Midnight Bayou

wasting time anyway,” he said for the comfort of his own voice. “I should be unloading the car. So, I’m going to unload the car.”
    “Who you talking to, cher ?”
    Declan jumped like a basketball center at the tip-off, and barely managed to turn a scream into a moreacceptable masculine yelp. “God damn it, Remy. You scared the shit out of me.”
    “You’re the one up here talking to a door. I gave a few shouts on my way up. Guess you didn’t hear.”
    “Guess I didn’t.”
    Declan leaned back against the wall, sucked in air and studied his friend.
    Remy Payne had the cocky good looks of a con artist. He was tailor-made for the law, Declan thought. Slick, sharp, with cheerful blue eyes and a wide mouth that could, as it was now, stretch like rubber into a disarming smile that made you want to believe everything he said, even as you caught the distinctive whiff of bullshit.
    He was on the skinny side, never had been able to bulk up despite owning the appetite of an elephant. In college he’d worn his deep-brown hair in a sleek mane over his collar. He’d shortened it now so it was almost Caesarean in style.
    “I thought you said a couple hours.”
    “Been that. Damn near two and a half. You okay there, Dec? Look a little peaky.”
    “Long drive, I guess. God, it’s good to see you.”
    “ ’Bout time you mentioned that.” With a laugh, he caught Declan in a bear hug. “Whoo, boy. You been working out. Turn around, lemme see your ass.”
    “You idiot.” They slapped backs. “Tell me one thing,” Declan remarked as he took a step back. “Am I out of my fucking mind?”
    “ ’Course you are. Always have been. Let’s go on down and have ourselves a drink.”
    T hey settled in what had once been the gentlemen’s parlor, on the floor with a pepperoni pizza and a bottle of Jim Beam.
    The first shot of bourbon went down like liquid silkand untied all the knots in Declan’s belly. The pizza was good and greasy, and made him decide the strangeness he’d experienced had been a result of fatigue and hunger.
    “You planning on living like this for long, or buying yourself a chair or two?”
    “Don’t need a chair or two.” Declan took the bottle back from Remy, swigged down bourbon. “Not for now anyway. I wanted to cut things down to the bone for a while. I got the bedroom stuff. Might toss a table up in the kitchen. I start buying furniture, it’ll just be in the way while I’m working on this place.”
    Remy looked around the room. “Shape this place is in, you’ll need a fucking wheelchair before you’re finished.”
    “It’s mostly cosmetic. People who bought it last got a good start on the big work, from what I hear. Seems they had an idea about turning it into a fancy hotel or some such thing. Gave it nearly six months before they turned tail. Probably they ran out of money.”
    Lifting his eyebrows, Remy ran a finger over the floor, studied the layer of dust he picked up. “Too bad you can’t sell this dirt. You’d be filthy rich. Ha. Oh yeah, I forgot. You already are filthy rich. How’s your family?”
    “About the same as always.”
    “And they think, our boy Dec, il est fou. ” Remy circled a finger by his ear. “He’s gone round the bend.”
    “Oh yeah. Maybe they’re right, but at least it’s finally my damn bend. If I’d gone to one more deposition, faced one more meeting, handled one more pretrial negotiation, I’d have drowned myself in the Charles.”
    “Corporate law’s what stifled you, cher. ” Remy licked sauce from his fingers. “You should’ve tried criminal, like me. Keeps the blood moving. You say the word, we’ll hang out a shingle together tomorrow.”
    “Thanks for the thought. You still love it.”
    “I do. I love the slippery, sneaking angles of it, thepomp and ceremony, the sweaty wrestling, the fancy words. Every damn thing.” Remy shook his head, tipped back the bottle. “You never did.”
    “No, I never did.”
    “All those years busting ass through Harvard, tossed aside. That what they’re saying to you?”
    “Among other things.”
    “They’re wrong. You know that, Dec. You’re not tossing anything aside. You’re just picking up something different. Relax and enjoy it. You’re in New Orleans now, or close enough. We take things easy here. We’ll wear some of that Yankee off you soon enough. Have you doing the Cajun two-step and stirring up some red beans and rice on wash day.”
    “Yeah, that’ll