The Girl Named Mud: A Gripping Suspense Novel Read online

  The next half hour was spent with Grace reciting what Mud had told her about her mother’s death, the man who’d killed her, and how Mud had retaliated, ending with, “She said the man had dark hair and green eyes.”

  “Did she tell you what she did with the bodies?” Red Bear asked in a low tone.

  “She buried them near their home in the swamps.” Grace swallowed and asked, “Is anything being done to find her?”

  Red Bear gave one quick nod. “Talako has taken the tribal police back to the willow tree where he first found her. They will spread out from there. If she is out there, they will locate her.”

  Grace wasn’t sure if she felt relief or fear. If they did find Mud, what would happen to her?

  “I can see your turmoil,” Red Bear admitted, surprising Grace. “We will not harm the child, Mrs. Holloway.”

  Embarrassed that he’d seen through her, Grace spoke in a quiet voice. “I never thought you would hurt her, Mr. Red Bear. I’m just worried about what will happen to her once she’s found. The Shipper Parish police—”

  “Does not have jurisdiction here,” Red Bear interrupted, cutting off the rest of Grace’s words. “The child will be in the care of the tribal police until we get the answers we seek and further arrangements can be made for her.”

  “It’s the further arrangements that worry me,” Grace responded. “I fear that she will continue to run, no matter where she ends up.”

  Red Bear shifted for the first time. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He locked his fingers together. “Flora Ramer is wanted for setting the fire that destroyed the church. She is also responsible for a hit-and-run on tribal lands—a hit-and-run that nearly cost a young boy his life.”

  Grace’s mouth dropped open. “What? When?”

  “The day before the church burned down.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Mud spent the rest of the day pulling weeds from her mama’s garden. Flora had explained to her the concept of saving seeds to replant. But Mud hadn’t been able to salvage any.

  She would go back to the village in a few days and take what she could from the barbeque eatery.

  Hopefully, she would find a couple of tomatoes and potatoes. She could save the seeds from the tomatoes to plant in the spring, just as Flora had shown her. As for the potatoes, she could leave them in the shack to grow eyes and plant them when ready.

  Straightening, Mud turned and studied her small home. It was nothing like Grace’s home, with its nice furnishings and warm water.

  Mud lowered her gaze to her feet. They were dirty from not wearing shoes. Grace would be upset if she knew.

  Dragging the back of her hand across her sweaty forehead, she bent to grab another handful of weeds, when a twig snapped from somewhere nearby.

  Mud stilled, her senses expanding to her surroundings. The leaves of a tree rustled in the soft breeze blowing through the area. Birds chirped around her and bullfrogs sang in the distance.

  Nothing felt out of place; no immediate danger could be seen. But Mud knew those woods better than she knew herself. The twig snap hadn’t come from an animal.

  An animal wouldn’t have had the common sense to not move after stepping on a twig. No, the only thing with enough knowledge that the sound would alert its prey would be man.

  Without a second thought, Mud turned and fled in the opposite direction.

  Branches and briars licked at her skin, scratching her flesh like the fingers of a thousand skeletons.

  Mud didn’t care. Nothing mattered in that moment but escaping from whomever chased her. She’d seen firsthand what men were capable of. They were products of Satan, spawned from the evils of the Devil himself.

  Footsteps could be heard crashing through the trees behind her.

  Mud thought for sure her heart would explode inside her chest.

  Still, she ran.

  “Mud, wait!” a voice shouted, growing ever closer.

  How did he know her name?

  She chanced a quick glance behind her, only to bite back a scream when she realized the man wasn’t alone. She was going to die at their hands, just as her mother had died before her.

  A hand suddenly grabbed on to the collar of her shirt, jerking her to a stop with enough force, what little breath she had whooshed from her lungs.

  She was yanked off her feet before she could form a coherent thought.

  “Easy, girl,” the man gasped in her ear. “It’s me, Talako.”

  Mud could hear the man fighting to breathe.

  “Calm down. No one is here to hurt you. Do you understand?”

  Mud wanted to believe him, but her panic wouldn’t allow it. The terrifying feeling consumed her to the point where her body took on a mind of its own.

  She began to kick and scream, her attempts at biting him thwarted at every turn. Still, she fought.

  “Mud, stop!”

  But she couldn’t. If she stopped fighting, she would die.

  She suddenly found herself facedown, her arms being jerked behind her.

  The one known as Talako bound her wrists and then quickly went to work on her feet, until Mud found herself trussed up tightly with no possible way of escape.

  “What is this?” He reached into her back pocket and extracted the knife she’d previously stolen from the barbeque eatery.

  Mud wanted to howl in denial.

  Talako grabbed her by her bound wrists and yanked her to a standing position. “I should turn you over my knee!”

  There would be no need in trying to escape, not with her ankles tied together. “If you ain’t here to hurt me, then what do you want?”

  “To ask you some questions.”

  “What sort of questions?”

  Talako shrugged. “That’s not for me to know. I’m here because I’m the only one who knew where to find you. Now, I can untie your feet, and you can walk back on your own, or I can bind your mouth where you can’t bite me and carry you over my shoulder. The choice is yours.”

  Mud hated him in that moment. Whether he was being truthful or not, the fact that he forced her to do something she didn’t want to do was enough reason in her book to despise him. Not to mention he’d taken the only weapon she possessed.

  “I’ll walk,” she ground out between clenched teeth.

  He stood there, studying her for long moments. “Okay. But the first time you try to run, over the shoulder you go. Are we clear?”

  Mud narrowed her eyes. “I said I’d walk.”

  Talako took a step to the side and waved a hand for Mud to precede him.

  She stomped past him and headed back the way she’d come, speaking over her shoulder as she went. “Did Grace send ya out here?”

  “No. I’m here with the tribal police.”

  Mud couldn’t help but feel some disappointment. Well, what did she expect? Grace didn’t know her any more than she herself knew Grace. Besides, what would Grace want with a misfit such as Mud? “What’s a police?”

  Talako didn’t answer for several heartbeats, and then, “You really don’t understand the word police?”

  “I asked ya, didn’t I?”

  “Mud, stop.”

  Coming to a halt, Mud waited for Talako to move in front of her.

  He bent and rested his palms on his knees. A stance, Mud assumed, that was meant to be on her level.

  She squinted against the blinding sun and waited for him to speak.

  “I’m sorry about all this, Mud. I really am. But you’re not old enough to live out here by yourself. You’re just a child.”

  Mud’s anger intensified. “I’ve been alone for a long time. I don’t need no one, especially not you. If you drag me back to that village, I’ll only run again. So, ya may as well let me go now. Save us both a lot of runnin’.”

  Talako stared back at her without blinking. “Be that as it may, the police need to speak with you. As for who and what they are, well, they protect us from people who would otherwise harm us. They enforce the law
s of our lands.”

  Mud tilted her head to the side. She remembered her mama telling her something about laws, but it had been so long ago she couldn’t recall the conversation. “If I talk to the police, then I can go?”

  “I doubt it, Mud. Not until you’re old enough to be on your own.”

  Having no idea how to respond, Mud held her tongue. She would figure out a way to escape before the sun went down for the day.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Grace paced the small room she waited in at the Jena Choctaw Tribal Police Department. She’d managed to talk Red Bear into allowing her to be there when they brought Mud in. If they brought her in.

  The poor girl had to be scared, Grace thought, making another pass in front of the vending machine. Especially with a bunch of unknown men out there trailing her.

  Grace knew what had happened in Mud’s past. After watching her mother being raped and murdered by a man, Mud had to be terrified of them.

  The sound of a vehicle pulling up brought Grace out of her anxious thoughts.

  She moved to the door to look out the glass in time to see Talako and Koi exit a patrol car. Koi moved to the back and opened the car door.

  Mud got out, her hair a mess, her feet bare, and her hands bound behind her back.

  Tears sprang to Grace’s eyes. She turned the knob and shoved the station door open. “You restrained her?”

  Koi took Mud by the arm and led her toward the station.

  “I had to,” Talako interjected, forcing Grace’s attention onto him. “I had to chase her for a good mile. Plus, she fought like a tiger. So, yes, I restrained her. I do value my eyes.”

  Grace hurried forward, fighting the urge to shove Koi aside and run with Mud herself. “Hi, Mud.”

  Mud flicked a glance in Grace’s direction. Though the young girl’s mouth remained closed, her eyes spoke volumes. Uncertainty and fear shone from their depths.

  “May I go with her to be questioned?” Grace asked Koi.

  “You will have to speak with Red Bear about that. He is the one who will be questioning her.”

  Grace could only nod and follow the trio inside.

  Koi didn’t slow. Keeping his fingers locked on Mud’s bound wrists, he skirted the counter and headed toward the back.

  “Wait!” Grace called out from the other side of the counter.

  Koi glanced back at her over his shoulder. “I’m only seeing that she is secured in a room. Someone will be with you shortly.”

  With a nod, Grace moved to join Talako who had just stepped into the room. “She’s terrified, Talako.”

  “I know,” he admitted, pity shining from his eyes. “But there’s nothing I can do about that. Once they question her, hopefully they’ll get the answers they seek and can figure out what needs doing next.”

  That’s what Grace was afraid of. “What will they do with her when they’re done with their questions?”

  Talako ran a hand through his long hair. “I’m not sure, Mrs. Holloway. Probably take her to the children’s home in Calhoun.”

  “But there are no beds at the children’s home. And if they send her to another county, she’ll be devastated and will likely only run again.”

  “I have a feeling you are right,” Talako agreed. “Let us have a seat and wait to see what happens from here.”

  Left with no other choice, Grace sat in one of the folding chairs in the small room and prepared to wait.

  An hour went by with Grace alternating between sitting and pacing, when Red Bear suddenly appeared.

  He pierced Grace with a serious but kind stare. “She will not talk. Normally, we do not question a child without a parent present, but in this case, we’re left with no choice, as I do not believe her parents are alive.”

  “I agree,” Grace whispered, taking a step toward him.

  Red Bear waved her forward. “She refuses to speak without you being in the room with her.”

  Grace needed no further encouragement. She followed Red Bear down a narrow hallway to the last room on the left.

  Mud sat in a chair against the wall, her hands still bound behind her.

  Grace’s heart went out to her. “Is it necessary to keep her restrained?”

  Red Bear locked the door behind them, moved across the room, and unbound Mud’s hands.

  Mud rubbed at her wrists, her gaze seeking out Grace.

  “Are you okay?” Grace asked, rushing to the young girl’s side. She took a seat next to Mud and wrapped an arm around her bony shoulders.

  Mud didn’t move. “I wanna go home.”

  “I know you do,” Grace whispered, rubbing her palm up and down Mud’s small arm. “But for now, you have to talk to this nice man. He just needs to ask you some questions.”

  “Men are of the Devil,” Mud spat, burrowing in closer to Grace’s side. “Mama said so.”

  Grace’s mind raced for a way to defuse the situation. She knew that Mud’s mother had taught her to believe that all men were evil. And while some fit that bill, not all of them did.

  “Your mother was right about most everything she taught you, Mud. There are a lot of evil men in this world. But for every bad man, there are a hundred good ones.”

  Mud glanced up at her. “But the Devil—”

  “Is very real,” Grace interrupted. “And that man who attacked your mother? Though he was definitely evil, he wasn’t the Devil.”

  “Then why would he hurt Mama if he wasn’t the Devil?”

  Why indeed? Grace thought, staring into the young girl’s eyes. “Because he wasn’t a good man, Mud. But just because he wasn’t good doesn’t mean that others aren’t. Take him, for instance.” Grace nodded in Red Bear’s direction. “He’s a good man, Mud. A man who only wants to help you.”

  “But Mama said that all men are bad.”

  Grace prayed for patience. “Do you think I would be sitting in here now with him if he was a bad man?”

  Indecision shone from Mud’s eyes. “I reckon not. But why would Mama say it if it weren’t so?”

  “Well, Mud, I believe your mother met some not-so-good men in her life, men that betrayed and hurt her. And she was only trying to protect you from the same things that she’d been through. That’s all.”

  Moving in closer to Grace’s side, Mud lifted her gaze to Red Bear. “Ask your questions.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Mud was secretly happy to see Grace. The woman had a way of making her feel wanted and safe. Just as her mama had made her feel. And if Grace said that Mud could trust Red Bear, then Mud would do what she could not to let Grace down.

  Red Bear, an extremely tall and scary-looking man, pulled up a chair a short distance away from Mud and opened a folder he’d been holding. “Hello, Mud. As you already know, my name is Red Bear. Let’s start by getting to know each other, shall we?”

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Well,” Red Bear began, “can you tell me your age?”

  Mud thought about that for a moment. “Before Mama died, she told me I was ten.”

  Red Bear glanced at Grace and then back to Mud. “And how long has your mother been gone?”

  “She’s dead,” Mud repeated, thinking the man must be slow.

  Clearing his throat, Red Bear flipped through the papers he held, but continued with his questions. “I’m sorry, Mud. I meant, how long has she been dead?”

  Mud shrugged, the pain of talking about her mother’s death surfacing against her will. But she’d never let them know that. “I ain’t rightly sure. Mama never taught me to tell time.”

  Another of his glances flicked in Grace’s direction. “Okay, Mud. Do you remember if it was cold or hot when your mother died?”

  “It was hot,” Mud responded, her thoughts turning inward, back to that fateful day when the Devil had come for a visit.

  “Mama had sent me to check the traps. I remember one of them traps having a rabbit in it. Mama was gonna be so proud. She was tired of eating fish. I was too.”

/>   Shifting in her seat, Mud swallowed back her heartache. “I-I heard a noise up ahead on my way home with that rabbit. I ain’t never heard a sound like that before…”

  “What was the sound?” Red Bear softly asked, forcing Mud to go on with the memory.

  “It was Mama. She was trying to breathe, but the blood was pouring from her throat.”

  Mud’s mind drifted back to the scene on the floor of that shack. She inwardly shuddered. “He was on top of her, holding her hands over her head.”

  “Who was on top of her?” Red Bear softly prompted.

  Mud lifted her horrified gaze, unable to get her mama’s sightless eyes from her mind. “The Devil.”

  “What happened then, Mud?”

  “I killed him. I jumped on his back and stuck him with my knife, over and over. I stuck him until he didn’t move no more.”

  Red Bear’s gaze softened even more. His next question was asked so quietly, Mud barely heard him.

  “What did you do with his body?”

  Mud didn’t flinch. “I buried it, so he could get back to Hell. Mama said that’s where the Devil lives, is in Hell.”

  Red Bear leaned back in his chair. “Where did you bury him?”

  “A little ways from the shack me and Mama lived in.”

  “I see. And what about your mother? Did you bury her as well?”

  Mud nodded. “I put her near the garden. It was her favorite place in the world.”

  “Was the garden in bloom when you buried your mother?”

  Unsure of his meaning, Mud repeated, “In bloom?”

  “Were the vegetables ripe or just beginning to grow?”

  Understanding dawned. “They was ripe. Mama had been picking some the day…he showed up.”

  And then, Red Bear tugged a piece of paper free of the folder he held. He stared at it for a few seconds before turning it in Mud’s direction. “Do you recognize this woman?”

  Mud’s gaze lowered to the face in the picture, a face she would know anywhere. She had to lock her teeth to keep from crying out. It took her long moments to get her feelings under control enough to speak. “Mama…”