“So what’s to keep me from checking the newspaper and finding the location?”
“Nothin’,” he grunted. “Except maybe the fact that they didn’t run a story on it.”
“How do you know?”
“I asked.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted ta’ know how easy it was gonna be for you ta’ get inta’ trouble.”
“Well, why didn’t it make the papers?”
“Victim was a street person, and there’s plenty of other shit goin’ on down there right now. It just wasn’t considered newsworthy.”
“Okay, so what if I just go to the local police myself?” I countered.
“Knock yourself out,” he harrumphed. “But I can tell ya’ right now you’ll just be wastin’ your breath ‘cause I already told ‘em ya’ might try that. Look, Row, you ain’t packin’ a badge, so you’re just another civilian ta’ them. The coppers down there are short-staffed and under siege for fuck’s sake. They ain’t got time ta’ deal with ya’.” He paused briefly to allow the comment to sink in, then continued, “Besides, I thought you were s’posed ta’ be down there chasin’ a ghost, right?”
“A Lwa,” I corrected. “They’re deified spirits within Vodoun religious practice.”
“Yeah, well that’s just another friggin’ word for ghost in my book.”
“Uh-huh. And I also wouldn’t exactly call it chasing. I’m just looking for her history. It’s really more like genealogical research if you want to know the truth.”
“Chasin’ or not, it’s what ya’ went down there for, right?”
I drew in a deep breath. I really couldn’t argue with him too much because it really was the reason I’d come here. After a bloated silence, I huffed out my agreement almost as one word, “Yeah, I guess.”
“Then that’s what ya’ need ta’ concentrate on. You do the Witch stuff, and let us do the cop stuff.”
Even though I knew continuing to argue with him was futile, I decided to press my friend just a bit further on the subject. “So, tell me something. If I can’t help then why did you even bother telling me about this, Ben?”
“Figured since you were there, ya’ had an off chance of hearin’ about it anyway. Thought I’d see if I could get to ya’ first.”
“But…”
He cut me off. “No but’s, Row. It was a judgment call.”
“So how’d you make that call?”
“How else? I flipped a friggin’ coin.”
“What a novel approach.”
“Like I said. Judgment call. Heads I tell ya’ what I can and deal with ya’ bein’ pissed, or tails I don’t tell ya’ and still deal with ya’ bein’ pissed ‘cause I didn’t. For me it was lose-lose no matter what I did.”
“Glad to know I’m worth so much consideration,” I grumbled.
“It was a no-brainer, Row. I got bad guys ta’ catch. Better I spend my time thinkin’ about that instead of whether I want ya’ torqued at me now or torqued at me later.”
“Yeah, I know you’re right,” I conceded.
“If you wanna know the truth,” he offered. “I didn’t actually flip a coin. I was gonna tell ya’ anyway.”
“Why, because you figured I’d probably already heard about it?”
“No… Actually, ‘cause I’m a bit worried about ya’.”
“Don’t tell me, let me guess. Because you’re afraid I’m going to go looking for her?”
“Jeezus, White Man, I keep tryin’ ta’ tell ya’ I ain’t stupid. Hell, I know you’re gonna go lookin’ for her. What I’m afraid of is that you’re actually gonna find ‘er.”
I had to give Ben credit; he definitely knew me as well as anyone could-except for my wife, of course. I was definitely going to look for Annalise, and finding her was my ultimate goal. I had absolutely no idea how I was going to accomplish this, but I knew where I was going to start. Therefore, I had no more hung up with him than I was heading out the door in search of a way to get into the local crime scene. What I was going to be able to do at almost 2:30 in the morning was yet another mystery, especially considering the fact that I didn’t even know exactly where the crime scene was located. However, I had an idea, and since I wasn’t going to be able to sleep for a variety of reasons, I decided I might as well get started.
I had no doubt my friend was correct in his assessment that I wouldn’t be welcomed with open arms, so the head-on approach wasn’t even an option. Especially since I wasn’t going to get any support from him or Constance where that was concerned. This was something I would have to do on my own, with subterfuge. As my wife had recently pointed out, I wasn’t a very good liar, so that was yet another hurdle I would need to face. Unfortunately, deceit was going to be necessary because the truth was simply too insane to be believed.
I had just pulled my door shut when my next-door neighbor stepped out of her room and, not paying attention to where she was going, stumbled directly into me. She jumped back with a yelp, teetering on a pair of platform heels that looked a half-size too big. Regaining her composure, she shuffled then leaned against the doorjamb. I wasn’t sure if she was doing it for balance, or if she was trying to look alluring. Maybe it was both, although she wasn’t accomplishing the latter-in my eyes at least. Either way, she simply looked me over and smiled.
I muttered, “Sorry,” then gave her a nod and started for my car.
“Gotta light, Mistuh?” she asked before I’d made it two steps.
Even though it was against my better judgment, I stopped and looked back at her. In the dim swath of yellow spilling from the overhead light, I could see enough of her face to tell that her vacant eyes were fixed with a substance-induced glaze. I didn’t really want to know which substance. Her vinyl skirt was too short, her top too tight, and her makeup too thick. She looked like she was in her late forties, but something about her felt like she was maybe all of fifteen.
I rummaged quickly in my pocket, withdrew a book of matches and tossed them the short distance to her. She missed the catch even though my aim was dead on, so she stooped to pick them up. While she was doing so, I took a quick glance around to make sure I wasn’t being set up for a mugging or some such and then hurried on to my vehicle.
As she stood again, she let out a hoarse giggle and called after me, “Ah won’t bite, shuga. Unless tha’s what ya’ wan’ me ta’ do.”
By now I had the car door open and since I had originally backed in was just getting ready to turn and slip into the driver’s seat. Out of reflex, I shook my head while saying across the top of the sedan, “No thanks.”
I heard her reply as I was pulling the door shut.
“Ya’ sure ya’ not lookin’ fuh comp’ny, bay-bee?”
If she said anything after that, I didn’t hear it because the windows were up, the engine was running, and I was already pulling out of the parking space.
CHAPTER 3:
Ben had given me something to go on whether he realized it or not. It was tenuous, I admit, but it was something. He’d told me they found the victim in a motel room, specifically, the no-tell type. So, that was where I would start my search.
When I first set out, I even gave serious consideration to the fact that the murder might have happened right where I was staying. In fact, I was less than a mile up Airline Highway when I literally thought about turning around and going back, imagining for a moment I might be able to exchange some cash for information from my next-door neighbor. That sort of transaction would probably make me her easiest client of the night. Of course, that would all hinge on whether or not she actually knew anything, and she hadn’t struck me as the type to stay up on current events that weren’t a part of her immediate future. Besides, at the rate she’d been going, she had most likely already found someone in need of her particular brand of personal services by now, and I would have to wait until I could catch her between clients. In my mind, standing around waiting for that to happen wasn’t exactly an enticing prospect considering the fact that I was sure to be faced with extricating myself from another sort of proposition yet again. On top of that, it didn’t sound particularly safe either. But, in the end it wasn’t fear or even the distaste that kept me from making the U-turn. There was a niggling hunch in the back of my head, and it kept telling me that I needed to look somewhere else. So, I listened to it.