Ascension Day

by John Matthews

  Nel-M hadn’t planned to try her again until the next day – but if this was going to be the name of the game with Ayliss, Runaround City, the sooner his ex-wife was chasing his ass, the better. With two of them trying to find him, he wouldn’t find it so easy to slip away.

  Darrell Ayliss’s cab took him deeper into the city – through the Warehouse District, CBD and French Quarter – to a smaller, more intimate hotel with a quaint Spanish courtyard and pool on the edge of Faubourg Marigny.

  He glanced through the cab’s back window a couple of times, nobody following that he could tell – but then he hadn’t noticed anyone following earlier either. Just basic precautions: change his hotel and his rental car every day. Keep on the move.

  He’d phoned to book the room under his name four hours back, and, as he checked in, the desk clerk informed him that his guest had already arrived. ‘About half an hour ago.’ The desk clerk handed him his key. ‘Room twenty-nine. First floor.’

  Ayliss nodded with a tight smile and, despite it being only one floor, took the elevator. He felt as awkward as hell moving around, felt as if all that clammy heat and stale sweat from Libreville was still trapped against his skin.

  Noises from the en-suite as he walked in: running water. He’d knock the door in a minute, but meanwhile he couldn’t wait any longer to get everything off. First his oversized jacket and shirt, then the padding strapped around his shoulders and waist that made him look seventy pounds heavier. He leant forward to shake and blink out the two brown contact lenses into his right palm, then finally, stripped to the waist standing in front of the dressing-table mirror, he started peeling off the skin-coloured prosthetic stuck tight to his cheeks and around his jaw.

  The bathroom door opened, and, reflected in the mirror, he saw Alaysha Reyner leaning against the door frame in burgundy-red La Perla panties and matching bra. She smiled slyly.

  ‘My, my, Mr McElroy. I swear I only recognize you with your clothes off.’

  He felt an ache of longing as he looked at her, but as he remembered Gerry’s words ‘…I’ll bet you she hasn’t told you one thing. Our dirty, sordid little secret…’ before he ran off into the night with her gun, it dissolved into something else in his stomach. Something sourer, more uncertain, but equally as painful.

  34

  As Jac had been about to phone John Langfranc that night out by the Great River Road, he’d suddenly thought of Morvaun Jaspar. He’d stood frozen in the same position for a couple of minutes, turning over in his mind whether the scenario that had just struck him might be at all possible. Yes, it would be one way of disappearing for a while and, yes, he might be able to get into Libreville with a good enough disguise. But some of the practicalities and worrying gaps in the plan he wouldn’t be able to fill until he’d actually spoken with Morvaun.

  Morvaun had seen the late news bulletin, ‘‘Spect half of New Orleans has by now,’ and while his initial excitement over the idea outweighed his concerns, he reserved full judgement until they’d talked it over some more. ‘First thing is t’get you picked up. Then we can sit over some hot coffee – an’ maybe somethin’ stronger – while we thrash out if this is actually gonna work, or is jus’ the worst damn-fool plan since the Presiden’ decided to go into Iraq.’

  In the half-hour wait, despite hanging in the shadow of some trees until he saw Morvaun’s car turn the corner, again Jac’s nerves bubbled as if being pressure-cooked, worried that the man on the terrace – or someone else seeing him through a window – might have matched him to the news bulletin, and a squad car would get to him before Morvaun.

  Though when he did show, Jac still had good reason to worry. Morvaun’s car, a late fifties Plymouth Belvedere, two-tone pink and sky-blue with grandiose tail-fins that looked like they belonged on a Buck Rogers space-craft, couldn’t have stood out more in the small community. If Morvaun had leant out a side window with a loud hailer shouting “Septegarian pimps’ convention” or “James Brown’s back in town!” – that would at least have half-explained the car’s presence to them.

  As the car coughed and jerked its way back up to Highway 10, with the occasional backfire, Morvaun half-turned towards Jac in the back seat.

  ‘Now you keep down real low there, Jac. Outta sight. Don’ wanna bring no untoward attention to ourselves.’

  Jac swallowed back a muted chuckle.

  Morvaun’s driving was atrocious. Jac lost count of the number of horns blared at them as Morvaun pulled out when he shouldn’t or drifted across lanes. As a car at a cross-street screeched and swerved around them, a narrow miss as Morvaun pulled out without apparently seeing them, Morvaun apologized.

  ‘Sorry ‘bout that, Jac. Haven’t been drivin’ this for a while.’

  Jac looked around at the car. ‘What, since nineteen-fifty-eight?’

  Morvaun chuckled. ‘You wanna save what humour you got left fo’ what the fuck I might make you look like later.’ Then he shrugged lamely. ‘Nah, eight months, perhaps. An’ before that, jus’ weekends now and then. ‘Cause my eyesight ain’t what it used t’be.’

  Jac would never have guessed.

  ‘…An’ sounds like it needs a bit of a service now, too.’

  Jac was convinced that, between Morvaun’s erratic driving, the car’s garish appearance and spluttering and gunshot-loud back-firing, they were bound to get stopped by a police car before they got back to Morvaun’s place.

  But somehow, miraculously, they made it, and over coffee and Kahlua – Morvaun didn’t have brandy and whisky, only a wide array of exotic Caribbean and Pacific Island liquors – they got down to the serious business of not just if and how it might work, but most of all who Jac was going to be.

  Jac quickly discounted implicating Langfranc, what with old-man Beaton no doubt now looking hawkishly over his shoulder, but Mike Coultaine was another matter: long-retired, no remaining allegiances, and a strong invested interest – having been thwarted both at trial and appeal – in saving Durrant’s neck.

  Coultaine was understanding of Jac’s plight, but was non-committal at first, saying he’d phone back in an hour. But when he called back he not only had a name, Darrell Ayliss, but within minutes had e-mailed a j-peg to Morvaun’s computer. Coultaine had spent most of that hour making arrangements, calling in old favours.

  ‘Ayliss is ideal,’ he explained, ‘Because he’s been off the scene for a while – seven years – and there’s hardly anyone in New Orleans that’ll recognize him. Ex-wife’s in Oregon, and the rest of his family in Mississippi.’

  Morvaun agreed: ideal. Not only because of the lack of close friends and family in New Orleans, but the eight years since his last passport photo. ‘Gives us a pile more leeway in how he might look now.’

  Though to get the likeness as close as possible, Coultaine arranged the next day for Ayliss to e-mail Morvaun directly – along with scans of each page of his passport – details of his appearance now: hair colour, length, level of greyness, eye-colour, weight, type of clothes and glasses.

  Coultaine had also covered their tracks by arranging for Ayliss to go to Cabo San Lucas for a week’s fly-fishing. ‘Some old favours owed between us – don’t even ask the hows and whys. All you need to be assured of is that if anyone checks on Ayliss down in Vallarta, according to his staff he’s simply away for the week. Where, they don’t know – they weren’t told.’

  That evening, Morvaun went out to see Alaysha at Pinkies – the only way they could think of safely getting a message to her. Jac surmised that there wasn’t nearly enough for the NOPD to hold her for any length of time, let alone charge her with an accomplice to murder rap.

  As she leant close in the middle of a dance, Morvaun whispered in one ear, ‘Jac wants to see you. I know where he is.’

  A beat’s pause, then she resumed quickly in case Security thought that Ol’ Man River had just made an inappropriate suggestion. And in the next couple of lean-ins, she got the rest of the details.

  A rare treat for Morvaun, Jac ref
lected; hoping, that is, his heart held out. Part payment for helping out, along with 200 bucks Jac gave him towards a car service and a new paint-job.

  ‘What, yo’ don’t like the pink and blue?’

  Jac smiled dryly and shook his head, not sure if Morvaun was serious. Not sure of anything any more. Two-tone: more or less mirrored his life for the next week.

  ‘You should have told me.’

  ‘I tried, Jac. I tried.’

  ‘When?’

  ‘That same night Gerry came knocking on my door while you were there.’

  Jac shook his head incredulously. ‘What, when the knock came? Oh, that must be Gerry – I just remembered there’s something I forgot to tell Jac. Or when he shouted through the door about your sordid little secret together?’

  Alaysha’s hands clenched in exasperation. The struggle for clarity. ‘No, Jac… before. I tried – believe me. But you were too caught up in your own little story about that Archie Teale and your father dying.’ As she saw him flinch, realizing how trivial she’d made it sound, she reached out and gently touched his arm. ‘Sorry, Jac… I didn’t mean it like that. But I did try to tell you then. Just felt like the right time, you know… pouring hearts out to each other time. Probably the first time between us that it had felt right to...’ She cast her eyes down for a second, biting at her bottom lip, ‘… to share a secret like that.’

  He nodded with a tight-lipped grimace, starting to understand. She needn’t have come here, he reminded himself. She could have just stayed away, felt that it was just too awkward to explain. Left him wondering. ‘I know. I’m sorry too…’ though he had to pause then to think what for. ‘…For being too hasty.’

  All she’d said so far was that she and Gerry had conspired to rob someone that they shouldn’t, and now it was coming back to haunt her – and he’d started putting her on the rack. ‘You said rob someone that you shouldn’t have. What, some defenceless old lady or friend or relative, maybe?’

  ‘No.’ Alaysha shook her head. ‘I didn’t mean shouldn’t from a moral standpoint; it’s because of the risk involved if we ever got found out. How much our necks would be on the line.’ Alaysha looked down again briefly, swallowing. ‘It was Carmen Malastra we robbed. That’s why we shouldn’t have done it.’

  Malastra. New Orleans biggest, most-feared mobster. The name ran a shiver down most spines. ‘Oh, I see.’ All he could think of saying immediately, his head suddenly feeling hot and pressured.

  Seeing the shock on Jac’s face, she smiled awkwardly, shrugging. ‘From a moral point of view, my slate’s completely clean. In fact it was that that made me do it, in a moment of weakness, or madness, or both – my mother’s illness.’ She stroked absently at one thigh for a second. ‘And, you see, that’s why it felt right to tell you at that moment… when you were talking about your father.’

  Jac just nodded, closing his eyes for a second in understanding, but didn’t say anything. He could see that this was difficult for her to talk about, the right words elusive, hanging by slim threads between them, and if he spoke they might break, the chain of thought lost and her perhaps not able to get it back in quite the same way again. The shadows in her eyes shifted rapidly for a few seconds more before finally settling and focusing, and she started to explain.

  Gerry had been telling her for a while about the Bay-Tree’s manager, George Jouliern, needing a courier for a scam he was planning, but she’d initially refused. Gerry had kept on about how much money it would mean to both of them, thirty to fifty thousand dollars each, depending how much of a skim Jouliern was able to get away with – but she’d had no interest or particular need for the money then, felt it was mainly to benefit Gerry, who’d got himself in deep with a twenty-grand debt to a local loan shark, Raoul Ferrer.

  ‘Gerry kept piling on the pressure – “I gotta do something about Ferrer, otherwise he’s gonna break my legs” – but still I said no; until, that is, I got news about my mother.’ Her mother had been suffering with diabetes for years, but suddenly it had taken a chronic turn, ‘Something called diabetic nepropathy. Suddenly it was life-threatening, she needed urgent, regular dialysis, the costs were sky-high and she didn’t have medical insurance. And so, despite the risks involved – Gerry maintained there were little or none, Jouliern had it all too well-planned – that thirty to fifty grand started to look like a godsend. My only chance of saving my mother’s life. I finally agreed, said I’d do it.’

  Jouliern skimmed from people at the tables who wanted extra chips without going to the chip-cashing booths. ‘It happens a lot apparently if they’re in the middle of a game or a roll and don’t want the delay of cashing at the booths.

  ‘So they’d be cashed at the table, and at the end of the night Jouliern had the responsibility of taking all the cash from the tables and tallying with the chips provided. At that point, though, he’d pocket some of the cash and feed in chips from his own pocket – there was control of cash in the club, but not chips – and then the extra cash would be left in an envelope under the bar with Gerry.

  ‘The only problem remaining then was that as part of that cash control at the Bay-Tree, each employee, including Jouliern, was searched going in and out, and was allowed no more than fifty bucks in their pockets. So they needed a courier to get those money envelopes out… which is where yours truly came in.’

  ‘What, you went every night?’ The first question that Jac had asked.

  ‘No, three nights a week. All I could manage. And Jouliern kept the skimming light too from the tables, so that the fluctuations wouldn’t show.’ Alaysha shrugged. ‘That no-cash-out policy also gave Gerry some problems in paying Ferrer. Often, the only chance Ferrer would get to collect cash off Gerry was at night at the Bay-Tree. So Gerry would put Ferrer’s money in an envelope with his name on, and tell Security that it was to give to Ferrer later. First couple of times Security said, “Okay, we’ll give it to him ourselves when he calls.” But then when Ferrer complained about one of the payments being light, they said that Gerry could give it to him directly. “Just as long as you know that if he doesn’t call by for it, it stays here with us when you leave. He’ll have to pick it up later.” That was the golden rule – no cash out of the Bay-Tree – no matter the circumstances.’

  Alaysha eased out a slow, heavy breath, as if glad she’d finally shared some of the burden. ‘The whole thing went well, no hitches. And everyone was happy: Gerry paid off Ferrer, I saved my mom’s life, and Jouliern… well, he never shared with us why he was doing it.’ She pouted thoughtfully, which eased into a faint smile. ‘Maybe half a million good reasons – because that’s what he ended up getting away with.’

  The shadows in her eyes deepened again then, and the smile twisted as she forced a brief, ironic chuckle. ‘Bad choice of words – because in the end it doesn’t look like he got away with anything.’ The shadows sunk deeper still, hit something darker, more troubling. Raw fear, panic. ‘You see, ten days or so ago I read in the paper about George Jouliern disappearing. And I thought – Malastra’s found out about the skimming, and it’s only a matter of time before the knock comes on my own door and I’m next to go “missing”.’ Her neck pulsed as she swallowed hard. She held one palm out. ‘That’s why I got the gun from my mom’s. Not so much because of Gerry, but because I feared Malastra’s men would be coming for me.’

  Jac nodded slowly. He understood now why she’d done it, probably too well. If in those last months of his father’s life there’d suddenly been a miracle cure, and at the same time someone had laid on a plate a clean, ingenious robbery to pay for it, with high chances of getting away with it, he’d have gone for it. No question.

  He thought it’d be hard to beat his own nightmare dilemma; but hers, possibly on a Malastra hit-list, was equally as crushing. The mention of his father, though, reminded him: look to the positive. ‘How long now since you read about Jouliern disappearing? Ten days or so? Then another four or five days before he’d have been officially reported a
s missing. At least two weeks. If that knock was going to come on your door, it would have probably happened by now. Chances are Jouliern didn’t say anything about you – they just don’t know.’

  ‘Or they’re still putting all the pieces together.’

  He could see that his words did little to lift the crushing worry from her shoulders, her eyes haunted, looking for solutions that weren’t there, her body trembling as she no doubt thought not just about her own neck, but how little Molly would possibly cope with her gone; Alaysha’s mother now with not many years left to be able to take care of her. He reached one hand out and lightly touched her arm, tried to lift her out of her dark mood.

  ‘Hey, come on… you know what I’ve said makes a lot more sense than any other scenario.’ Her eyes lifting a bit, a faint, reluctant smile. ‘But, you know, if you’re still worried – just try and keep one step ahead. Stay at your mom’s as much as possible, and when you’re in town, maybe stay at my place. I know it’s only next door – but you can look through the spy-hole and see if anyone suspect is calling at your door. Gives you that extra minute or two to get out or phone for the police, whatever.’

  ‘Thanks, I appreciate it. And I’ll probably take you up on that offer.’ She forced a tame smile, then let out a fresh breath. ‘But enough about me. What about you – the fugitive of the hour?’ Her expression became more solemn again. ‘How are you coping, Jac?’

  ‘Oh, God.’ Jac lifted his eyes heavenward for a second. ‘Where to even start?’ He tried to keep his explanation just to filling in the gaps in what Alaysha probably already knew from Langfranc or news bulletins, so that it wasn’t too rambling. He raised the first full smile from Alaysha as he described walking through Libreville earlier that day disguised as Ayliss, already sweating because he was nervous, and with the unbearable heat of the prison and the extra padding and make-up, it literally pouring off of him. ‘I feared the make-up would start running and half my face would come unstuck and start peeling off. I had to call Morvaun straight after: emergency pit-stop for face maintenance!’ Alaysha was by now openly laughing – it was good to see her like that, Jac thought: the problems hanging over them for a moment forgotten. ‘Morvaun in fact has to follow me round from hotel to hotel, giving me regular patch-ups.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Next one is here tomorrow at seven a.m., before I head out. Meanwhile, you’ll have to answer the door if room-service calls.’