by JM Gulvin
‘No you haven’t. Not like this, not somebody like him. He gunned Wiley down without batting an eye. But that’s not the point. I’ve told you how we’re going to play it and nothing has changed. I already know who’s going to kill him but that’s only going to happen when I can ensure no comeback from the Rangers.’
‘And how’re you going to do that exactly? You tell me you have a plan for him and a plan for Matthews, but Matthews is still alive.’
‘You can kill him now, but do not dispose of the body.’
‘Jesus Christ. Will you tell me what’s going on?’
Tobie smiled, only there was no laughter in his eyes. ‘The endgame,’ he said. ‘That’s what’s going on. Where I deal with the mistakes you made and ensure the 28th is delivered exactly as we said it would be.’
‘So you’re not going to postpone then even though we’ve got this going on?’
‘I told you, we don’t postpone. We never have.’
‘So how’re we going to play it? Wiley’s dead and it’s too late to do anything about that.’
‘Only if you believe it is.’ Tobie looked sideways at him then. ‘Improvise, Franklin. We adapt. We overcome like we’ve always done.’
‘But you said it yourself our whole reputation has been built on a closed case.’
‘And so it has.’
‘So what about now? How can we go ahead?’
‘I told you to leave that to me. The rest of it, the room, the money order, is everything in place?’
*
As dawn broke Quarrie was on Chartres Street outside the 3rd Precinct Station House watching De La Martin as he parked his Ford. The detective’s suit looked bagged and sweaty, his necktie not fastened at the collar. He locked the driver’s door and spat tobacco juice in the gutter.
‘Did you get my message?’ Quarrie said.
‘It’s early, Texas, I’ve not yet had my coffee.’
Quarrie followed him into the relative cool of the building and down the narrow flight of stairs to where De La Martin’s office was crammed with desk and chair and a sorry-looking air conditioner. With a glance at Quarrie he stripped off his jacket, eased the weight of his suspenders up over his shoulders and considered the pile of papers gathered on his desk.
‘Did you find him?’ Quarrie said. ‘Claude Matthews, he was in that club. I called last night to tell you.’
They were interrupted by a knock on the open door and a young woman came in with a mug of coffee which she placed carefully amid the paperwork on De La Martin’s desk.
The detective fastened the mug with a paw. ‘What with everything you got going on right now, I’m surprised to see you back on Chartres Street.’
‘What do you mean?’ Quarrie said.
‘I mean Matthews and Gigi Matisse.’
‘I just told you where Matthews was.’
‘And the club singer?’
‘She’s safe.’
‘Is she? I’ve only got your word for that and it’s only your word to Colback that she was ever in your hotel room in the first place.’
‘Are you kidding me, Detective? You still think I broke into her house? Right now she’s at her nana’s apartment on Orleans Street. Go talk to her if you want but you’re wasting time here. Matthews was in that club and . . .’
‘If he was, we both know he won’t be now.’ De La Martin sat back. ‘When I got your message I sent a prowl car down right away but all they found was a drugstore in total darkness.’
‘It ain’t a drugstore, it’s a whorehouse.’
‘I know what-all it is, but that doesn’t change the fact nobody was home and if he was there he isn’t going to be anymore.’
Quarrie was halfway down the corridor when De La Martin called him back. ‘Before you go,’ he said. ‘What do you know about that blond-haired guy who’s been driving you around in the cab?’
Quarrie turned to him with one hand in a jacket pocket. ‘Why’re you asking?’
The detective still held his mug of coffee. ‘I’m just curious. Who is he? What’s his name?’
‘I don’t know his name. He told me he was working for Lieutenant Colback. I told you that already.’
‘And is he?’
‘Not according to Colback.’
‘That what he said?’
‘That’s what he said. He also told me that if someone’s giving you a workout you’ll jump any bone they toss.’
Back at Nana’s apartment Quarrie showed the photograph to Pious. ‘The second civilian,’ he said. ‘That’s the guy who’s been driving me around in a taxi.’
Pious looked at the picture more closely, taking in the blond hair and leather pea coat.
‘So where was this taken?’
‘I don’t know, but I think it came out of this envelope.’ Quarrie showed him where it was postmarked Dallas.
Gigi was in the bedroom and he knocked on the door. She looked better than she had last night and Nana had tended to her cuts and bruises.
‘How you doing?’ Quarrie said.
‘I’m all right, I guess.’
He showed her the photograph and asked if that was the man in the cab. For a long time Gigi studied the picture then she twisted her lips. ‘It could be,’ she said. ‘I told you, all I saw was a shadow.’
Leaving her alone again Quarrie went through to the bathroom and splashed cold water over his face.
When he came out Nana and Pious were in the living room with the balcony doors open, though the air was sticky and humid. With the scent of salt in the air, Quarrie figured a storm was on its way. ‘Nana,’ he said, ‘is it all right if I use the telephone?’
‘Sure.’
Lifting the receiver he dialled the number on the business card the cab driver had given him and a woman answered. ‘I need a ride,’ Quarrie told her.
‘Sorry, sir, but we’re not running the service today.’
‘You’re not, huh?’
‘No, I’m afraid the cab’s in the shop for a tune up.’
‘All right,’ he said. ‘Do me a favor and have Mr Football Scholarship call John Q at the Hotel Magnolia.’
‘Mr Football Scholarship?’ she said.
‘That’s right. The driver, he’s been running me all over town since I got here, but he never did tell me what his name was.’
‘All right, I’ll pass the message on.’
‘So what is his name?’
‘I’ll pass the message on, sir.’
‘Where am I talking to you by the way? I got your business card right here, but there’s no address.’
‘We’re out of town, sir. Thank you for calling. Have a nice day.’
*
When she put down the phone the young woman got up from behind her semi-circular desk. Nodding to Dean Andrews as he came down the main stairs, she pushed open the glass doors to the Tobie Foundation and walked the corridor to the old man’s office. He was behind his desk with a paper file lying open before him.
‘What is it, Joanna?’ he said.
‘The Ranger just called asking for a taxi.’
‘And what did you tell him?’
‘That we’re not running the service today.’
‘Does Franklin know?’
‘Not yet, you told me to make sure I told you if he called before I spoke to anybody else.’
Closing the file Tobie clasped his hands together. ‘Thank you, Joanna,’ he said.
*
‘Nobody home then, huh?’ Pious commented as Quarrie hung up and Gigi came through from the bedroom.
Quarrie got to his feet. ‘Gigi,’ he said, ‘I had to tell Detective De La Martin where you were and I don’t trust him. I don’t trust Colback. I don’t trust any of them and I figure nowhere’s safe for you in New Orleans.’
Gigi looked fearful again.
‘I think you ought to get out of town and the best way to do that is to fly back to Texas with Pious.’
Gigi looked at him and then at Pious. She looked doubtfully at N
ana. ‘I hear you,’ she said. ‘But I’ve a mind to stick around. They broke in my house and they took me to . . .’ The words tailed away and she turned again to Nana. ‘I don’t think I should run away.’
‘I don’t think you should either. Your cousin done that and we never did see him again.’ The elderly woman’s gaze seemed a little distant. ‘Nobody likes running but, whether we like it or not, it’s a fact that there are some fights we just can’t win.’ She crossed the room to a Queen Anne cabinet, opened the drawer and took out a thirty-eight like the one Quarrie carried in his boot. ‘There ain’t much I haven’t seen in this city and it’s a fact anybody getting into this apartment without I allowed it isn’t getting out again. But John Q is right, nowhere’s safe anymore and if you stay here I’d worry for you and you’d worry for me. You need to get quit of this place, Cherie. I want you to do as he says and go to Texas with Pious.’
*
North of the lake Earl told his wife he had some work to do and closed his study door. Sitting down at his desk he unlocked the top drawer, took out the file he had found in Anderson’s apartment and flicked through the pages. The trace of a smile on his face, he sat back in the chair and lifted one foot to rest against the lip of the desk. Again he regarded the file then he closed it and entwined his fingers at the back of his head.
Out in the hall he picked up the phone and his wife called to him from the kitchen door.
‘Do you want some coffee, hon?’
Earl put down the phone and went through to the kitchen where he slipped his arm around her waist. He kissed her full on the lips and she looked up in surprise.
‘Do you know how long it’s been since you did something spontaneous like that?’
‘Too long,’ Earl told her. ‘And I’m sorry about that. I’ve let things slip but it’ll be different from now on. That pressure I told you I was under, all that stuff with work, I think I’m done with it finally.’ Back in the hallway he picked up the phone. ‘This is Earl,’ he said. ‘Let me speak to Pershing Gervais.’
Nineteen
Gigi had no clothes to take to Texas so she and Pious went back to her house. Quarrie stayed behind with Nana just in case anybody showed up at the apartment. He had his pistols but Pious had the twelve-gauge shotgun and Quarrie figured two black people in the car would be less conspicuous in the 7th Ward than if one of them was white.
Watching Nana move about the apartment he thought she seemed a little pensive. But then she was bound to be, a woman her age, and he tried to take her mind off it.
‘Mam,’ he said stepping out to the balcony. ‘This is a real sweet spot you got here, the apartment and all, the views down to the cathedral.’
Nana came out and stood next to him. ‘I knew how it was going to be the moment I set eyes on it. When I’m gone everything goes to Gigi. She’s all I got in the world and nobody works harder than that girl. I’ve been listening to the music coming out of Motor City right now and she’s as good as any of it, I swear.’ She looked askance at Quarrie then. ‘Do you have family back in Texas?’
Quarrie stared the length of the street. ‘I got a ten-year-old son,’ he said. ‘His momma passed on a year after he was born.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry.’
‘That’s OK; it was a long time ago.’
‘So you bring him up on your own?’
‘Technically I suppose I do, but there’re plenty of folks around when I’m working and I seem to be working a lot. James is pretty much used to it now and he’s in school of course. I talk to him all the time.’ He smiled then fondly. ‘Just yesterday he got done telling me how he’d been learning what an anagram was.’
‘Anagram, huh.’ Nana smiled. ‘Making words out of other words, I remember doing that myself.’
The phone rang in the living room and she went to answer it. Quarrie remained at the balcony doors as an NOPD cruiser made its way up the street. He watched it slow down as it came to the apartment then the driver eased on up to the junction.
‘John Q,’ Nana spoke from behind him. ‘It’s Lieutenant Colback. He wants to talk to you.’ Quarrie took the phone from her and sat down in a chair. ‘Lieutenant,’ he said. ‘What’s up?’
‘That’s the question I was going to ask you. I had De La Martin on the phone just now telling me how you’d been taking the law into your own hands.’
‘If you mean what happened on Bourbon and Governor Nicholls, there was no time to call you up.’
‘Really.’ Colback sounded unconvinced.
‘It doesn’t matter, Lieutenant. Nobody got shot and I got her out. That place needs raiding by the way, but the fat detective seems reluctant to do it.’
‘So is Gigi there? I want to talk to her.’
Quarrie thought about that. ‘She ain’t here right now but she’ll be back.’
‘So who’s looking out for her?’
‘A buddy of mine. She ain’t coming to you, Lieutenant. If you want to talk to her, you’re going to have to come to us.’
He hung up the phone and considered Nana where she leaned in the doorway with her arms folded. ‘Is that all right with you, mam? Better he talks to her here where I can look out for her.’
‘You don’t trust him?’ Nana said.
Taking his smokes from his pocket he shook one out. ‘No, I don’t. First of all I had that cab driver tell me it was Colback paying his wages and then he shows up at the hotel. Soon as he does Gigi is missing, and I ain’t much of a one for coincidence.’
‘So what’s going on here?’ she said. ‘What’s all this about?’
Quarrie worked the air from his cheeks. ‘Mam, if I knew I’d tell you. I swear.’
He slid the photograph from the envelope once more and considered the set of steel mesh gates, trying to work out where the picture had been taken. He studied the blond-haired man and knew he was not mistaken. He studied the cop out front trying to figure some kind of collar insignia. He couldn’t make it out and Nana didn’t have a magnifying glass so he laid the photo aside and sought the business card he’d found in Anderson’s drawer as well as the phone bill with the Dallas number. Picking up the phone again he dialled that number first and a woman answered. ‘Fort Worth Star, can I help you?’
‘The newspaper?’ Quarrie sat forward where he perched on the chair.
‘That’s right, sir, how may I direct your call?’
‘It doesn’t matter. Thank you, mam, you already answered my question.’ Hanging up he thought for a moment then picked up the phone once more and called the number on the back of the business card.
‘District Attorney’s office,’ a man’s voice this time. ‘Investigation, this is Earl.’
Quarrie felt the muscles tighten where he gripped the receiver.
‘Earl Moore speaking,’ the man repeated.
‘Sorry, sir, I got the wrong number.’ Quarrie put down the receiver aware of sweat on his palm that seemed to bead from the Bakelite.
He heard a vehicle out on the street and stepped onto the balcony. It was the station wagon and he called out to tell Nana that Gigi was back then went down to open the gates. When the car was inside he locked the gates once more.
‘Gigi,’ he said, as she climbed from the driver’s seat, ‘I just spoke to someone at the DA’s office called Earl Moore.’
For a moment she stared.
‘We don’t know it’s your guy but I found the number on a business card at that address on Esplanade Avenue.’ As he was speaking they heard another car pull up outside the gates. Gesturing for Pious to get Gigi upstairs Quarrie drew a pistol and was at the small gate as the bell rang.
‘That you, Lieutenant?’ he called.
‘It’s me,’ Colback replied.
Slipping the gun back into its holster Quarrie opened the gate.
He led the way upstairs to the living room where Gigi was sitting on the couch. Her nana was in her bedroom and didn’t come out. Pious was on the balcony with the shotgun in his hands and Colback arched one eyeb
row. ‘Looks like a regular Alamo you got going on here, doesn’t it?’
‘Pious,’ Quarrie said. ‘Do you remember this guy, hill 500 back in Korea, that feller in the trees with the long barrel?’
‘They flew a sniper in.’ Pious was still looking at Colback. ‘That was you?’
‘It might’ve been.’ Colback looked him up and down then turned his attention to Gigi. He took in the cut on her lip and the bruising. He tried to smile. ‘I’m sorry about what happened to you. Are you all right now, feeling any better?’
Gigi looked up at him but did not return the smile.
‘Do you want to write up a statement or anything like that, make an official complaint?’
‘Why would I do that?’ she said. ‘I don’t see the point.’
Colback looked at her in surprise. ‘You were abducted, beaten . . .’ He glanced back at Quarrie. ‘I just swung by that address on Bourbon and Governor Nicholls and it’s all locked up right now, but . . .’
‘You won’t find him,’ Gigi stated. ‘It don’t matter whether I make a complaint or not, it’s Soulja Blue we’re talking about.’
‘I can put him away,’ Colback told her.
‘I doubt it, Lieutenant. You see, for a black boy out of the 7th Ward he’s sure got a lot of white friends.’ She looked up at him again. ‘The way he runs that club and all, you know what I’m talking about.’
‘So what am I doing here?’ Colback asked.
‘I don’t know, Lieutenant. You’re the one wanted to come.’
Colback told her to call if she changed her mind then he walked the hall to the door with a shake of his head.
Quarrie followed him out. ‘I talked to De La Martin,’ he said.
‘Yeah, he said as much on the phone.’
‘I told him what you told me, Lieutenant, and he seemed pretty tickled by that.’
Colback held his eye.
‘Do me a favor. Tell him you’ve seen Gigi for yourself now so he can strike me off his list.’
‘I guess I can do that.’ Colback started down the stairs. ‘You got a problem with trust, do you know that? I keep telling you. Despite what you think, I’m not the enemy here. I’m the only one batting for your team.’
