Rue Toulouse (25 page)

Caterine’s eyes traveled from her grandmother’s rigid, incensed form to Remi, sitting taut as a bowstring. Miss Dauphine’s scolding dark eyes never left Remi’s steady blue gaze. Suddenly, taking Caterine quite by surprise, her grandmother nodded once, then sat back in her chair.

“I usually have a good instinct for people,” she said. “At our first meeting, I took you to be an honorable man. Even though I’m not at all pleased with this living arrangement, I believe you have Caterine’s best interest at heart. So when this is over, I’ll expect you to do the right thing and not disappoint me.”

Remi nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Now, Caterine, I believe I’ll have a slice of that delicious looking cake,” Miss Dauphine said.

Caterine said a silent prayer of thanks. She wasn’t sure how Remi had managed to defuse her grandmother, but whatever he’d done, she thanked God it had worked. “Grandmère, we do have some news.” Caterine handed her a plate and coffee mug. “We saw Charlotte last night in the company of two men who Remi said were both bad characters.”

“I was under the impression your presence in New Orleans was supposed to remain a secret. What were you doing out in a public place?”

“I have a great disguise. Charlotte stopped at our table and didn’t recognize me.”

Miss Dauphine turned to Remi. “Who were these men Charlotte was with?”

Remi took the cake and coffee Caterine handed him. “Charlotte came into the restaurant with a man named Rivette. His legal holdings include ownership of the Triple Aces Casino and a very lucrative business importing anything and everything that has to do with Mardi Gras. His not-so-legal activities include drugs, high-class prostitution, and money laundering, none of which has ever been proven in a court of law.”

“And you’re sure Charlotte was in the company of this person?” Miss Dauphine asked.

“Yes, Grandmère, and they were joined by an unknown younger man who Paul followed to a house on Governor Nicholls. The house is owned by another known criminal. Remi and Paul are planning to follow that man tonight.”

“It pains me to think of Charlotte involving herself with people with such dubious reputations. I can’t imagine what would have possessed her to do such a thing.”

“Drugs
are
a possibility,” Caterine suggested.

“Charlotte on drugs? Caterine, that’s absurd. Money would be more like it. For some reason, Charlotte never seems to have enough. If this Rivette person is wealthy, unfortunately that’s all Charlotte would need to know. I blame Frances and Hyacinth for setting such poor examples for their daughters. I can tell you Frances certainly hasn’t shown any remorse for her behavior the evening I informed the family of my decision regarding Ma Chérie. As for Hyacinth, she’s become more disgustingly sweet than Paulette.”

“Grandmère, Elaine saw Charlotte and Randal at the Hallowell Carnival ball. She said Charlotte seemed upset and was acting drunk or high on something. I guess Randal was with her and didn’t look pleased. Oh, you’re not going to believe who else Elaine saw. Paulette was there talking with Travis Jenkins.” She nodded at her grandmother’s evident astonishment. “It’s true. Elaine said Paulette was smiling but Travis was very angry.”

Miss Dauphine set down her empty plate and massaged her temples. “I don’t understand what any of this means or what your cousins have gotten themselves involved in, but I fear no good can come of it. Having been a police officer, Mr. Michaud is used to dealing with this type of person; you certainly are not. Caterine, would you please at least consider going to stay with Robert and Rebecca where I’ll know you’re safe?”

“Miss Dauphine, as long as Caterine listens to me and does what I tell her, I can assure you she will not come into contact with any of these people.”

“Very well, Mr. Michaud, I’ll trust you to protect my granddaughter.” Moisture suddenly filled her eyes before she blinked it away. “I couldn’t bear it if something were to happen to Caterine.”

Caterine wrapped her arms around her grandmother. “Oh, Grandmère, nothing is going to happen to me.”

“I’ll protect her with my life, Miss Dauphine,” Remi said, “and that’s a promise.”

When Remi came back into the apartment after walking Miss Dauphine to her car, he found Caterine kneeling on the floor, rummaging around in his liquor cabinet. “What are you doing?”

She glanced at him over her shoulder. “I’m looking for something to get me drunk.”

He laughed. “Now, it wasn’t that bad, was it?”

She rolled her eyes. “I love my grandmother dearly, but I hope to never go through anything like that again. Besides her clear belief that I deserved a scarlet letter burned into my forehead, the third-degree she gave you was awful.”

He shrugged. “She loves you.”

“This will do.” Caterine triumphantly held up a bottle of red wine. “Can we open this?”

“You can. Remember, I’m going out. Have you ever been drunk?”

“I don’t think so.” She rose to her feet. “Although Elaine and I might have been tipsy the night we graduated college.”

Laughing, Remi took her into his arms and kissed her soundly. “Don’t drink the entire bottle, or I’ll find you passed out when I get home.”

“When are you leaving?”

Remi glanced at his watch. “I need to get ready. Paul should be here soon.”

“But you haven’t had any dinner.”

He tweaked her nose. “Don’t worry about me, Princess. I’m a big boy. If I need food, I’ll get it. What about you, though?”

She stood on her toes and tweaked his nose right back. “And I’m a big girl. Besides, who made breakfast?”

Caterine’s mouth went dry a short time later when Remi walked out of the bedroom looking much as he had the first night she’d seen him. Dressed entirely in black, he not only exuded danger, he was incredibly sexy.

As he came over to where she sat on the sofa, his cell phone rang. Slipping his leather jacket on over his shoulder holster, he pulled out his phone. “Michaud.”

“I’m out front,” Paul replied.

“I’m on my way.”

Remi bent over until his face was level with Caterine’s. “Don’t you be giving me that sexy smile when I have to go out.” He kissed her hard. “We’ll take care of whatever you were thinking about when I get back.”

The smile left Caterine’s face as she put her arms around his neck. “Remi, please be careful.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve got to go.”

“Do you know when you’ll be back?”

“When you see me,
cher
. Don’t wait up.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

“Since it’s already dark, let’s see if we can find a parking place where we can watch the house,” Paul said when Remi slid onto the passenger seat.

Remi nodded.

After the short drive to Governor Nicholls, Paul pulled in behind a parked van. “How’s this? The house is across the street about three doors down.”

“It’s fine with me, but do you have a clear view?”

“Yeah, I should be able to see if he comes out, but it’s a good thing we’ve got a full moon and most of the houses have working porch lights. This street’s as dark as hell.”

They removed their seatbelts, sat back, and made themselves comfortable.

“So tell me, how did the visit from Miss Dauphine go?”

“How do you think it went?”

“That bad?”

Remi shrugged. “She’s concerned that when this situation with her family is resolved and becomes public knowledge, Caterine’s reputation will be irrevocably damaged by the revelation that she’d been secretly living in sin with me. Therefore, she’d like to know what my intentions in regards to her granddaughter are.”

“Ouch.” Paul grimaced.

“Yeah, well, it’s what I expected.”

“So what did you tell her?”

Again he shrugged. “I told her the only way I could guarantee Caterine’s safety was to keep her with me.”

“And that satisfied her?”

He nodded. “For the time being.”

Paul shook his head. “You must have made one hell of a good impression for her to let you get away with an answer like that.”

“Well,
cher
, I’d better do as I said I’d do, because I don’t want to have to face her again if I don’t.”

“Then I guess we’d better get busy.” Paul watched a man walking his dog pass the car before he continued. “I asked Vince if he’d heard anything new about our friend Martin Tremaine. According to Vince, Martin lost most of his slum properties to Katrina, which rather put a crimp in his more or less illegal business dealings. This house here,” Paul said, nodding down the street, “seems to be the only one left.”

“Which means some of his employees may have moved on to greener pastures, so Martin could be scrambling to expand his operations by associating himself with a higher class of scum,” Remi suggested.

“It’s a possibility. That would explain our boy from last night meeting with Rivette.”

“Since Randal Doucette and Rivette both have financial interests in casinos, what are the odds they don’t know each other?”

Paul grinned. “Throw in the fact that Charlotte is Randal’s cousin and she’s keeping company with Rivette. Not likely.”

“So tell me all you know about Randal Doucette.”

“He and Ray are a few years older than me, so I didn’t run with their crowd growing up, although I do know Randal was always the bad boy of the two.”

“Bad boy how?”

“He hung around with a rowdier group of guys. Don’t get me wrong, they never got into any serious trouble. They just walked a real fine line. Their parents all had money, so if they ever did step over that fine line, daddy would take care of it. My parents said Markus was also pretty wild in his youth. So maybe Randal comes by it naturally.”

“Caterine told me Markus spends a lot of time in Randal’s company. She also said that when Miss Dauphine dropped the bombshell about giving her Ma Chérie, Markus was visibly agitated.”

“Really? I wonder why,” Paul questioned. “As far as I know, Markus and Jules have nothing to do with Ma Chérie. As far as that goes, neither do Ray or Randal. For them it’s all about Doucette Shipping.”

“Could there be a problem and they need Ma Chérie’s income?”

Paul’s brows rose. “Interesting point. It might be worthwhile to do some checking into Doucette Shipping’s finances.” He paused. “Now that I think about it, every time Elaine and I have been at the casino riverboat, Markus has been there. I even saw him and Randal together at the Slick Kitten.”

Remi grinned. “What’re you doing hanging out at a strip club?”

Paul grinned back. “I was there for Elaine’s brother’s bachelor party, which Elaine knows nothing about.”

“Your secret is safe with me,
cher
.”

Paul looked out his window and all humor left his face. “Slide down. It’s party time. Our guy is coming this way. No, wait. He’s stopping in front of the house, and here comes his ride.” Paul could see headlights in his side mirror. A dark green BMW slowly drove past. “Bingo. They just picked him up.” Paul waited until the car crossed Treme before pulling away from the curb, then flipped on his headlights and followed.

“Did you get the plate?”

“Yep.”

Remi wrote down the Louisiana license plate number as Paul rattled it off.

“We’re heading toward the river.” Paul hung back as the BMW, now two cars ahead, turned right onto Decatur.

“What you want to bet we’re on our way either to the Triple Aces or the casino boat?”

Paul chuckled. “I’d say I’ll take that bet.”

“And the boat it is,” Remi said.

They followed as the car took North Peters to Conti, then hung right onto North Front, leading them to the dock of the brightly lit three-story High Roller.

“Well, well, well, look at who the driver is,” Paul said as they watched the two men get out of the car. “It’s our old friend Earl, Rivette’s watchdog.”

Remi swore. “How we going to keep him from making us?”

Paul reached behind the seat and handed Remi a New Orleans Saints cap. “This will have to do for you.”

“And you?” Remi watched amused as Paul slipped on dark-tinted glasses, exchanging his windbreaker for a sport coat lying on the backseat.

Remi smiled. “I’m impressed.” Turning up the collar on his jacket, Remi tugged the cap low on his forehead. “You got somewhere for this?” He pulled the Glock from beneath his jacket.

“There’s a safe under your seat.” Paul placed his snub-nosed revolver into his ankle holster. “Is that Glock all you got?”

Remi smiled. “Nope.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

A cacophony of ringing bells, beeps, whistles, loud laughter, and thousands of coins dropping into metal trays assaulted Remi and Paul as they entered the glittering glitz of the High Roller’s main deck.

“There they go.” Paul spotted the two men heading for a burgundy-carpeted staircase.

“Do you know what’s up there?” Remi asked, as they followed the two men.

“Randal’s office and the high-stakes tables, I believe. I hope to hell we can blend in. Perhaps it would be better if we go up separately.”