The key to a good cover-up was ensuring that all parties knew their role. And that meant she had to decide which parties couldn’t be trusted with a role at all. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe Cricket Darois had her son’s best interests at heart. It was that Cricket sometimes forgot what she was or wasn’t supposed to say.
“So the only people who are going to know anything at all are you and me and Armie,” Rene said as he made the turn that put them on the long driveway to Darois House. “I think that’s a good idea. I trust Armie. He’s solid.”
“Armie is perfectly happy saying he found us on one of the smaller islands after our boat motor died.” She was warm and happy again since Lisa Guidry had been kind enough to let her and Rene use the small shower in the apartment above Guidry’s. She and her husband owned the restaurant and the marina and boat shop attached. She and Remy had been there early this morning getting ready for the lunch crowd. Lisa had seen Armie bring them in, towing Rene’s boat behind the county vehicle. She’d run down to the marina, offering the apartment to them if they wanted to clean up.
And she’d brought them coffee and breakfast. Sylvie had needed the coffee so much.
Lisa would also start putting out the story they wanted everyone to believe. She would call her mother-in-law to let her know that Sylvie was fine but had suffered through a terrible night out in the wild. Delphine would probably already know because Armie had gotten on his radio to let the station know he’d found them and that his deputy should call and let Cricket and Marcelle know their kids were all right. But Delphine would tell the story to Dixie, and she would tell two people, and so on and so on. It was the gossip grapevine, and it could work in her favor this time.
“If my mother questions me too hard, you should know I’ll wilt like a hothouse flower,” Sylvie admitted.
“Your mother is excellent at keeping a secret. I’m not worried about her, and honestly we only have to keep it until next week. The client is making a decision then. If we work this correctly and they accept our lower bid, that should put some tension between Charles and his spy,” Rene replied. “And quite frankly, the companies he’s working with. They won’t like the tables being turned and they’ll blame him for his bad intel.”
“So he’ll go into the celebration for your aunt wounded.” A wounded opponent could still be dangerous. “We’ll have to be careful.”
“And we have to figure out who’s feeding him our bids.” Rene’s jaw tightened and so did his hands on the wheel as the big house came into view. Her husband hid his anger well, but she was starting to learn his tells. “I’ll make a list of everyone who worked on the bids or had access to them.”
He was extremely angry about the spying, and he had every right to be, but he was good at shoving his emotions down.
Except in bed. How could this man think he wasn’t passionate? He’d given her everything he had in bed. She had to find a way to let him know it was safe to share those parts of himself with her outside of sex.
“That’s a lot of cars,” he said as they approached the house. “It looks like your mom is here.”
She saw her mom’s sedan parked beside the Mercedes that Cricket was driven around in, and there was a big SUV beside it. “Louis is here?”
“I’m sure my mother called him when she couldn’t get hold of me. He was in charge at the office while I was gone.”
“He also knew where we were going.” Louis had been there when she’d convinced Rene to play hooky. “We should have listened to the man. He knew the weather reports.”
“Yes, I remember he warned us.” There was something about his tone of voice, a hint of suspicion.
“It’s good that she’s got someone to rely on.” That was all Sylvie was going to say about that until she had far more information. Rene had been extremely prickly at the thought of his mother dating again. She knew Cricket’s health had been a problem, but she seemed much more active lately.
“She has a lot of friends,” he murmured.
Yes, this was one of those times when she needed more information. “Are you all right lying to your mother about where we were all night?” she asked.
“She’ll be happy we’re okay,” he replied. “I need you to tell me if Charles contacts you.”
“Why would he contact me?”
“He’ll try anything. He knows he’s running out of time. His best play is to break us up before my aunt’s party,” Rene said grimly. “I assume he’s going to come up with something that you’ll find unsavory.”