Kiss of Noir (22 page)

A patio umbrella sailed through the air, the weather a counterpoint to our quiet, intimate conversation.

Ellis sighed, twiddling the unlit cigarette in his fingers. “To Sayan back there. It is trouble, and lots of it. Mrs. Clyde.”

I felt my armpits go hot and my spine cold. “What’s the story?”

“She’s crazy, and I don’t mean in a cute wacky sense. I mean dangerous. Loco.”

I wondered if all this was about our night at the graveyard. I had brought my doggish disgusting habits into Ellis’s clean, organized life and as thanks, brought strife and difficulty onto the man who loved, sheltered, fed, and employed me. My toes curled and I shut my eyes against the wind. What had Julia told him? How would I repair this? How could I possibly apologize enough? My cheeks grew warm with shame as I imagined Ellis trying to protect me against the disappointed look in Sayan’s clear, shining eyes. “Look, Ellis.”

“Turns out the bitch has been taking me for years.”

I opened my eyes. I felt a drop of rain on my skull. “What?”

“I just can’t tell Sayan all this because she told me not to do business with that raggedy heifer. But everything has been cool all the years I’ve known her, I
thought
. And now I’ll look a fool if I tell her. I can’t do that, can I?” Ellis spread his hands, asking for my approval.

“No, no, of course not. What’s all this about?”

Ellis took a deep breath. I could sense his embarrassment to confess even to me.

“Listen, Ellis, don’t worry about talking to me. You saw what a damn fool thing I did to fuck up my life and land me here with you.”

“Yeah, but that’s different. That was vigilante justice. And it was cool. You’re infamous for that now. You got the glory with it. And I like having you here. Feels nice. Right somehow.” Ellis pinched his nose and cleared his throat. “All I got was cheated by a skeeze white thief.”

“But look at everything else you have that I don’t,” I said. I gestured to the upscale neighborhood and the charming home behind us, my cold cigarette like an accusing pointer. “And Sayan,” I choked out. “And your baby. And Cleo.” I stopped before I said too much. I sucked on my unlit cigarette and gathered myself. “So fuck your pride, man. Anybody would take all you got for that easy price.”

“Sho ’nuff, huh?” Ellis grinned.

“Tell me, man,” I said. “And let’s go where I can light this goddamned thing.”

“We’ll go to the other shop. Let me tell Sayan.”

“Don’t want Cleo to know either?”

Ellis raised his chin, defiant. “No, I do not. That okay with you?”

I held up my hands, cigarette dangling from my lips.

I didn’t know how Ellis convinced Sayan that it would be all right for us to leave in this weather and this close to suppertime. Love lies getting bigger, I surmised. He had grabbed his hat too.

In the tony shop, we sat in the dim light in luxurious chairs, all quiet around us. I was amazed by the contrast between Ellis’s two shops. The pawn where Cleo and I worked was a chaotic rat hole compared to this. Ellis’s regular pawn did all it could to speak poor. Concrete floor, rattly, battered filing cabinets, a touchy, temperamental cash register, scuffed cigar boxes of paper, squeaky ceiling fans, homemade cinder block shelves, and a hand-painted sign. I settled into my overstuffed wingback chair. This is more like it, I thought.

Ellis had deadbolted the door behind us and had only turned on one beautiful, fragile lamp that cast a warm yet eerie glow in the rich silence while the wind howled outside.

I had the feeling that we were hiding from a hunter. The door to this place was nondescript and all customers were viewed by camera and then buzzed in if they had an appointment. Outside, the door was solid metal with a plain brown façade. Next to the door was a brass plate with a buzzer. That was it. No identification or windows or awnings or signs.

Inside, the walls were striped gold damask; the thick carpet was black wool, and heavy gold velvet draperies covered the back wall and the entrance to Ellis’s office. There was no direct lighting except at the antique table where Ellis examined proffered items with a brilliant halogen lamp, several magnifiers, a loupe, and several other tools. On a side table was a small bar with crystal decanters of whiskey, brandy, gin, and vodka. There was a tray of lovely glasses that were so clean they seemed to sing. Also on the table, there was a humidor, matches, ashtrays, and a cutter. Everything was immaculate.

Ellis poured each of us a glass of brandy and offered me a cigar, which I took and watched Ellis clip the end and puff on a match until the room was fragrant with tobacco smoke.

“Don’t inhale, T-Bone, you’ll get sick. Can you do it?”

“What’s the point?”

“The point is, you’ll feel like a fat, white CEO banker man.”

I smelled my cigar with a smile. Ellis instructed me how to clip and light it. As I applied the wooden match to the plump cigar end, my smoker’s instincts took over and I sucked deep and began coughing immediately.

“Now, Nora, what did I tell you?” Ellis chided as spit flew from my mouth and my eyes rolled. Gasping, I took a large swallow of brandy and my coughing spasm continued as the alcohol burned all the way in. I crouched on the floor on all fours, my cough like a feral yelp. Ellis, cigar perched between his teeth, laughed and slapped his thighs. He tossed me his handkerchief. I returned to my chair, knees wobbling, hands shaking, wiping my mouth and eyes. I was not at all amused. I plugged the cigar in my mouth and pulled gently, letting the ripe smoke nestle on my tongue and curl out between my lips. I took a cautious sip of brandy and fixed Ellis with a stern eye.

“What did you want to tell me, cuz?”

Ellis swirled his brandy, staring into its topaz depths. “I’ve lost a lot of money with that cross-eyed bitch. A lot.”

“How much?”

Out of discreet pawning habits, Ellis wrote the number on a slip of paper. I looked at it and smacked my head.

“Do you realize how many zeroes are here?”

“Just one.” Ellis pointed to his chest. “Me.”

“Ellis, how did this happen?”

The wind screamed and yowled around the building. It sounded like rain was driven to ground at all angles like bullets.

“She was one of my first big clients, Nora. She’s honky trash all the way. Been ridden hard and put away wet, but she used her skank toot-toot to snare some dumbass rich bastard who smothered her in furs and choked her with jewels and kept her in the life that royalty is so accustomed. I guess his gamble paid off because she cleans up nice and took on that role of bored, spoiled rich wife. She started all that useless shit that important people do: interior decorating, party planning, charity work with the movers and the shakers of New Orleans, you name it.” Ellis took a breath.

I remembered that night at the graveyard. No matter how much Ellis thought he knew, he didn’t know the half of it.

“But old habits die hard for a greedy bitch like that. So, she started stepping out. But she had to be careful ’cause her husband kept her on a short leash and he expected a lot. She could live like a queen, but she had a strict schedule and absolutely not a penny for herself. Everything was in his name and anything she needed or wanted, he had to approve and she charged on his accounts. So she was going crazy in this plush prison, so she started fucking all the male servants. Young, old, black, white, no matter.”

“How you know all this?” I asked, only slightly annoyed that Julia wasn’t a lily-white virgin until our night together.

“Well, since I’ve been wised up, I’ve been nosing around. Help talks. It’s not hard to find. She’s a kept whore, so her nasty doings are really of no consequence to anyone but herself and her husband, who knows a lot more than he lets on. So people give up info and it’s easily researched.”

“Mmm-hmm.” I puffed my cigar and tasted my brandy. Mighty fine once I got the hang of it.

“So her husband changed all the service people to female,” Ellis said.

I looked up.

“That worked for a while. But then more trouble started. With the women, there were broken hearts and lots of hostility. The house was in a constant uproar over this lousy piece.” Ellis shook his head.

“Then what?”

“He got rid of the women, hired new men, but made them sign a celibacy clause to work for him.” Ellis laughed. “Ain’t that some shit? White folks.”

I snorted. “Why didn’t he just dump Julia and start over?”

“Good question, T. What I found out is that the silly jackass loves her. Is mad for her sweet stuff. I don’t get it. You know what I’m saying?”

I pursed my lips, reflecting on that poon. I had had better. I had missed out on better.

“It’s all mixed up. She was a hard-luck case, she sexed him up, he gets addicted to her but wants to save her from herself, they marry and he controls everything about her and she has several secret lives she must keep confidential to keep this gourmet meal ticket.”

“You mean there’s a point where he’d give her up?” I asked.

Ellis nodded. “He’s a vain, touchy rich man and he likes his pride. Julia has done well by him so far with her volunteering and community service and being the adoring wife at all events, but I have it on good authority that one breath of actual scandal would bring down this house of cards and she would be on the street turning tricks for grits.”

“But if he’s so touchy, what about her sexcapades?” I was certain that was the only time in my life I would use that word.

“No, I’m talking real scandal like public shame from the news and exclusion from society and embarrassment from his peers. The fact that he has a wild nympho wife whose legs he struggles to close just adds to his machismo. I think he likes the gossip.” Ellis shrugged, turning his finger around and around at his temple. “Sleeping with the mechanic and the butler ain’t the same as fucking his golf buddies, you get me?”

“So where do you come in?”

Ellis sighed. He relit his cigar. His phone rang. His face got soft as he answered the call and convinced Sayan to hold supper. He hung up and finished his brandy, pouring another for himself and freshening mine. “When I started my pawn, I knew I could make a good living. And that was fine. But I saw a rich market go begging just because there was no resource with the capital and with the confidentiality. So that’s where you came in the second time.” Ellis smiled at me and I returned it warmly. “To stake me for this place. So I had the experience, the funds, and now I needed the business. Julia was referred to me by Payne Phillips. You know her?”

Not breathing, I nodded.

“Turns out, when Julia can’t get enough freak, she’s a voracious gambler. Her husband puts the cuffs on her in one way and she busts out in another. She has a curfew all the time and a guardian most of the time. But she slips out and loses at the tables as often as she can.”

I steepled my fingers. “Uh-huh…and?”

“Well, she and Payne go way back even though Julia’s a lot older. Payne’s from the hood and had done a few transactions with me, a drum set, a toolbox of Craftsman, shit like that, so I trusted her referral and I thought this was my big chance. So I laid down the deal for this nouveau riche bitch and she bit hard. She has a lot of important Jewelry with a capital J. You ever hear of the Claren-Stein rubies?”

“No.”

“Well, they’re magnificent. She’s got them mounted in a ring and matching earrings. Ever hear of the Turkish Fires?”

“No.” I pulled on my cigar, enjoying the large coal crackling and climbing up the shaft.

“Opals.” Ellis shook his head. “Opals the size of walnuts. And brilliant. Oh, you should see the way they glow. And opal is so very fragile. She has them casually set in a gaudy necklace. I swear.” Ellis punched his fist into his other hand. “That shit is wasted on that no-account trash.
Wasted.
”

“Where do you come in?”

“You ever hear of the Parker brooch?”

“Yes, I have, as a matter of fact. Emerald, right?”

“Not just any emerald. This one is amazing not only because of its size, but also because of its color. It would take your breath away.”

“I get it, she has a lot of flashy jewelry.” I sipped my brandy feeling warm and fine.

“All right, all right, I won’t get into her diamonds. So Julia starts pawning these magnificent irreplaceable pieces.”

“Only they’re not, right?”

In response, Ellis rose and drew aside the heavy velvet curtain that covered the rear wall. I smiled with surprise. It was a wall of safes. Two dozen small, six medium, and three large. Ellis chose one, turned the dial for the combination, opened the door and turned the dial for the safe inside the safe then opened one more door and pressed a combination on the touch keypad, opened that last door and removed a long black velvet tray. Even from across the room, I was dazzled by what I saw. The jewelry seemed like royalty sparkling there. Just as Ellis had said, there were stunning rubies, incandescent opals, glittering emeralds, and flashing diamonds. I held my breath, my hand involuntarily reaching out to touch. I suddenly understood why there were thieves: this all seemed like pirates’ booty to be found on the ocean floor or in a museum.

“Can I?” I asked before my hand closed around the opals.