Jass (Valentin St. Cyr Mysteries) (44 page)

A stunned few seconds passed, and then the fellow who had spoken up went stumbling back to the call box that was mounted on the light post, just down Rampart Street.

Earlier on, in the last week of January of that same year of 1910, the New Orleans City Council allotted municipal funds to hire a balloonist to float aloft and carry along a photographer to record a series of aerial views of the city. It was a windy late winter, and it was only on their fourth attempt that they could lift to a decent altitude without the risk of being blown halfway to Cuba.

The brave photographer came back down with two full cases of exposed glass negatives. When the negatives were developed, printed into positive images, and put on display, local residents and visitors from outside New Orleans Parish alike marveled to see panoramas of the Crescent City stretching out in mile-wide swaths, as a bird might view them.

Among the photographs was one that detailed those blocks that extended northwest from the French Quarter. For twelve years this section of the city had gone by the sobriquet "Storyville." For all of those twelve years and, in fact, for most of the eighty prior, it had come to be known as one of the most infamous red-light districts in the world. At its busy height, thousands of carnal acts were purchased and performed within one sweep of the clock. This went on day after day and week upon month, as efficiently as the assembly lines that Henry Ford was adapting to produce the vehicles that were mobilizing America. This astonishing activity, along with the more pedestrian diversions provided by the restaurants, saloons, and music halls, made Storyville—or "the District," as it was more commonly known—quite the destination.

So the photograph that included those twenty blocks, displayed with the others in the rotunda of City Hall, got more attention than any other. Gentlemen lingered there, snickering and employing broad winks as they pointed out the landmarks: the grandest sporting houses of Basin Street, the fine dining rooms, the classy cabarets, and the best-known drinking establishments. Those with sharp eyes could also pick out the rows of tiny pale squares on the back end of the District, the outlines of the cribs that the lowest class of scarlet women rented for ten cents a day. Two large plots of white, one at the northwest and another at the southeast corner—St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 and No. 2—provided foursquare reminders of a certain grim fate that awaited one and all.

Figuring most prominently in this photograph was the building on the corner of Basin and Iberville streets that took up a fair portion of the block. It had a broad, swooping roof that was dappled with gables and fairly bristled with chimney stacks from the fireplaces that were only now being replaced by coal-burning furnaces.

This was Anderson's Café and Annex, the keystone of the District and its magnetic core. Those who were most familiar with the location could peer at the photograph and point out the window of the King of Storyville's office, on the second floor and with a view all the way along Basin Street.

It was there, on a quiet Wednesday evening in the late spring, that Tom Anderson, the king himself, was settling back to wait out the eternity being defined by the babbling tongue of his guest, Alderman Alphonse Badel.

Anderson, seated at his heavy oak desk, gazed blankly at the alderman, taking in the flabbering jowls, heavy, wet lips, thick spike of a nose, black hair slicked oily, and small, pale green eyes, all perched upon a body that was barely stuffed into the Queen Anne chair. Anderson shifted in his own chair, a regal affair of dark oak and oxblood leather, tapping thick fingers on the top of his desk as he waited.

He had no idea why the alderman was going on and on, since he had gathered all the information he needed within the first minute of the visit: a certain resident from Badel's Esplanade Ridge ward had been discovered lying dead in a gutter, far out on Rampart Street. It was a sad and sordid affair, true; and yet Anderson still did not understand what it had to do with him.

Of course, he could have bullied the monologue to a halt at any point. As impressive as his guest's bulk, he was the larger man by any measure, tall, broad, and growing ever heavier around the middle, as if his girth was the gauge of his wealth and influence. A wide forehead, round cheeks, and noble ball of a chin proclaimed the pride of power. His silverish hair was parted down the middle in the fashion of the day, and he kept a thick but tidy handlebar mustache, steel gray and lightly waxed. His brow was like cut stone over blue eyes that could shine kindly or glitter fiercely, depending on the moment's mood. When he wore his metal-framed spectacles, he much resembled the man who had left the White House the year before.

He was even more substantial by reputation. Now in his late fifties, he was the red-light district's proud monarch, lording over the madams in their grand mansions, the sporting girls in fine upstairs rooms and dime-a-trick cribs, the rounders and gamblers and sports, the criminals petty and heeled, the saloon keepers who served them, and all the other characters in Storyville's shifting cast. His election to the state senate eight years earlier was his nod to the general concept of democracy; though, of course, he had neither the need nor the desire to practice it with particular vigor. He was now in his second term in the senate and well into his second decade in Storyville, and it had never occurred to anyone to challenge his prominence in either domain.

He held the respect of a fair share of the city's upstairs and downstairs populations. He was a friend to men of wealth and influence, and Teddy Roosevelt himself had slapped his broad back jovially and called him "Tom." At the same time, he knew most of the harlots, pimps, rounders, drunkards, hopheads, and musicians in his territory by their first names. As an old man, he would come to his Savior and renounce this sinful history; but for now, he took much pleasure in and grew rich from ruling Storyville.

With all this power and prestige came certain burdens. He was responsible for the welfare and safety of the women who staffed the mansions and cribs as well as their patrons. Matters of crime and punishment that were beyond the purview of the penal system fell to his judgment. He engaged in delicate political dances as stylized as waltzes. Swirling about were the endless and strange details of running a piece of territory that was dedicated to the commerce of sin.

It was a chore keeping the lid on a cauldron where passions ran loose and could be brought to a boil in the blink of an eye. Jealousies led to bloody violence. Whiskey, opium, and cocaine to fuel the mayhem were there for the asking. Serious amounts of money traded hands, tempting the foolish. It was always worse in the summer, when the New Orleans heat clung to bodies like a net. A hard hand on the wheel was required, lest it all fall into bedlam, a disaster for everyone, since the pyramid of wealth depended on the security of paying customers. Tom Anderson kept the streets generally peaceful and the cash rolling in without pause, and so grew more powerful and wealthier with every tick of the clock.

Though he was by no means without his failings. Along with his considerable gifts came appetites that now and then led him into trouble. He had launched a torrent of delirious gossip when, right under the nose of his mistress, Hilma Burt, he began a dalliance with Josie Arlington, once a sporting girl of legendary skills and now the youngest and prettiest of the Basin Street madams. The whole bawdy affair had been like some ongoing production at the Opera House, and Storyville was enthralled.

It didn't last long. Managing the District while these women tried to tear him in two was too much. When his esteemed colleagues in the state senate began snickering behind his back and he realized what a ridiculous figure he was cutting, he came to his senses and negotiated a truce between the squabbling madams. Chastened, he fixed his attentions on Storyville. His desires were checked, or at least hidden from prying eyes, much to the disappointment of those who had delighted in all the comedy. Once again, he was their sober leader, with responsibilities weighing on his broad shoulders.

Along with his greater burdens came petty irritations, among them a requirement to suffer fools, which was why he now sat fidgeting at his desk on a warm spring night, listening to the likes of Alphonse Badel prattling on and on as if neither one of them had anything better to do.

He put up with it for a while longer, then let out a small sigh and glanced at the door. The alderman, sensing his host's impatience, slowed his jabbering and then stopped completely.

Anderson leaned forward and turned his thick hands palms up. "I don't know how I can help you," he said. "I don't have anything to do with what goes on out there."

Badel gave him a shrewd look and said, "Don't be so modest, Tom."

Anderson ignored the compliment. "Have the police investigated?" he asked.

Badel turned snappish. "Not that you'd know it! They acted like it was just another Rampart Street murder. It was only when they got him downtown and found out who he was that anyone gave a damn about it. By then it was too late. They had a look, but they didn't find anything."

"Maybe because there was nothing to find."

Badel blinked. "What, now?"

"How do you know it wasn't just some spat that went badly?"

The alderman shook his head. "The coppers asked the same thing. There wasn't no trouble of that sort."

"As far as you know," Anderson murmured.

Badel's jowls flushed and jiggled. "I'm acquainted with the family," he exclaimed. "They're good, God-fearing Christian Americans. The fellow didn't gamble, didn't drink, didn't run with loose women. His hands are clean. It doesn't make sense. A gentleman like that, shot down, and on Rampart Street, of all places. It's some odd business and someone needs to look into it."

Now Tom Anderson raised a thoughtful brow, as if pondering the request, all the while trying to figure exactly what Badel was up to. It could be as simple as placating a family that had suffered the tragic loss and sought answers to ease their grief. Or it could be something else entirely. It was important, that was for sure, or the alderman wouldn't have come knocking on the devil's back door.

His guest was known as one of those righteous types who drew attention by roundly cursing Storyville as a sinful blight and demanding that it be shut down. Anderson recalled that in a recent screed, Badel had proclaimed to some temperance group or other that not only should the District be closed, but razed to the ground, with every stick burned, every brick buried, and the entire scarlet populace run out of town on rails. It would have been laughable, except there were more than a few important citizens of the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana who took such foolishness seriously.

"What about this fellow St. Cyr?" Badel broke into his thoughts, pronouncing the name with a rough French curl of his lip:
Sawn-sear.

Anderson cocked one eyebrow, truly surprised at the turn in the conversation. "What about him?"

"Well, he fixed that Black Rose business a few years ago, didn't he? And that trouble about those jass players?" The King of Storyville nodded vaguely. He himself considered both terrible episodes as history, fixed and finished; the Creole detective St. Cyr, on the other hand, would say there was much left behind. If he spoke about them at all.

"Perhaps we could ask him to look into this," Badel said.

Now Anderson studied the alderman even more carefully. So that was it. He had come to request the services of St. Cyr specifically. The King of Storyville was more than a little astonished, as St. Cyr had been doing his best to stay out of sight and out of mind since he had suddenly reappeared in New Orleans earlier that year.

In any case, Anderson wasn't inclined to lend the detective out like some common laborer. Still, it puzzled him that Badel was going to so much trouble over an incident that would most likely end up swept under a rug. He thought about it a little more and realized that the alderman was presenting him an opportunity to kill two birds with the one stone. He would do a favor that would have to be repaid; more important, he'd find out if there was anything left of Valentin St. Cyr's skills.

"Well, we can ask him," the King of Storyville said, keeping his tone offhand. "It so happens he's downstairs right now."

Anderson had always taken a certain private delight in presenting Valentin St. Cyr to a stranger. It was always the same: the unsuspecting victim would look and then look again, brow furrowing in puzzlement. Though St. Cyr appeared at first glance to be a Creole of the French-Spanish variety, there was something not quite right about the picture. His flesh had an olive tint, his nose was bent a bit, and his black hair curled about like an Arab's. His gray eyes had a Mediterranean cast while his lips were almost as full as a Negro's. So if he turned one way in a certain light, he was clearly dago. Another half turn of his head and there was no doubt he was colored. And then he'd turn the other way and appear to be just one of those white men with odd features, not uncommon with New Orleans' racial mélange. In any case, it was enough to keep people guessing. He was just below medium height and built wiry, and he moved in a poised way that was just short of tense, as if there was violence stirring just under his skin. He was quiet, still as a stone for the most part, with a certain insolence resting in his cool expression and lazy posture.

It was that exact posture that St. Cyr assumed as he stepped into the doorway. Anderson put on his best innocent gaze, all the while watching Badel's face out of the side of one eye and allowing himself a small smile. He glanced at the detective and tilted his head in the direction of his guest. "This is Alderman Badel," he announced.