One Love

by Emery, Lynn

  “What do you mean?” Jackie said.

  “New Orleans. I found the smoking gun, or rather the smoking chips.” Yasmin’s eyes gleamed with excitement.

  “I like the sound of that. I’m ready.” Lanessa slid from the booth and stood.

  “But we haven’t had dinner.” Jackie followed her lead despite her protest.

  “Ooo, this is so exciting. Just let me call mama first.” Robyn reached for the phone but Lanessa grabbed it.

  “After me. I want to call those agents. Where did I put their card?” Lanessa took out her wallet. “Here it is.”

  “Why call them?” Jackie grumbled. “The jerks.”

  “Because, they might want to move fast if we find what I think we’ll find.” Lanessa pulled out the white card with the Commerce Department emblem on it. “Here we go.” She moved off to a corner by the pay phones to talk.

  “Well are you in or what?” Yasmin put her hands on hips and stared a challenge at Jackie.

  Jackie did not hesitate. “Okay, okay. I want to help burn Chucky.” She fished for her keys. “Can we stop for some hot wings on the way? I need to call my mom, too.”

  “We can go over there. Let’s leave the cars there,” Yasmin said. “I’ll drive.”

  A spirited debate broke out over who would drive. Lanessa returned and cut off the discussion by deciding that Yasmin had the best safety record. Less than an hour later they were headed down Interstate 10 toward New Orleans.

  Chapter 22

  Alex could not sit still. He tried. As his father mumbled into the phone across the room, Alex squirmed in the leather chair. Then he paced for a while. Joe pushed the button to end one call then dialed another number. Waiting was torture. Another fifteen minutes that seemed like hours dragged by. Alex paced around his father’s desk until he hung up on what seemed the last conversation.

  “Well, well. Seems an old Metoyer retainer is at his tricks again,” Joe said.

  Alex wore an impatient grimace. “Just tell me about Lanessa. What have you found out that I can use against Charles? Lanessa could lose everything.”

  Joe eyed him. “I thought you were through with her. A few days ago you were convinced she was back on the sauce. Didn’t believe a word she said.”

  “I’ve had time to think,” Alex said. He turned so as not to meet his father’s steady gaze.

  “I see,” was Joe’s only reply.

  Alex cleared his throat. “So what do we know now that we didn’t before?”

  He paused before going on. “As usual with the Metoyers, this thing has wheels inside wheels. There is a certain set of warehouses in Algiers that might hold the answers.”

  “Algiers?” Alex faced his father sharply.

  A section of New Orleans on the Mississippi, Algiers had lots of plants, shipyards and factories. Alex had only been there a few times. But there was one thing he remembered about the place.

  “Lots of warehouses. A good place to be if you’re going to ship merchandise from one of the ports.” Alex gazed at his father. For the first time he felt in control.

  “Yes, and?” Joe prompted him like a teacher working with a prize student.

  “Or even down to the Gulf of Mexico.” Alex took out his cellular phone and dialed.

  “Who are you calling?” Joe said.

  “My boss. I’m going to Algiers,” Alex said. He made arrangements to take the afternoon off without a problem. “Thanks, Bob. I owe you.

  “You’ll need me. I can talk my way into anything.” Joe grinned at him. “And back out, too.”

  Alex wore a hard, cold expression. “I’m going to find out what’s in those warehouses and beat Metoyer over the head with it.”

  ***

  “Are you sure this is it?” Jackie peered around.

  Yasmin nodded. “Franklin Enterprises uses this warehouse and Charles bought the company.”

  “How late do these guys work?” Lanessa said.

  “Until nine or ten most nights. They’re on long shifts to get ready for big shipments.” Yasmin said.

  They sat in Yasmin’s Mercedes gazing at the warehouse. The building was huge with huge white lights turned on to illuminate the interior and parking lot. There was a buzz of activity.

  “So you’re sure this is where Charles has the goods stored?” Lanessa watched a man maneuver a small forklift.

  “Yes,” Yasmin said. “Charles evidently forgot how much he told me. This warehouse was part of the deal when he bought Franklin Enterprises.”

  “You mean stole it,” Jackie put in. “I’d love to get a look at some of the paperwork in there.”

  “Now you’re dreaming. No way we can do that.” Lanessa drummed her fingers on the teakwood armrest set in the car door. “But maybe we can think of a way to get in closer.”

  “What story could we possibly tell that would get us into the warehouse?” Robyn looked at the others with a guileless expression.

  “So young, so innocent.” Jackie pulled her hair loose from the tortoise shell barrette that held it.

  “Look and learn, dear.” Yasmin took out a tube of dark red lipstick and applied a fresh coat.

  “Ladies, please. Will we stoop to using our feminine wiles to deceive honest, hardworking men?” Lanessa looked at her two friends.

  “You bet,” Jackie said promptly.

  “All’s fair in love and war. Charles used my love, and now…” Yasmin had a vengeful smile. “It’s war.”

  Lanessa smiled back at her. “Just checking.” She opened the top two buttons of her white cotton blouse. “Charge!”

  ***

  Joe, wearing an expensive lightweight suit, walked into the warehouse as though he was the owner. “Just let me do the talking first,” he said to Alex over his shoulder.

  “Easy since I have no idea what I’d say to get us in there,” Alex walked beside him.

  “Where’s the manager? He still here?” Joe’s tone suggested the man should definitely be present.

  “It’s six thirty and we don’t do business with the public anyway.” The security guard built like a linebacker and the color of caramel stared down them. He was at least six foot seven.

  Joe looked him up and down. “You like working here, I assume.”

  The big man’s confident smirk slipped a bit. “What you tryin’ to say?”

  “You’d better check with the office before you get in too deep, son,” Joe said ominously.

  The big man looked at Joe for a moment, taking his measure. He glanced at Alex once. Alex wore what he hoped was an equally “in-charge brother” expression. Without another word, the guard went to a small glass encased guard booth to call the manager. Five minutes later they were on their way up a flight of stairs to the office.

  ***

  Lanessa approached four men standing near the wide entrance to the warehouse. The other three women stood outside the Mercedes a few yards away.

  “Hello, can you help me? We got lost and our car is making funny noises.” Lanessa pointed. She watched the men’s faces when Yasmin, Jackie and Robyn waved at them gaily.

  “Yes, ma’am.” A tall man with the name Tyrone stitched on the blue shirt he wore spoke up. “We’ll sure try to help y’all.”

  “Yeah, don’t want you lovely ladies stranded. I’m Kenny.” Another man stepped forward with a flirty grin.

  “Let’s take a closer look.”

  In no time, they were all on a first name basis. Only scant attention paid to the car. Lanessa suspected the men did not know much about auto mechanics, especially the workings of a top of the line, computerized Mercedes-Benz. That was okay since there was nothing wrong with it anyway. After a few token efforts of listening to the engine and staring under the hood, they said the car just needed a tune-up.

  “You ladies in town for a special reason?” Kenny wiped his hands on a large red cloth.

  “We were going to a show then out to eat,” Yasmin said with a fetching smile.

  “But we could just grab a bite
and skip the show,” Jackie hastened to add.

  “We’ll be getting off in another thirty minutes or so,” Kenny said. He stuck his chest out. “I’m floor foreman, so I can’t leave right now.”

  “In charge of this big place, huh? Impressive.” Jackie gazed at him.

  “So like you just move around these big boxes until a truck or something comes for them, right?” Lanessa strolled toward the warehouse. She cast a glance at Tyrone.

  “It’s a lot more to it than that,” Tyrone said importantly. “This is high tech stuff. You gotta know how to handle it.”

  “Really?” Lanessa looked fascinated, not hard since she really did want to know more. “I love learning about computer software and hardware. I took a few courses in college. I always wanted to learn about the business end.”

  “Me, too.” Jackie stroked her hair and grinned at Kenny.

  As though on cue, all four women stared into the warehouse with intrigued expressions. That’s all it took. Kenny offered a tour with a self-important flourish. They entered through a doorway next to the huge entrance. Tyrone competed with Kenny for stage time as they walked down aisles with color codes above them. The men were explaining the system and how computers were used to track the items being stored. Lanessa let Jackie, Yasmin and Robyn do the flirting while she took in what was written on the boxes. Some had plastic pockets glued to the sides. She wandered down an aisle by herself.

  “Say, stick with us,” Tyrone called out to her from the other row. “We don’t want you to get lost up in here.”

  Lanessa slipped the sheet of paper out of the pocket on the nearest box. She walked quickly back out to join them. “Oops, took a wrong turn. I was just so interested. Look, Jackie. They’ve got products from all over the world.”

  “Lots of exotic places.” Jackie played along with ease. “Like Thailand, Belgium, and Nigeria.” She put the right amount of awe in her voice.

  “Wow,” Robyn added, her eyes wide. She smiled at the young man who was sticking close to her.

  “Yeah, but we got lots of action goin’ on right now. We moving out some computer stuff that’s goin’ to Belgium, then Thailand,” Tyrone said.

  “Yeah, paperwork gotta be just right. It can get tricky,” Kenny put in.

  “Obviously you’ve got it covered though.” Jackie gave him a long gaze from head to toe. “At least from what I can see.”

  “Well that’s about all there is. The rest of the place is just more of the same really. Besides, it’s too risky to let non-employees go too far inside.” Kenny led them back the way they’d come in.

  “We appreciate it. I guess we should be going.” Lanessa gave Jackie and Yasmin a pointed look. “We know about as much as we need to.”

  “So where we gonna hook up?” Kenny looked at Lanessa like a man looking forward to desert.

  “Yeah, we gotta shower and change first. Fortunately we got facilities right here.” Tyrone smiled.

  “Well, uh. Actually we have an appointment,” Robyn blurted out.

  “I thought y’all came for a concert?” Tyrone asked.

  “We did. A girlfriend was supposed to meet us,” Lanessa put in. “We can’t just leave her hanging.”

  “So we better go. Come on, Kim will we wondering what’s up.” Yasmin walked backwards as she gestured to the others.

  “Aw, now. We can pick her up, too.” Kenny was eager to offer a solution.

  “Yeah, between his van and my Chevy Blazer, we can all fit,” Tyrone added. He moved his hips seductively and did a dance step. “There’s a new club on the West Bank got some hot reggae mixed with Zydeco.”

  They were within a few feet of the door. Everyone was talking at once. The men tried to coax them to wait, to arrange a meeting time. Most of the other workers had left with only few stragglers. The security guard came around a stack of boxes.

  “Hey, what’s goin’ here? Kenny, Tyrone, I know y’all didn’t!” The security guard strode toward them with a glower.

  “The ladies had car trouble and we was just—” Kenny began.

  “Look, you wanna have fun, get a room at a motel,” The guard’s deep gruff voice cut him off.

  “I beg your pardon!” Robyn put both hands on her hips.

  “Uh-huh. I know exactly what the deal is. Go earn your ten bucks someplace else, sister.” The security guard took her right arm. “Now move it.”

  “Let her go.” Lanessa pulled on Robyn’s left arm.” We were already leaving. You don’t have to put your hands on us.”

  “You right. I shoulda put on latex gloves first,” The security guard shot back.

  “What? You big ugly hog,” Robyn yelled.

  “Hey, everybody calm down now.” Kenny’s eyes were round with fright. “We don’t wanna bring the boss out here.” He glanced around nervously.

  No one was listening to him. Robyn and the security guard were yelling insults at each other. Jackie joined in. Yasmin tried to pull Jackie away while Lanessa kept them all moving in the general direction of the exit.

  “Let’s just forget it and leave,” Lanessa said through clenched teeth in Robyn’s ear. “We gotta get out of here.”

  “But he called us hookers!” Robyn said.

  “Lanessa! What is going on? What are you doing here?”

  Alex and his father stood ten feet away with the warehouse manager. Their faces showed how astounded they were by the scene before them. All arguments died away. The security guard glared at Lanessa then Alex and Joe.

  “Okay, we got some kinda scam going on here! Mr. Bush, I say we call the police.” The security guard put his hand on his gun. “Nobody move.”

  “I want an explanation and unless I get the right answers, we’ll most certainly call the police.” Mr. Bush was a wiry man the color of dark chocolate. He crossed his arms and stared at them.

  “I say we call anyway.” The guard was in no mood to listen.

  “Look, just let us go and we can forget all about this,” Jackie said. She backed up.

  “Oh no. Y’all wanted to be here so bad we’re not going to let you rush off.” The security guard moved to block her path.

  “Go on then, call the police.” Joe wore a relaxed smile. He put a hand in the pocket of his slacks.

  “Yes,” Alex added taking a cue from his father. “As a matter of fact we do have an explanation for them. It has to do with the destination of these boxes.”

  “Of course before we tell everything we know, you might want to call Charles Metoyer’s office.” Joe shrugged. “Could be you’ll get to talk to the big man himself.”

  “Right. Just mention the Commerce Department,” Alex said.

  “I’m sure they won’t put you on hold for long.” Joe stared at the man hard. “But somehow I think you have an idea what we’re talking about.”

  Mr. Bush appeared torn between anger and fear. With a hiss of rage, he stomped off and climbed the short flight of stairs to his office. Through the glass wall that allowed him to see into the warehouse, they watched him make a phone call. He turned his back to them even though there was no way they could tell what he was saying. Ten minutes ticked by. The big warehouse was eerily silent. Alex and Lanessa gazed at each before Lanessa looked away. The phone rang in the security guard’s booth.

  “Kenny, go answer that. I need to keep an eye on these people.”

  Kenny was not happy to play a role in anything at this point. Still he complied and answered the phone. “Yessir. Okay. Alex St. Romaine? Mr. Bush put through a call.” He held out the receiver.

  Alex exchanged a glance with his father before going to the booth. The security guard now looked unsure of himself.

  “What the hell is all this anyway?” He said to no one in particular.

  Alex spoke into the phone for a few seconds. He held the earpiece away from him. A voice shouted through the receiver. Alex said a few more words then hung up.

  Joe smoothed down the front of his shirt. “We ready to leave?”

  “Yes.�
�� Alex gave him a curt nod. “Lanessa, follow us out.”

  “Okay,” was all she could reply.

  Mr. Bush came down the stairs. He blinked furiously and wore a tight smile. “Mr. St. Romaine, I just want to apologize for the little mix up. Mr. Metoyer didn’t tell me much, I just follow orders and.”

  “How refreshing to see such company loyalty,” Joe said cutting him off. “Let’s get out of here.”

  They followed him out the door. The group maintained a pensive mood. All were silent, deep in their own thoughts about what they’d just been through.

  Jackie spoke first. “Can we get some dinner now?” she pleaded.

  Like a spell had been broken, they all burst into laughter as she declared her craving for good seafood. Alex placed a hand on Lanessa’s arm.

  “Ride with me… please.” He stared into her eyes. His voice was intense.

  Joe cleared his throat. “I’d love to be surrounded by three gorgeous young women. Just think of the entrance we’ll make at Commander’s Palace.” He beamed at Yasmin, Jackie at Robyn. He was rewarded when they led him the Yasmin’s car.

  “The stuffed shrimp is out of this world.” Jackie clapped her hands with delight.

  Alex laughed. “Wait until he announces it’s on him.”

  “Your father will have three lifelong devoted fans,” Lanessa said. She laughed, too. Then she realized they were alone and felt awkward.

  “My car is right here,” Alex said. He opened the door to his Montero Sport.

  Once they were on the way, Alex turned on the compact disc player. They both stared ahead through the windshield without speaking for ten minutes. Soft jazz, clear and sweet flowed from the speakers. The inside of the car, softly lit by the lights from the dashboard, was intimate. Lanessa felt a pressure building inside. She wanted to escape. What a fool she’d been to accept a ride with him. It was torture being close to him. In truth they were a million miles apart.

  “So…” Alex seemed to search for something, anything to say. “Guess we can use what we found out today to get you off the hook.”

  “Or at least make Charles back off,” Lanessa said. “He’ll be too busy covering his butt to harass me.”