Mean Woman Blues

they’ve already pried the madonna loose— is that what you’re saying?”
    “They’re not there yet, but they’ve done some damage.”
    “Our thought is to let them load her up and see what happens. If they try to steal something else, we bust ’em then. If they don’t, we follow ’em.”
    “Ten-four. I’ll see if I can get some pictures.”
    “What row are you on?”
    “Avenue K.”
    “You’re on the east, right?”
    “Right.”
    “Okay. We’re coming up on the west one at a time, just so we’ll have all three of us as witnesses. If they spot us and spook, we bust ’em. Got it?”
    “Got it.”
    “Let us know if they start moving.”
    LeDoux did the walking tour first, leaving Skip with the car, in case she needed to move fast.
    The plan was a risk. They could have called for backup and made a noisy, high-profile bust that would have guaranteed a burst of publicity on the evening news, but it might have backfired; if these were copycats or small-timers, only one family would get its funeral art back.
    The whole object of the exercise was to return the objects that had everyone gnashing their teeth and grabbing crying time in the press. The Great Madonna-and-Cherub Graveyard was what they were looking for.
    Skip hopped in her car and got ready. In about five minutes, she saw LeDoux running back. Hagerty called her on the radio: “Skip. They’ve got the statue in the car. They’re rolling. Stand by.”
    She opened the door for LeDoux.
    “Looks to me like they’re leaving,” Hagerty said.
    “Ten-four. LeDoux’s back. Take your time getting back to your car. We’ll follow and radio our location.”
    Sure enough, in a moment the truck eased into view, the occupants obviously happy with their haul for the day. Skip gave them a slight head start but not too much, and then followed. She let out a sigh of relief when the vehicle turned toward New Orleans. That meant no Jefferson Parish deputies had to be involved. It was still their case.
    The truck more or less ambled back into town and out St. Claude, plunging deeper and deeper into the Ninth Ward. Here, depending on where they ended up, a strange car might be noticeable and two twice as suspicious.
    “Hagerty, how’s it going?”
    “Fine. Where are you?”
    Skip told her.
    “Shit. Hope they don’t go to St. Bernard Parish.”
    “Amen,” LeDoux said.
    Their wishes were granted. The truck came to rest in a quiet residential Ninth Ward neighborhood and drove into a free-standing garage that looked as if it might be used for some kind of workshop. The two police vehicles could only drive by, and that only once; to do it twice, rubberneck a little, wouldn’t be good. Skip wondered if the men were armed and decided not to chance it.
    The officers met at an intersection a few blocks away, a busy well-lit one where cops, plainclothes or otherwise, wouldn’t be out of place, and had a powwow.
    “I’m calling for backup. LeDoux, I’m partnering up with Hagerty; you go and make sure they stay where they are.” All three knew LeDoux was the necessary choice; it was a mostly black neighborhood. “Let’s synchronize our watches. I want to make the bust in half an hour, assuming they don’t move.”
    She got in the car with Hagerty and called Abasolo to fill him in and get his higher-level assistance: “I want three district cars here. No sirens.” She gave her location. “We’ll do a five-minute run-through and then make the bust. Sound good?’
    Abasolo couldn’t keep the jubilance out of his voice. “Sounds great.”
    The district cars straggled in, and it was half an hour before everyone was assembled. Quickly, they made a plan. Skip radioed LeDoux. “What’s happening?”
    “They’re in there.”
    They started toward the garage in a caravan. LeDoux came back on the air. “There’s a television van here. Who called them?”
    “Oh, shit. They probably just monitored the radio.” Unless Abasolo had tipped them. “Can you get them out of there?”
    “I’ve already tried. They’re throwing First Amendment stuff at me.”
    “All right. Hell. Tell them we’re sealing the area. You take the far end of the block; one of the district cars will take this one. Just make sure we don’t have to argue when we get there; read them their rights if they won’t move.”
    When they got there, the van was well outside the area to be sealed, the crew already unloading their gear. Making a solemn vow to murder Abasolo if he’d tipped