The Miss Fortune Series: Nearly Departed (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Shari Hearn Page A

international arms dealer…”
    Ida Belle
sighed. She reached over and touched my hand. “Can we at least have one last
boat ride together? We’ll take Jo-Jo out, get rid of him, then the three of us
will go out for a spin.”
    “Okay. And
then I’ll make the call.”
    We heard a
knock at the front door.
    “It’s me,
Gertie.”
    Ida Belle
and I sprang up and ran into the living room. I flung open the door.
    “It’s about
time.”
    “Who died
and made you queen?” Gertie said.
    “Not funny,
in light of—” I stopped in mid-sentence as Jo-Jo stepped inside.
    “Is it
okay?” he asked Gertie.
    “Of course
it’s okay,” she said to him. “You helped us out last night. The least we can do
is let you ride the boat before you leave town.”
    “I live in
Los Angeles now,” Jo-Jo said. “We don’t have a bayou over there. I kinda miss
it.”
    I knew the
feeling. I was going to miss it myself. “I’ll get the keys to the boat.”
    The four of
us headed out the back door and into the bright sun. Jo-Jo whistled when he
spotted it, an airboat that was a gift from a couple of local mobsters we had
helped out. “She’s a beaut.” He took his baseball cap, which hung out of his
back pocket, and placed it on his head.
    I saw it
first. Then Ida Belle.
    We both
stared at his baseball cap—a maroon Sinful Sluggers one to be exact. The same
cap the guy sitting on the park bench, the guy we originally suspected of being
the bomber, wore.
    “Something wrong?”
Gertie asked. She followed my gaze to Jo-Jo. Her eyes widened.
    “What y’all
staring at me for?” Jo-Jo asked.
    “Where’d
you get the cap, Jo-Jo?” Gertie asked.
    “My cap? I
played on the Swamp Bar team when I used to live here.” He smiled in a maniacal
sort of way. “You probably never went to none of my games, though, did you?”
    Gertie
shook her head. “Sorry. No I didn’t.”
    Quickly his
smile morphed to a pout. Like a little kid, he stuck his hands in his pockets.
It was then I noticed outlines of something in both pockets. One definitely was
a cell phone, the other one a lump of some kind.
    His eyes
narrowed into slits. “Well, if you had you would have seen I was one of their
star catchers.”
    I looked
over at Ida Belle, moving my hand to my waistband and hoping she understood my
unspoken question. I had left my Glock upstairs, not intending to go out
anywhere this morning. I was hoping she had hers. But she shook her head. That
left Gertie. But her weapons were in her purse.
    “I’m sure
you were the star, Jo-Jo,” Gertie said. “You were good at everything you did.”
    I knew she
was lying. From what I heard, Jo-Jo would have to go to night school in order
to advance to half-wit.
    “Really?”
Jo-Jo asked, his voice rising. “That’s not what you said when you was my
teacher.”
    “Let’s cut
the BS. What’s going on, Jo-Jo?” I asked.
    Ida Belle
slowly moved a few inches away from me to the right. I knew what she was planning.
She wanted to move around Jo-Jo so he would be in the middle of a circle, and
not facing the three of us. It would be easier to take him down if we had him
circled.
    “You didn’t
have a crush on Gertie, did you, son?” Ida Belle asked.
    “And you
didn’t catch some Russian trying to break into my house, did you?” The idiot
probably cut himself trying to jimmy the lock with his knife.
    At the same
time, Gertie kept her eyes on Jo-Jo, while her fingers worked the clasp of her
purse. She also inched her way to the left.
    Jo-Jo’s lips
formed a straight line on his reddening face. “She said I would never count for
much. Remember when I made that volcano for the science fair and it didn’t go
off and you made fun of me? And you wouldn’t let me in the smarty pants rocket
club because you said I wasn’t cut out for science. Well, guess what? You was
wrong! Turns out, I learned from that stupid volcano. And now, I’m pretty good
making something explode.”
    “Jo-Jo,
that wasn’t me,”