Creole Belle (Dave Robicheaux 19)

“What, you think I’m minding y’all’s business or something?”

“No, I meant that’s a kind thing to do. Excuse the way the place looks. I was just cleaning up when you knocked.” He picked up the wastebasket and opened a cabinet under the sink and put it inside.

She glanced at his raincoat and hat on top of his bed. “You fixing to go out?”

“I’m moving my boat from East Cote Blanche Bay, but it can wait. What all did Dave tell you?”

“Just that you were sick and he was worried about you.”

“Out of nowhere he said that?”

“Not exactly. I asked him how you were getting along.”

“Yeah?”

“You want to try the soup?”

Clete sat down across from her. “I ate a little bit ago. Let me get you a Dr Pepper. I keep some iced down for Dave.”

“I need to get back home pretty soon. There’s something you did at the island that I thought was out of the ordinary.”

“Like what?”

“The hippie girl, Sybil. She made some sandwiches for y’all, but you forgot to take them. You went back for the sandwiches so her feelings wouldn’t be hurt.”

“It wasn’t a big deal.”

“So that’s why I asked Dave how you were doing. Some people you ask about, some you don’t. Do I make you uncomfortable?”

“No,” he said. He coughed softly into his palm and lowered his hand beneath the tabletop.

“Because you look like it,” she said.

He searched the room for the right words. “I’m an awkward guy. I have a way of messing up things. I’ve got a bad track record with relationships.”

“You ought to check out mine. I got married the first time when I was sixteen. My husband played for Jerry Lee Lewis. Does that tell you something?”

“I’m over the hill. I break the springs in bathroom scales. My doc says there’s enough cholesterol in my system to clog a storm drain.”

“You look okay to me.”

“I really like the way you pilot a plane.”

“Give me a monkey and three bananas, and I’ll give you a pilot. Ever hear that one?” she said.

“I know better than that. I was in Force Recon. I learned to fly a slick, and I learned enough to keep a fixed-wing plane in the air if the pilot got hurt.” When she didn’t reply, he said, “You hang out with old guys?”

“You’re not old.”

“Tell my liver that.”

“I heard maybe you and Varina Leboeuf were an item.”

“Where’d you hear that?”

“It’s a small town.”

“We’re talking about the past tense. Anything bad that came out of that is on me, not her. Your husband took his life, Miss Julie?”