Page 57 of Home Again

Gideon nodded.

Sebastian shot out the door and called the landline at the Durand place, praying that Philly would answer. He was almost to the truck when the phone was picked up, and it was her. “Durand residence.”

“Philly, it’s me. Gianna’s been kidnapped and Armand is behind it.”

He was met by silence. Shit, he shouldn’t have led with that. He should have just asked for Armand’s phone number.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I’m pretty sure it goes back to Mom’s murder.” He unlocked the truck, swung in behind the wheel, and started the engine. It took more than a minute to connect to the Bluetooth.

Motherfucker!

“Philly, can you hear me?”

“I hear you. Let me get my mobile phone and get you his mobile number. Baby boy, this isn’t really happening. This can’t be happening.” He heard the tremble in her voice. It was coming through the car speaker; at least the connection was working and that was a blessing. He had to think.

“Philly, any idea where Armand is?”

“Baton Rouge. He said he was going to use the family apartment there, at least that’s what I heard him tell your grandfather. But that’s all I know.” He heard a quiver. “That’s all I know. I’m so sorry.”

“Philly. It’s all right. What’s his number?”

As she rattled it off, he put it into his contacts. “You can’t tell Lazar. You have to pretend everything is normal. Can I trust you to do that?”

He heard her blow out a breath. “But you need to tell the police.”

“No. I need to take care of this. Now, what’s the address to the apartment?”

She rattled that off as well as Armand’s mobile number. “Baby boy, you have to go to the police. This isn’t something you can do by yourself.”

“I have a friend of mine in town. He’s helping me. We’ll get her back.”

“Sebastian, wait a minute. I’m going to tell Neil. He’ll help. This is your number, right?”

“Yes, just call me here. Thanks, Philly.”

“I’ll call you at this number if there is anything else that I think of, okay?”

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” Sebastian listened to the phone disconnect, then stared out the windshield. He thought about Gianna out there somewhere, alone with that fucker. Scared. He saw his white knuckles gripping the steering wheel.

His phone rang. It was a Louisiana area code that he didn’t recognize, but he’d bet anything it was Neil.

“Boy, it’s me.”

“Hey, Neil.”

“Ophelia told me. Look, your uncle spends time at a club in Baton Rouge called the Leather Library. Been going there for years. It’s some rich man’s club. To hear him tell it he owns it, not damn likely in my opinion.”

“Anything else?”

There was a pause and Sebastian would bet anything Neil was walking out of earshot of his wife.

“His favorite casino in Baton Rouge is L’Auberge, but I gotta tell you, that boy is a gambler, what with the horse track down in New Orleans and all the casinos there, I would have expected him to head east, not north. But if Ophelia says he was headed to Baton Rouge, you can take that to the bank, you know she’s never wrong,” Neil chuckled.

“Gotta go.”

“Good luck.”