- •I took the case. Somebody had to do it and I’m too poor to keep my hands clean.
- •Chapter 2
- •I also let that pass. Danny has an exaggerated opinion of my decadence.
- •I started to put my sweater back on.
- •I didn’t wait long, fortunately, because money does not guarantee taste, as this sitting room proved.
- •I decided the walk would do me good. Besides, I didn’t think I had the exact change for a bus or the patience for Quarter parking.
- •I handed her my private investigator’s license. She looked at it for a minute.
- •It was too much. I had to burst out laughing. I was remembering why he had left me. It was back in sixth grade. This only caused Barbara to look more concerned. Maybe I had gone crazy.
- •I didn’t see her again until after lunch. We ran into each other in the bathroom.
- •I handed him over. He let out a breathy mew at being moved, but he didn’t seem to mind too much. Cordelia pulled her jacket around him. He was a little marmalade cat with big green eyes.
- •I shrugged to show that it wasn’t important. I turned back down the way we came.
- •It was Danny.
- •It was Monday morning again. But this was the last Monday morning that I would have to deal with bright and early, at least for a while.
- •I walked out of the door and into one of the guards.
- •I dialed Sergeant Ranson’s number. Some bored clerk answered.
- •I tripped instead, doing what I hoped they wouldn’t notice was a shoulder roll. I used my landing as an excuse to make some noise.
- •I was sitting there feeling very dirty, not to mention sorry for myself, when Danny Clayton walked by. Without recognizing me, I might add.
- •I told them my story with only a slight interruption for dinner. It took me over two hours, between my fatigue and Ranson’s questions.
- •I started to protest, but was interrupted by the phone. Danny picked it up, then handed it to me. It was Ranson.
- •Visiting hours wouldn’t start for a while, so my first destination was Sergeant Ranson’s office to see if she had arrested Milo and cohorts yet.
- •I had to say something or I’d start sniffling.
- •I started laughing. It wasn’t that funny, but it was too absurd for my present state of mind.
- •I shuddered. It wasn’t a pleasant thought.
- •I looked up. Miss Clavish was standing there, in her prim navy blue dress, wearing white gloves and holding a large shotgun. That was the thunderclap—she had fired over our heads and into the wall.
- •I started to protest, to say that as long as Barbara Selby was in this hospital, I wasn’t dropping out, but Ranson waved me silent.
- •I slowly sat up, then slid off the examining table and assumed a standing position.
- •I picked up my canvas bag, found the keys that Ms. (it had to be Ms., not Miss, after that shotgun trick) Clavish had removed from my door. I locked up and we left.
- •I finished in the bathroom in time to hear the tail end of her last message. It was a male voice saying he’d see her real soon and that he loved her and so on.
- •I stuck my head in.
- •I went back into the living room and put on the Brandenburg Concertos to lend a cultured air to this affair. Danny nodded approval at my choice.
- •I knew that by “in time” she meant Barbara more than she meant me. I was glad that Barbara hadn’t been forgotten.
- •I picked up the heavy platter and carried it out to the table.
- •I heard my answering machine being played back.
- •I made introductions. Torbin explained his plans for the next few days. Good food, great movies, and perhaps a few lessons on makeup. I didn’t ask whether he meant Frankie or me.
- •I got in, leaving my door open, and turned the ignition. The engine hummed smoothly, all the usual clanking sounds gone.
- •I quickly put the tools away. Ben was staring at the unchanging marsh when I came back.
- •I spotted Ranson.
- •I noticed a patch of yellow under one of the rags. I picked it up. A half-empty tube of horse liniment. Equus Ben-Gay. No, I couldn’t do that. Not even to Karen Holloway.
- •I saw Frankie at the far edge of the light. He was standing by himself, waiting, it seemed.
- •I nodded. She opened the door. The hallway was empty.
- •I kissed her on the mouth. Then I put my arms around her and held her. She returned the embrace and the kiss for a moment, then she broke off.
- •It wasn’t a disaster, it was delicious. Fortunately, neither Ranson nor I had bet on it being inedible.
- •I looked at her like she was crazy.
- •I was close enough to see Cordelia’s face. The barrel of Ben’s gun was pressed against her neck. Her eyes were a blazing blue against the stark paleness of her skin.
- •I remembered Alma, small, pale blond, and eight months pregnant. David, their son, pale like his mother, was three.
- •I refused to bow my head. I had nothing to pray for.
- •I jerked. Other hunters with other guns aiming at other people.
- •I nodded, knowing I was asking too much.
- •I nodded. “Eight months.”
- •I puzzled for a minute.
- •I was hungry. All I’d had to eat so far today were the crawfish on the pier.
- •I put my hand on her arm to stop her.
- •I shrugged.
- •I led the way and lit some candles and a hurricane lantern to light the kitchen. I started the wood stove. It was chilly in here.
- •I turned back to her, but she stood there, no words coming forth.
- •I washed my face, but I still looked like shit.
- •I shook my head. Ranson had to be right, it couldn’t mean anything.
- •I pretended to think for a minute.
- •I shrugged. I didn’t want Cordelia to be hit, but I couldn’t write Danny’s death warrant to save her. The thug lifted his hand again.
- •I stood beside her, next to the door, not wanting to let her go. I started to give her directions.
- •Voices carried from the lawn. I stopped, afraid that, if I could hear them, they could hear me.
- •I’m still alive. Oh, shit, how am I going to pay for this, was my last thought.
- •I was. Even the goulash that Barbara was eating looked appetizing. The nurse did the usual nurse things to me, then went off to see about getting me some food.
I started to put my sweater back on.
“Ah, don’t do that,” said Danny. “You’ve still got nice tits. I deserve some compensation for my time and effort. You can also leave your jeans unzipped. Particularly if you’re wearing your crocodile underwear.”
“No, tasteful pale lavender.” But I did own a pair of underpants with a gaping gator’s snout you know where. I do have an incurable sophomoric streak in me. I zipped up my jeans. “Can I wash my face?”
“Yes, you may, although I think it rather rude that you didn’t give Ms. Holloway a chance.”
“She didn’t need to,” I called from the bathroom as I splashed very cold water on my face. Not that I like cold water. It just takes an ice age or two for the water to get warm.
“You turned down oral sex? I don’t believe it.”
“Believe it,” I said as I took the cameras out of their hiding places.
“Karen gets pictures of Harry and you get pictures of Karen.”
“Fair is fair.”
“Stupid is stupid,” Danny replied. “Those black curls of yours are going to end up floating in the mighty Mississippi yet.”
“Good thing I know how to swim. I’m going to drop these off for Grandpa Holloway and then get out of this mess. Maybe I’ll be celibate for a while.”
“Right. I’ll give it ten minutes. Anyway I can talk you out of this?”
“Celibacy? I don’t know. Make me an offer,” I said, ignoring her real question.
“No, you can be celibate. You’d better be if you plan to go sticking your unprotected nose into an organized drug-running hive. Karen and/or Harry are more than willing to sell to them. They’d be fools not to. And you’re a fool for getting into this.”
“A very brief appearance, believe me. The film to Grandpa Holloway and I’m gone.”
“When?”
“No time like the present. I’ll drop it off this evening.”
“Call me in the morning,” Danny answered, “if you can. No, call me tonight when you get back. Oh, and put your shirt back on. I’m going home now. Elly’s waiting for me.”
“Not a quick one for old times’ sake?”
“No, I’m a married woman.”
“Even if, as you seem to think, this is my last night on this earth?” My body still had a few things undone that it wanted done to it.
“Then you had better set your affairs in order, not have flings with old flames.”
“Thanks, Dan, for your sage advice.”
“Not that you’re not tempting,” she sighed, deliberately staring at my breasts. She leaned over and kissed the left one, her favorite (don’t ask me why), and then left. Left me high and…certainly not dry. I put my shirt back on and figured it was time to go meet Grandpa Holloway.
For no good reason, I decided to change clothes. Basic black seemed appropriate. Black turtleneck, black jeans, and a black jean jacket, but red earrings. I had to look like the kind of person who would take those kinds of pictures.
I walked to my car, my dismal Datsun. I keep telling myself to put a sign on it saying, “Do Not Tow. This car is not a derelict.” I consulted my road maps. Going at my usual speed, I should get there around eight. I had to get gas. Damn, that meant visibly spending money on this thing. Intellectually, I knew I’d use the same amount of gas in any case, but I didn’t like pulling the money out of my wallet and watching it disappear.
Chapter 5
One Hundred Oaks Plantation wasn’t hard to find. It had a big wrought-iron sign and the kind of bombastic brick gate that said, “Hi, we’re rich. Are you sure you should be entering here?”
Drop the film off and get out of here, I told myself as I drove up to the house.
A servant answered the door and didn’t look too thrilled to see the likes of me. Bravely I forged ahead.
“I need to see Mr. Holloway.”
“Is Mr. Holloway expecting you?”
“I doubt it,” I said. “But I have some film to give him.” The servant didn’t look convinced. “It’s a companion piece to the pictures he got two days ago.” I was guessing Karen had hightailed it over here with Harry’s pictures.
“Follow me,” the servant said and led me to a sitting room, then told me to wait there.