The Whispering Room

He stopped and turned, as if waiting for her to come after him. It was the same cat-and-mouse game he’d played with her at the cemetery.

“Hey!” she shouted as she clamored down the steps. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

He waited until she’d closed some of the distance between them before turning to disappear into the trees.

“Stop! I’m a police officer!”

She tore after him, but the moment she plunged into the forest, Evangeline knew she was out of her element. The dense trees provided too many hiding places, and she’d already lost sight of her quarry. If she’d learned anything in her years as a cop it was to never knowingly put herself at risk of an ambush.

She retraced her steps to the clearing and walked over to her car. The thought crossed her mind as she opened the door that while she’d been in the house, the man had had plenty of time to tamper with her engine. She hadn’t locked the car, so he would have had easy access to the hood release. He could have removed the fuel pump fuse or disconnected the coil input wire. There were a number of ways to disable a car quickly for someone who knew what they were doing.

Evangeline climbed into the car and started the ignition. The engine turned over immediately, and she breathed a sigh of relief as she backed to the end of the driveway and turned the car toward the road.

By the time she reached the highway, the sun had dropped below the treetops and the sky turned crimson on the horizon.

As she turned into the sunset, a flash of fire hit her in the eyes, temporarily blinding her. Her sunglasses had fallen to the floor on the passenger’s side, and as she leaned across the console to reach them, she saw the dull gleam of a black tail protruding from underneath the front seat.

Evangeline jerked her hand back just as the snake slithered onto the floorboard. It was huge, the body as thick as a man’s arm and the head the size of a fist. A musty smell filled the car, along with the dank odor of the swamp and something far more foul.

Sensing danger, the diamond-shaped head lifted nearly a foot into the air, and the slitted eyes focused on Evangeline, paralyzing her with a cold, stark terror. The mouth gaped, revealing the cottony interior and the long fangs that were as sharp as needles.

She tried to tell herself not to panic. She’d read somewhere that adult pit vipers rarely released all of their poison on humans. They reserved it for prey that it could more easily kill.

But tell that to the huge moccasin on her floorboard.

Trying not to make any sudden moves, Evangeline carefully eased her leather bag toward her on the seat. The car careened off the road and she tried to swing it back on the pavement. But the tires spun on the wet shoulder, and before Evangeline could gain control, the vehicle plunged down the steep embankment, bumping over the wild terrain at a terrifying speed before plowing through swamp water into a tree.

Evangeline had no idea where the snake was, whether it had coiled for a strike or slithered back under the seat. She didn’t take time to find out. Fighting off the deployed air bag, she tumbled out the door into ankle-deep water.

Her bag was still in the car and the last thing she wanted to do was reach back inside. But she needed her phone and her gun.

She was stranded in the middle of nowhere with a psycho and a cottonmouth water moccasin on the loose.

Twenty-Seven

The tow truck dropped Evangeline and her car off at the nearest garage and, while the lone mechanic checked the extent of the damage, she called Sheriff Thibodaux to let him know what had happened.

“You sure you didn’t leave your door open? Maybe that’s how the dang thing got inside.”

“I didn’t leave my door open and I only had my window cracked. Someone put the snake in my car,” Evangeline said.

“This fellow you said you saw out there…what did he look like?”

“Tall and thin with black hair and a big scar on one side of his face. Have you seen anyone around town lately that fits that description?”

“No, but there’s a lot of fishing cabins back in the swamp. Could be somebody staying in one of those. I’ll keep an eye out for him. Meanwhile, I’ll send a deputy out there first thing in the morning to have a look around.”

“Thanks. I’d appreciate a call if you find out anything.”

“You bet.”

As she hung up the phone, the mechanic came around to give her the bad news.

“Two words,” he said as he rubbed at a grease streak on the side of his nose. “Busted radiator.”

“Oh, man, I was afraid of that. Any chance you can fix it?”

“You mean tonight? ’Fraid not. It’s already past closing time. I can get to it tomorrow after lunch, but that’s the best I can do. You need a ride somewhere?”

“You’re not headed to New Orleans, are you?”

“That’s a long way from here.”

“Yeah.” She gave him her card. “I’ll need an estimate before you start to work.”

“No problem. You sure you’ll be all right here?”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll figure something out.”