Big Easy Bonanza

as a Catahoula. Must have been the adoring looks he was giving me. Like we’d been an item in another life. And come to think of it, he did seem slightly familiar.
    Well, given our common calling, maybe he’d extend a little professional courtesy.
    “Hi, there, handsome,” I said. “I’m Diva. From the Marigny Palace? And this is Barkus.”
    On cue, Barkus barked. This was going much better than that debacle at the fab shop.
    But the cute little bartender wouldn’t have noticed if my baby had bitten him. He was too busy giving Miss Diva her due. “Oh. My. God. This is such an honor! Miss Diva Delish at the humble Tavern of Memories. Are you kidding me? Everybody knows Miss Diva! You wouldn’t remember
me
, but you’ve made me so many drinks I bleed tequila some days. I can’t even touch your margaritas, you’ve got the magic touch, but, hey, my mojitos aren’t bad. Let me rustle one up for you. I’m Freddie Boudreaux, by the way.”
    It was coming back to me. He always wore a fedora and smelled of spicy after-shave. “You are the sweetest thing. Of course I remember you. You’re the guy always proposes when you get drunk, right?”
    “Are you kidding? I don’t have to be drunk. Marry me, Diva Delish. I can’t even believe you’re in my bar. Marry me now!”
    Well, he
was
cute. “Next time, bring me a ring and I’ll give it some thought, my baby. And remember, darlin’, size doesn’t just matter, size is everything.”
    “I’ll do that. So tell me something. How does it happen that of all the gin joints in all the world, Diva Delish walks into mine?”
    “Thought you’d never ask, my baby. Fabulous mojito, by the way. Well. I was just visiting your neighbor, Ramsay Erickson.”
    “Oh. The neighborhood pond scum.”
    Every cell in my body went on info alert. Because in every case there’s a moment when you know Lady Luck has just smiled. And this was it in Wendy’s. Ever so casually, I asked, “Why would you say that, my baby?”
    “You know what, Miss Diva? That guy’s got the nicest wife in New Orleans. Not to mention one of the richest—he’d be nobody if it weren’t for Mimi Dupuy. Who do you think gets him all those fancy commissions? Have you seen his stuff?”
    “Looks like stalagmites,” I said automatically, and Freddie said it with me. Maybe we were kindred spirits.
    “Ha! Jinx. Anyway, he’d be nothing without her—and he treats her like dirt. I see it all, Miss Diva! My nose gets rubbed in it every day of my life.”
    “Meaning?”
    “In here three times a week with a different little hottie every time—lately. For awhile—and this is where it really got bad—it was the same chick all the time. Are you ready for this? It was Miss Mimi’s assistant. And so beneath Miss Mimi! Skinny little skanky trailer trash blonde.”
    “You might want to take it easy on that blonde thing, baby.”
    “Oh, Miss Diva, you aren’t even blonde—I think of you more as a flash of silver platinum…uh…” He stopped and searched for the right word.
    “Silver platinum what, darlin’? The suspense is killing me.”
    “Silver platinum
kryptonite.
Able to turn strong men into pathetic weaklings.”
    I winked at him. “Well, I usually do win in a fight. But that’s another story. What else about blondie?”
    Freddie winced. “Miss Diva. She had a purple flower tattooed on her face! Come on, who has a tattoo on her
face?
Right on her left cheek.”
    “Really? What’s her name?”
    “Violet. What else, darlin’? Never knew her last name.”
    “And Mimi Dupuy is Ramsay’s wife? Would that be Mimi Dupuy from the shipping family Dupuys? The Serious Bucks Dupuys?”
    “Yeah, that’d be Miss Mimi. She founded a non-profit for artists. Guess who’s the chief beneficiary?”
    “Stalagmite Man?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    So that was Freddie’s story. Quite a bit more intel than I bargained for—and I hadn’t even showed him the picture yet. I figured Geo worked down the block, he was bound to frequent the neighborhood oasis. I pulled out the photo and asked Freddie if he’d seen the kid. Predictably, he had. Only, one thing wasn’t so predictable.
    “Sure, I’ve seen him. He said he worked for Ramsay, but the funny thing is, I never seen him in here with Ramsay. He was always with Mimi.”
    Oh, boy. Why hadn’t this come up yet? I wagged my red-tipped finger at him. “Freddie, you bad boy. Have you been wasting Diva’s time? So Ramsay was doing the Big Bone with Mimi’s