Rue Toulouse (27 page)

“Oh, Cajun, you really are a big boy, aren’t you?” She lowered her head.

A car’s honking horn filled the silent night.
I owe you one, buddy
, Remi thought, knowing it was Paul.

“As much as I’d like for you to continue what you’re doing,
cher
, perhaps we should finish this at your place.” He gently sat her back in her seat. He awkwardly zipped up his pants and turned on the ignition. “But I can’t get us there unless you tell me where we’re going.”

Laurie gave him her address and said sullenly, “Can I have one of your smokes? I supposedly quit, so I don’t have any.”

He handed her the pack and squeezed her knee, hoping to mollify her. “Don’t worry, I intend on finishing this.” He slid his hand farther up her leg under her skirt, stopping when he reached the juncture between her legs.

She blew him a kiss and relaxed back against the seat.

He gave her a reassuring smile before pulling out of the parking lot.
I hope you’re worth all of this.
Her eyelids began to droop.
Just don’t pass out on me quite yet.

“So tell me, what was that all about back there on the boat?”

“What do you mean?” She yawned.

“Everyone getting bent out of shape over someone named Colane owning a place called, what, Ma Pirie or something like that.”

Laurie laughed. “That would be Caterine Doucette and Ma Chérie.”

Remi nodded. “That’s it. So what’s the big deal?”

Laurie blew out a stream of smoke. “Ma Chérie is a high-class boutique in the Quarter owned by Charlotte’s grandmother, Miss Dauphine Doucette. I don’t know why Randal had to get so pissy with me. Everyone knows Charlotte expected to inherit. Maybe what everyone isn’t supposed to know is that the last time Charlotte went to New York, she lined up a buyer for Ma Chérie. As soon as it belongs to her, she’s going to sell, and she told me this would be happening real soon.” Laurie yawned hugely. “I don’t blame her in the least for wanting her inheritance now. I mean, why wait when you can have all that lovely money right away? Besides, who’d want all the work of running a store when you have someone ready to take it off your hands?”

“I thought you said this place was owned by Charlotte’s grandmother. How can she sell if it doesn’t belong to her?”

Laurie yawned again and stubbed out her cigarette. “Miss Dauphine is old. Maybe she’s sick and Charlotte was going to get her to sign the business over to her. But I guess none of that matters now that the scheming little bitch, Caterine, managed to get her hands on it first.”

Remi had to bite back a scathing reply. He’d had about enough of these people trashing Caterine. When he looked over, Laurie was out cold. “
Putain de merde
,” he cursed under his breath. Now how was he supposed to get her into the apartment? He stopped in front of her building and got out. He scanned the street for Paul, spotted him at the corner, and waved.

With Laurie’s arms around his neck, Remi managed to lift the half-conscious woman out of the car and carry her inside. He stood her on her feet and sighed in exasperation when she rallied enough to begin unbuttoning his shirt.

“Where’s your bedroom?”

She began to kiss his neck. “It’s down the hall but, Cajun, we could start right here. I definitely want more of what I had a taste of.” She again went for his zipper.

He lifted her into his arms and carried her to a large bedroom dominated by a king-sized bed. He laid her on the bed and kissed her long and hard. “I’ll be right back,
cher
.”

As he went into the adjoining bathroom, he prayed she’d soon pass out. He’d give her a few minutes. Then, if she wasn’t out, hopefully Paul would call and he’d make some excuse and leave. He quietly reentered the bedroom and said a prayer of thanks. Laurie was curled up on her side sleeping soundly.

Remi slid onto the passenger seat next to Paul and sighed. “What the hell are you smiling about?”

“Had your hands full, did you?”

“Just drive the damn car.”

Paul chuckled. “So how did you manage to get away from lusty Laurie? From the way she was all over you, I see she hasn’t changed. I hope I did the right thing by interrupting back there in the parking lot.”

Remi grinned. “If I didn’t have Caterine waiting for me, I might have let her have her fun. The lady certainly knows what she’s doing, but thanks for helping out. I take it you know her.”

“Oh yeah. I couldn’t believe our bad luck when she sat next to you. So tell me you got more out of tonight than a good workout fending off the lady’s advances.”

“For starters, I’m pretty sure our boy from tonight isn’t anything more than Charlotte’s candyman.”

“No shit, she’s really got herself hooked on coke?”

“I’d say so.”

“Randal, too?”

Remi shook his head. “He and Markus were both a little drunk, but that’s all.”

“So do we have Vince pick up our guy with the coke?”

Remi nodded. “Who knows, if he’s working for Rivette, there’s a chance he might talk.”

“You said there were three men on the deck. Who was the third?”

Remi smiled. “Rivette.”

Paul’s brows rose. “Did he recognize you from the Gumbo Shop?”

“Not that I could tell, though he kept his eyes on me the entire time.”

“Do you think he smelled cop?”
 

“Could have. Or, due to the line of work he’s in, he’s naturally suspicious.”

Paul frowned. “Learn anything else?”

“Oh, yeah. According to Laurie, Charlotte’s plan was to sell Ma Chérie as soon as she had it in her greedy little hands, and since Charlotte already had a buyer, she was planning on this happening real soon.”

Paul let out a long whistle. “I wonder who all knew this?”

“I’d say only Laurie, Randal, and perhaps Markus. Considering Frances’ plans for improving Ma Chérie, I seriously doubt she knew what Charlotte had in mind.”

“So could Charlotte have been pissed enough to actually hire someone to kill Caterine?”

Remi ran his hands over his face. “I don’t know. She’s the most obvious suspect. And she definitely has a coke habit.”

Paul arched his brows. “And coke can be an expensive toy.”

“Caterine told me Charlotte spends quite a lot of money. And Laurie was very clear that Charlotte expected to inherit.”

“And what does that suggest?”

“That Miss Dauphine was the original target, not Caterine.”

“Could be,” Paul said. “Then she messed up Charlotte’s plans by handing the business over to Caterine. God, this is getting sicker by the minute.”

“Sick is right.” Remi scowled. “Which makes me think if Charlotte and Randal are as close as Caterine says, then Randal is in it up to his neck.”

“So what’s next? Do we check into Doucette Shipping and see what we find?”

Remi shrugged. “I’d say so. If Charlotte’s motive is money to support her habit, then we need to know what Randal’s might be.”

Paul nodded. “Okay, come by the office tomorrow. We’ll sic Vince on Charlotte’s candyman then see how far we can get digging into Doucette Shipping.”

When Remi let himself into the apartment, he found Caterine curled up in a blanket, fast asleep on the sofa. He removed his jacket, boots, and shoulder and ankle holsters and walked over to where she slept. As he stood there, his feelings for her hit him like a physical blow. He shut his eyes and tried to envision his life without her. The stark image his mind produced snapped his eyes back open
. Christ, what a mess. I might be falling in love with someone who would probably no more consider marrying me than some tramp off the street.
He now knew the way he’d felt toward Desiree had been nothing but lustful infatuation.

His feelings for Caterine went to his very soul. He looked around his apartment. This is a far cry from where you came from, Princess. He made a good living working with Paul, but he could never give her what she was used to.
If I weren’t such a selfish bastard, I’d break this off before it went another day, take her to her cousin in Michigan, and tell him to make her stay there no matter what.
But he knew he couldn’t let her go, not yet.

Remi ran his fingers through his hair. It had taken everything he’d had tonight to sit there and let her family put her down without telling them they were nothing but scum compared to her. His experience tonight had only heightened his determination to find which of them was evil enough to have her attacked, then put the
putain de merde
behind bars.

He knew he wasn’t going to do what he should, so instead he would do what he wanted to. Remi swept Caterine, blanket and all, into his arms.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Caterine automatically put her arms around his neck and snuggled closer. “Remi?”

“I hope it’s me.” He laid her on the bed and followed her down. As the blanket slipped away, his breath caught at the sight of the lacy black teddy she wore.

She gave him a sleepy smile. “Do you like it?”

“You’re driving me crazy. You do know that, don’t you?”

She smiled smugly. “I’ll take that to mean yes.”

“Oh, I like it all right, Princess.” He slowly ran his hand across her breast, over her hip, stopping at the junction between her legs. “And what do we have here?”

She chuckled. “Snaps.”

“You trying to keep me out,
cher
?” As he spoke, he ran his finger in a circle over the silk nestled between her legs.
 

She gasped. “Just making you have to work a little bit.”

A grin spread across his face. “I love a challenge.” He bent his head, placing tender kisses on the sensitive spot below her ear.

With a thrill of delight, she inhaled, then froze. Expecting to smell his spicy aftershave, instead her nose filled with the unmistakable scent of perfume. Confused, she stiffened beneath him.

“What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?”

She opened her mouth to speak, then spotted a trace of red lipstick on his neck. Unable to form the words, she pushed against his chest.

“For God’s sake, Caterine, what’s wrong?”

She fought for breath. In a voice she didn’t recognize, she asked, “Where were you tonight?”

“You know I went with Paul. What’s this all about?”

“Get off of me!”

“What? Why?”

“Remi, get off me right now.”

“No, Caterine. I’m not moving until you tell me what the hell is wrong.”

“You reek of perfume, and you have lipstick on your neck. That’s what’s wrong!” she yelled, bucking her hips while pushing at his shoulders.

“If you would only listen, I can explain.
Merde
, Caterine, stop trying to hit me.”

“Let go of my hands and let me up!”

“You’re going to have the police here if you don’t stop yelling. I didn’t do anything. Will you please just listen to me?”

Remi pressed her body deeper into the mattress, grabbing her flailing hands in one of his and pulled them over her head. “Will you please be still and let me explain?”

She swallowed hard and tried to hold back her tears. With an icy glare, she nodded.

“Paul and I followed that guy tonight to the High Roller. I’ll go into more details tomorrow, but I ended up with Charlotte.”

“What?”

“Wait a minute. Let me continue before you let loose on me again. Charlotte, Randal, Markus, and that guy Rivette that Charlotte was with were all there.”

“If you’re about to tell me that lipstick is Charlotte’s, you can save your breath. Charlotte wouldn’t be caught dead wearing that trampy color or that perfume.”

“I did what I had to do in order to get information, that’s all.”

“What?”

“Fuck, I didn’t mean it that way. Oh, the hell with it. Caterine, there was this friend of Charlotte’s named Laurie and she—”

“You were with that whore Laurie Conway? Ahhh!”

“Christ. What’s the matter with you? Damn it, stop screaming.”

“Not you, too.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You and that bitch. You’re no better than Jonathan!”

“What?”

“It doesn’t matter, just get away from me.” Her dreams of a future with Remi were crumbling around her. How could he have done this to her? He was tearing her heart into pieces.

Remi visibly fought for patience. “Caterine, I wasn’t with Laurie. Well, not in the way you think.”

“Then in just what way were you
with
that slut in order for her perfume and lipstick to be all over you?”

He gave her an exasperated scowl and rolled off her to sit on the side of the bed. “For the hundredth time, I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s late, and I’m tired. Do we really have to do this now?”

“You’re damn right we’re going to discuss this now. But I’m not going to listen to anything you have to say until you go shower off every trace of that bitch,” she shouted as she got out of the other side of the bed and wrapped herself back in the blanket.

Remi cursed nonstop as he took off his clothes, tossed them on the floor, stomped his way into the bathroom, and slammed the door.