But Not For Lust by BJ Bourg (comprehension books .txt) 📕

I began, but then suddenly remembered how I was dressed. I glanced down and then quickly apologized. “I’m so sorry for my appearance. My name’s Clint Wolf. I’m a detective with the police department. I don’t usually go to work looking like this, so I’m sorry if I startled you.”

“Not at all. I know who you are, Detective Wolf.” She smiled as she rocked her baby on her hip. “I’m Joselyn Pitre. You recovered my mom’s stolen car a few years ago.”

We didn’t get many car thefts in Mechant Loup, so I easily remembered the case to which she was referring. After asking about her mom, I turned my attention to the case at hand.

“Did you see or hear anything suspicious across the street last night?” I indicated Ty’s camper. “Anything out of the ordinary, like a disturbance or something?”

She scowled, looking past me with her deep blue eyes. “Um, no, not really. The twins went down early last night, so I took advantage and went to bed myself. I sleep with a fan blowing in my face—mostly so I don’t hear Logan snoring—so I probably wouldn’t have heard anything anyway.”

I nodded. “Do you know anything at all about Ty and what’s been going on with him lately?”

“I know he’s been acting different lately. I mean, he’s always acted a little different, like he would walk up and down the street talking to someone who isn’t there, or he’d call me Mr. Wolverine sometimes.”

“Mr. Wolverine?” I asked with a scowl.

“Yeah, he calls my husband Mr. Wolverine, because the man in the Wolverine movie is named Logan. I guess he calls me that because of my husband.” She flashed a playful smile. “Logan and I look nothing alike, by the way. I’m all woman—if you know what I mean.”

I resisted a nod. I didn’t know what her husband looked like, I didn’t know this Wolverine character, and I certainly didn’t want her getting the wrong idea.

“So, you said Ty’s been acting different lately,” I said, cocking my head to the side. “How?”

“Oh, yeah, lately he’s been more…” She snapped her fingers as she paused, searching for the right word. “Um…animated! Yeah, that’s the word. He’s been more animated lately.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, for example, I saw him running through his yard last week like someone was chasing him. There was no one behind him, but he kept looking back and hollering like he was scared.” She paused and shifted her baby to the opposite hip. “I saw him walking on the road later and I asked him if he was okay. He began waving frantically and telling me to go inside because the soldiers were here and they would take us all away if they saw us.”

“What’d you do?”

“Well, it frightened me a little, so I went inside.” She shuddered. “Not because I thought there were soldiers, but because I’ve never seen him like that. I’ve never been scared of Ty before—and we’ve lived here for a few years—but that day, I was a little shaken by the way he acted. His eyes were wide and his hair was a mess. He looked like a wild man.”

I frowned. “When was this again?”

“It was last week sometime. Maybe Wednesday?” Her thin eyebrows formed a ‘V’ as she thought about it. After a few seconds, she nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure it was Wednesday.”

Right around that time, my phone started vibrating in my pocket. I knew it was probably Susan, but I ignored it for the moment. I would have to call her right back.

“Can you think of any other incidents such as the one you described?” I asked. “Where Ty might’ve seemed afraid or confused?”

The wind was blowing gently and it pushed some of her brown hair into her face. She brushed it away. “Well, something did happen Friday night, but I’m not sure what it was. I know Logan heard it or saw it when he went to get his phone out of his car. He told me something about it yesterday morning before he left for work, but I was half asleep and wasn’t paying attention to what he said. I’m up and down with the twins, so I sleep when they sleep—and they were sleeping good yesterday morning when Logan left for work.”

“This thing that happened Friday night, did it involve Ty?” I asked, suddenly curious.

“Yeah, he did mention Ty’s name, but I don’t remember what he said about him.”

“Where’s Logan now?”

“He’s at work.” She lifted her sliding baby higher up on her hip. “He works at a plant on the river.”

“Can I have his number?”

“Sure, but he won’t be able to answer his phone until he gets off at five,” she explained. “They make them leave their phones in their cars. They can’t even take them inside the plant.”

I nodded and lifted my phone to enter Logan’s number into my notes section. Just as I was about to slide my thumb across the screen, I saw that it was Susan who had been trying to call me. As Joselyn called out the number, I entered it into my phone. I then asked her to call the police department if she thought of anything else.

I punched the button for Susan’s number and the phone was coming to my ear before I had finished turning away from the trailer.

“What’s up, Sue?” I asked when she answered. By that time, I had already reached Baylor, who was standing near Ty’s camper. “Tell me you’ve got some good news.”

“I just spoke to Carol Richardson’s brother. His name is Mike Bell and he lives in Baton Rouge. He said his sister called him at almost ten last night and told him Ty was making a lot of noise inside his camper. She said he was yelling and banging around and she asked her brother