House of Blues

kidding. If they weren't, I'd be out
of a job."
    That tickled Skip. "So would I."
    "Uh-uh. People are bad. That's what keeps you
employed."
    " Miss Cynical."
    "Don't get me wrong, they're good too. Usually
both things in the same body. "
    " Usually?"
    "Okay, always. It's the ones who don't cop to
the bad part who keep you in business. Most of us know what evil
lurks—and we control it. But if you decide you deserve what you can
get by dealing dope or maybe you're some kind of missionary, or even
that you're above all that, and what you do is okay because other
people deserve what they get, then you're dangerous."
    "Delavon. "
    "Who's that?"
    "Somebody I hope you never meet—because he's
so truly rotten to the core, you'd probably fall desperately in
love."
    "Uh-uh, I don't like criminals; just creeps."
    " And the utterly unavailable. With any luck at
all on my part, Delavon's going to get fifty or so years someday—what
could be more perfect for you?"
    Cindy Lou smiled. "I
have to admit it has merit."
    * * *
    Skip was dog-tired on account of her late night at
Maya's, and she could feel another all-nighter in the works. She
wanted to go home and get some sleep, but it was time to report to
her sergeant. Cappello was glad to see her. "Skip. Making
progress with the heater case? I'm still gettin' calls."
    Skip raised an eyebrow. "Joe?" Joe
Tarantino, their lieutenant.
    " No, not Joe. just a bunch of assholes who're
probably on the take and need somebody to make them look good. Can
you believe this stuff in the paper?"
    "What stuff? I didn't see the paper this
morning."
    "Not one, not two, but three great items. First,
the policeman O'Rourke's platoon arrested for murder. What a
department. Then the vice squad hearings."
    Several members of the vice squad were accused of
raiding French Quarter joints, then when all the strippers and
barkers were outside, helping themselves to the contents of the cash
registers.
    Skip winced. "I hate that one a lot. Not just
bad and stupid, but crude."
    "Then there's this new stuff about that security
firm run by our favorite high-ranking officer. You know: the one with
the fancy cars and the Armani suits."
    Skip named him. "What about his firm?"
    " It seems he got booked in by some production
companies making movies here and they say he charged them for
equipment the department normally lends out."
    "But the city got the money, of course."
    Cappello laughed. "Oh, sure it did. And that
wasn't the whole thing—they also claim he overcharged them for
people's hours, and what really fries me, that he booked officers to
work on those jobs who were scheduled to be working for the
department at the same time."
    " A little double-dipping; very Louisiana."
    Cappello snorted. "Don't you ever get tired of
this shit?"
    Skip sat down, nonplussed once again at Cappello's
frustration. "Well, yeah, I get tired of it. But we don't even
know if that one's true. Nobody's proved it, right?"
    "Skip, Skip, Skip. In what other city does this
kind of stuff even come up?"
    She didn't know what to say that would make Cappello
feel any better.
    But the sergeant was on a roll. "I bet half the
cops in this building are on the take."
    "Oh, come on."
    "I mean it. You've got to remember the mob
started here."
    " A lot of Italian-Americans would dispute you on
that."
    "Oh, hell, I'm Italian myself. What I'm saying
is, we've got a history here. This casino business has stirred things
up like I haven't seen since I came on the job. When the bottom fell
out of oil, nobody had any money and no way to make any. Now there's
big bucks in town; big things at stake. The state was crazy to say
they'd keep the mob out. Maybe the operators aren't mob, but the
town's suddenly crawling with characters you wouldn't want to meet in
a dark alley."
    " Hey, that reminds me. I met this unsavory dude
who tells me Gus Lozano's on his way out."
    "Mr. Kingpin? No shit?" She shrugged.
"Well, it makes sense. There's a lot of new guys in town, all of
them probably wanting hunks of Gus's pie. Anyway, what's the
difference? The new guy might not be named Gus, but he'll be his twin
brother. He'll buy some cops and we'll have to work with 'em.
Sleeping with the enemy as usual."
    Skip tried to think of something to say.
    "I've got to get out of here," said
Cappello. "I don't know how long I can take this."
    "Uh, you want to know about the heater case?"
    " Oh, yeah. Work."
    "I found someone who's seen Dennis." She
ran it down for the sergeant, and