Big Easy Bonanza

time Skip’s hair was dry, but Steve apparently wasn’t overcome by feelings of bonhomie. Skip would have asked Jimmy Dee to join them. He said, “Skip and I were just going out—”
    “Good God, yes, young love; don’t let lil ol’ me stand in the way—nice to meet you, Steve.” Skip got the feeling he didn’t think so at all. He turned at the door. “Oh, Margaret, about Tolliver Albert. Queer as a three-dollar bill.” He paused for effect. “But straight as a dick. I mean stick.”
    “Beg pardon?”
    “He’s weird, darlin’, weirder than shit. But probably not gay. He doesn’t belong to any of the gay krewes or hang out at Lafitte, or hang out period. You didn’t tell me how good-looking he is, by the way. Plenty of guys have tried cruising his shop—to no avail.”
    “So what makes him weird?”
    But the door shut on the last word. “Toodle-oo.” Skip thought he had heard her question.
    Steve stared at her. “What’s wrong with him?”
    “I guess he was pissed that you didn’t ask him to join us.”
    “Are you?”
    She paused to consider. A moment ago she had been, but the feeling had passed, probably because Steve was now caressing her left breast. “No. I’d rather be alone with you.”
    She wished she could take back the words. They weren’t her style.
    The rest of Steve’s elaborate purification ritual also involved water, in the form of the mighty Mississippi. They went to a restaurant where they could eat fairly good (if not great) food and stare at a scene out of the nineteenth century. The old-fashioned stern-wheelers and paddle-wheelers plied the river once again, this time carrying tourists instead of gamblers, runaways, and stolid folk off to visit their kin.
    Steve said, “I don’t know about this Jimmy Dee character. Are you sure you can trust him?”
    Trust Jimmy Dee! The real question is, can I trust you
?
    “Trust him for what?”
    “I don’t know. It sounds as if you had him doing legwork for you.”
    She shrugged. “I just asked him to pick up some gossip. In his way, Jimmy Dee’s as respectable as Chauncey was, by the way. He owns my building and lives out in back in a slave quarters got up like the Gallier House; works in a big law firm—never, never gets swishy in public.”
    “If he owns the building he should fix it up a little.”
    “Hey.” She took his hand. “You don’t have to be jealous of Dee-Dee.”
Just because he’ll still be around after you’re long gone.
    “I’m not jealous of Dee-Dee. I mean, Mr. Scoggin. I just think you have to be careful who you confide in right now.”
    “I know.”
    “Who knew you were going to meet me last night?”
    Skip thought a minute. “Just Dee-Dee.”
And you, of course
.
    ”I don’t like this.”
    “Dee-Dee can’t even kill a cockroach. I’m serious, I have to do it for him. He once raised a baby bird that fell out of its nest. He took it to the office so it wouldn’t miss its feedings.”
    “Look, I’m not accusing Jimmy Dee. I just don’t think you should be working alone on this.”
    “You don’t? Mr. Steve Steinman of Los Angeles who’s never been a policeman a day in his life doesn’t think I should be working alone. My boss thinks otherwise, big fellow, and he’s a thirty-year veteran of NOPD.”
    He held up a traffic cop’s hand. “Okay, okay. I’m sure you can take care of your tiny self—”
    “Oh, stop it, you sound like Jimmy Dee.”
    “—I meant you can take care of your Amazonian magnificence. I just wanted to offer my help if you need it, that’s all.”
    She didn’t answer right away, afraid to ask. “Thank you— there is something.”
    “What?”
    “I’m not too keen on spending the night there alone. I mean I’m—” She groped for the right word.
    “Spooked?”
    “Spooked.”
    “Anybody would be. Do you want to come back to Cookie’s?”
    “No. I want to sleep there anyway. Will you stay with me?”
    “Of course.” And then he explained to her there would be two other steps in the purification ritual—a movie for continuity with the real world and a brandy for soporific purposes. As it happened, she added a step of her own—a post-movie stroll on the Moonwalk, taking further advantage of the healing waters of the river.
    Skip truly did feel purified as they returned, a bottle of cognac tucked under Steve’s arm, or she would have if she’d thought about it. She was chatting happily about the movie, her troubles forgotten, as they turned