Mean Woman Blues

Shellmire again. I’ll be back.”
    She met him coming up Pamela’s nicely edged walk, and he wasn’t alone. With him was Sergeant Frank O’Rourke, NOPD, Skip’s least-favorite colleague. In fact, it seemed a travesty even to call him a colleague; he was really more like an enemy. She’d been detailed to work with him on her first important case, long before she’d become a detective, and he’d hated her on sight. Some of the reasons eventually came to light. They had to do with his wife, also a police officer. But part of it was unexplainable, at least so far as Skip was concerned.
    “He’s just jealous, my dainty darling,” Jimmy Dee used to say, but jealous of what she could never quite figure out.
    O’Rourke spoke first: “Langdon, for Christ’s sake! What the fuck you doin’ here?”
    She gave him one of the fake smiles she was specializing in today. “Nice to see you too, Frank. Hi, Turner. How’re you doing?”
    Shellmire grinned and saluted. O’Rourke said, “I axed you a question, goddammit.”
    “I’m visiting a friend.”
    “Ms… uh… Fontenot? How the hell do you know her?”
    “I met her through the victim, Isaac James.” She was almost enjoying this. “I’ll tell her you’re here.” She retraced her steps, calling Pamela to the door. “Pamela? Pamela, there’s a detective and a real nice fed here to see you.” Shellmire and O’Rourke followed Skip up the steps. “This is my good friend, Turner Shellmire of the FBI, and this is Frank O’Rourke.” She let her voice drop on O’Rourke’s name, so that the point she was making wouldn’t be lost.
    O’Rourke said, “The officers posted outside said you’ve got another guest looked like someone who’s a friend of James. Young lady who almost fainted?”
    Terri came up behind Pamela, peering around her considerable shoulder. “Yes. I’m Terri Whittaker.”
    “Like to come in and talk to you both if you don’t mind.”
    Pamela opened the door wide, as if she were having a party and they were the honored guests. “Of course. Have you talked to the hospital lately?”
    “No, ma’am. It’s too early; they’ll still be working on him.”
    Terri was frantic. “I need to go soon. I have to be there for him.”
    “Oh,” said Shellmire. “You were close?’
    “We’re dating.”
    O’Rourke muscled into the conversation. “Ms. Fontenot, you got any place where we can talk privately?’
    “That won’t be necessary. I have nothing to hide from my friends.”
    Skip caught Turner’s eye, and she could have sworn he winked, ever so subtly; as for herself, she smirked openly.
    Pamela said, “Why don’t we all sit down?” She offered tea, but there were no takers. And then she brought a couple of folding chairs to accommodate everyone.
    When they were seated in her tiny living room, Skip included, O’Rourke turned to Pamela. “Understand you saw the shooting.”
    “Yes. It was a drive-by. Isaac was on his way over to talk. I think he was worried about Terri. I went out on the porch to meet him, and just as he stepped off his porch and turned right toward my house, I heard the shot and saw him fall. I looked to see where the shot came from, but all I really saw was a dark car. It’s kind of a blur.”
    “Oh, God.” Terri looked guilt stricken. “I was supposed to call him from Dallas, and I forgot to. I did call this morning, but I didn’t get him.”
    “Dallas? When were you in Dallas?”
    “Last night. Just overnight. I went yesterday and I flew back this morning…” She stopped and covered her mouth. “Oh. Maybe that was why he was worried. My flight was cancelled. I was supposed to get back early, but I didn’t make it until just now. I came straight from the airport.”
    “Was he expecting you?”
    “No. But I felt guilty about not calling. And I was excited. I wanted to tell him about my trip.”
    “Your trip?’ Shellmire asked. “What about your trip?’
    “I went there to be on a TV show.” Her shoulders heaved gently in a modest shrug. “And it was a big success.”
    “You an actress?”
    “Oh, no, it’s not that. It’s kind of like a talk show: They take a person with a problem, and they help them. I had a problem with a bank, and not just some dispute, a really
bad
problem. And they got me a lawyer and everything. I was dying to tell Isaac about it.”
    O’Rourke spoke harshly. “Miss Whittaker, did you have plans to go to Dallas with Mr. James?”
    “With Isaac? No. This