Cut and Run 7 - Touch and Geaux

my rights, or I’m walking.”
    “I’ll do that, right after you give me one last answer.” Poirier pulled an evidence bag out of his pocket and plopped it on the table. Inside was the gris-gris bag Ty had kept in his pocket. They’d taken it along with all his other belongings when they’d brought him in. “It matches the one the girl was holding. And the one Murdoch was found with.”
    Ty could feel the blood draining from his face as he stared at the bag.
    Poirier leaned forward, lowering his voice. “Tell me, Tyler Beaumont. Who was your next victim going to be?”

    It was under an uneasy peace that Zane and Liam rode the elevator of the Bourbon Orleans to the fifth floor. Zane stood far enough away to be able to maneuver, keeping an eye on Liam even though the man had proved true to his word thus far.
    Liam shook his head, smiling as he stared at the doors. “Are you always this paranoid?”
    “When I’m still bleeding from our introduction, yeah.”
    “Fair enough.” Liam glanced at him and winked.
    Zane rolled his eyes. The man was insufferable. No wonder he and Ty had been an item. He forced Liam to move ahead of him as they made their way down the hall, and he hung back out of reach. He’d seen the fear in Ty’s eyes when he’d said Liam was here for trouble. And men like Ty didn’t scare easily.
    Liam held up the room key Zane had given him and slid it in, stepping back as the little light flicked green. Zane pushed the door open and called out, “Coming in with company!”
    No one responded, and Zane nodded for Liam to go in. Liam put both hands behind his head and strolled into the room, Zane moving behind with one of the borrowed knives in his hand.
    As soon as Liam cleared the entryway, a gun appeared from behind the corner, pressing to Liam’s temple. “Oh dear,” Liam drawled.
    Owen Johns stepped away from his hiding spot and out of Liam’s reach with practiced speed, keeping the gun trained on him.
    Zane groaned. The one man here who wouldn’t listen to a word either of them said.
    “It’s okay,” he tried anyway. He held up his knife. “I’m fifty percent sure he’s on our side.”
    Owen’s lip curled and he grunted. “Last time I saw him, he was dead, so forgive me for being a little wary.” He narrowed his eyes at Liam. “Get on your knees.”
    “This isn’t that sort of game.” Liam sighed. “Go fetch me your master and we’ll discuss it together.”
    Owen bristled at the condescension, but he began to relax his stance. “The others have been arrested.”
    “What?” Zane blurted.
    “I watched from across the street. Took all of them.”
    “Would it be possible to dispense with some weaponry here?” Liam drawled. “My fingers are going numb.”
    “Not a unicorn’s chance in Hell,” Owen grunted.
    “Now, what would a unicorn be doing in Hell?” Liam asked.
    “You can ask him when you get there.”
    Zane slid his knife back into the sheath Liam had given him for it. “What else do we know? Why were they all taken?”
    “I can only assume someone figured out who Ty was,” Owen answered grudgingly. “Someone fingered him for the murder.”
    “What murder?” Liam asked. For the first time, he sounded genuinely confused.
    “The one you committed,” Owen snarled. “Killed a girl, left a hoodoo curse bag behind. The same one you stuffed in Ty’s bed.”
    “I’ve not stuffed anything in Ty’s bed in some years. And I didn’t kill anyone last night, certainly not some girl with a voodoo curse. Are you all still this insane? I thought that faded with time.”
    Zane pointedly cleared his throat. “You think someone saw him and recognized him from when he was undercover?”
    Owen nodded.
    “Or someone’s setting him up,” Liam offered, turning to meet Zane’s eyes for emphasis. “Someone who knew he’d be here.”
    Zane gritted his teeth. If that were the case, the cartel merely had to get to Ty in jail and he was done. They had him cornered already and Ty didn’t even know they were after him. “What do you know?”
    Liam shrugged. “He went by the name Tyler Beaumont while here. Not exactly original, but one shouldn’t stray too far, am I right?” Liam winked at Owen.
    “Oh God, I forgot how annoying you are,” Owen grumbled. He still had his gun up. Where had the man gotten it? Zane remembered someone saying Owen was a head of security at some big corporation, so he might carry all the time. But knowing what he did now, Zane