I looked at her face. It was clear of guile or deception. Even though Eunice was a big-boned countrywoman and the butt of jokes among NOPD cops, she seemed possessed of an inner beauty. I tried to keep my eyes and face empty. I did not want Eunice to learn of her husband’s lies from me.
“Do you have an address or phone number for Chula? I think he might have some information that could be helpful to a federal agent I know.”
“I doubt it. Chula comes and goes in his spare time. I think he’s working on a FEMA job and living in a bunkhouse. He’ll bring the van back about eight. You want to come back or leave him a message?”
“No, that’s all right. I’ll catch him another time. In fact, forget I was here, will you?”
“If that’s what you want.”
“It’s nice seeing you again, Eunice.”
“Same here, Dave.” When she smiled, I was convinced, as always, that she had become the most beautiful woman in New Orleans.
I walked back to the truck with Clete. As I started the engine he took off his hat and combed his hair. He slipped his comb in his shirt pocket and put his hat back on. “Sidney was porking the girl from El Sal?” he said.
“That’s what it sounds like.”
“Why would Eunice want to marry a bucket of shit like that?”
I shrugged and looked at him. I could almost hear the wheels turning in his head. “Pull around in front of the shop,” he said.
“You’re going to bring him down in front of his wife?”
“Don’t worry about it. Just stay in the truck.”
“That’s no good, Clete.”
He opened the passenger door while the truck was moving and got out. He slammed the door and looked back through the window. “You quit judging me, Streak.”
Kovick was still behind the counter when Clete reentered the store. “Hey, Sidney, I got something to tell you,” he said.
“What’s that, Purcel?”
“It’s going to surprise you. But try to live with it and adjust and come out on the sunny side of things. Diggez-vous?”
“No, I don’t diggez-vous. And I’m not really interested, either.”
“I bounced your head off a sidewalk when we were kids. I’m sorry I did that. Just keep Bledsoe away from Dave’s daughter. I got no personal beef with you.”
“That’s the big news flash?”
“Yeah, that’s it. Lock your flopper in a vault while you’re at it.”
Sidney stuck a matchstick in his mouth and rolled it across his teeth, searching for the design in Clete’s words.
When Clete got back in the truck, his expression was serene. He clicked the door shut and smiled at me with his eyes.
“What happened in there?” I said.
“Nothing.”
“What do you mean ‘nothing’?”
“Nothing. That’s the point,” he said. “Come on, let’s motor, big mon.” Chapter 17
O N MONDAY MORNING I called Betsy Mossbacher at the FBI and told her that Chula Ramos was probably working part-time as a delivery man for Sidney Kovick.
“Delivering what?” she said.