie replied.

Gene’s index finger came up like Armie had made his point. “Yes, and he never did it. All these years and he never once retired. Suddenly this woman shows up in town and he’s gone?”

“I don’t think he’s dead. I’m pretty sure he’s fishing. Remy said he took the boat out early this morning.” Remy Guidry ran Guidry’s Bar and Grill and the marina that it was attached to. Many a boat was safely nestled there. Remy hadn’t been worried about the doc. The doc went fishing all the time. He’d been a little upset that Doc had left his sister-in-law alone on her first day at the clinic.

The whole Guidry family was worried about how Lila Daley was going to fit in, and from what he’d seen, they were right to be.

“You think? I have a different theory. She could have been on that boat, killed Doc, and taken over his clinic,” Gene pointed out.

Sometimes it was best to go with the flow, let Gene get it out of his system. Of course, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t poke some obvious holes into those theories. “What did she do with the boat? Because it’s not here and there isn’t another marina for miles.”

Gene thought about that for a moment. “Helicopter. She could have had a helicopter pick her up and she left the boat out there. It’s perfect. She would have had time to wipe that whole boat down. It’ll be like she was never there.”

Yes, because she’d been at the clinic. He’d driven by the damn place three times today and caught glimpses of her through the windows. She’d been behind the desk, staring down at files. She hadn’t been in the back dealing with patients.

He was going to have a serious talk with Doc when he got back from his fishing trip. “What exactly makes you think Ms. Daley is a murderer besides the fact that she’s from Dallas?”

“They grow them mean in Dallas,” Gene said with a nod.

He didn’t point out that Gene’s third wife had been from Dallas and now Gene thought anyone from Dallas had to be evil. He definitely didn’t point out that Charlene hadn’t needed to be from Dallas to find Gene annoying. Armie was from right here in Papillon and he wanted to murder Gene on a regular basis.

“She’s got that look,” Gene insisted. “I went in for my physical. I don’t know why I have to do it since I feel perfectly fine, but I can’t get my blood pressure medication without Doc signing off on it. He claims there’s a reason but we all know that big pharma is in league with the Secret Order of Physicians. Now, that shouldn’t be confused with the American Medical Association. That’s legit. Mostly, although some people claim it’s been infiltrated by Russians.”

Armie put up a hand to stop what would likely be a long lecture on the deep state. “She’s Remy’s wife’s sister. She’s fully qualified and she’s definitely not involved in anything criminal. I looked her up. She speeds from time to time, but otherwise, she’s got a perfectly clean record. I’m sorry no one informed you the clinic was changing hands. We should have had a town meeting about it. Doc has been a big part of this community for years.”

Gene nodded. “I trust Doc. It’s why I don’t want that lady doctor to murder him.”

There was a light knock on the door and then the potential murderer of Doc Hamet was standing in the doorway. Lila was still wearing the tailored slacks and green shirt she’d been wearing earlier in the day, though before she’d had a white lab coat on. She wore a pair of killer heels. He hadn’t been able to see those from his car. They were red and pointy and sexy as hell.

He shook it off, remembering he’d promised himself he would let her settle in before he tried to hit on her again.

“If I promise not to kill anyone, can I have a couple of minutes of your time?” She stepped inside his tiny office. “Sorry, no one was out at the desk so I let myself in. Mr. Boudreaux, that testing is necessary to ensure that the medications you’re on aren’t damaging your liver or kidneys. It’s why I would have done some blood work if you hadn’t run out of the clinic. This could all be over by now and you would have your prescription and you wouldn’t have to see me again for a year.”

Gene got to his feet. “Doc’s never done blood work. I don’t like needles. You never know where they’ve been.”

“They’ve been wrapped in sanitary plastic and then they get tossed out as medical waste. If you can’t let me do blood work, then I can’t give you the prescription,” she said flatly.