Jilly got a new insight into Doll. She could be a cantankerous soul but she wasn’t as mean as billed.
There were several marzipan tarts and Jilly put one on a plate. “The fig turnovers are good,” she said to Lil, keeping her voice pleasant. “Young Wally picked the fruit for me yesterday. Good boy, that.”
Lil said, “Sounds good to me. They cheaper since you got the fruit free?”
“On the house if you’re strapped for cash,” Jilly responded. “The figs are from my garden but I’ve got plenty.” She slapped a turnover on a second plate and pushed it across the counter.
Lightning cracked and rolled. The sky had turned purple, and within seconds, thunder bellowed. Rain fell in great splats on the steamed-up windows.
“This is one crazy October,” Paul said, peering outside. “Drama, drama, but I like it. You should see Rosebank with the rose hedges dripping. Smells like a perfume factory. When are you going to give up that fabulous room of yours to me, Wazoo?”
“Miz Charlotte and Miz Vivian say those painted ceilings is mine forever if I want. I do want.” She didn’t look at Paul with particular approval. “You already got two rooms. How much more you want?”
“Joking,” Paul said, holding up his hands. “Just joking.”
He looked at Jilly and she felt giddy. Paul didn’t know how to just look at a person. His every glance was loaded with sexy suggestion.
“About that coincidence you was talkin’ about back there,” Homer said. He draped his paper over a raised knee. “What you mean by that, Lil?”
“All right, I’ll tell you. Why did she just happen to be in the right spot on the right balcony to see that poor Stephanie Gray murdered? Any of you think about that? Those parades are wild. It’s not natural to notice something like that with all those people leapin’ around.”
“What’s that got to do with coincidence?” Homer asked, undaunted.
“Then she reckoned she didn’t see who did it.”
“She didn’t,” Jilly said sharply. “That was established.”
“What if she only said she didn’t? To protect herself.”
“That’s an old saw people been playing on since it happened,” Homer said.
Paul said, “They’d do well to leave it alone. If Ellie says she didn’t see this killer, then she didn’t see him.”
Jim Wade made a food run. He leaned over the counter toward Jilly and said quietly, “Don’t give this lot any mind. Sounds like they’re fond of your Ellie but you know how people like to gossip. I do a lot of traveling around and I hear everything, I can tell you.”
Jilly smiled at him with gratitude and gave him the largest of the egg turnovers he pointed to. He had a kind smile and she liked that.
“Well, I got another thought,” Lil said.
I just bet you do. Jilly regretted coming here today. Lil had a reputation for rambling when she had too much on her mind—like she did now. She invariably searched for explanations to make trouble go away, and just as often got in an even worse muddle and made people mad at her.
“I been havin’ a lot of thoughts, too,” Wazoo said. She arranged a very relaxed Zipper on her cushion in the window. “Most interestin’ subject I had recently is Vivian Devol’s Boa. That little dog breaks all the rules. She ain’t got no small-animal complex. She think—she really believe she one huge critter. Delusions of grander, that’s what that one’s called. Means she get in a whole heap o’ trouble ‘cause she don’t know her boundaries.”
“Would that be grandeur?” Lucien asked mildly. “I know plenty of cases of that.”
“That’s what I say. You see that pooch around Daisy? Well, if Daisy didn’t have an inferiority complex she’d knock that pesky Boa out o’ sight. But nope, she jest closes her eyes and lets that upstarty one sit on her head if that’s what Boa wants to do. Daisy’s one good watchdog but she don’t feel deservin’ of respect. Probably somethin’ t’do with her mama cuttin’ her down to size when she was a pup.”
Homer made a grumpy noise. “Sounds like that Daisy’s terminally mixed up. Must think she’s Boa’s husband.”
Laughter took some time to calm down.
Lil stood with her plate in her hand. She looked at it as if she didn’t know where it came from, then plopped it on the table. She didn’t sit down. “You all think it’s pretty funny to make a fool of me. Well, you’ll see and you’ll be apologizing for not taking me seriously. That man Penn escapes from jail and what does he do? Does he get the hell out of the area? Nope, goes right to New Orleans, scene of the last crime, and kills another poor soul.”
She picked up her coffee and took a deep swallow.
“I heard Ellie wasn’t nowhere around Toussaint when this one happened. Doesn’t have to mean a thing, but it is a coincidence.”
Cerise swiveled in her seat and scowled at Lil. “As in you think Ellie was up in New Orleans helping to murder a stranger.”
“How’d you know that woman was a stranger? Maybe Ellie knew her. Maybe Ellie’s had to help that criminal to save herself.”
“Lil,” Homer bellowed. “Sit down and clam up. Now. You oughta be ashamed of yourself, and when Father Cyrus finds out what you been sayin’ he’s gonna have your hide. You’ll be lookin’ for work.”
“No such thing,” Lil said, “I’m independable at the parish and Father believes in people speakin’ their minds. Try this one. If Penn wants to get away, and he’s got to unless he’s mad, he don’t have time to waste hangin’ around here. You can say he is mad. We all know that, but he don’t want to get caught.
“Anyway, why would he try to get at Ellie when she’s said she couldn’t identify him? Tryin’ to drag her off in the woods when she’s got that nasty dog with her.”
“Daisy’s the best,” Lucien said. “You’re in never-never land, Lil. Better quit before you make a bigger fool of yourself.”
Lil turned red. “You a newcomer,” she said. “A year at the most. What do you know? We only got Ellie’s word for it that someone went after her in the woods. Either she’s got something big to hide and she’s lookin’ for a way to shift any attention away from her, or she’s in with this killer.”
“Lil!” It was a chorus.
“Well, not a one of us really knows somethin’ about her before she come here. I think she seen the killer’s face and there’s more things she don’t say than she do.”
“Lil,” Jilly said, breathing through her nose and keeping as calm as she could. “My brother is a close friend of Ellie’s.”
“Noticed that,” Lil said, sneering.
“That’s all he is, a friend. They like each other and spend time together. If there was more, they wouldn’t be devious about it. But if you’ve got questions, take them straight to Joe or Ellie, or better yet, to both of them. In the meantime, stop spreading rumors. Rumors can get bent into a kind of truth. Ellie doesn’t deserve that.”
“Rumors?” Lil puffed up her chest. “I don’t know from rumors, but just days ago she was gazin’ at nothin’ and when she realized I was there, she said, “You can forget anythin’ you want to forget.” Just like that. Nothing else. But what do you think she was talkin’ about if it wasn’t Charles Penn’s face. I’m tellin’ you he figures she could identify him if she wanted to and he’s goin’ to make sure that don’t happen.”
In the following seconds, the place felt like a tinder box about to ignite.
“I don’t agree with you,” Paul said, his voice even. “What’s to say the man who went after Ellie isn’t a stranger? Happens all the time. He was hanging around and happened to see her. Seems much more likely to me. And since we’re talking a lot about coincidence, it’s very likely the timing of this guy showing up in Toussaint was a coincidence. I think the less we dwell on it all, the better.”
“You and that tongue of yours can do a lot of harm, Lil Dupre,” Homer said. He spoke softly and everyone kept quiet. “Listen to you. You don’t know what you’re talkin’ about but you’re makin’ accusa
tions. This isn’t the first time you’ve mixed things up and made a mess because you’re a busybody who wants to be important. You don’t even know what you think about things yourself, but you keep on yackin’. Contradictin’ yourself and yackin’.”
He picked up his newspaper once more, but a pale line remained around his compressed lips.
“Excuse me.” The tall man with black eyes emerged from the stacks and put a book on the counter. Pressing Flowers. “My mother enjoys flower pressing. Her birthday is coming up.”
“Nice,” Jilly said. She looked at the man’s face, all angles put together in a way guaranteed to get attention. And his eyes. The eyes sent a shiver right down her back. If he wasn’t looking not just at her face, but inside her head, she’d eat her favorite straw hat.
He took a credit card from his wallet and tapped the corner of it on the counter. Jilly rang up the book, put it in a pretty bag and set it in front of him. The man signed his charge slip and tucked his package under his arm. He said, “Would you mind going up and letting Ellie Byron know I’m here?”
Jilly felt blank and she knew she looked blank.
“She sleepin’,” Wazoo trilled.
“She’ll want to talk to me,” the man said. He had a long, loose-limbed frame and rested his weight on one leg, on one of his scuffed boots, to be precise. “Just pop up and give her my card.” He took one of these from his pocket and handed it over.
Jilly read and wished she were anywhere but here. She also wished Wazoo hadn’t told lies and that Lil Dupre had kept her analysis to herself.
“This is official business,” the man said. “I’m sure it’ll be all right if I go through and knock on her door.”
Wazoo gave a little squeal.
Paul came to the rescue. “Can I help you, sir?”
“I never said she was sleepin’ here,” Wazoo said in a rush. “She wasn’t feelin’ so good after what happened last night so she went…”
“She went where?” The guy’s irritation showed.
“Um—” Wazoo looked around, obviously searching for someone to bail her out.
“We just know she was too upset to come back here,” Lucien said.
Cerise’s eyes were wide. “That’s it,” she said.
Later, Jilly thought, she would thank them both for thinking quickly.
“Earlier you two were suggestin’ she wasn’t here,” the man pointed out. “Lyin’ to the police might not be smart.”
Homer picked up his mug and said, “Is there somethin’ real important you want to say to Ellie? I don’t think I heard you introduce yourself.”
“Guy Gautreaux. Homicide detective. NOPD.”
11
Spike’s official digs had supposedly been spiffed up the previous year. Joe rubbed the pads of his fingers over the scarred metal desk where he sat with Ellie. The latest coat of paint on the desk was a muddy beige, but sharp objects had achieved a pattern of initials, obscenities and general graffiti that was mostly green from the prior paint job and even dark brown from the one before that.
“I don’t like it here,” Ellie whispered. “Spike doesn’t work in here, does he?”
“Nope,” Joe said. “This is an interrogation room.”
“Oh!” Ellie’s fingers went to her mouth. “Can we just wait in the hall? Spike said eight and now it’s after nine.”
“This town needs a big-enough force to do the work—Spike gets a much bigger caseload than anyone would imagine. But the department’s not going to get more money spent on it so Spike will keep on going without complaining. Obviously he’s been called out on something. I know he’ll be here as soon as he can.”
Their foam cups of bad coffee were empty and they’d each valiantly eaten one of the stale powdered doughnuts for which the Toussaint Sheriff’s Department was famous.
Ellie stood up. She put her napkin inside her cup and gathered up Joe’s. “I’ll just wander out and get rid of these. Then I’ll ask Lori when she thinks Spike will be back.”
“Not a good idea,” Joe said gently, and took the cups from her hands. “Best work on being calm and relaxed.”
Drawing her shoulders up to her ears, Ellie frowned at him. He noticed that she took sharp breaths. Not much hope of getting her to calm down. “Cher,” he said. “I hate what you’re going through, but I’m not sorry for what time we had together last night. This is absolutely the wrong moment but I’m famous for that. I want us to be together again, Ellie. I want to make love to you next time—and soon.”
Tears ran silently from the corners of her eyes. Stunned might describe the way she looked, but shocked might be just as good. Hoo-mama, when it came to women he managed to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. Little wonder he had never had a successful relationship for long. Hell, he’d never had what he expected of a successful relationship, and odds were that his communication skills matched his timing.
He got up but didn’t attempt to touch her. “I’m sorry, Ellie. Don’t cry. I shouldn’t have blurted that out.”
With no warning she all but fell against him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He felt her shudder.
“Hey, hey, pretty lady, what’s goin’ on? I guess I put my foot in it when I came on to you like that? Didn’t I? Help me here, cher.”
“I told you a lot of bad stuff but you don’t hate me. Joe, I never knew anyone who didn’t drop out of the picture if something got bad—not anyone but Byron, and now you.”
He hesitated an instant then held her firmly against him. He used a thumb to raise her chin. Her lips parted. This was one beautiful woman, and anyone who was fooled by the loose clothing and simple makeup into thinking she was plain, dull or whatever, was every kind of a fool.
So what if Spike walked in on them kissing, Spike or anyone else? Joe looked into her eyes and bent gradually closer to her face. Her fingertips dug at him, but they only made him want her more. She drove him wild. The line had been crossed somewhere in the last days and he doubted he could go back to being good old Joe, good friend Joe.
Ellie’s soft, warm breath met his lips and he couldn’t stop them from parting. By the time he settled his mouth on hers, his eyes had closed. He didn’t need his eyes to see Ellie; he’d had a lot of time to print the way she looked on his mind. Learning how she felt was a new skill, but he figured he could pick it up.
She made a little sound. Joe kissed her soft and long and without demanding anything but a chance to get close to her. Ellie left the moves to him. She did slip her arms up between them and hold his face in trembling hands.
A new sensation gripped him, as if his heart expanded and his gut fell. Goose bumps shot up his back and arousal, sudden and powerful, took his breath away.
Panting, Ellie took her lips from his and stepped back. She didn’t release her hold on him. Her lips were pale and her cheeks flushed. She moved her fingertips over his face as if she were making sure she’d always remember the way he looked.
Joe knew better than to crowd her with questions—or with moves.
“I like Deputy Lori,” she said, rubbing her palms over his chest. “I’m glad she decided to stay here.”
“Uh-huh.”
“It’s cute she’s having a baby. She says she is absolutely coming back to work afterward. Folks respect Spike. They want to stick around him and support him.”
Joe looked at the high, grayish ceiling with its decorative spattering of spit wads. He no longer cared if Spike was late.
He didn’t get to enjoy the sensation for long. The door opened and Spike, with a large paper bag in each hand, shouldered his way in. “Emergency rations,” he said. The shoulders of his starched khaki uniform were wet. He took off his straw Stetson and water ran from the brim to drip on worn green linoleum. “I hope I’m wrong, but I feel somethin’ really bad in the weather.”
“Old joints achin’?” Joe asked him, with his most disarming smile.
“F…Your mouth needs fixin’ and maybe I’m the one to do it.” Spike reache
d for Joe.
“Nah,” Joe said. “Just pulling your leg.” He ducked Spike’s playful swipe.
“Homer just dropped the food by when I was drivin’ in. Charlotte sent it from Rosebank.”
“That’s nice,” Ellie said.
Still they didn’t separate and Spike finally looked at them. As quickly, he looked away.
Joe wrinkled his nose at Ellie and they moved reluctantly to stand side by side. “Did you say Charlotte sent those?” Joe asked. “You mean Charlotte Patin knows we’re here—and Homer, too? I thought we were going to keep this as quiet as we could—just between the few of us involved last night.”
“No one but Cyrus knows this is exactly where we are.” Spike shrugged. “Which means Madge does, too. Homer had been to your place earlier, Ellie. The idea may have been to keep what’s goin’ on tight to our chests, but we all know what a hopeless deal that is in Toussaint.”
“So he told you Hungry Eyes is closed and you told him where I—”
“You’re not listening, Ellie,” Spike said, tearing open the paper bags to show off an array of goodies. “I didn’t tell anybody anything. A rundown of what went on at Pappy’s was on the radio this morning. And in the papers. And what makes you think you could keep this all quiet, anyway? Do you know how many reporters have been sniffin’ around this town all mornin’? A lot. But they don’t know where you are. We’ll keep it that way till somethin’ bigger comes along to distract them.”
He selected something that looked like a minimountain covered with coconut flakes. “Homer’s getting some decent coffee. He’ll be along.”
Joe sensed black clouds gathering on the horizon. He’d never known Ellie to lose her temper or even to raise her voice much, but from the way she flattened her mouth he figured things were about to change.
And Spike, usually so tuned in to what people might have on their minds, didn’t feel a thing. He charged straight ahead. “Hungry Eyes is open. Jilly and Wazoo opened it. Madge mentioned she was off to take care of Zipper, and Wazoo begged to go instead.”
Now You See Him Page 8