“Get to the point,” Gray said.
Winnie gnawed loudly.
“I don’t recall askin’ you to be here,” Nat said to Gray. “I know you’ve made yourself responsible for Ms. Millet’s comfort, but I’ll make sure she gets home when we’re through here.”
Gray turned to her. “I won’t stay if you don’t want me to,” he said.
“I want you here.”
“Well, I don’t,” Nat said. “And this is my turf, friend.”
“Is she under suspicion of something?” All expression had left Gray’s features.
“Smart-ass,” Nat said. “Stay if you want to, but keep your mouth shut.”
Nat punched at his phone and ordered a pot of coffee. Then he turned to Marley and said, “I like to get coffee at the little place next door. Do you want some? Or would you rather have something else, Marley?”
“Coffee would be fine.” She didn’t really want anything.
“I’ve still got a bag of Tootsie Rolls,” Nat said, looking smug that he’d remembered her reaction to the candy yesterday.
Marley’s mouth watered instantly. “If it’s not too much trouble.” She didn’t figure it would be like giving him a hold over her because she ate his candy.
Gray took out his cell phone and called directory enquiries. He asked for the number of Aunt Sally’s in the French Market. While Nat and Marley stared at him, he got through to the shop and asked if they could deliver a large box of mixed pralines.
“You don’t have to do that,” Marley said to Gray.
“One-upmanship,” Nat muttered. He tipped Tootsie Rolls into his blue plastic bowl and held it in front of her. She couldn’t believe it when she heard Gray talk the French Market candy store into making an emergency run to the station in the name of promoting law and order.
“Sheesh,” Nat said when Gray slipped his phone away and sat there, smirking. “The chief better not hear you did that.”
“He doesn’t pay my salary anymore,” Gray said.
This time Marley controlled herself and put only one candy in her mouth. She closed her eyes and savored the warm flow of sweet energy.
“You tracked down a kidnapped boy,” Nat said.
She smiled. “I was so lucky.”
“You don’t like anyone to know you’ve been involved in their rescue.”
“
“There are others incidents I could mention.”
“I love Tootsie Rolls.”
“More than pralines?” Gray said.
“Mmm, no. I don’t like anything better than pralines.”
“Nothing?”
She looked at him. His gaze didn’t as much as flicker. Her own most sensitive little muscles contracted hard enough to make her shift in the chair.
“How difficult is it for you to make the kind of contact we’re talking about?” Nat asked.
“The kind of contact?” Marley gave him a slightly puzzled look. “What does that mean to you?”
He shrugged. In another of his vividly white shirts, his tie loose and with long, muscular legs stretched out in front of him, he was noteworthy, Marley decided.
“We’ve got a situation on our hands,” he said. “People are starting to get panicky. They want something, anything, so they can think we’re getting somewhere.”
“Only you’re not, even with the
“Thank you, Gray,” Nat said. “No, we’re not. I can’t say too much, but this is a fucking—sorry. This could get out of hand if we can’t get a break. That’s why I’m coming to you, Marley. When you don’t have anything, you might as well try anything, even if it’s really far-fetched stuff.”
She kept a straight face. “That bad, huh?”
Even Nat’s dark skin turned a ruddier shade. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Sure you did,” Gray said. “How come all the evidence you’ve got isn’t helping?”
“You don’t…You can’t even guess what we’re faced with. It’s no joke, Gray. Marley, if you could give us some help, we’d be grateful.”
“And the pay’s great,” Gray said.
She frowned at him. Her shirt stuck to the metal chair and the seat dug into the backs of her knees. “What can I do?” she asked.
“Take one of your trips and find Liza and Amber.”
She gaped, then collected herself. “Just like that?”
“Would something that belongs to them help you?” Nat asked. “I read that’s the way it can work. It wasn’t easy but I managed to shoehorn a couple of things out of Danny Summit, and Liza Soaper’s landlady came up with a scarf. Says she wants it back to keep it for Liza.”
Marley wasn’t finding this so funny anymore. She had used personal objects to make contacts, but only when she had no alternative.
“You’re not fooling anyone,” Gray said. “Something’s changed and if I had to guess, I’d say it’s a recent change. It might help Marley. Why not share the news?”
“Because I don’t have to,” Nat said.
“Then maybe Marley doesn’t have to put herself on the line for you, either.”
Winnie gave a sudden, protracted moan and rolled from side to side.
“She doesn’t like conflict,” Marley said, standing up. “I need to go somewhere calm until she settles down.”
Gray got up and joined her. Again, she didn’t feel like telling him she’d go alone.
“Would you think about what I’ve asked you?” Nat said. “I could call you in an hour. We really are against the wire on this one.”
“I’ll get back to you,” Marley said. “Please don’t call in an hour. I doubt if I’ll be able to answer the phone.”
Chapter 23
Pearl Brite left Alexander’s by the side door into an alley. She liked singing to the afternoon crowd because the club manager said she kept a steady clientele showing up to hear her. But she wanted to move up. She wanted to be a headliner in one of the big clubs.
This was the dead time in New Orleans. Apart from the tourist shops, much of the city’s retail had closed up and although it was getting darker, the lights in the Quarter didn’t show up enough to work their magic.
She had been paid by check. Although she told Lenny she needed the cash, he said they couldn’t spare the change. That was a lie. He knew the banks were closed and figured he had a chance of floating what little she earned at least until tomorrow. Lenny was so tight with money she had to ask for hers every week, and he made her wait around until she was almost too embarrassed to stay at all.
It was past the point when she could ride her bike home before complete darkness fell, but she didn’t have the price of a cab. Her dad had a deal that she was always to call if she wasn’t sure she’d be safe on the trip home. He would get out his old Ford truck and drive to pick her up, peering over the steering wheel because even with glasses he didn’t see so well. They lived in Marigny, close to Kenner. She wanted her own place, but didn’t have the heart to leave her father completely on his own.
With the helmet her dad insisted she wore, Pearl walked toward the far end of the alley where she locked her bike in a rack pushed back in the covered entry to a mostly unused warehouse. The place kept the bikes out of easy sight and so far she’d been lucky enough not to have it stolen. A small, dark-colored van just about blocked the exit to the street, but she figured she could get past.
