Crescent City Detective

by Vito Zuppardo

  “No, Pearl,” Emma Lou said, cutting her off.

  Howard smiled. “I know where she is going with this. A road trip.”

  “That’s what I’m talking about,” Pearl Ann said with a grin from ear to ear.

  Howard had to laugh. He knew Emma Lou was just changing the direction of the conversation. She never did like police talk and was always ready for a road trip. Pearl Ann said more than once the road trip last year to the Audubon Zoo for the Gay Gala Event was the time of her life. Of course, she got drunk out of her mind and didn't remember things exactly how they were. It was a road trip, and they all came away with great memories of the evening.

  Howard had to disappoint her. “No road trip tonight, Pearl Ann.” He asked if he could talk in private with Mario and Zack, so the others left, but not too willingly. The fewer people that heard what Howard had to say, the better he felt.

  Mario wasn’t sure what was going on, and like a good detective, he just listened. Howard went on to fill them in on his visit to the Last Call Bar and his meeting that was to take place that night at nine p.m.

  Zack confirmed a friend completed his task at the police department and Cosmo Walker had two hundred dollars in his Calabar Prison account and several personal items stocked in his awaiting cell. A guard was happy to accommodate the request and make sure the inmates were aware of Cosmo Walker’s special treatment on arrival.

  Mario just listened, and at times he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. While he was not officially allowed to work on the case, he had to be careful of his involvement with Howard and Zack. They were borderline interfering with an ongoing police investigation, and that was something Mario didn’t need to know. It was information on Kate’s attacker they were talking about, and he couldn’t help but hang on to every detail Howard laid out.

  Mario broke his silence. “Can I just ask who the hell is Cosmo Walker? I looked at all the interviews, and there was no Cosmo Walker that the police have an interest in.”

  Howard looked around to make sure no one was around that could hear him. He leaned forward into the center of the table directly across from Mario. “Correct, when I got to him, the officer had already interviewed him and was doing his report. Cosmo gave the police nothing. Like most riots or large gatherings, especially ones involving inmates, all the police want to do is get it under control. The officer got a quick statement from Cosmo and made his report then moved to the next person. I got him talking, and trust me, he knows something.”

  Mario rubbed his face in disbelief. “This is a major police investigation.”

  “Correct, and the police are going about it wrong. Look, Mario, your girlfriend’s attack is personal. To us, you’re like family. You know the cops are going to charge Julian—adding some more years to his life sentence—and close the case,” Howard said.

  Zack agreed, nodding his head. “You know he’s right.”

  They got silent for a few seconds as a kitchen worker cleaned a table around them and moved some chairs into place around the tables.

  That gave Mario time to think. “Last year they took a shot at me in the French Quarter. I thought with Jack and Raul dead, it was over. Now they're after Kate. We need to find out who is involved in this and put them behind bars.

  “I’m coming with you to the bar for your nine o’clock meeting,” Mario said.

  “No—there is no way you can be there.”

  Zack knew there was no talking Mario out of this, and in the end, Howard agreed to take him along.

  Zack walked Howard and Mario to the front entrance. As they passed the business office, Dr. Walter Ross closed and locked his office door behind him. He acknowledged them barely with a head movement and a whisper. “Good evening, gentlemen.”

  Mario’s stomach made a flip as the doctor walked out the front entrance. He was at the court when Doctor Ross was acquitted, and he was still baffled as to how he was walking around as a free man.

  “Walking proof of your legal system if you need any,” Zack said, looking at the back of the doctor as he went out the front entrance.

  Mario opened the front door for the other two to walk through first. “That bastard should be behind bars for what he has done. I can’t believe he still has his medical license.”

  “If they had taken his license after the acquittal, it would have meant some guilt and contradicted the verdict. So he kept his license and is free to go back to work as if nothing happened. There is no justice,” Zack said, standing at the top of the steps.

  The back seat of the limousine had a lot of space. Mario stretched out as they pulled up to the Last Call Bar. It was a short drive, and they arrived in the parking lot at about eight forty-five p.m. Howard parked the car facing the bar so he could see Angie come out the front door or side entrance. After their conversation in the bar, she had made it pretty clear she did not want to be seen talking to him. While waiting, he and Mario discussion their theory on how Willard Smith was involved, but neither could come up with a solid clue.

  Howard looked at his watch. It was now nine fifteen p.m.

  “She should have come out by now. I hope she didn’t have second thoughts,” Howard said, focusing his eyes on the front door.

  “The door is opening, that has to be her,” Mario said. It took a while, and finally, two couples walked out the door. “Crap, where is she?”

  “I’m going in. Mario, you keep an eye on that side entrance. I’ll cover the front.”

  Howard opened the front door of the bar. The smoke was thick and the music loud—a big difference since he left the bar a few hours ago. He didn’t see Angie anywhere, so he stopped a barmaid that was serving drinks. “Have you seen Angie?”

  “She left about an hour ago,” she said.

  “By herself?” Howard asked.

  “Not sure. Check with the bartender,” she shouted over the music.

  Howard went to the bar. It took a few seconds to get the bartender’s attention. “Hi, do you know if Angie left with anyone?”

  “Some guy. I told her to take her manfriend problems away from my bar. They were getting a little rowdy,” the bartender said.

  “Are you the owner?”

  “Yes, I’m Alfonso.”

  Howard pulled the picture of Willard Smith out of his pocket. “Have you seen this man around here?”

  “Seen him? She left the bar with the guy—he’s been here a few times,” Alfonso said.

  CHAPTER 9

  It was getting close to noontime, and Dr. Ross had thought he would have decided on Jack’s replacement at this point. His interview with a house supervisor was a different process than what a hospital might take. Yes, a registered nurse was important, but he didn’t need one that was at the top of his or her class. Not the highest honor student that all the major hospitals went after. Doctor Ross needed a person that was a licensed RN. His qualifications are far more weighted on loyalty than even medical experience. Loyalty was everything to Dr. Ross. Loyalty was similar to a bodyguard willing to take a bullet for you. A person that would sacrifice everything to protect the doctor’s integrity, his life, and in Doctor Ross’s case, his revenue stream. The one he had so carefully crafted and nurtured over the years. A replacement for his trusted employee, Jack Warren, whose life came to an end by a single shot. Jack had his agenda and problems but never failed to carry out the doctor's demands.

  Aiden James had written a follow-up letter after his first interview. Doctor Ross did favor the ones that made that extra effort. It showed their enthusiasm for the position, but nothing could prove loyalty. The commitment would come over time with a small task, and then one more, and another until he was so far committed he would have to be devoted to the doctor. His only survival would be to understand the consequences if he broke that loyalty.

  The doctor looked at a few more resumes and finally made his choice. He picked up the phone and called his secretary.

  “Yes, sir,” she answered.

  The doctor said, “Tell A
iden James he has the job. Get him processed and have him start

  Monday morning.” He felt some relief now that he had decided.

  “I’ll contact him and make the arrangements,” she replied.

  He cleared the rest of his desk and headed to the dining room for lunch. The staff knew to have his usual corner table ready by one o’clock every day whether he showed up or not. The table could be used for breakfast or dinner because he rarely visited during that time. Once in a while for a late-night dessert, but just about every day for lunch. Owning the facility came with some perks, and the staff was trained to his demands—something they may not agree with, but if you wanted a job, you carried out the request. Over the years, many kitchen workers had come and gone at a mere suggestion from Doctor Ross to the kitchen supervisor. When he arrived in the dining room, all personnel were on their best behavior.

  When he arrived in the dining room, there were a few of the residents still having lunch. Zack, Dave, Emma Lou, and Pearl Ann were at one table, and Zack spotted him as soon as he walked in. Zack and his friends and maybe Andrew the gardener were the only people in Riverside that verbally voiced their opinion on the doctor's acquittal. The other residence was either too old to be concerned or not informed of his capability. Unfortunately, Zack and Andrew experienced the doctor’s undertaking firsthand.

  There was no love lost between Zack and Doctor Ross, and Zack made that very clear during the trial. As a witness for the district attorney’s office, Zack testified against the doctor only to have his high-power defense team rip all the evidence apart.

  Doctor Ross walked directly over to Zack’s table. “Good evening, everyone. I hope you're having a great day.”

  I was until you arrived, Zack wanted to say, but instead, he just gave a phony smile.

  When no one said anything, Pearl Ann spoke. “We are doing fine.”

  Doctor Ross smiled and walked to his table in the corner and took a seat looking directly in their view. He wasn’t going to show any sign of weakness. He was acquitted, and the world would have to accept the verdict.

  “We have to have lunch earlier and be out of here before one o’clock,” Zack said. Emma Lou patted Zack’s hand; she knew how to calm him down. “Just looking at him pisses me off.”

  Johnny Guidry, Zack’s longtime friend at the New Orleans Police Department, found him and his friends in the dining room. “This place is bigger than it looks. I’ve been walking around looking for you,” Johnny said as he shook hands with Zack.

  Pearl Ann smiled at Johnny. “Well, Zack, are you going to introduce your friend?”

  “Yes, Pearl, if you’ll give me a chance,” Zack said, pointing out each person and saying their name. They all gave a polite smile and slight hand wave.

  “Can we speak in private?” Johnny asked, gesturing to move to another table.

  “These are my friends. You can speak freely in front of them,” Zack said, pulling a chair out for him.

  Pearl Ann was batting her eyelashes up at him. “Yes, Johnny, please sit down.” She was always a flirt, and in her younger days, it got her into trouble more than once. She thought it was funny, but you didn’t do that to a man unless you wanted a response. Several times she got more than she bargained for and her sister Emma Lou had to come to her rescue.

  Johnny sat down. “I had to come tell you this in person. I don’t want to talk on my office phone. You never know who might be monitoring at the police station.”

  Zack slapped the table. “Hold that thought. Here comes the man you need to talk to.” Zack smiled and stood up. “Well, the gang is all here,” he said as he greeted Howard and Mario. They grabbed two chairs from another table and joined the group.

  “Johnny?” Mario said.

  “Mario? It’s been a long time,” Johnny said, shaking hands.

  ‘Well, I don’t get to the fifth floor where all the big shots work,” Mario said, pulling a chair closer to the table. That was when he saw Doctor Ross sitting in the corner. Locking eyes with him, it didn’t take long for the doctor to finish his lunch and leave. The detective was in the courtroom every day during his trial, and the doctor knew this was personal. Mario could be daunting when he was staring you down in a court of law.

  Zack got up, and with a kitchen helper they brought over coffee mugs and one of those white thermal coffee servers. Howard and Mario jumped on the coffee first and poured a cup.

  Johnny looked at Zack with concern. “You sure we shouldn’t take this to another table, just you and me?”

  “We’re okay, continue,” Zack said.

  Johnny took out his notepad. “Cosmo Walker arrived at Calabar early this morning. In his cell neatly stacked on a brick shelf were bags of peanuts, cookies, two cartons of cigarettes, and some of those fruity juice boxes the kids like. They love that stuff in prison.”

  Howard frowned. “What about the money in his account?”

  “Hold on,” Johnny whispered, looking around the room. By this late in the evening, all the residents had gone back to their rooms, and the kitchen workers were taking a break. He continued with a slight whisper anyway. “I was told when they put Cosmo in his cell, an inmate shouted, ‘The new guy, I heard, he has bank.’ Another inmate shouted, ‘Is that right?’”

  “Wow, the information is out there,” Zack said.

  Howard took a sip of his coffee. “This guy better wise up quick.”

  “Yes, he better, or he’ll be dead real soon,” Mario said.

  Johnny, still concerned with someone snooping, looked around the room. The room was still empty. “He has forty-eight hours to wise up. That’s how long they will keep him separated from the main population in the prison yard. After that, it will get dangerous for him.”

  “Answer this, what if Cosmo talks, and he gives up everything? How do you stop from getting him hurt, and I mean badly in prison?” Mario said, looking directly in Howard’s direction.

  He smiled with confidence. “The same way I started the rumor, it will end. Cosmo will be looked up to and seem like a hero. At least in the prison world.”

  Mario gave a head shake to Howard. The detective didn’t want him to reveal the information they discovered with the barmaid at The Last Call Bar. Rolling his eyes back to Howard gave him a clue it wasn’t the time for that discussion.

  Mario’s alarm went off on his watch, more of a vibration than a sound to alert him it was time to head to the police station for the afternoon briefing. Kate’s attack was considered a high-profile case with numerous jurisdictions pointing fingers at each other. A federal prisoner involved in a crime against a nurse working in a state-owned hospital located in the heart of the city. The New Orleans police were investigating the case and had to turn over all information to the State Police and the FBI. One thing for sure Mario knew: it wasn’t going to be an easy case. There were too many department heads involved, but he was happy it was getting a lot of attention.

  CHAPTER 10

  Mario tried to keep a low profile and sat in the back of the conference room. There was a lot of press covering the case, and he didn’t want anyone to question him about Kate. Not many people knew about his relationship with Kate, but with so much media attention, the press was digging for new information that might make a story for the six p.m. television news shows.

  The local officials of the FBI and State Police were representing their divisions of law enforcement at the conference. Gretchen Parks stood tall next to her fellow department heads, representing the Orleans Detective Division. Newly appointed Chief of Police Edgar Waters for New Orleans was taking command of the news conference. He had just said that there were no new leads on why Gordon “G-Man” Gross attacked Kate and no new clues of the whereabouts of Willard Smith that acted as a prison guard. That didn’t matter to one local newspaper reporter, who shouted, “Do you know how long before Willard Smith will be apprehended?”

  Chief Waters handled the question professionally but showed frustration, at times, and he answered as
vaguely as possible. “We will find him and hopefully soon.”

  Mario wanted to end the meeting before the dreaded question of why G-Man got transferred to New Orleans Parish Prison from Calabar in the first place arose. No one could give him that answer, but G-Man would ship back to Calabar while awaiting trial for Kate’s attack, adding more years to his life sentence.

  “Chief Waters,” another reporter shouted with her hand waving in the air.

  “Yes, the last question,” the chief said.

  “I understand Kate Fontenot was pregnant and lost the baby during the attack.”

  The chief spotted Mario in the back of the room and quickly turned towards the reporter. He had heard she lost the baby, but it had nothing to do with the case, and he was not going to make a circus out of her attack. “I don’t know anything about that. Thank you for coming,” he said as he walked out of the room.

  “Sir, do you know who the father was?” the report shouted to the chief as he closed the doors to his office behind him.

  Mario had not been to his desk since the day of Kate’s attack, and he could see from afar it had messages and folders piled up. He met with some of his fellow detectives in the office away from the press. The investigators of the case gave Mario all the information they had, but it looked like Howard was further ahead than they were. The detectives didn’t say anything about the Last Call Bar or a barmaid that might know Willard Smith. He’d worked with these guys for a long time, and they talked about each other’s cases a lot. He didn’t think they were holding anything back. The information Howard had shared about Angie was too sketchy to attempt to reveal to anyone at this time.

  Mario heard his name called from across the room. A lady detective held a phone up in the air. He rushed over, thinking it might be the hospital calling about Kate. “Hello?”

  “Mario?” the voice said.

  Howard didn’t need any verification that he was on the line. The voice was familiar; it was just surprising that the call came in through the detective’s office phones.