Fat Tuesday (34 page)

After I've spent several days and nights alone with you, my husband won't want me back."

He laughed shortly."Nice try." Reaching into his back pocket with one hand, he took hers with the other.

"What are you doing?"

"Handcuffing you." He locked the manacles around her wrist with a decisive click.

"To what?"

"To me."

Pinkie left the remainder of his muffuletta sandwich on his desk and moved to the window of his office. Through the slats of the blinds, he looked out across the nighttime skyline."Why in hell can't somebody find them? They couldn't have simply vanished."

"Looks like they did," Bardo mumbled around a mouthful of his carryout dinner.

Since the discovery of the abandoned van, there'd been no further development in locating Basile and Remy. People monitoring public transportation into and out of New Orleans had seen nothing. The helicopter pilot had spotted nothing worth investigating. None of Duvall's informants anywhere in southern Louisiana had anything to report.

"You're sure that whore was straight with you? She didn't know anything?"

Bardo belched behind his hand."Dixie? When I found out she'd helped Basile, I worked her over pretty good." Pinkie turned and gave him a pointed look. Bardo grinned."No, I didn't go that far. She's probably back on the street by now. But I did a good enough job on her, if she'd've known something, she would've told."

Pinkie went back to staring out the window. The city lights were diffused by fog and mist, but he didn't really see them anyway. He was wholly given over to his dilemma. The moment Errol called him from the Crossroads, his perfect, structured life had toppled. His clients had been put on hold. Judges had granted him postponements because of an "illness in his family." His calendar had been cleared of all appointments and social engagements. Telephone calls went unreturned unless they related specifically to the crisis.

Goddamn Burke Basile for reducing his well-programmed life to chaos.

The bastard was going to pay, and pay huge. But where in hell was he?

Pinkie had put the fear of God into Doug Pat, but his only contribution so far had been to report that Burke Basile's wife was out of the country with her boyfriend, and Pinkie's people had already determined that.

His built-in lie detector indicated that Doug Pat was telling the truth when he said he didn't know where Basile was. Even so, Pinkie might suspect Pat of abetting Basile, except for one thing: Pat's love for his position transcended the high regard he had for each man in his division, and that included his favorite, Basile. Pat wanted to advance into the upper echelons of the N.O.P.D. He was no milquetoast, but he wasn't stupid, either. He recognized the hazards of making Pinkie Duvall unhappy.

After the scare they'd given Mac Mccuen, Pinkie predicted he would play on their team. But, who knew? He might turn out to be as loyal and trustworthy a friend to Basile as Basile had been to Kev Stuart.

"Fucking cops," he muttered.

"Come again?" Bardo asked.

"Never mind." After a moment, Bardo said, "You know, I've been thinking."

"About what?"

"About how much Mrs. Duvall knows about our business."

Pinkie came around slowly."Meaning?"

"Meaning that Basile could probably be a persuasive guy if he set his mind to it. Especially with a woman."

Unwittingly, Wayne Bardo had tapped into the mother lode of Pinkie's concern. He had never discussed the details of his various sidelines with Remy, but she could have picked up threads of information, which, woven together, could form the rope that would hang him. She probably knew even more than she realized. Even an offhanded comment could prove useful to someone like Basile, whose police training had honed his innate deductive skills. If he threatened Remy's life, God knows how much she would suddenly remember about her husband's enterprises and compromising connections. All the more reason why she needed to be found and silenced.

"If Basile sweet-talked her, blew in her ear some, she might spill her guts," Bardo surmised."What do you think?"

"What I think," Duvall said evenly, "is that if you talk like that about my wife again, I'm going to tear out your tongue." It was all right for him to speculate on Remy's allegiance, it wasn't all right for someone else to.

"Jeer, Pinkie, don't get sore. All I meant was "

"I need to get out of this room," he said abruptly.

"Where're you going?"

"Out."

"I'll come, too."

"You'll stay here. You have work to do. Remember?"

Pinkie angrily yanked open the door, then strode through the lobby of his law office. Errol, who'd been sleeping in a chair, groggily raised his head, then jerked to attention."Where to, Mr. Duvall?"

"I'm going for a walk. Alone."

He took the elevator to the first floor of the building, passed the security guard without a glance, and pushed through the glass doors, which the guard unlocked electronically from the reception desk.

Pinkie walked two blocks before he hailed one of New Orleans's notoriously expensive taxis. When he gave the female driver the address, she shot him a droll look in the rearview mirror.

Mardi Gras celebrants were keeping the girls at Ruby Bouchereaux's place busy. From now until midnight on Fat Tuesday when Lent began, the gentlemen were limited to one hour, unless they were willing to pay exorbitantly. Ruby had reminded her girls that the more frequent the turnover, the more profit for everybody.

The week of Mardi Gras was always an enormous moneymaker. Nightly, the house was packed with regular clients seeking additional fun without their wives after the grand balls and parties, and out-oftowners who flocked to the city for the celebration. Men ranging from eighteen to eighty sought fun and frolic in the best whorehouse in the best party town in the country.

Most evenings Ruby could be found on the gallery above the main salon.

From this excellent vantage point, she could observe the activity going on below, while letting her excellent personnel handle the general operation. Puffing a cigar and sipping brandy, she mentally tabulated what this night's profits would be, and smiled complacently at the estimate.

Her smile deflated when she saw Pinkie Duvall.

Speaking to no one, he made his way to the bar and ordered a drink, which he drank quickly and ordered another. To Ruby, the most amusing of his pretensions was that of being a wine connoisseur.

Belying that image, he was tossing back shots of hard liquor as rapidly as a sailor on shore leave after six months at sea.

Catching the eye of one of her hostesses, she signaled her toward Pinkie. The svelte blonde was one of Ruby's classiest girls. A United States diplomat's daughter, she had traveled extensively with her parents and attended the most prestigious schools in the world. She spoke several languages fluently and was conversant on a wide variety of topics. She could hold her own with a stuffy intellectual, or be quite the coquette. No fantasy was too bizarre if it meant pleasing a client, although she drew the line at abuse and pain. Having absolutely no shame or inhibitions, she approached sex as an art form, practicing the exotic methods she had learned abroad while executing her own idea of foreign relations.

A nasty incident in Burma when it was still Burma involving her and a high government official had resulted in her father's dismissal from foreign service. He, in turn, had renounced her. Penniless and scandalized, she had made a natural career choice and had never regretted it. Clients paid dearly for her. Even after Ruby's percentage, she was getting rich, and because she looked younger than her years, she could probably work well into her thirties. She went by the name of Isobel.

Pinkie was an easy sell tonight. The transaction at the bar took less than a minute. He followed the beauty up the wide staircase. Ruby left her cigar smoldering in a crystal ashtray and intercepted them on the landing.

"Good evening, Pinkie." Although she'd rather have spit on him, she gave him her most disarming smile.

He was no happier to see her than she was to see him, and was probably annoyed that she had forced him to speak to her."Ruby."

"I haven't seen you since Bardo carved up my girl. How good of you to grace us with your presence."

He ignored the barb."Your business is thriving. But then whoring has always been profitable."

Ruby's smile turned brittle at the corners, and her eyes glinted with malice."Because there've always been men who can't get it without paying for it. Which brings me to wonder why you're here tonight.

Wasn't your wife in the mood? Remy, isn't it? Did Remy refuse your attentions tonight?"

She was rewarded by seeing the blood vessels in his temples expand.

With a brusque gesture, he motioned Isobel up the stairs.

Ruby thoughtfully watched them go.

During his bachelor days, Pinkie had come around several times a week.

Since his marriage, his patronage had slacked off considerably, although he wasn't entirely a stranger to the bedrooms upstairs.

Sometimes he came for recreation, other times to work off steam, but Ruby had never seen him as agitated as he was tonight. Interesting.

"Miss Ruby?"

She turned. One of the maids, who'd worked in the house even while Ruby was growing up in it, spoke to her softly in her melodious West Indies accent."You said for me to come get you when that poor little lamb woke up."

They moved along the gallery, then made a right turn down a hallway that led to the rear of the house and a room that was tucked under the eaves."How is she?" Ruby asked as they approached the closed door.

"Mostly, she's scared."

The chamber was comfortably furnished, although it was too small to use for business. Usually it was given over to a girl who was sick and needed to be kept quarantined from the others while she was contagious, or to a new girl who needed a place to sleep while she was being trained and taught the policies of the house.

Ruby approached the bed and leaned over the girl with the attention of a loving mother."How are you feeling?"

Dixie experimentally touched the tip of her tongue to the corner of her mouth, where blood had coagulated over a nasty abrasion."That bastard busted me up good, didn't he?"

"The doctor said none of the bones in your face were broken."

"The way he was hitting me, I don't know why not." Tears filled her eyes."Do I look like something a goat puked up?"

"You've looked better," Ruby said, laying a gentle hand on her arm.

"And you will again. Don't fret. The doctor left some pain medication.

You can rest here for as long as it takes to heal. I'd guess two weeks, maybe three."

"Two or three weeks?" Dixie tried to laugh, but the effort made her wince with pain. Moving only her eyes, she took in the room, Ruby, and the hovering maid."If I don't work, I don't eat. How am I supposed to pay you?"

"When you arrived, you said Burke Basile had sent you. Is he a client of yours?"

"You mean a john? Don't I wish," Dixie mumbled."He's paid me, but for information only. Nothing else. Last time I saw him, he told me that if I got into trouble, I should come here. You a friend of his?"

"Let's just say that he and I share a mutual respect and a common goal."

"Hmm. Well, if he has to pay for this, it'll serve him right. It's on account of him that Bardo "

"Wayne Bardo?" Ruby's soft expression hardened."He did this to you?"

Dixie nodded."Made me suck him off. Then, when I wouldn't tell him anything about Basile, he started beating the crap out of my face."

Ruby sat down on the edge of the bed and studied the girl with an experienced eye. Her face was a mess, but she had excellent bone structure, and, when they'd undressed her, Ruby had taken note of her alluring figure. Ruby usually disparaged girls who worked the streets, but obviously Basile considered this one a notch above the rest, or he wouldn't have recommended she come here.

She needed refining. Her name would be changed to something more unusual and intriguing. Her days of bathing in cheap gardenia scent were over. The silver nail polish and red vinyl skirt would have to go.

She needed a complete make over, but the girl definitely had potential.

Ruby smoothed the hair off her forehead where Bardo's fists had left bruises."Why was Bardo inquiring about Mr. Basile?"

"He was looking for him."

"Did he say why?"

"No. Only I think it has something to do with Wait, maybe I'm not supposed to tell. Basile paid me to keep my mouth shut."

"But he wouldn't mind your telling me. He sent you here, remember."

"Yeah, I guess. Okay. I think it has something to do with Pinkie Duvall's wife."

"Really?" With affected indifference, Ruby listened to Dixie's very interesting story."A priest?"

Dixie snorted."Can you imagine that? If Basile was a priest, every woman in the church would be getting off during Mass. Say, listen, if this isn't going to cost me, could I maybe have a drink?"

"Certainly." Ruby turned to the maid and asked her to fetch a cup of tea.

"It wasn't exactly tea I had in mind," Dixie remarked as the maid withdrew.

Ruby smiled indulgently."You'll drink your tea, take your medicine, and rest. If you do everything I tell you, this beating could be the best thing that's ever happened to you. But we'll talk about all that later when you're feeling better."

Ruby left Dixie under the maid's care and resumed her place on the gallery to ruminate on what the girl had told her. Could it be that Burke Basile was responsible for Pinkie's foul mood? Did his vendetta against Duvall involve his young and beautiful wife? Was that why he'd been so interested to hear everything Ruby knew about her?

"How very clever of you, Mr. Basile." Ruby chuckled deep in her throat and raised her snifter of brandy in a silent toast to the former narcotics officer.

How unfortunate, though, that he wouldn't live very long.

Not if he'd laid a finger on Pinkie Duvall's wife.

Mac left for work earlier than usual, telling Toni that he had paperwork to catch up on. He thought he was leaving well before rush hour, but traffic on I-10 was already sluggish because of the weather.