‘She’s in the back room.’
The girl skidded past Lorraine, snatching the note, leaving the door wide open.
‘Ruby? Ruby?’ Lorraine called out.
‘Who wants her?’ came a high-pitched voice.
‘I’m from the Mardi Gras press organization,’ Lorraine called.
Ruby Corbello had a sheet wrapped around her when she came slowly down the narrow staircase. She was stunningly beautiful.
‘Who are you?’
‘My name is Lorraine Page, can I speak to you?’
Ruby glided down the last steps and hung on the newel post, suddenly kittenish.
‘I don’t want mah picture took until I got make-up on.’
Lorraine looked at the room off the hallway. ‘Can we talk?’
Ruby nodded, gathering the sheet around herself. ‘Sure, but no photographs until I’m wearing my gown.’
She indicated the old worn sofa, and posed beside it. The torn sheet could have been draped by Yves Saint Laurent; anything on this girl would look classy.
Lorraine opened her note-book. ‘You used to work for Mr and Mrs Brown as their maid?’
‘Uh huh, that I did, but I don’t no more, that is all behind me now.’
Lorraine smiled. ‘Tell me about Tilda Brown.’
‘Miss Brown?’ Ruby asked, irritated.
‘Why did you leave the Browns’ employment, Ruby?’
Ruby’s perfect face puckered. ‘Why you wanna know? They been saying things about me, huh?’
Lorraine sighed. ‘Well, in a way, and if I am to do this profile of you for the newspapers—’
‘I didn’t get fired or nothin’ like that, I left, I walked out because that young woman was crazy and I wanted me a proper career.’
‘You mean Tilda?’
‘Uh huh, she was always jabberin’ at me and she made my life a misery, because she believed she was so high and mighty. But she wasn’t that high or that mighty. I know that, I know all about Miss Tilda Brown.’
‘Do you know she committed suicide?’
‘Uh huh, I know.’
‘Why do you think she would kill herself?’
Ruby shrugged, and perched on the edge of a chair. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Do you know Anna Louise Caley?’
‘Mmm, I met her, and they was as alike as two peas in a pod, she was another Miss High and Mighty.’
‘Did she come here?’
Ruby threw back her pretty head and laughed. ‘Lordy, no, those white girls wouldn’t dare come here.’
‘Did Mrs Caley come here?’
Ruby drew back. ‘What? You joking me? The famous Elizabeth Caley come here? No way, ma’am.’
Lorraine chewed her lip, wondering how she should play it. Ruby tossed her thick hair over her shoulder, as if ready for a movie camera.
‘I was told you were fired from the Browns’ residence for stealing.’
‘WHAT?’ She jumped up and danced around, asking over and over who had said that about her. Then she stood in front of Lorraine and pushed her face close. ‘Who dare say that about me?’
‘I can’t tell you, Ruby, but I have to ask everything because if we are going to put you on the front page of the newspaper, we have to be sure that there can be no repercussions. You are one of the queens in this year’s Mardi Gras, and the whole of America will be watching.’
Ruby slumped into a chair. ‘I done nothing wrong, nothing at all, and it was by accident anyway ’cos she was cheekin’ me.’
‘What was?’
‘That I found it.’
‘Found what?’
‘Tilda’s diary. It was in this silly toy she had on her pillow, you know, a bear. I felt something inside it, so I looked.’
Lorraine felt her knees tremble as she leaned forward. ‘You have Tilda Brown’s diary?’
‘Hell no, I don’t have it.’
‘But you did.’
Ruby nodded, sucking at the end of the sheet. ‘She screamed at me and accused me of a whole lot of things, like her jewellery gone missing and I never took nothing, I swear on the holy saints I never stole nothing, but her parents just told me to go. I got angry and I went up to her room, I didn’t mean to steal nothing, just mess it up maybe, and then I found the diary. I was gonna give it back.’
‘When was this exactly, Ruby?’
‘Day she come back home.’
Lorraine took a deep breath. ‘You were fired on the day Tilda came home, that would be February . . .’
‘Fourteenth, St Valentine’s Day. Yeah, she fired me day she got back. An’ I remember it was that day because I had so many hearts sent to me and even Errol Bagley sent me a little posy of flowers, an’ I said to her that I was going anyways. I believe she was jealous of me, an’ all my cards an’ my posy of flowers because she didn’t get nothing at all.’
‘Ruby, are you sure it was the day before Anna Louise arrived in New Orleans?’
‘I don’t know when she came, all I know is I was no longer working for Mr and Mrs Brown. They give me a week’s salary! One week! They should’ve given me a month’s.’
Lorraine asked Ruby how long Tilda had owned the bear but she couldn’t recall exactly, only that it had been a while. When she asked what Ruby had done with the diary, she became evasive, flopping back and sprawling in the chair, chewing at a corner of the sheet. She wouldn’t look at Lorraine.
‘Did you read it, Ruby?’
‘Sure I did, most of it anyways.’
‘What did you do with it?’ Lorraine asked again.
Ruby slunk lower in the chair. ‘It wasn’t nothing bad, nothing illegal, and we hadda put a downpayment on my dress for the ceremony. My gown is costing almost one thousand dollars, you should make a note of that.’
Lorraine scribbled in her note-book, worried that she was pushing too fast for information, so she asked a few questions about the style and cut of the gown, and gradually Ruby became more eager to talk.
‘It’s blue handloom silk and it’s got gold stitching all over it. I’d show you only it’s at the dressmaker’s still.’
Lorraine smiled encouragingly, feigning interest. ‘It sounds as if it’s going to be magnificent, Ruby.’
‘Yes, yes it is, and, and I got shoes to match!’
‘Can I see the diary?’
Ruby was already floating round the room, the bed sheet trailing. ‘Oh, goodness me, why you keep asking me about that thing? I don’t have it.’
‘Who has it, Ruby?’
Ruby stared from the window, examining the fresh lacquer of her nails for smears. ‘I don’t know about that, don’t know nothing at all. Why you asking me about that diary? He said no one would ever know, so who been talkin’ to you?’
Lorraine’s blood went cold, because she knew who Ruby was talking about. ‘How much did Robert Caley pay you for it?’
‘Two hundred dollars,’ Ruby said quietly.
‘Do you remember when he gave you this money?’
Ruby nodded, and then sighed. ‘Next day, I went to his hotel. He’d only just arrived at the hotel and was going for a swim. Be the day after I was fired, I guess.’
Lorraine took a deep breath. ‘Was it last year, February fifteenth?’
Ruby nodded.
‘How did Mr Caley know you had the diary?’
She pursed her lips and stared blankly.
‘Did you know Anna Louise went missing the same night?’
Ruby nodded. ‘He told me not to say to anyone that I’d called him, and I didn’t.’
‘You called him at the hotel?’
‘Sure, yeah. Well, not exactly. There’s a bell-boy there I know, Errol, he’s got this crush on me and he sent me the posy of flowers I just told you about. Anyways, I asked him to give Mr Caley a message, that I was outside waitin’ and needed to speak to him on an urgent matter.’
‘What time was this, Ruby?’
‘Oh, ’bout sixish. See, I knew they were coming. Miss Tilda was supposed to
travel with them but she came back a day early.’
Lorraine’s head throbbed trying to keep Ruby on track; trying to assimilate it all and piece it together was draining. She took a deep breath and smiled again at Ruby who was growing bored by now.
‘Why would he pay you so much for Tilda Brown’s diary?’
Ruby yawned, and stretched her arms above her head. ‘I guess, he didn’t want his wife to find out.’
‘About what?’
Ruby giggled. ‘Him and that Miss High and Mighty was screwing. Mr Robert Caley was banging Miss Tilda Brown, that’s what!’ She put her hands over her mouth and shrieked with laughter like a little girl. She thought it was so damned funny.
Lorraine sat with her head resting against the seat of the car. François looked at her, presuming Lorraine had been at Edith Corbello’s house for a reading.
‘Love not going smooth, huh?’
‘No, François, not smooth at all. Can you stop at the next liquor store?’
As they drove off, Edith Corbello trudged past with two big plastic carrier bags full of groceries. She’d been out shopping to get supper in for Juda and half expected to see her when she went into the house.
‘Ruby, is Juda here yet? Ruby?
Ruby’s head appeared over the broken bannister rail. ‘If she was here, Mama, she’d tell you herself.’
‘She not called or nothing?’ Edith asked as she trudged into the kitchen and dumped down her heavy bags.
‘No, she’s not called, but I just had a long interview with the lady from the noospapers, they’re doin’ a profile of me for the front page.’
Edith turned as Ruby sauntered in and posed in the doorway. ‘You see a reporter half naked, girl?’
Ruby rolled her eyes to the ceiling.
Edith sighed and began unloading the groceries. ‘If that’s the clean sheet for Aunt Juda’s bed, get it off and make up Jesse’s room like I told you! Go on, get up those stairs.’
Ruby sauntered out as Edith continued stocking up the old humming fridge. She was hot and exhausted and one look around the dirty kitchen made her want to weep. She was going to have to spend hours cleaning up the house. Juda was real particular, and as she was paying for most of their keep, Edith always had to get everything nice and tidy. But it was becoming such an effort. What with trying to control her boys, and Ruby and Sugar May never helping out, the house was falling down around their ears.
Ruby walked in just as her mother’s head rested on her bosom as she fell asleep. She banged the table, making Edith’s head shoot upwards with shock.
‘I got these from under Jesse’s pillow, Mama, he’s been thievin’ again. It’s somebody’s wallet, drivin’ licence and . . .’
Edith snatched the leather wallet and flipped it open.
‘If it had any money in it, it’s empty now,’ Ruby said.
Edith saw the old worn ID with Nick Bartello’s address, and thudded to the back door, kicking it open.
Jesse was sprawled in an old moth-eaten hammock, writing on his arm plaster with a felt-tip pen. He hit the ground hard when Edith kicked him out of it.
‘You get your butt in that kitchen right now, an’ bring your no-good brother with you.’
‘Why? What I done, Mama? I just been sleepin’, you near broke me other arm, for chrissakes.’
Edith waved the stolen wallet under his nose. ‘I warned the pair of you not to do no more stealin’, an’ so you’d better get in that kitchen or I’ll call the cops.’
‘I found it,’ Jesse said backing away.
‘Oh, did you now? Then you won’t mind me callin’ up the police then, an’ sayin’ so, right? Right? She boxed his ears and he ran like a scalded cat, shouting for his brother.
Ruby was furious, standing with her hands on her hips. ‘They get into trouble, Mama, and then it’s gonna get in the papers and with me having my big day it’s just not fair. They’re gonna spoil everything.’
Edith turned on Ruby, wagging her finger. ‘Nobody is gonna do anythin’ to ruin your crowning, Ruby Corbello.’
‘Only maybe herself,’ Fryer said as he sauntered through the back gate and stood there, squinting at Edith.
Ruby shrieked. ‘I never done nothing Fryer Jones, an’ you’re a fine one to talk, letting Sugar May drink in that bar of yours an’ she just a kid. Next thing she’ll be strippin’ off like them whores you got working for you.’
‘Get your butt inside!’ Edith stormed, shouting for her to finish cleaning up the bedroom for Juda. A very disgruntled Ruby slammed into the house. Edith sat heavily on the steps outside the back door and stared at the old wallet.
‘They’re out of control, Fryer, I get tired out just waking up of a morning these days.’
Fryer leaned on the rail, looking down into Edith’s face. He reached for the wallet and flicked it open. ‘This is bigger trouble than you ever had, Edith. Your boys killed this guy.’
‘No, no, they wouldn’t do that!’ she said firmly.
Fryer squashed in beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. ‘They did, Edith, they were high and shooting their mouths off down in my bar, and Jesse had a gun. They get up to all things when you’re sleeping, but we can take care of it. You’re gonna let me handle it my way.’
Edith nodded, Fryer helped her to her feet and they went into the kitchen. Ruby was flinging dirty crockery into the sink.
Fryer opened a beer sitting at the rickety table. ‘We burn that wallet for starters. As far as I know nobody saw them do it an’ the police don’t know nothin’. I’ll say they was in my bar all night if they come askin’. They already had one good thrashin’ from me, now I’d better give them another.’
Edith nodded as Fryer eased his old leather belt from his trousers. Ruby ran the tepid water into the sink. The pipes gurgled and clanked as she half-heartedly rinsed the dirty dishes, trying not to chip the varnish on her nails. Edith seemed weighed down by it all, fanning herself with an old newspaper and staring out of the window.
‘They’re comin’ through the back gate now,’ she said flatly.
Fryer fingered the beer bottle neck. ‘There’s a private investigator going round askin’ all kinds of questions, she been here?’ Edith shook her head. ‘Well, you be warned about her, she’s been hired by the Caleys to find that girl of theirs. Tall blonde woman, kind of fancy-looking, with a scar down her cheek.’
Ruby dropped a plate, it smashed to the floor. Fryer turned a baleful look on his niece.
‘You know anythin’ about this woman, Ruby, called Lorraine, Mrs Lorraine Page?’
Ruby held on to the sink. ‘No, I not seen her.’
Edith picked up the broken plate and tossed it into the garbage pile as the two boys appeared in the doorway.
‘Right then, Edith, and you, Ruby, get out the kitchen.’
Ruby was scared, tucking in the sheet on the small cot bed, listening to the thrashing being given to her brothers, as they howled like dogs. It went on for at least fifteen minutes.
Edith had begun to hoover with an old upright machine that billowed more dust out of its packed bag than it sucked up, but it covered the screams of her boys. The brothers were wiping their eyes with their shirt sleeves as Fryer eased back his old belt into his trousers.
‘I’ll keep my mouth shut but you got to pay me, that’s the bargain, boys. As from now, you work for me. You clean up my bar and you do like I tell you to or I will take this to the police.’ Fryer held up Nick Bartello’s wallet. ‘First you start with your own kitchen, I want this sparkling and swept, not a thing out of place, you hearing me?’
They nodded their heads like glum children.
‘From now on you both working for me until I say you’re free to go find employment elsewhere.’
They began to carry out the garbage as Fryer opened another bottle of beer. He’d burn the wallet but he wouldn’t tell the boys.
Sugar May appeared with a carton of chocolate milk, teetering on a pair of high-heeled silver shoes. She
sniggered as they began getting out the brushes and mops and fetching buckets.
‘What you find so funny, Sugar May?’ Fryer asked.
Sugar May giggled. ‘I heard the whoopin’ and hollerin’ like squealin’ pigs.’
‘Did you now? And where you been for the morning?’
Sugar May shrugged. ‘Oh, walkin’ around.’
Fryer looked at her shoes. ‘Uh huh, you been strolling around in them platform soles, have you?’
She flicked her hips and drained her chocolate milk, sucking on it loudly before she tossed the carton towards where the rubbish bags had been.
‘Lemme see those new shoes of yours, Sugar May.’ Fryer held out his hands and Sugar May balanced on one foot and swung the other up into his crotch. ‘You steal these, Sugar?’
‘I did not, I bought them.’
‘Where d’you get the money to buy leather shoes of this quality?’
‘I was given it by a reporter lady that came to see Ruby, twenty bucks, and that’s God’s own truth.’
Fryer watched as the skinny girl sashayed to the door, the shoes making her feet look ridiculously large.
‘When did this reporter lady come here?’
‘This morning. You ask Ruby, I’m not lyin’.’
Fryer drained his beer and pointed the bottle towards Sugar May. ‘You go help your mama clean up the house, you got company coming, your Aunty Juda’s arriving for supper.’
‘I don’t make any mess so why should I?’ she said pouting in the doorway.
Fryer stared at her, and then wagged his finger. ‘Because I am telling you, an’ if you don’t you’ll get just as bad a thrashing as your brothers. You want that?’
She was about to get lippy with him, but something about his mood made her change her mind and she teetered back to the sink to finish off what Ruby had begun.
Fryer passed Edith, now hoovering in the hallway. ‘Ruby upstairs?’ She nodded. ‘You no need to worry yourself about those boys of yours, Edith, they’ll behave well for a while.’ He moved slowly up the stairs, then leaned over the bannister rail and looked down at her big, sweating body. Hard to believe she had, like her sister Juda, been as beautiful as Ruby.
‘Growing old is a tough business, isn’t it, Edith?’
‘Uh huh, sure is when you got two boys unemployed. Ruby don’t give me nothing much.’
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