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Jacques had offered the assistance of their computer guru. If she gave him the medical record that recorded her rape and what she could remember of the timeline leading up to it, maybe he could fill in some of the blanks her memory couldn’t.
She worked the rest of her shift, relieved when people cleared out well before midnight. Her feet ached, and the day's emotional strain had drained her physically and mentally.
Jacques remained after everyone else left, except Rene and Danny.
As Danny stacked chairs on the tables, Jacques helped.
“You didn’t have to stay,” Danny said. “Rene always walks me out to my truck.”
He turned a chair upside down and settled it onto the table. “I didn’t have anything better to do. The rest of the guys left over an hour ago. Sounds like we’ll be taking the assignment to support Jeffries' team in DC.”
“Will that mean some of you will leave Bayou Mambaloa and permanently relocate to the DC area?” Her breath caught and held as she waited for his response.
“Looks like it’ll be a temporary assignment for those who are assigned to the Bayou region. Hank’s got a new team coming on board in a month that can set up a regional branch near the Capitol. When they assimilate, our bayou guys will come home.”
His response wasn’t the full answer she wanted. “Are you going?”
“Would it matter to you if I did?” He set another chair upside down on a table without glancing her way.
She shrugged. “What you do is your business. I was just curious.”
He looked across at her and held her gaze. “No, I’m not going.”
She released the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding for so long. “Well, I’m sure Remy has other work for you to do.”
“I’m sure,” he said. “Something closer to home.” He went back to setting the chairs on the table.
Rene pushed a wheeled bucket full of soapy water and a mop out onto the barroom floor. Starting at the end of the room where the chairs were already up, he worked his way toward them.
When the chairs were all up and the floor mopped, Rene tipped his head to the side. “Beat it. I’ll take care of the rest and lock up.”
“You sure?” Danny asked. “I could help in the kitchen.”
“Done,” Rene said. “I’m out of here as soon as I dump the bucket. See you tomorrow.”
“You’re not going to walk me to my truck?” she asked.
Rene cocked an eyebrow. “Jacques is one of the good guys. You can trust him. Besides, he didn’t stay for me.” Rene rolled the bucket out through the back door.
“Guess you’re stuck with me,” Jacques said with a twist of his lips.
Danny gave him a crooked smile. “It’s not such a bad deal. I was just testing Rene’s loyalties.” She collected her purse and walked out the back with Jacques. “I’ve been thinking… If you believe it will benefit, I’d like your computer guy to help me find my attacker. I can bring what documents I have to the boat factory tomorrow.”
Jacques stood beside her as she unlocked her truck door. “I’ll speak with Remy. I’m sure he’ll want to assist in any way possible. I’ll only tell him what you want me to. You can trust him to keep this information confidential. The same goes for Swede, our computer guy.”
Danny paused with her fingers on the door handle. She’d kept her secrets for so long, it was hard to open up to others, but if there was a chance of finding her attacker, the people helping her needed all the facts. “I’ll tell them everything I told you. I hate what happened to me. Even worse, I hate that he might’ve done it to others since.”
“We’ll find him,” Jacques said.
“I hope it’s soon,” she said as she climbed into her truck.
Jacques stood back and shook his head. “What year model is this truck?”
Danny grinned, closed the door and manually cranked the window down. “It’s a 1976 Ford F-100. It was my grandfather’s truck. My brother and I worked with my father to restore it when we were teens.”
“Your brother didn’t want it?”
Danny ran her hand over the hunter green metal. “He wanted a sports car to impress the girls.”
