Page 15 of Beau
He gave her a brief smile. “It was given to me.”
“Who gave it to you, and why?” she asked, suspicion blossoming.
His gaze went to the road ahead. “Your father gave me the ticket.”
“My father?” Aurelie frowned. “Why? Having just left the military, I’d think you wouldn’t have large sums of money to contribute to my father’s campaign.”
“As a matter of fact, since I was deployed often and had nowhere to spend my paychecks, I’ve saved a considerable amount.” His lips pressed into a tight line. “As to why your father invited me, maybe I was the obligatory veteran invited to show his support of the men and women who have served. You’ll have to ask him why he invited me.”
She studied him, looking for any body language that would tell her that she shouldn’t believe him. Either he had a really good poker face, or he was telling the truth. Still, it didn’t make sense that her father had invited the man without telling Aurelie.
She’d ask him the next time she saw him. For the moment, she had no reason to think Beau was lying. Why would he?
The man drove to the sheriff’s office and parked out front. She didn’t wait for him to open her door but got out on her own and met him at the front of the truck. They entered the office together.
Aurelie gave a deputy a brief description of the attack, the approximate time and what she could convey about the man’s appearance.
Beau reported what he’d witnessed.
The deputy recorded the information and their contact information and promised to look into the situation and any video footage that might be obtained from the chateau.
Satisfied that they’d done their due diligence by reporting the crime, they left the sheriff’s office.
Again, Beau opened the passenger door for Aurelie and handed her up into the vehicle.
When he slipped into the driver’s seat, he started the engine and turned to her. “Where to from here? New Orleans?”
She shook her head. “My father lives in Baton Rouge. He’d prefer if I lived with him, but I moved out when I went to college and only stay with him when I’m working on a special project for him. Mostly, I live in a little house in a small town, close enough to commute to Baton Rouge or New Orleans when the need arises.” She grimaced. “The good news is that you don’t have to take me to the cities. I live in Bayou Miste,” she said.
Beau’s eyes widened. “Bayou Miste? Seriously?”
Her frowned. “You say that like it’s a bad thing?”
“Not at all. It’s just that I have relatives in Bayou Miste.”
Her frown deepened. “The same last name? Boyette?”
He nodded.
Her eyes widened. “As in Ben and Alex Boyette?”
He grinned. “Cousins. All nineteen of them.”
“Your uncle, the overachiever?” She laughed. “I should’ve put the names together, but Boyette is a common name.”
“My extended family made it a common name by adding to the numbers.” He shifted into gear and pulled out of the parking lot.
“Do you know how to get there?”
He nodded. “I could get there with my eyes closed.”
“Please,” she said. “I’d prefer if you kept them open.” She leaned back in her seat, feeling better about getting into a strange man’s truck. He was a Boyette, related to the Bayou Miste Boyettes. “I like your cousins,” she said. “At least those two. I met them at the Raccoon Saloon with their spouses. I run into them in town or at festivals.” She shook her head. “I knew there were a lot of them, but nineteen? Wow.”
“The Boyettes believe in big families. My parents drew the line at ten. My mother made my father get snipped after her tenth baby. She only had one set of twins, which meant nine pregnancies.”
“You’d think her body would give out by then.” Aurelie shook her head again. “I can’t imagine how she held up, not to mention your poor aunt.”
Beau grinned. “My aunt is in as good or better shape than most of her children. She has to be to keep up with all of them. And she’s bound and determined to get them all married off. Ben and Alex were the first two. I think she’s working on finding matches for the twins, Dolley and Madison, now.”