Longarm kissed her again and repeated, "Be careful."
With a smile and a wave, Claudette left him there, a few blocks from Gallatin Street. He sighed as he watched her disappear into the crowd. There were still plenty of revelers abroad on this night of nights. Longarm turned and made his way through them, heading for the Brass Pelican. He still had to find out if Millard had heard anything about Paul and Annie Clement.
"What the hell happened to you?"
Millard greeted him with that growled question as Longarm came up to the bar in the Brass Pelican a few minutes later. Before Longarm could answer, Millard went on. "Paul Clement said you got in some kind of a fight at the Mardi Gras parade."
"Clement's been here?" asked Longarm sharply.
"Of course. He and his sister came back here earlier. They said you and that girl Claudette ran off together, that there was a fight and some shooting."
"Paul and Annie were all right?"
Millard frowned. "They were shaken up a little, but yeah, they were all right. What's going on here, Parker? You're acting mighty strange."
Longarm felt a surge of relief. So Annie and Clement had just gotten separated from him in the crowd and hadn't been kidnapped by Royale after all. He looked around the room. "Are they here now?"
Millard shook his head. "No, they left a little while ago. Annie was upset by everything that had happened. She was worried about you, Parker. Now, damn it, I want some answers.
"Royale," said Longarm. "He had some men dressed up in Mardi Gras costumes, and they followed us through the crowd and tried to kill me at the parade."
"Son of a bitch!" Millard's hands curled into fists. "Every time I start to hope maybe that bastard's given up, he tries something else. Were you hurt? What about Claudette?"
"We got away from Royale's men after I winged one of 'em." That was almost the truth, thought Longarm. He was just leaving out any mention of zombies. No need to spook Millard--or make the man think he was crazy. "I don't know if Claudette's coming back here to the club or not. She was pretty shaken up by the whole thing too. She's spent most of her life in the bayou country. She may have decided she doesn't much like New Orleans after all."
"Blast it!" exclaimed Millard. "She was a mighty pretty little thing. I was looking forward to getting to know her better."
I'll just bet you were, old son, thought Longarm. He knew exactly how Millard intended to get to know Claudette better. Maybe she was safer going to see that so-called Voodoo Queen after all.
"At least everything's been peaceful here," continued Millard. He swept a hand around to indicate the crowd of gamblers and drinkers, many of them attired in costumes. "This is going to be one of the most profitable nights of the year."
"If Royale doesn't butt in again," Longarm pointed out.
Millard glowered and nodded in agreement.
Longarm spent the rest of the night in the Brass Pelican, and as Millard had predicted, it was a lucrative evening for the club. The place was still doing a booming business as the new day dawned.
"Go home," Millard said to a yawning Longarm. "We've made it through the night, and I don't think Royale's going to try anything now."
Longarm nodded. He was anxious to return to the St. Charles and see if Claudette had shown up there following her visit to Marie Laveau. Bareheaded, since he hadn't had a chance to retrieve the planter's hat that had been shot off in the ambush attempt, he left the club and walked through streets littered almost ankle-deep with the debris of the previous night's celebration. Quite a few people were still on the sidewalks, most of them staggering along drunkenly in costumes disheveled by hours of partying. In the light of dawn, everything that had seemed so colorful and exotic the night before now appeared faintly seedy and disreputable.
Longarm stopped at the desk of the St. Charles and asked the sleepy-eyed clerk on duty, "Has a young woman been here looking for me?"
The man shook his head. "No, sir, not that I recall. Let me check your box for messages." He looked around, then shook his head again. "Afraid not, sir."
Longarm felt a sharp pang of disappointment and worry. He had thought that Claudette might be waiting for him in the lobby or even up in his room, if she had been able to persuade the clerk or one of the bellmen to let her in. He said, "If a lady--young, attractive, dark hair, talks with a Cajun accent--shows up, send her right up to my room, will you?"
Even as sleepy as he was, the clerk managed to smirk a little as he said, "Yes sir, Mr. Parker. Right away."
Longarm ignored the man's knowing grin and headed for the stairs. He was too tired and concerned about Claudette to care about anything else.
He had thrust the key into the lock and was about to turn it when he froze suddenly. Out of habit, he had glanced down before opening the door, and he saw that the end of the match he had closed between the door and the jamb when he left the room the night before was now gone. It was an old trick, one that he used frequently when he was staying in a strange place, and it had saved his life more than once. He always put the match just an inch or two above the floor, so that anybody opening the door wouldn't notice it when it fell.
But he noticed when it was gone, as it was now, and its absence warned him that somebody had been in his room while he was gone. Might even still be there, he thought.
He had paused only an instant in opening the door, such a short time that his hesitation had probably gone unnoticed by anyone lurking inside. He twisted the key the rest of the way as he drew his gun, then in one smooth movement he drove his shoulder into the door so that it slammed open as he went into the room in a rolling dive. He came up in a crouch, the Colt held tightly in his hand, ready to fire.
Claudette sat up sharply in bed, gasping in surprise and holding the sheet in front of her bare breasts.
"Custis!" she exclaimed. "What-"
Longarm came to his feet and kicked the door shut. "Are you alone?" he asked.
Claudette let the sheet drop, revealing the firm globes of her breasts. She patted the pillow next to her. "Do you see anyone else in here?" she asked.
Longarm had to admit that he didn't. She was undoubtedly by herself in the bed--a situation he intended to remedy as soon as possible. Just looking at her pebbled nipples made some of his weariness go away.
He holstered his gun. "Sorry about busting in here like that," he said. "I didn't think you were here. I asked about you down in the lobby, and the clerk said no one had shown up looking for me."
"I came in the back way and persuaded one of the bellmen to let me into your room," she explained. "No one in the lobby saw me."
Longarm didn't ask how she had convinced the bellman to cooperate with her. Probably the less he knew about that, the better. He shucked his gunbelt and coat and vest, then began taking off his shirt and tie. "Did you find Marie Laveau?" he asked.
"I saw her. I spoke to her, me." Claudette sounded as if she found that difficult to believe even now. "But she would tell me nothing, Custis. She remember my gran'pere, though, and his gran'mama before him."
Longarm frowned as he sat down in a chair and pulled off his boots. "Just how old is this Voodoo Queen anyway?"
"No one knows," said Claudette with a shake of her head. "She is old, very old."
"Did she send those zombies after me?"
"She would not admit it if she did, her. But I think maybe SO."
Longarm sighed. "Looks like I'm going to have to go see her myself, maybe buy myself a magic charm to ward off walking dead men."
And if he did, he couldn't wait to see Billy Vail's face when he put in an expense voucher for it!
Claudette threw the sheet aside, revealing her body in all its glorious nudity. "Come to me, Custis, and hold me, you. I want to forget all about voodoo and zombies and men with guns for a while."
Longarm certainly shared that sentiment. As naked now as she was, he slid into the bed and put his arms around her, drawing her to him. Their mouths met in a heated kiss. Longarm parted her lips with his tongue and used it to explore her mouth, tasting the hot, wet sweetness of her. She reached down between them and closed her fingers around his shaft, which was already erect and throbbing with need. All of his tiredness and confusion and frustration had vanished. He was able to put it aside and live entirely in the here and now for a time, concerned only with sharing his passion with Claudette.