Creole Belle (Dave Robicheaux 19)

“Not the kinds that have formal names.”

“Was that a porn film I heard when I called you?”

“Not exactly.”

“You and Clete were watching an old Doris Day movie?”

“Give it a break, Helen. Clete is going through a bad time.”

“So am I. It’s called doing my job. Does he have somebody new working in his office?”

“She’s a temp.”

“What’s her name?”

“You made a crack about a porn film. Varina Leboeuf is probably extorting her lovers. Clete got involved with her.”

“Don’t change the subject. What’s the name of the temp?”

I got up from my chair and opened the door to leave. “Cut Clete a little slack. He’ll deliver. He always does. He’s the best cop either one of us ever knew.”

“I want to meet her.”

“Why?”

“You know why, Pops. Believe it or not, we’re on the same side. But you two guys don’t get to write the rules,” she said.

CLETE CALLED ME an hour later. “I’m not on those memory cards. But a lot of other guys are,” he said. “A couple of them are insider contractors who got in on the big bucks rebuilding New Orleans. I recognize a couple of shyste

rs and oil guys, and then there were a few guys I never saw before. Anyway, I don’t see any big revelations. Actually, I feel like going outside and puking. I’m not up to this stuff.”

“She’s blackmailing people. You don’t call that a revelation?”

“Maybe she’s just covering her ass.”

“Great choice of words. Listen to yourself.”

“Maybe she’s got a fetish. Who’s perfect? Anyway, she left me out of it.”

“I know what you’re thinking.”

“What?”

“You’re going back for seconds is what.”

“So she’s a little weird. That doesn’t make her the Lucrezia Borgia of South Louisiana.”

“What does it take? How bad do you have to get hurt before you see what you’re doing to yourself?”

“Maybe I still like her. The apartment manager in Lafayette must have told her I was in her place. But she didn’t dime me.”

“Most extortionists don’t call the cops to report the theft of their blackmail materials.”

“Dave, you’re crucifying me for something I haven’t done. I didn’t say I was going to get it on with Varina again. I was just saying nobody is all good or all bad. Look, I’m burning this stuff and forgetting about it. I wish I’d never seen it. I wish I hadn’t gotten in the sack with her. I wish I hadn’t accidentally killed a mamasan and her children in Vietnam. I wish I hadn’t flushed my career with NOPD. My whole life is based on the things I wish I hadn’t done. What else do you want me to say?”

“I think Pierre and Varina and Alexis Dupree are a tighter unit than they let on. They might hate one another, but they’re all in the same lifeboat.”

“Neither of us knows that,” he replied.