by Eric Wilder
“Please, Dad,” Josie said.
With my arm around Adele, I shook Josie’s hand. “I’m Wyatt. Hope I’m not disturbing your party.”
“It’s just beginning,” Adele said. “Frankie’s horse won its first race.”
“I know. We watched it from the balcony,” I said.
“You don’t look very happy,” Eddie said.
“Because some clown bet big on Warmonger just before the race started. It lowered the odds from forty to one down to twenty-two to one,” Frankie said. “Cost me big time. Wasn’t you, was it?” he asked, looking at Eddie.
Eddie showed them his empty wallet. “No way. I’m leaving with no money, just like you said I would. You’ll have to take a rain check on those drinks I was gonna buy.”
“Your money’s no good today. Like my wonderful wife said, we just won big time.”
Adele pulled me to the table, directing me to sit between her and Josie. It must have been Eddie’s chair because he gave me a dirty look.
Josie was drinking Manhattans, one of my favorite drinks from my alcoholic past.
“You’re drinking lemonade?” she said.
“Long story. I’m a recovering alcoholic.”
She pushed her drink aside. “Then I’ll drink lemonade with you. I know how hard it must be to break an addiction.”
I grabbed the drink, smiling as I returned it to her. “You’re an angel. Drink your Manhattan and enjoy yourself. You can’t live in New Orleans without being around people consuming adult beverages. I’m used to it.”
Adele rested her hand on my shoulder. “I wasn’t lying when I said you look like you seen a ghost. Everything okay?”
“When I first saw Josie, I thought she was someone else.”
“Who?”
“A woman I knew. Her name was Desire.”
“We’re trying to have a party here,” Eddie said. “None of us want to hear your heartbreak story.”
“I do,” Josie said, grasping my hand. “Was Desire someone you loved?”
“Very much so,” I said.
By now, Eddie’s body language left little doubt that he was growing increasingly angry. His legs and arms were tightly crossed, and he’d pushed his scotch an arm’s length in front of him. I could also feel the chill radiating from Frankie’s eyes.
“Please tell me about it,” Josie said.
I smiled and took a sip from my lemonade. “It was a while back. I’m over it now and don’t want to spoil the party.”
Josie glanced first at Eddie, and then at her dad. “I sense Wyatt has something important to tell us. Do you mind?”
“Not me,” Eddie said.
“Go right ahead,” Frankie said.
“Wyatt, tell us what’s bothering you?” Josie said.
“You’re very perceptive. I didn’t realize I was broadcasting my feelings.”
“Like a beacon,” Adele said. “I’m with Josie. I want to hear your story.”
“Did Desire die?” Josie asked.
“I’ll make it short and sweet, and then we can celebrate your dad’s victory. She didn’t die. When her twin sister committed suicide, Desire became a nun and cloistered herself for life in a nunnery. She somehow felt that I was responsible for her sister’s death. I never had a chance to explain that I didn’t.”
Josie hadn’t released the grip on my hand. “Oh, Wyatt, that’s so tragic.”
“Like I said, it was a while back. I’ve moved on with my life, except . . .”
“Except what?” Adele said.
“Early this morning, I saw her again for the first time since she went away.”
Chapter 4
Suddenly interested in what I had to say, Eddie leaned across the table.
“You didn’t tell me you saw Desire.”
“Because it was almost like a dream, except it wasn’t.”
Frankie held up a palm, waving it to get my attention.
“I need a drink first,” he said, motioning our waitress. “Doll, bring us fresh drinks, six dozen raw oysters and keep them coming till we tell you different. You can go ahead now,” he said after she’d left the table with the order.
“Yes, Wyatt, please,” Josie said.
A roar went up from the people in the bar, and the crowd outside. We’d missed the last race of the day. Patrons began clearing their tabs and filing out. Josie and Adele didn’t seem to notice. Frankie frowned as he glanced at his watch.
“My cat woke me this morning, and I followed her out to the balcony of my apartment. I live over Bertram Picou’s bar on Chartres Street. The door was ajar, ground fog outside so thick, it was rolling across the floor. I know this sounds strange, but I think Kisses saw something that spooked her and came in to wake me up.”
“Get outta here,” Eddie said. “Cats aren’t that smart.”
“You’ve apparently never owned cats,” I said. “They’re intelligent creatures.”
“I’m a dog person,” Frankie said. “I’ll take your word for it.”
“Go on with the story,” Josie said.
“The fog was like proverbial pea soup. I couldn’t even see the railing. I don’t know what time it was. A cab drove past. It was the only vehicle on the road. At least until . . .”
“Until what?” Josie said.”
“Kisses’ attention was focused on something I couldn’t see, at least until a pair of approaching headlights appeared through the fog.”
“Another car?”
“Yes, and unlike any car I’d ever seen. A limousine, colorless and almost indiscernible from the fog.”
Adele was staring at me. “You mean like a ghost car?” she asked.
“Yes. As I watched, more cars passed on the street below, all ghostly and none with any engine noise. Ephemeral light glowed from inside each vehicle, and I could see blurry shapes of people inside them. All except one.”
I stopped for a moment to take a sip of lemonade. Eddie’s grin was gone, as was Frankie’s.
“Don’t stop now,” Frankie said.
“A black, horse-drawn hearse carrying a gold coffin trotted past. There was no driver. Another limousine followed close behind, its back window open. The person inside stared up at me. It was Desire.”
The retelling of the story affected me more than I cared to believe. My hand trembled as I reached for the lemonade. When I returned the glass to the table, Josie clutched my hand. Adele stood behind me and began massaging my shoulders.
“You were dreaming,” Frankie said.
“Maybe, maybe not. A dream doesn’t explain this,” I said, taking something from my pocket.
Everyone’s attention focused on the object in my hand.
“What is it?” Frankie asked.
“A diamond and opal bracelet. There’s an inscription engraved on the back. It says, ‘For my two precious daughters.’ I found it on the edge of my balcony after Kisses pointed it out to me.”
“What makes you think it was Desire’s bracelet?” Eddie asked.
“Desire and Dauphine were born in October, opal their birthstone. I saw this bracelet on Desire many times. This is October. Maybe there’s a reason I’m getting it now.”
“She wore that particular bracelet, or maybe one that looked like it?” Eddie asked.
“Don’t know. She never took it off.”
“Your cat showed you the bracelet?” Frankie said.
I could tell by Frankie’s tone that he was skeptical.
“Please, Dad,” Josie said. “Don’t be so negative.”
“Kisses was pawing at the bracelet, almost as if it were a mouse. She went back and forth between the bracelet and my leg until I decided to see what she’d found.”
Frankie forked an oyster, dipped it in red sauce and popped it in his mouth.
“You’re not talking about Gordon Vallee’s daughters, are you?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said.
“You know him, Dad?” Josie asked.
“I did. A wealthy socialite banker. O
nce was the crème de la crème of this town’s top-tiered citizens. He’s dead now.”
“How did he die?” she asked.
“A cop blew him away when he tried to resist arrest. He’d just killed Claude Sonnier, his former best friend, and another wealthy banker. They lived in adjacent houses in the Garden District.”
“Why on earth would he kill his best friend?” Josie said.
“Claude was bonking Junie Bug. Guess he’d finally had enough.”
Josie looked at me. “Who is Junie Bug?” she asked.
“The mother of Desire and Dauphine,” Adele said, answering for me. “They used to come eat at the Via Vittorio Veneto.”
“Wyatt, was Desire’s mother sleeping with another man?” Josie asked.
“There’s lots more to the story, though that’s the gist of it,” I said.
“The Via Vittorio Veneto was the best Italian restaurant in the metro,” Eddie said. “Haven’t been there since you left. Is Pancho still at it?”
Adele smiled at the mention of Pancho, her father. They were running an Italian restaurant in old Metairie when she’d met Frankie. I knew because I’d met her the very same night.
“When I married Frankie and stopped cooking, he sold the place to a cousin of mine and retired. It’s still mine and Frankie’s favorite place to eat.”
“Your cousin’s almost as good a cook as you are,” Frankie said. “Don’t matter none. I wouldn’t trade you for the world.”
She was smiling when she shook a fist at him. “You better not.”
Frankie grabbed her hand and pulled her into his lap. “I’d have to have my head examined if I ever did. You’re the best woman on earth.”
Having apparently witnessed the same scene many times before, Josie rolled her eyes. Eddie reached across the table and used a cocktail fork to spear an oyster.
“Leave a few for me,” Frankie said. “I may need all I can eat before the night is over.”
“Please,” Josie said when Adele kissed him on the neck.
Adele finally pulled away from Frankie’s grasp, though she didn’t move far away.
Josie had the opal bracelet in her palm and was giving it a closer look.
“What happened to Junie Bug?” she asked.
“Still lives in the same house in the Garden District, though she became reclusive after the death of her daughter,” Frankie said.
“How do you know that?” Josie asked.
“I still read the society page of the newspaper. The Vallees were the talk of New Orleans for awhile,” he said.
“I wouldn’t have taken you for the type that reads the society page,” Eddie said.
“Why not? It’s the best way to keep up with what the social elite in this fair city is doing. They don’t like outsiders, and I’m at the top of their list. Don’t matter none because they’re some of my best clients.”
“You said you knew Desire’s father. Did you know Junie Bug?” Josie said.
“I knew her. Desire was a supermodel. I’d see her pictures on the front covers of magazines everytime I went through a check out line.”
“Oh my God!” Josie said. “Now I know who you’re talking about. You dated her? She had to be one of the most beautiful women on earth.”
“Present company excluded,” Frankie said. “You look enough like Desire to be her sister.”
I nodded. “When you walked up, I thought you were her,” I said.
Josie didn’t comment. “Tell me about Junie Bug,” she said.
“She was also a looker,” Frankie said. “A famous runway model that got her daughter her first modeling job. Gordon married her when she was still in her teens. I remember because everyone in New Orleans was gossiping about it.”
The place had emptied out after the races. Frankie frowned when two nattily dressed men came through the door and sat at the bar. Eddie didn’t miss much, and couldn’t contain his interest.
“Friends of yours?” he asked.
“Hardly. It’s Diego Contrado and Angus Anderson. An odd couple if there ever was one.”
“Dad, they’re staring at us,” Josie said.
“I’m sure they’re pissed about losing the race. I’m going over there.”
Frankie walked over to the two men at the bar. We watched as he patted their shoulders and shook their hands. Motioning the bartender, he directed him to put Contrado and Anderson’s drinks on his tab. He wasn’t smiling when he returned to our table.
“Spineless bastards,” he said.
“Don’t sugar coat it, Frankie,” Eddie said. “Tell us how you really feel.”
“That, I’d like to do. Not with ladies present, though. We gotta go now. I left the tab open for you. Eat and drink as much as you like.”
Eddie grabbed Josie’s hand. “Stay and celebrate with us?”
“Love to, but I’m showing a luxury condo over on Riverfront. Where will you be later on?”
“Picou’s Bar on Chartres.”
“My appointment could take several hours, especially if I close the deal. Wait on me?”
“I’ll stay until you get there,” he said. “Even if it’s the middle of next week.”
“You’re so sweet,” she said. “And Wyatt, what about you?”
“I’ll be there if I can,” I said. “I have something I need to do first.”
“Bye guys,” Adele said, giving us both a hug.
Frankie was already halfway out the door as she hurried after him.
“I’m going with them,” Josie said. “It’s getting dark outside, and they’ll walk me to my car.”
They were already out the door when Eddie noticed the trophy still sitting on the table.
“They forgot something,” he said.
“We’ll take it to Bertram’s. They can get it later.”
“Feeling better now?” he asked.
“I’m fine. Do I look sick?”
“When Josie walked in the door, I thought you had a heart attack. She does look like Desire.”
“Like I said, I thought she was when I first saw her. It shook me after what I saw last night.”
Eddie began mixing horseradish and cocktail sauce, and opening packets of crackers. He was soon consuming the succulent mollusks at an alarming rate.
“I can’t eat six dozen oysters by myself. Dig in,” he said.
We’d managed to work our way through most of the oysters when a Hispanic-looking man entered the room, joining Anderson and Contrado at the bar. After a whispered conversation, they glanced at us and the trophy on the table.
“Bet he’s packing heat beneath that fancy black sports coat,” Eddie said.
“We might find out. He’s coming our way.”
The man didn’t look happy when he stopped at our table, though he sported a false smile. He’d brought his bottle of Mexican beer with him.
“Hola mi amigos. You work for Senor Castellano?”
“Not us,” Eddie said.
“You got his trophy,” he said, his smile disappearing.
When he leaned over our table, supporting his weight with his hands, we could see the skull and crossbones tattoos on his knuckles. The tats looked amateurish as if he’d used a sharp pencil to do the work himself.
“He forgot to take it with him,” I said.
The man grabbed the trophy off the table and put it under his arm.
“I’ll take care of it.”
“No need,” Eddie said. “We can handle it.”
“Thought you said you don’t work for him,” he said.
“We don’t.”
“You a liar,” the man said. “I don’t like liars.”
Turning his beer upside down, he began emptying it over Eddie’s head. As cold Corona rolled down Eddie’s face, the lime dropped into his lap. The thug walked a few steps, then wheeled around and pointed his finger.
“Bang,” he said.
The three men were laughing as they exited the door. Eddie’s long hair was plastered to the back of his n
eck. I grabbed a couple of bar rags from the bartender and tossed them to Eddie.
“Frankie wasn’t right about his assessment of all Mexicans,” he said. “But I hate the hell outa that one.”
I was grinning when I asked, “Why didn’t you just kick the big mofo’s ass?”
“I didn’t notice you coming to my rescue,” he said.
“Then forget about it. That guy’s a pro.”
“And packing heat, just like you said. I caught a glimpse of his pistol when he bent over to take the trophy.”
“You’re about my size. I have clean clothes at my place you can wear. You can dry off and clean up for your meeting with pretty Miss Josie.”
“You think she’ll show?”
“She doesn’t strike me as a tease,” I said. “She’ll show.”
“Then let’s get the hell outa here. My shirt is drenched.”
Bertram’s wasn’t far from the track, and Eddie managed to find a parking place on a side street. I handed him the keys to my room.
“Grab some clothes from the closet. I’m not going with you.”
“You kidding? We got celebrating to do. You haven’t forgotten about the sixty-six grand, have you?”
“There’s something I need to do first.”
“Like what?” he asked.
“I wasn’t looking for answers when I went to the track, but you and Josie gave them to me.”
“Which is?”
“Pay Junie Bug Vallee a visit and find out what this means,” I said, turning the bracelet in my hand so he could see it.
“Desire and Junie Bug, as I recall, weren’t really happy about what they perceived as your involvement in the murder.”
“I did my best to stop it. You know that, and so will Junie Bug when I have a chance to explain.”
“How you gonna get in the front door?”
I flashed the opal heirloom. “She’ll let me in when she sees this.”
“Then wait for me while I change out of these wet clothes. I’m going with you to Junie Bug’s.”
“No way. I don’t want to be responsible for causing you to miss seeing Josie again. I can catch the streetcar on Canal.”
“If she shows up before we get there, Bertram won’t let her leave. You brought me luck today. I know how much you loved Desire. Now, I’m going with you.”
