Page 58 of Home Again

Sebastian hung up and hit the navigation system to the Durand apartment. When he was on the road, he called Gideon and let him know what he’d found out.

* * *

Sebastian had to park a couple of blocks over from the apartments on Lafayette, then he had to wait twenty minutes before he could follow someone into the secured building. He was seeing red by the time he got to the apartment, but he tamped down his anger. He had to play this right in order to get Gianna home safe. He wanted the direct approach, but his gut was telling him to finesse the situation.

He rang the doorbell. There was no answer. When he knocked on the door, there still wasn’t an answer. He looked up and down the hallway before pulling out his lock-pick tools. He made quick work of unlocking the door and let himself in. He didn’t pay any attention to the high-end, modern décor, instead, he focused on the half-empty bottle of brandy on the kitchen island. He walked down the hall and looked in every open door. Every room was empty, but in the master, he saw clothes strewn all over the floor and across the unmade bed. He went through everything, looking for anything that might give him an idea of where he might be. All he found were a couple of twenty-dollar casino chips in one pants pocket for the L’Auberge Casino. Looked like Neil was spot on.

Sebastian looked at his watch. It was only sixteen hundred hours—wasn’t it kind of early to be hitting a casino? Who knew, but it was the only lead he had.

A text came in. Gideon wanted him to call.

“Yeah?” he asked as he walked down the hall and sat down on the couch.

“Okay, I’ve sent you a preliminary background check on Bradly Fontenot. He’s a legitimate businessman. He’s a former president of the Baton Rouge Rotary Club.”

“I don’t give a shit.”

“I understand that,” Gideon said patiently. “But I want you to know who we’re up against. There is nobody who is going to believe that this guy is in on a kidnapping. He grew up poor, he’s out of St. Landry Parish in a little town called Krotz Springs. His family got into real trouble back when Fontenot was in high school. It was a huge scandal.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, three of his cousins were arrested for disposing of eleven thousand-fifty pound barrels of DDT in the Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge. It’s forty-four thousand acres of swamp. This was back when he was seventeen. He was only a minor, but even the papers said that they were too stupid to have masterminded the scheme. None of the records that relate to the case mention Bradley Fontenot, but I find it interesting that the company that was fined millions for the clean-up eventually hired Bradley as a consultant when he graduated from LSU. I’m thinking that’s not a coincidence.”

Sebastian didn’t think so either. “So he got into shady deals early.”

“Absolutely.”

Sebastian stared at the ugly painting on the wall, his mind seething.

“Shit, shit, motherfucking shit!”

“What?” Gideon barked out the question.

“He was headed West on I-10; that’s straight towards the Atchafalaya swamp! If he’s from around there, he could be stashing her anywhere.” Dread dripped down Sebastian’s spine.

“Where can I meet you?” Gideon asked quietly.

“I’m at Armand’s apartment. But Armand isn’t going to know where Gianna is.” Sebastian grabbed at his hair at the back of his head and pulled. “Gideon, I need you to get as much information on Fontenot’s family as possible. They’re going to be key.”

“I can have Jada work on that while I get to you.”

“I don’t fucking trust her! I fucking trust you!” Sebastian shouted into his phone.

“I need you to calm down. I’ll be in contact with Jada the entire time. We need to be in the field together. Tell me the address to Armand’s apartment.”

Sebastian dragged in a breath then told him. “But I’m not waiting around for you. I’m heading over to the L’Auberge Casino. Armand is playing games that have at least twenty-dollar chips, so I’m going to head over to card games.”

“Got it.”

“But seriously, you need to look for Fontenot’s family. They’re the ones who are going to know where Gianna is.”