Robicheaux (Dave Robicheaux 21)

“Does anyone have a drink?” she said.

“I started to ice some champagne, but I didn’t think we’d be long in getting to the restaurant,” Jimmy said.

“We’re fine,” Levon said.

“I’m starved and dry,” she said. “Can we get the bloody hell out of here?”

“Right-o,” Jimmy said. He tapped the glass behind the driver.

“Is this your vehicle?” Levon said.

“My vehicle? No, it belongs to the car service,” Jimmy replied clearly, not sure what was happening. “I’m not that uptown.”

“Hello, Miss Rowena. I’m Dave Robicheaux,” I said. “I’ve seen you at Red’s health club in Lafayette.”

“You’re who?”

“We spoke on the phone.”

Her window was up. She stared at her reflection in the dark. Then she turned and looked at Jimmy again, as though seeing him for the first time. Levon leaned forward, interdicting her line of sight. “You keep company with Bobby Earl, Mr. Nightingale?”

“Call me Jimmy. I know Earl, but I wouldn’t call him a close friend.”

“A friend nonetheless?” Levon said.

“Judge not, lest you be judged,” Jimmy said.

“What’s to judge? His record is demonstrable, isn’t it?” Levon said. “If he had his way, the bunch of us would be soap.”

“I think he’s paid for his sins,” Jimmy said.

“His time in prison?” Levon said.

“Considering the ethnic makeup of the population, I suspect he found himself in the middle of a nightmare,” Jimmy said.

“I don’t think that’s much solace to the victims of the Ku Klux Klan.”

“Oh, shove it along, you two,” Rowena said. She massaged the back of her neck and rotated her head, glancing sideways at Jimmy.

“Good advice,” Jimmy said, reaching for something on the floor.

Rowena rolled down her window, flooding the limo with the smell of night-blooming flowers and the sprinklers spinning on the St. Augustine grass in the dark. “Look at the stars. Did you ever see Night Has a Thousand Eyes? When the constellations are out, I always think of that movie. Look, each star is vaporous.”

“What do you have there?” Levon asked.

“A sword,” Jimmy said, lifting it into the light. “I think it belonged to your great-grandfather. I’d like you to have it.”

Levon looked at the name incised on the handle. “My God, where did you get this?”

“Did anybody hear me?” Rowena said. “Has anyone seen Night Has a Thousand Eyes?”

“I have,” Jimmy said. He pushed the sword away when Levon tried to return it. “It starred Edward G. Robinson and Gail Russell. Did you see her in Angel and the Badman or Wake of the Red Witch?”

“Yes,” Rowena said, her face thrust forward, her wide-set eyes filled with interest.

“How about rolling up the window, Rowena?” Levon said. “The air smells like insecticide.”

“If that’s what everyone wants,” she replied.