Kent Conwell - Tony Boudreaux 08 - Death in the French Quarter (22 page)

“Looking for me? Hey, I been around. What’s up?”

Mule sneered. Bones shrugged. “Not much. Where
were you last night?”

I studied him a moment. The half-smile on his thin
lips and the cat-ate-the-canary look in his eyes raised the
hackles on the back of my neck. I forced a crooked grin.
“Down at Harrah’s.” I slipped my hand in my pocket and
retrieved my winnings. “Over four hundred,” I said,
waving the bills. “And I needed it. I’m just about busted”

“What about your squeeze? You see her last night?”

“Nope” I waved the bills again, hoping I had answered right. “I was too busy”

Mule grimaced, and I had the feeling my answer had
disappointed him. He shifted around on the couch, and
I spotted the handle of a revolver tucked in his waistband under his shirt.

Bones lifted an eyebrow. I could see the skepticism
in his eyes. Effortlessly, he rose to his feet. “Let’s go
for a walk, Tony. I got me a problem, and maybe you
can help me straighten it out”

I glanced at Mule who wore a smug grin on his face.
I considered my options. The lobby was empty. Even if
I made a run, where would I go? My best bet was to go
along with them, at least for the time being. “Whatever
you want.”

As we passed in front of Rigues’, I glanced across
the square and spotted Saint-Julian hurrying along the sidewalk in the same direction we were going. All I
could figure was that she had spotted us coming up
Chartres from her room above the art gallery.

As we passed Cafe du Monde, she emerged from the
open-air restaurant. She eyed Mule and Bones, then
smiled brightly at me. “You’re late, Tony. I’ve been
waiting thirty minutes.”

Bones chuckled. I winked at him. “Don’t worry, I’ll
be right back. Got some business to take care of.” My
eyes met hers, and the smile on her face told me she
recognized the urgency in mine.

She pursed her lips in a pout. “More important than
me?”

“Afraid so”

She shrugged. “I’ll keep your place warm. If you
want,” she added, “I’ll have Taney join us”

Janey. I crossed my fingers that she was talking about
Jimmy LeBlanc. “Yeah. Have Janey join us ” I grinned
at Bones. “A friend. You’d like her.”

“Why not?” she continued, giving Bones and Mule a
coquetttish smile. “Bring your friends with you. The
girls will be waiting.”

Five minutes later, we entered the rear of the warehouse. Bones nodded to a closed door at the end of the
hall. “Down there”

I opened the door and froze.

Julie sat slumped in a straight-back chair, his face
battered and bruised. Hummer stood behind the uncon scious young man, glaring at me. Ziggy and Gramps
looked at me sheepishly.

“Julie!” I exclaimed, starting toward him.

“Leave him alone, Tony,” Bones snapped.

I looked around at the lean Melungeon. “What’s going on?”

His face went hard, and he slammed the office
door. “That’s what I want to know, Tony. What’s going on?”

I played dumb. “What are you talking about, Bones?”
I glanced around the office. “What happened to Julie?
He needs a doctor.”

Hummer snorted.

Bones’ eyes blazed fire. “We had us a snooper here last
night. Julie knows who it was. He ain’t getting no doctor
until he gives us a name” He stared at me accusingly.

My heart thudded against my chest so loud I knew
they could hear it. “So?” I shrugged casually. “Why
tell me?”

Mule broke in. “Because we think you was that
snooper, Boudreaux. All kinds of funny things have
gone on since you got here”

“Shut up, Mule,” Bones growled.

“But Bones. He’s the one what jumped me down in
the tunnel. I know he is. He’s the only-”

Bones’ hand lashed out, slapping Mule across the
face. “I told you to shut up” His eyes blazed.

Mule glared at him a moment, then dropped his gaze
to the floor and backed away.

“What tunnel? What’s he talking about, Bones? He
high on something or what?”

Bones turned his cold eyes on me. He studied me
several moments. “If you’re lying you’re slick, Tony.
Slick as I’ve ever seen. If you ain’t, well, then I’ll apologize. But right now, you’re going to convince Julie to
tell the truth about who he saw last night.”

I swallowed hard. “Me? Why me?”

He eyed me warily. “Julie, he took a big liking to
you. That’s all de boy talks about, Tony this, Tony that”
He nodded. “Yeah, he’ll tell you if he tells anyone.”

“But, what if he’s telling the truth, that he didn’t see
anyone?”

Bones raised his eyebrows. “Oh, de boy, he see
someone. He just don’t remember who he saw.”

At that moment, Julie stirred.

Hummer grabbed the young man’s slender shoulders
and yanked them back against the chair. Julie screamed
out in pain.

With a cruel laugh, Mule splashed a glass of water
over the semi-conscious young man’s battered and
swollen face.

Julie spluttered and coughed.

Bones grabbed Julie’s slender chin and jerked it
around. “Now, listen Julie. Tony’s here. You tell him the
truth, and we won’t hurt you no more.”

The young man’s puffy lips worked. He squinted
through his swollen eyes. “T-Tony? That-that you?”

I felt sick to my stomach. The young man had endured a merciless beating just to save me. Mule stepped forward and raised his hand. “Shut your mouth,” he
growled at the battered young man.

Anger surged through my veins. I grabbed Mule’s
hand. “No. Let me talk to him.”

Mule glared at me but backed away.

Frantically, my brain searched for a way out, but my
options were limited to slim and none. I couldn’t stand
by and witness Julie take any further beatings because
of me. I glanced around the office, a crazy idea forming
in my head when I spotted a second door opening into
the warehouse. If I could make it into the warehouse, I
could mix with the other longshoremen. Not even
Bones would try something with so many witnesses.

“Where’s the water?” I looked around. Mule gestured to the water fountain beside the metal rack of
shelves near the door. I reached for the glass Mule had
set on the table. “I’ll give him a drink and then see what
he has to say,” I announced, heading for the fountain.

Just as I reached the cooler, I suddenly grabbed the
shelves, yanked them over behind me, and darted out
the door into the warehouse.

Shouts erupted and curses filled the warehouse as the
Redbones stumbled over the rack of shelves in an effort
to follow.

I raced into the cavernous building and skidded to a
halt. It was empty. Where were all the longshoremen? I
looked again. All the outside doors were closed. Behind
me, the door was banging against the metal rack as
Bones tried to jerk it open.

For a moment, I hesitated, remembering the locked
door last night. Not wanting to chance another locked
door, I raced for the large door opening into the adjoining warehouse. From the corner of my eye I glimpsed a
pry bar. I grabbed it and dashed into the warehouse,
cutting down the aisle between two rows of large cardboard cartons banded with metal strips and stacked on
pallets four and five high and three wide.

Behind me, footsteps echoed off the metal walls of
the three-story building.

Bones shouted. “Gramps, Ziggy! Take that row!
Hummer, you and Mule take the next ones! I’m going
to cut his heart out!”

Near the end of the row, I discovered gaps between
the stacked pallets into which I could slip, hiding me
from view on either side.

Tentative footsteps echoed on the concrete floor, approaching me. They paused just on the other side of the
carton behind which I was hiding.

“See anything?” Bones’ strident voice echoed throughout the warehouse. To my left, Ziggy shouted back.
“Nothing here!”

“Not here neither,” Gramps, standing just beyond the
carton from me, called back.

I peered around the corner of a crate. His back was to
me. I took a wild chance. Using the chisel end of the
pry bar, I touched his back, at the same time hissing a
warning. “Don’t move a muscle, Gramps. I’ll drive this
shiv straight through you. I got nothing to lose.”

He stiffened and started to put up his hands.

“No. Keep them down. Listen to me. I’m a cop, and
my backups will be here in five minutes. You got a
choice. You and Ziggy get out of here, or take your
medicine with the others”

He muttered, “How do I know you’re not lying just to
save your hide?”

“That’s your choice.”

Gramps nodded slowly. “I’ll get.”

“Don’t look around. Just turn and leave.”

Moments later, I heard him shout, “Ziggy and me
didn’t find nothing here, Bones. We’ll take the next
rows.”

“Just shut up and find him.”

I hoped Gramps had taken my advice, but just in case
I slipped from my refuge and eased around the end of
the row, searching for another hiding spot.

As I rounded the end of the row, I spotted Hummer.
He was looking over his shoulder. Luckily, I jerked
back before he turned back around.

The squeaking of his running shoes on the concrete
floor grew louder as he drew closer. “Come on out,
Boudreaux,” he growled. “You ain’t getting out of this.”
He snorted. “Ain’t no way you’re going to get out-”

Just as he reached the end of the row, I swung the
steel pry bar with both hands. It caught him between
the eyes, and he dropped like a sack of corn seed.

I grimaced, hoping I hadn’t killed the goon. Considering what they had in mind for me I didn’t mind busting him up some, but I didn’t want anybody’s death on
my conscience. I still had nightmares about the joker
who had tried to feed me to the alligators in Bayou
Teche a few months earlier only to end up as their main
course himself. I didn’t need any more bad dreams.

Now, if Ziggy and Gramps had split then I had only
two left to worry about, although one of them, Mule,
was packing heat.

Cautiously, I eased along the row.

Mule’s guttural voice broke the tense silence. “Hummer! Where you at, man?”

No answer.

Bones called out. “Hummer! Where are you?”

Still no answer.

Bones shouted again. “Gramps! Ziggy! You hear me?”

A chilling silence was his only answer.

Mule shouted. “Bones!”

“Shut up, Mule. Find Hummer.”

At the end of the row, I peered around the corner.
The concourse was empty. To my right, the large door
to the adjoining warehouse beckoned. I dragged my
tongue across my dry lips. My heart was pounding
against my chest. If I could reach the warehouse without being spotted, I could get out through the back door
while the two of them were still searching for me.

I glanced over my shoulder once again, then started
for the door.

“Boudreaux!” Mule’s guttural voice froze me in my
tracks. “Now, I got you” When I heard the click of the
hammer on his revolver, I spun and slung the steel pry
bar at him.

The overhead lights reflected off the spinning steel
bar, and before he could squeeze the trigger, the bar
slammed into hs throat, sending him sprawling and
gagging to the cold floor.

Before I could react, Bones came out of nowhere and
drove the three-and-a-half-inch blade of his stiletto into
my shoulder, knocking me to the floor and falling on
top of me.

Snarling like a mad dog, he jerked the knife from my
shoulder and drove the blade at my chest. I grabbed his arm with one hand, and slammed a knotted fist into his
jaw, sending him rolling across the floor.

Frantically, I looked around for the revolver Mule
had dropped. Bones spotted the .38 at the same time I
did, and we both leaped for it.

Bones reached it first and wrapped his slender fingers around the grip. Before he could move, I landed on
his back and seized his hand. Violently, I slammed his
fist and the .38 into the concrete floor until the shortbarreled revolver went skidding across the concourse.

He twisted under me and slammed me with the back
of his hand, sending me tumbling off him. I rolled
over, and within inches of my fingers lay the revolver.

The wiry Melungeon leaped to his feet, grabbed the
pry bar and held it over his head, his teeth bared.
“You’re a dead man now, Boudreaux!”

I swung the .38 up, the muzzle centered on the bridge
of his nose, and with both hands on the butt, growled,
“Make one move, Bones, and you’re the dead man”

He glared at me, indecision reflecting from his eyes.

At that moment, the rear door burst open and Jimmy
LeBlanc and a squad of uniforms rushed in.

Bones’ shoulders sagged. He lowered the pry bar,
and with a snarl hissed, “I’ll be out in two years, Tony.
When I get out, you better watch your back”