Big Easy Escapade (9 page)

“This is dangerous,” Vivian said, unplugging
a curling iron from the multi-plug outlet on the wall. The lavender
puddle was inches from a short circuit, or worse. The live feed
from the stage showed on a small monitor in the corner. The naughty
nurse was already down to her skivvies and in full swing on the
pole.

“Isn’t that her Shoe-Be-Do shoe?” Wendy
asked, pointing to the high heel.

Lucy gasped. “She’d never leave that
behind.”

Jason bent down to pick it up but Al stopped
him. “Hold up there, chief. I wouldn’t touch anything. Adrienne,
call your brother. I’ll get Gino.”

Adrienne pulled out her phone and began
dialing.

“Who’s your brother?” Jason asked.

“Cop.”

Jason leaned against the wall and sank slowly
to the floor. He put his head in his hands.

Kate went to him and rubbed his back. “I’m
sure she’s fine.”

“No, something really bad has happened. I can
feel it.”

A
fter
talking to her brother, Adrienne shuffled the girls and Jason into
a large, empty dressing room down the hall. “The police are on
their way. Won’t take them long to get here.”

Vivian flipped through the outfits that hung
on a portable costume rack. “Holy cow, check this out.” She held up
a sliver of black lace material with elastic ties falling here and
there. “How does this work?”

Kate walked over and picked up two of the
ties. “You put your legs through these, and these two tie around
the back.” She held up two straps that were connected to a silver
ring at the top of the material. “These go around your neck.”

Lucy slapped at Kate’s hand. “Don’t touch
that!”

“You are a sneaky kinky, aren’t you,” Vivian
said, putting the hanger back.

“Shaun doesn’t complain.” Kate flashed her
sneaky smile.

They heard commotion down the hall and Jason
headed for the door, but before he reached it, Al appeared with
Gino and two uniformed officers.

“Cops are here searching the warehouse and
surrounding area,” Al said. “They want to talk to you guys.”

One of the policemen pulled out a small steno
notebook. “I’m Officer Perez, let’s start from the beginning.
What’s going on here?”

Jason approached him. “My fiancé is
missing.”

“When’s the last time you saw her?”

“When she came out on stage about an hour and
a half ago.”

“Why do you think she’s missing?”

“She was supposed to come back to the table
after the show. When she didn’t, I called and called, but she never
answered.”

“We found her phone. The screen was
shattered.” Kate pointed to the phone, which was still in Jason’s
hand.

“Where did you find the phone?” Perez
asked.

“Right by the back door,” Kate said.

The other policeman pulled an evidence bag
from his pocket and held it out. Jason hesitated before dropping
the phone in. “I’ll need you to show me exactly where you found
it.”

Jason took him down the hall.

“Her dressing room is messed up,” Vivian said
to Perez. “The flowers are knocked over.”

“And there’s only one shoe,” Lucy added.

“The clothing rack was tumped over, too.”
Wendy said.

Jason walked back into the room. “I know
something’s wrong. She would never just leave.”

“Okay, let me go take a look,” Perez
said.

Gino escorted the officers to Daisy’s
dressing room, not allowing Jason or the girls to follow.

Jason paced the room. “I know who did this.
That fuckin’ guy Harry. I told Daisy he was bad news but she
insisted he was harmless.”

“Who’s Harry?” Adrienne asked.

“He’s a fucking stalker, that’s who he is. He
follows her around the country, goes to every show.”

“Was he here tonight?”

“Yes. That fat fuck was standing right by our
table during her performance.”

Vivian snapped. “I saw him! He was super
sweaty.”

“That’s him, and he always sends her flowers.
The ones in the room are probably from him.”

“Maybe that’s why she knocked them over,”
Vivian said. “She was sending you a sign.”

Jason reared back and slammed his fist
through the wall. The wallboard crumbled and fell to the floor,
leaving a hole twice as big as his fist.

Gino poked his head through the door. “What
the hell, man?”

“Sorry, sorry,” Jason said and continued his
pacing around the room.

“Okay, calm down and let’s try to focus,”
Adrienne said. “Other than being fat and sweaty, what does the guy
look like? Gino will have security video that we can check.”

“I don’t know. Old and hairy. White.” Jason
started to walk toward the door.

Adrienne reached out a hand to stop him,
touching his arm. “Hold on. Is there anyone else you can think of
who would want to hurt her? Was anyone mad at her?”

Jason blew out a breath. “No, not really. She
and Vikki aren’t the best of friends. Vikki talks a lot of shit
about her. I think it’s pure jealousy.”

A man with great arms, brown eyes, olive skin
and dark, cropped hair came into the room. He hugged Adrienne.
“There you are, what’s going on?”

“So glad you’re here,” she said. “This is
Jason. It’s his fiancé that’s missing. She’s one of the dancers who
performed tonight.”

“I’m Detective Antonio Robichaux,” he said
and motioned toward Jason. “Come with me.” He and Jason left the
room.

“Uhhh, hello. Was that incredibly hot man
your brother?” Vivian asked Adrienne.

“The one and only. And yes, he is pretty
cute.”

“Single?”

“He’s that, too.”

A tall black man came into the room and gave
Adrienne a one-armed hug. “I should have known you’d be here.”

“Eddie, how are you?”

“Can’t complain,” he said to her, then
continued, “I need to get a statement from each of you, then y’all
can clear out.” His voice was smooth and deep as the ocean.

Adrienne introduced him as Antonio’s partner,
Detective Edwin “Eddie” Leffall. He sat each girl down at the
dressing station and took a statement, making a few notes. During
his interview with Lucy she fiddled with the plastic lid on a
container of cotton balls, taking it off, setting it back down,
over and over. He asked her, “Do you think Jason has anything to do
with Daisy’s disappearance?”

Lucy dropped the lid and it clattered to the
floor. “No! He was with us and he’s freaking out. He loves
her.”

Leffall nodded and closed his notebook.
“Thank you. You don’t have to stay. I’ve got your contact info if
we need you.”

“Can we talk to Jason real quick before we
leave?” Vivian asked.

“Sure. I’ll be right back.”

A few moments later, Jason came in, his face
flush and eyes red.

Vivian gave him a hug. “We’re here for you.
Call us if we can help in any way.” She handed him her phone. “Call
yourself from my phone. That way you’ll have my number, too.”

He reached out a shaky hand and dialed, his
pocket buzzed a moment later. He handed it back and said, “Thanks,”
then turned and left the room.

Adrienne whipped out her phone. “Let me call
Al, see where he got to and what’s going on.”

Before she could dial, Al popped out from
around the corner. “I’ll tell ya what’s going on. Something went
down here, and it ain’t good.”

“Jason told us about a stalker,” Adrienne
said. “We want to see the security video.”

Al reached into his sports coat pocket and
held up a flash drive, grinning mischievously. “One step ahead of
ya, babe.”

A
drienne
hugged and kissed Al. “I love you. Always thinking
ahead.”

“Shhh,” he said. “Gino doesn’t know.”

“How can we watch it?” Vivian asked.

“Haven’t gotten that far yet.”

The group was quiet for a minute before Wendy
spoke up. “My laptop is in the room, we’re staying at Hotel De Lis.
Let’s go get it and maybe go to Café Du Monde. I could use some
café au lait.”

“Yum,” Vivian said. “I could use a sugary
snack.”

“I’ll call our driver,” Al said.

The group headed toward the back door but
Officer Perez stopped them. “Sorry, folks, gotta go out the front.
This is a crime scene.”

A chill ran up Vivian’s spine at the sight of
the crime scene tape. An image of the cordoned-off beach in Mexico
where Jon Tournay had died popped into her head. She didn’t have to
be told twice and turned around. They walked through the backstage
door, the bodyguard now replaced with a police officer, and made it
toward the front. The club was mostly cleared out. Cops in a strip
club were a buzz kill.

A black Cadillac limo pulled into the porte
cochere. The driver got out and opened the back, left door. Al
stepped forward and motioned for Adrienne and the girls to get in.
As the driver shut the door for him, Al said, “Hotel De Lis.
Thanks, Tony.”

“Ooh la la, this is fancy shmancy,” Vivian
said, rolling down the window partially, then rolling it back up.
“I need a better job. Or a rich husband.”

Adrienne picked up a crystal decanter that
was in a built-in bar. “Anyone like a drink?”

Everyone said yes.

“Let me,” Al said, then he began placing
cubes from an ice bucket into rocks glasses. “What’s everyone want?
We have bourbon, rum, vodka, scotch and gin.”

“Got any Coke to go with that rum?” Vivian
asked.

He opened a small refrigerator. “I do.
Anything you’d like.”

He poured and mixed to the girls’ requests,
then handed out glasses.

The driver pulled up to the hotel and Wendy
went inside with Kate, buddy system back in effect, and emerged
shortly with the computer.

Al buzzed the driver, telling him their next
stop would be Café Du Monde. The streets were fairly empty of
pedestrians, and the horse-drawn carriages that typically lined
Jackson Square were long gone. The driver pulled directly in front
of the entrance to the café that never closes and the six got
out.

They quickly put a couple of round tables
together, and a Vietnamese lady approached wearing black slacks,
white button-down dress shirt, white apron, black bow tie and the
signature white paper hat with Café Du Monde printed in green
letters on each side. Al ordered four plates of beignets, and
everyone put in for various drinks ranging from water to milk, hot
chocolate to café au lait.

Wendy’s laptop finished booting up just as
the order was delivered.

“Can I have some beignet with my powdered
sugar, please?” Vivian said as she picked up one of the hot,
square, perfectly fried French donuts and took a big bite. Powdered
sugar stuck to her lips and fell from the pastry, dusting her
shirt. “Mmmmmmmmm.”

They all dug in as Wendy pressed play on the
front-door security video. She positioned the computer so everyone
could see.

“How do we know who Harry is?” Kate
asked.

Adrienne finished a big bite, then said,
“Jason told me his white hair sticks out everywhere and he’s got a
big belly.”

“Eeewe!” Lucy squealed.

“Doesn’t sound like a good look,” Kate
agreed.

They hit fast forward and watched as man
after man entered, paid and moved on.

“Hey! There we are!” Wendy said and pointed
with her beignet.

“But we don’t pay!” Vivian said.

“Benefits of the guest list,” Lucy said.

They watched a few more minutes, then Wendy
hit pause. “That’s gotta be him. Look at that bad hair.”

Lucy coughed from laughing at the frozen
image. A puff of powder floated across the table and landed on the
computer screen.

“Look at the chest hair busting out of that
shirt. It’s Hairy Harry!” Vivian pointed to the tremendous tuft of
chest hair being held back by the buttons of a hideous,
bowling-style shirt. “What the hell is all over it? Stamps?”

Kate gasped. “Oh my gosh, I saw that guy. He
was standing right next to me. Those aren’t stamps, those are tiny
Playboy covers!”

“Oh geez, no,” Lucy said.

“Yes!” Kate said. “I was going to point it
out to y’all, but he disappeared after Daisy danced.”

“Look, you can almost make out the little
bunny image,” Wendy said, pointing to a square.

“Okay, so we know he looks like,” Adrienne
said. “Let’s pull up video from the back door. See if he shows up
there.”

Wendy closed out of that file and opened
another. She sped past images of the back door until a guy appeared
carrying a vase of flowers and wearing a Louie’s Flowers
T-shirt.

“What time was this?” Adrienne asked.

“Says 10:26,” Wendy said.

“Almost 30 minutes before she went on stage,”
Vivian said.

The guy hit a buzzer by the door, then a few
moments later Daisy opened it, smiling. She took the flowers, the
door falling shut behind her, and the guy turned and left.

Fast forward again. Two guys approached the
back door. Wendy slowed the video, and everyone watched as the guys
tried to get in. One guy even took a credit card and tried to jimmy
the lock. They were unsuccessful and wandered off.

Wendy fast forwarded the video ahead eight
minutes until the door opened from the inside and Trikki Vikki
emerged, using a nearby brick to prop open the door. She lit a
cigarette and waited until a guy walked up from outside the club.
She talked to him for a minute.

“Is there any way to get sound on this?” Kate
asked.

“Nope, it’s only video,” Al said.

Vikki looked agitated, pointing with her
cigarette inside the club, then outside. After a few more moments,
she flicked her cigarette in the man’s direction, then waved her
hands in the air as she yelled something. She kicked the brick away
from the door and slammed it as she went inside.

“Rewind it,” Kate said, moving closer to the
screen. “Let’s see if we can figure out what she’s yelling.”