Cajun Fried Felony

by Jana DeLeon

  Melanie laughed. “No. Definitely not.” She sobered. “I guess she didn’t find whatever she was looking for since she came back.”

  “Did she ever say why she came back?” Gertie asked.

  “No,” Melanie said. “I asked but all she would tell me was she was getting ready to make a big change in her life and she needed to step back for a bit and get things in order.”

  “You think she had trouble in New Orleans?” Ida Belle asked.

  “I think trouble stuck to Venus like bayou mud,” Melanie said. “I’m sure there was something going on. Something bad enough to send her back to her daddy’s house. But she never let on what it was.”

  “I wonder if she was planning on staying,” Gertie said.

  “I don’t think so,” Melanie said. “At least, I never got that impression. I guess I figured she was lying low here until whatever trouble she had in New Orleans blew over. Then she’d disappear again. That’s why I didn’t think anything of it when I heard she was gone again.”

  “I suppose she left trouble in New Orleans only to find more here,” I said. “People are saying she took up with Whiskey. He’s a little old and a little rough for a young woman, at least in my opinion.”

  Melanie frowned. “Yeah, I heard about their fight the night she disappeared again. I don’t really know Whiskey but I understand he’s a rough sort.”

  “I suppose that was her type,” I said.

  “The rough type of man or someone else’s man,” Melanie said. “I’m sorry. I probably shouldn’t have said that.”

  “That’s okay,” Gertie said. “I think everyone knows how Venus did people. But men still have a choice, and women need to remember that.”

  “I know you’re right,” Melanie said. “But I saw it happen a couple times in high school and it was almost like they were drugged. Just lost all sense of anything. I never understood it, but then I suppose I don’t have the wiring to.”

  “More like a plumbing thing,” Ida Belle said.

  Melanie smiled. “Have you been to see Percy? I keep meaning to go but I have to be honest, I don’t know what to say. Percy was never an easy man to talk to. And given that he and Venus didn’t really get on well…”

  “We saw him yesterday,” Gertie said. “He’s as stoic as usual. Which could mean anything, really. You don’t often see an emotion sneak out of him—bad or good.”

  “That’s true enough,” Melanie said.

  “Although we did hear a rumor that Percy got sideways with the bank manager,” Ida Belle said. “Any truth to that?”

  Melanie frowned and shook her head. “I haven’t heard anything like that and certainly didn’t see it. I suppose anything’s possible…”

  “I guess you heard that Starlight is back in town,” Gertie said.

  Melanie’s eyes widened. “No! What in the world could she want?”

  “We ran into her at Percy’s,” Ida Belle said. “Most unpleasant for everyone. She told Percy she was there for her share of Venus’s assets.”

  “What assets?” Melanie asked. “Besides that rusted-out car of hers, all she had was some cheap clothes and costume jewelry. If she got her hands on anything of value, it went right to the pawnshop.”

  “We have no idea what Starlight was wanting,” Gertie said. “Percy tossed her out on her ear. It’s probably the first time I’ve ever seen him mad but can’t say that I blame him.”

  “Oh my God, how horrible,” Melanie said. “There hasn’t even been a service yet and that awful woman is demanding money…or whatever. I simply don’t understand people.”

  “That’s because you have a proper set of values,” Gertie said. “But people who don’t seem to sleep well at night no matter the things they do. Makes things harder for the rest of us trying to do things right.”

  “It does,” Melanie said. “Ladies, I’m so glad you stopped by, but I need to get ready for work. I’ve got to be in a little early to cover for one of the tellers with a doctor’s appointment.”

  We all rose and Melanie followed us to the door. “Thank you so much for checking on me and for the cookies,” she said.

  We headed out and climbed into Ida Belle’s SUV and she pulled away.

  “Time to talk tattoos?” she asked.

  I nodded.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “So you guys know Melanie,” I said as Ida Belle pulled away. “Did you get anything from that conversation?”

  “Not really,” Gertie said. “No more than we already knew.”

  “She seemed rather matter-of-fact,” I said.

  Ida Belle shrugged. “If Melanie and Venus had been close then I would have expected a little more in the way of grief, but what I got from that conversation is that they didn’t hang out when Venus came back. They never did have anything in common, but they were definitely in different places in their lives as adults.”

  Gertie nodded. “Venus was never the marry-and-kids sort of girl, and that’s all Melanie’s really cared about ever since her parents died in a car crash back a few years ago. If Melanie launched into a talk about decorating the nursery or how Jeff won’t put the seat down, Venus would have checked out in two seconds flat.”

  “I agree,” Ida Belle said. “Their relationship, if one could call it that, worked in high school because they both got something out of it. Melanie got protection from the bullies and Venus got hero worship and the bulk of Melanie’s allowance. But Melanie didn’t have anything to offer Venus anymore. She could get money easier off of men and she was well past the age that hero worship would give her a boost.”

  “You think this tattoo girl is going to know any more than Melanie?” I asked.

  “If Venus hooked up with her when she returned, maybe,” Ida Belle said. “Haylee was always more interested in trouble than walking the straight and narrow, but she wasn’t one to necessarily instigate it.”

  “So Venus created the trouble and Haylee was happy to be along for the ride,” I said.

  “Exactly,” Ida Belle said.

  “Well, let’s hope Venus and Haylee got together over tattoos and shots and traded war stories,” I said. “Then at least we might know what Venus was up to while she was in New Orleans, which could point us to what kind of trouble she might have been in when she returned to Sinful.”

  “You think she was dealing drugs or something?” Gertie said.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I suppose working at the Swamp Bar would be the perfect place to set up shop if she was, but I can’t imagine Whiskey allowing that to happen.”

  “Unless she was so good at it he didn’t know,” Gertie said.

  “She couldn’t keep her hands off other men’s pants right there in front of Whiskey,” Ida Belle said. “How in the world could she have managed to deal drugs and keep it off-radar?”

  “Yeah,” Gertie agreed. “I’m sure someone would have talked and it would have gotten back to Whiskey. But there’s other things she could have been using the Swamp Bar for. Blackmail, for one. Plenty of men in there taking up with loose women when they’re supposed to be home with their wives.”

  “I’m sure she wouldn’t have been above it,” Ida Belle said. “Especially if she thought there was any money to be had. And blackmail is definitely the kind of thing that might prompt someone to kill you on the spot.”

  I nodded. “It’s a really good thought. The only part I don’t like is where it extends our suspect list to everyone misbehaving at the Swamp Bar. There aren’t enough detectives in Louisiana to cover that ground.”

  “Someone has to know something,” Gertie said. “Nothing stays a secret here forever.”

  “I’m hoping Haylee knows something,” I said. “But my money is on Starlight. The question is, can we get it out of her?”

  “Not unless she wants to give it,” Ida Belle said. “Let me take the lead when we talk to her. I know the way her mind works. She’ll only give up something she considers valuable if we have something to offer in return.”
/>   “Our turnoff is coming up,” Gertie said.

  “Did you call ahead?” Ida Belle asked.

  Gertie nodded. “Haylee’s working today.”

  “Hopefully, they won’t be very busy and we can pull her away for a chat,” I said.

  Ida Belle located the tattoo parlor at the end of a seedy-looking strip center just off the highway. A pizza place, a Laundromat, and two bail bonds places occupied the other spots. There were no cars parked in front of the parlor, so our odds were looking good.

  We headed inside and spotted a young guy sitting in a bean bag and reading a car magazine. He took one look at us and raised one eyebrow, which I found impressive given the amount of hardware he had stuck through it. And that was nothing compared to the rest of his face.

  Midtwenties. Five feet ten. A hundred fifty pounds without the hardware. Add another ten with it. Only a threat to those with good taste.

  His head was shaved and he had a giant spiderweb tattooed across one side of his scalp that stretched onto his face. A spider was dangling from his chin, trying to climb up. I could only assume it was hindered by his tongue, which he couldn’t seem to get all the way into his mouth, probably due to the enormous stud piercing through the tip.

  “You girls interested in some work?” he asked.

  “No!” We all put our hands up and responded at once. I held in a grin. Apparently not even Gertie wanted a piece of this action.

  “We’re looking for Haylee,” Ida Belle said. “Is she here today?”

  He nodded and yelled. A couple seconds later, a young woman came through a door at the back of the room.

  Early twenties. Five foot three. One hundred five pounds. More tattoos than clothing. Threat level nil unless she kicks you. Her tennis shoes had spikes around them.

  If it weren’t for the short, jet-black hair, the dark makeup, and the assortment of bands with studs, she would have looked like a young teen. Even with the hair, makeup, and tattoos, Haylee was still a really pretty girl. If one didn’t take into account the scowl on her face.

  “These people want to see you,” Tongue Stud said.

  She stared at the three of us, her expression part confusion, part disinterest. Then her eyes widened and she smiled. “Ms. Hebert?”

  Gertie smiled and nodded.

  “Sorry about the dirty look,” Haylee said. “I didn’t recognize you at first. Of course, I never expected to see you someplace like this so it threw me. Don’t tell me you’re here for a tattoo?”

  “Not this time,” Gertie said, “although I’ve been thinking on it a bit.” She waved a hand at Ida Belle and me. “You remember Ida Belle, right? And this is our friend Fortune. She’s fairly new to Sinful. We were hoping to talk to you if you have some time.”

  Her expression shifted to openly curious but I didn’t spot any wariness in her at all. She was either unafraid of what the conversation might bring or figured she could get out of it if she decided it wasn’t to her liking.

  “Sure,” she said. “I was just eating my lunch. We can talk in the break room if that’s all right.”

  We nodded and followed her to a tiny room at the back of the building. It had a cabinet and counter alongside a refrigerator and a table with four chairs that barely fit in the corner. We inched around the table and squeezed into seats. Haylee grabbed a sandwich and took a bite.

  “You been working here long?” Gertie asked.

  “About a year,” Haylee said as she chewed.

  “You were always good at art,” Gertie said. “I remember you carried around that notebook, always sketching.”

  She nodded. “Worked at a place in New Orleans right after high school. That’s where I learned how to use the equipment. Like you said, the drawing was always there. It was just a matter of learning to put it to skin.”

  “Why didn’t you stay in New Orleans?” I asked. “Seems like there would be more opportunity there.”

  “And more competition,” Haylee said. “New Orleans collects artists like a bum collects cans. I just want to put cool things on people and not worry about rent. I’m not good at playing the big-city game.”

  “I never see you around Sinful,” Gertie said.

  “Don’t live there,” Haylee said. “My grandfather had a place about ten miles up the highway. Left it to me when he died, so no rent. It’s small, but that means less to clean and the utilities are low. It’s perfect for me.”

  She cocked her head to the side and looked at us. “I don’t figure you came out here to ask me about my job and living arrangements, so what’s this about?”

  I glanced over at Gertie, who gave me a slight nod. That was the indication that I should proceed in a straightforward manner, which pleased me because straightforward was what I did best. And so far, it seemed that Haylee preferred straightforward as well but in a noncombative way. I had expected her to be surlier and far less pleasant, so this was a welcome surprise.

  “We’d like to talk to you about Venus Thibodeaux,” I said. “I assume you heard about her death?”

  “Probably about two seconds after the body came out of the ground,” Haylee said. “Hard to keep a secret around here.”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Someone had a pretty good one until that bulldozer got loose.”

  Haylee leaned back in her chair and studied me for a moment. “You’re the one I heard about, aren’t you? CIA? Why would the CIA care about Venus?”

  “Former CIA,” I said and pulled out a business card to set on the table. “I’m a private investigator now.”

  Her eyes widened. “In Sinful? That’s a bit of a step down, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, well, Washington, DC, collects agents like a bum collects cans and I don’t like the game either. Hard to walk the streets there without wanting to shoot a politician.”

  She laughed. “I like you. You look like a Barbie doll but I bet you can kick some serious butt.”

  “Very serious,” Gertie said.

  “So how does that PI thing work?” Haylee asked. “Someone hired you to investigate Venus’s death? I’m having a hard time imagining who would care.”

  “Someone who didn’t do it and might be accused of it,” I said.

  “Oh, I didn’t think of that,” Haylee said. “Yeah, I can see where that would worry people. It’s bad enough to get rolled by Venus when she was alive, but I’m sure no one wants her getting one over on them in death, too. Although if she can see all this crap going on right now, she’s probably tickled.”

  “Sounds like you didn’t think much of her choices,” I said.

  “I’m not going to be a hypocrite or anything,” Haylee said. “Back in high school, I spent most days angry at the world. My dad was a mean son of a bitch. Some people like to start the day off with coffee. He liked to start the day off hitting someone. My mom took off when I was fifteen, so that only left me.”

  I held in a sigh. It made sense that Haylee had taken up with Venus in high school. Both of them abandoned by their mothers and looking to work out their anger.

  “I’m so sorry,” Gertie said. “I didn’t realize.”

  “No one did,” Haylee said. “He was smart about it. Never put marks where people would see them. Mostly gut punches and mid-back. Some days, it was all I could do to walk normal so people wouldn’t notice something was up.”

  I clenched my teeth, trying to block the mental image of a child with a battered body forcing herself to move normally so no one would know she was hurt.

  “Why didn’t you tell someone?” Ida Belle asked.

  Haylee shook her head. “And go into one of those group homes? No way. You know the kind of stuff that goes on in those places. My dad had a mean streak a mile long, but he didn’t do none of that other stuff. I figured I could dodge him best I could until I turned eighteen, then I’d get out.”

  “I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Ida Belle said.

  “Is your father still alive?” I asked.

  She studied me for a
couple seconds, then shook her head. “You asking in a former professional capacity? There’s rumors, you know. About what kind of work you did for the government.”

  “And if I was?” I asked.

  “You’re about three years too late,” Haylee said. “He drank himself to death. And while I appreciate the inquiry, it wouldn’t have been necessary regardless. When I was in New Orleans, I met a woman…a counselor at a church. She used to bring me cinnamon rolls and chat with me every week.” She paused for several seconds, and her eyes misted up. “Anyway, she got my head right, you know? I made my peace with things. She died of cancer a year later. Sucks. People like that get taken out young and people like my father get to live so long.”

  She was silent again, then finally shook her head. “Anyway, you wanted to know about Venus. And Lord knows, I don’t want to see someone get railroaded over that one. So what do you want to know? I’m not sure how this works, exactly.”

  “Let’s start with the most recent stuff,” I said, not wanting to send her back to high school unless I had to. “Did you see Venus when she returned to Sinful this past spring?”

  Haylee nodded. “She came sniffing around. Didn’t stay long, though. No angle for her to work. No money to give her. Nothing for her to steal. No man for her to sleep with. No drugs. Heck, I don’t even drink anymore.”

  “Wow,” I said. “Those are the only reasons she’d come around? That’s fairly awful.”

  Haylee shrugged. “That’s the truth. I got up to a lot of stupid things with Venus in high school, some of them illegal. But I’m not that person anymore. I may not look like the hermit who prefers watching Netflix to partying, but I don’t care what people think, either. Venus never took an interest in someone unless it benefited her, and everyone who got involved with her paid for it.”

  “Did you look her up when you were in New Orleans?” I asked.

  “No,” Haylee said. “At least, not intentionally. I mean, I tried to get a hold of her after she blew out of town. I was still a mess back then so I didn’t realize it was probably the best thing that could have happened to me. At least I managed to scrape together the rest of senior year and graduate. But her old phone number was turned off shortly after she left and she never contacted me with a new way to reach her.”