Big Easy Bonanza

prime.” The glasses were very thick, but Skip thought that she could see a malicious glint behind them. “Somebody broke into Bobby and Jo Ann’s and attacked Jo Ann. Mary Earle—” his voice wart up on the name— “was the officer assigned to the case.”
    “Oh, my God.”
    Hinky held up his right hand, as if being sworn in as a witness. “It’s true.”
    Skip wondered if she was turning green. “How do you mean ‘attacked’? Raped?”
    “Mary Earle says not. Mary Earle says the medical evidence showed nothing of the sort. And guess what? The so-called rapist stole JoAnn’s engagement ring. Remember it? The one Bobby had made out of three rings of his grandmother’s—about fifty carats, all told? Tackiest thing you ever saw?”
    Skip nodded. No one who’d ever seen the ring was likely to forget it.
    “Well, Bobby found it about a week later when he just happened to be rooting through Jo Ann’s lingerie drawer. And once he found it, it suddenly occurred to him that the case needed further discussion with Sergeant O’Rourke. And furthermore, it occurred to him not to mention to JoAnn that he’d found it—after all, a stolen item couldn’t be stolen, could it?”
    Skip was awed. “So she couldn’t report it again.”
    “Brilliant, wasn’t he?”
    “But what was JoAnn up to?”
    “Well…” he pronounced the word campily, wringing every bit of drama out of it. “… according to Alison Gaillard, JoAnn has been seeing Jo Jo Lawrence—”
    “Hasn’t everybody?”
    Hinky gave her an evil look. “You too, darlin’? I wouldn’t have thought—”
    “Of course not, you idiot. I meant everybody else.” Damn! She’d gotten sucked into his game.
    “Well, anyway, JoAnn thought she was pregnant and Bobby’s tight as a tick, you know, which meant she couldn’t even get an abortion without him finding out about it. So she pawned the ring to pay the doctor and staged the so-called rape. But the next day she got her period, and redeemed the little bauble. Ingenious, don’t you think?”
    “Oh, Hinky, for heaven’s sake—why didn’t she just borrow the money? Or get it from Jo Jo?”
    “You’re missing the beauty of it, darlin’. This way she never had to wear that fuckin’ ugly thing again.”
    Skip laughed. “All that from Alison?”
    “Well, actually”—Hinky came as close to blushing as she’d ever seen him—“one night early on in the romance, when Bobby was out with Mary Earle, JoAnn and I—”
    “Don’t tell me, I can’t stand it.” Skip put her hands over her ears, but she needn’t have bothered; Charmaine Neville had begun her set, tossing her wonderful wild hair to a salsa beat. Hinky had turned back toward the stage. Holding his beer in one hand, he was beating the other against his thigh.
    Skip leaned over and yelled in his ear. “Hinky! I need to talk to you.”
    He looked at her in surprise. “Weren’t we talking?”
    She felt an arm snake around her waist. Without turning around, she snuggled against the barrel-shaped chest she knew must be Steve’s. She raised one hand to touch his cheek. It was a show for Hinky, to distract him with the promise of fresh gossip, but it didn’t work. Seeing she was occupied, he went back to the music. Quickly she whispered to Steve that this was the man she had come to see and once again she yelled in Hinky’s ear. “Come outside for a second. Please?”
    He stared at Steve. “Darlin’, there’s not a thing I could do for you that guy couldn’t do a lot better.”
    “Oh, Hinky, can it. This is about a murder case.” She was shouting so loud she was getting hoarse.
    The bland eyes flickered behind the glasses. “Chauncey?”
    She nodded.
    “Later,” he shouted. “Charmaine’s my favorite.”
    “Skip,” yelled Steve. “I really need to get home.”
    “Go ahead. I’ll get a ride with somebody.”
    “I’m not leaving you.”
    “Go. I’ll be okay.”
    They were yelling so loud people were starting to stare.
    “No. I’m not leaving without you.”
    “For heaven’s sake, leave. I’m fine.”
    Hinky turned back toward her with a disgusted look. “Okay!” he shouted. “We’ll go now. That way at least I can catch the second half of the set.”
    Skip turned to Steve, who gave her a quick wink. She winked back and mouthed “Thanks.” Aloud she said (or rather shouted), “I’ll just be a minute.”
    But Hinky pulled at her sleeve. “Uh-uh, I want to meet this guy. I’ve been hearing about