Missing in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law Mystery/Romance Series) by Jana DeLeon

owner, but she was staring at Maryse, looking as perplexed as Jadyn felt. Okay, so whatever was up with her cousin was so far outside of the norm that even Mildred didn’t have a guess.  
    Finally, Maryse stopped stirring and looked at Jadyn. “You going to tell the feds about what that biker said?”
    “Not right away. I’m going to talk it over with Colt first and see what he thinks. All that information does is answer the question of why that particular location and why Zach was out of the car. It doesn’t help at all with finding Raissa.”
    Mildred nodded. “And if the feds find out we were at the diner asking questions, they’ll bring a rash of crap down on Jadyn. Ross is just looking for a reason to get Wildlife and Fisheries to bench her.”
    “Ross is a douche bag,” Maryse said. “Most feds are.”
    Because her cousin was married to a federal agent, Jadyn wisely decided to remain quiet. Luc hadn’t seemed remotely douche-baggy to her, but perhaps Maryse’s comment was an indication of why her mood was so foul. Marital discord couldn’t possibly be fun.
    “Is Colt picking you up here?” Maryse asked.
    “Yes. He should be here any minute.”
    “You taking Helena?”
    “God no! Last time she was supposed to be shadowing me, she couldn’t keep up with a walk down the street. Can you imagine her keeping up with Colt and me getting in and out of the boat and tromping through the swamp? Not like I can tell Colt to wait for her to catch up.”
    “You’d end up leaving her somewhere in the swamp,” Mildred said, “and then we’d have to hear about it for the next hundred years.”
    “I’m going with you,” Maryse said suddenly.
    “Oh.” Jadyn looked over at Mildred who shook her head. “I thought Luc wanted you to stay out of the swamp.”
    A flush started on Maryse’s neck and crept up her face. “I don’t give a damn what he wants. This is an emergency.”
    “An emergency that Jadyn and Colt can handle,” Mildred pointed out.  
    Maryse shook her head, her expression leaving no doubt that she’d dug in her heels. “They can’t cover all the camps in one day. If I cover part, we can get them all done.”
    “Luc wouldn’t ask you to stay away from the swamps unless it was critical,” Mildred argued. “It’s too dangerous.”
    “I’ve got my gun,” Maryse said.
    Jadyn rubbed her hand across her mouth. The last time her cousin had brandished a weapon, it hadn’t turned out so good for a hutch, an urn, and her dead father’s ashes.  
    “Ahhh,” Mildred said, “you’re not exactly a sharpshooter. If you got into trouble, I don’t know that you’d be able to handle it.”
    “So I’ll take Jadyn with me. She’s a crack shot and Colt doesn’t need any help.”
    Jadyn froze. She’d connected with her cousin from the first moment they’d met, and she definitely cared a lot about her, but no way did she want to be in a boat all day with a pissed-off, gun-toting Maryse. Frantically, she ran through a list of reasons they couldn’t ride out together.
    “I have to go out with Colt,” Jadyn said, latching onto the one logical reason she could come up with. “Technically, he’s my contractor, which is why he has the right to be in the swamps. If Agent Ross or his men catch him out there alone, they’ll arrest first and ask questions later. If I’m there, it will get him a pass, at least for a while.”
    Maryse slumped down in her chair and crossed her arms across her chest. “Then I’ll go with you two and it will take twice as long to get the job done, but I’m not sitting in my office all day pretending nothing is wrong.”
    A knock at the kitchen door broke into Jadyn’s thoughts and she whirled around to see Colt standing in the doorway. They’d been so busy arguing, she hadn’t even heard him come in.
    “Am I interrupting?” Colt asked.
    “Yes,” Maryse said, “but that’s never stopped anybody in this town before. You may as well come in.”
    After a