Dead and Breakfast (The New Orleans Go Cup Chronicles Book 2) (10 page)

“OK, how did your dress and the bronze statue get into the dumpster?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t put them there and my dress was off when we got into bed. If he were killed next to me, I would have had to be wearing it to get that blood all over it. The last thing I do remember was him taking it off me when I walked in the door. It was off somewhere across the bedroom.”

“No one is going to believe that after they hear you showered and dressed. It’s going to sound like you tried to cover it up or get rid of evidence.”

“Why would I have blood all over my hands if I wanted to look like I was covering it up. I would have picked up all my clothes and removed everything of mine out of the room, wouldn’t I?”

She had a point. “What about the glasses and the wine bottle? Did you wash the glasses in the bathroom and leave them there?” I asked her.

“No, I thought they were where we left them.”

“Where was that?” I asked her.

“I don’t remember.”

“Well, take a deep breath and try. This is very important,” I said.

She thought a minute and said, “I remember he handed me a glass after opening the bottle, but I don’t remember where I put my glass or if he took it from me.”

“The glasses were in his bathroom when the police found them,” I said.

“I don’t remember if I washed or moved them and I didn’t notice if the wine bottle was still here. Did the police find the wine bottle?” she asked.

“They found a wine bottle in the dumpster smashed along with your dress and the statute they think is the murder weapon. The forensics’ team is running tests to see if it’s the missing wine bottle and whose fingerprints, besides yours and St. Germain’s, are on it and if it contained the drug. I gotta tell you, this doesn’t look good for you. You need to tell Jiff everything and hope he can run interference so some of this never comes out, but in all likelihood it will. You will need to brace yourself for the worst.”

Chapter Twelve

Julia was arrested, a trial date was set for six months out and things changed for me with Jiff and Dante.

Dante kept his distance since he was still on the case. I didn’t see him or hear from him regarding Julia, the case, or for any other reason. He didn’t contact me again after he phoned the day Julia was arraigned. One evening, when I stopped to visit my parents, I saw him starting to walk out of his parents’ house next door. When he spotted my car, he went back inside. So much for his working to get me back. The trial could get continued and who knew how long this could drag on.

On the other hand, Jiff and I saw each other almost every day. We were going dancing at Rock ‘n Bowl, or to hear a band we both liked. We went out with his friends and mine. We were getting to know each other. Jiff took me to his favorite place for donuts, which was a bakery in someone’s garage on Verbena Street. They made the best tasting donuts in the world. The donut man wore an all white uniform complete with a paper military type hat and made them while you waited. The owner sat in a reclining lawn chair with a cigar box and took the money for your order. I don’t think the New Orleans Health Department knew of or ever inspected this garage/bakery. If an inspector did come here, it was to order donuts.

We were doing normal things people do who like each other and date. He treated me like a princess. On Sundays he would come pick me up and we’d take our dogs, Meaux Jeaux and Isabella, to the dog park or he would come by on his motorcycle and we’d ride to a festival somewhere. He bought me all custom BMW gear, a helmet, matching leather jacket and leather pants, gloves and all the necessary protection I needed for the road. It was wonderful to ride on his K 1600 BMW, leaning against his back with my arms wrapped around him. We went to the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival, the Sauce Piquant Festival and sampled every way Cajuns made piquant. Sitting behind him on his motorcycle had us close and in physical contact, touching each other all day. When we took off our helmets he would use a finger and gently move an errant wisp of hair off my face. We enjoyed the food, the music and checked out the local antique shops. If I wanted to do something, he wanted to do it with me.

Jiff supported my rescue efforts, never complaining about how many dogs I had at my apartment, and always considered what I had to say regarding Julia’s matter. He never dismissed me. Our bond was getting stronger and closer. I still wasn’t sure if I was ready to cut the line on Dante, at least not yet, not until after the wedding or Julia’s outcome, whichever came first. Jiff and I still had a lot to find out about each other and we were enjoying each other’s company doing just that. He was the consummate gentleman in all things. He never pushed me or rushed me to become more romantically involved although I was thinking about it more and more.

Jiff’s firm was working hard trying to find Violet Fornet to question her about Gervais St. Germain’s murder. She was nowhere to be found. Jiff told me Ernest had interviewed the Pancake Paddy manager who said Violet hadn’t shown up for work in a couple of weeks. Yes, they remembered hearing about the murder up the street, but no one could remember the last time they saw Violet, at work or anywhere. She and the other servers worked hours that could only be figured out by the schedulers who managed flight crews for airlines. Sometimes she worked the 3:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. shift, or she worked lunches 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m., or sometimes she worked split shifts but only if someone would split the shifts with her. Sometimes she didn’t show up even if she was on the schedule. What he did find out was that Violet had another guy friend she would see whenever she broke up with Gervais. The servers at Pancake Paddy said this guy would sit at the counter when Violet worked and wait for her to get off. No, they didn’t know his name and Violet didn’t seem overly interested in him. They said she treated him more platonically and he always paid cash. They didn’t remember much about him but she never claimed to have dated anyone other than Gervais.

Julia signed a statement allowing Jiff and his firm to share information with me they received or obtained regarding her case. Julia’s parents were dead, her ex-husband was dead and she hadn’t spoken with her brother in years. In fact, she had no idea where he lived or how to find him. She thought a friendly pair of eyes who believed she was innocent would help.

Then, an odd thing happened.

“Brandy, did Jiff or that investigator call you?” asked Julia in lieu of a hello, when I answered my phone.

“No, why?”

“Well, it seems Violet Fornet’s family has declared her a missing person.”

“What, when?” I asked.

“Jiff says…oh, just call him. My head is spinning because he said the police are on their way over here to question me about her whereabouts. Can you come here, for moral support?”

***

Woozie was blocking the front door of Julia’s bed and breakfast when I pulled up behind the police car. Dante and Hanky Panky were trying to reason with her to allow them in or to get Julia to come out. They could have brought the entire SWAT Team with them; they weren’t getting past Woozie.

“No warrant, no entry,” Woozie said, hands on her hips. Woozie was a giant force to be reckoned with. She was a large woman, six foot four, and she weighed more than Dante and his partner put together. Dante had grown up next door to me and had known Woozie as long as me. She had been our housekeeper since before I was born. He, along with the rest of my family, was intimidated by her. She stood fearless facing down their police presence. Hanky was about to try to push her aside, and boy was that something I wanted to see, but Dante stopped her.

“Please, Woozie, ask Julia to come out here,” Dante said, restraining Hanky’s raised arm.

“That’s Miz Richard and Miz Woozie to you. Where are your manners, Mr. Dante Detective?” Woozie was giving him both barrels.

I walked up behind them and smiled at Woozie. “Dante, Julia’s attorney is on his way, and he’ll want to be here if you are going to question her.”

Hanky Panky reeled around grabbing for her handcuffs and I could see she wanted to cuff me or hit me with the nightstick. “You can’t come in without a warrant,” I said to her, “and Julia doesn’t have to come out to speak with you, but she will when her attorney gets here.” Then, in the most sweet and syrupy voice I’ve ever used in my life, I said, “Why don’t you wait on the porch swing. Woozie will have Frank bring y’all a cold drink, if you like.”

Hanky spun around on her heel so fast I thought she was going to screw herself into the porch, but instead she marched off and went and sat in the squad car.

“What’s with that police woman?” Woozie asked. “She look like she play football for the Chicago Bears.”

“It’s the pants,” I said.

Dante stood there looking at me like I had something stuck in my teeth before he went to wait with Hanky.

“I guess they don’t want a drink,” I said to Woozie, and then we both went inside.

***

We found Julia upstairs in her suite wearing a bathrobe. She was beside herself, walking in circles, mumbling nonsense and looking like a nervous breakdown was just over the horizon. Frank was flittering around behind her holding a comb in one hand and hairspray in the other. Every time he got close enough to touch the comb to her hair he would spritz the hairspray at the same time. This left the hair he touched sticking out at weird angles and in no particular hairdo. Once she turned and he spritzed her in the face. I thought Julia was going to hit him but instead she sat down at her vanity so she could wipe her eye. Frank ran off to get a wet towel. As soon as he left Julia stood up and started walking in circles again.

“Look, you never met that Violet Fornet woman, did you? No one has ever seen you with her, right?” I asked.

“No, no, I don’t know anyone by that name, and I never met her, but the police can make this look anyway they want it to look,” Julia answered.

“I have faith in Dante. He will not let anyone railroad you.” I knew that if Hanky Panky had her way, she might want to pin this on both of us or at least me. “Jiff will be here shortly and he’ll know what to do. They probably want to question you since they think you are involved in St. Germain’s death,” I said. Julia and I were facing each other and Woozie was squeezing herself between us, hunched over so her head was inserted in the conversation looking from face to face, like she was watching a tennis match. Discretion was not her forte.

Julia corrected me. “The police are convinced I’m involved, not ‘thinking’ I’m involved.”

Frank returned and tried to wipe Julia’s eye. “Frank, could you help Julia find something nice to wear and get her ready to leave when Jiff arrives?” I asked him.

“I’ve picked out a nice suit for her to wear. If she’d just sit down I could do her makeup and finish her hair,” he said, as he started to follow her around again grabbing sections of Julia’s hair and trying to backcomb it into submission. In frustration he stopped, and with hands on hips, to Julia he said, “I can’t do anything with you standing up. You’re going to look like the wild woman of Borneo if you don’t sit down and let me fix your hair.”

Woozie and I left to go downstairs and wait for Jiff and left Frank battling Julia’s hairdo.

“You really took up for her out there,” I said to Woozie when we got downstairs.

“Right now, Miz Julia’s like one of them dogs you drag home, that’s all.” Woozie was making herself busy straightening some figurines on a table that didn’t need straightening.

“Now it’s Miz Julia? What happened to you thinking she is some kinda smart aleck?” I asked, amused at Woozie’s outpouring of support for Julia.

“Seems like you carrying the smart aleck for her now.” She stopped straightening.

“Good, you’re back. I thought I lost you there a minute, getting all gooey over Julia.” I hugged Woozie and told her I loved her and appreciated her for being here to help Julia.

“Anyway, what you call it, ‘rescue’? Miz Julia needs rescue, like one of them poor mutts all sad and broken down, thinking everybody is against them, no one to loves them until you show up. That’s her right now. Miz Julia is a rescue and you and me, we doing the rescuing.”

When Jiff arrived, he spoke to Dante and Hanky and advised them that he would bring Julia down to New Orleans Police Headquarters on South Broad Street and meet them there to see if she could aid their investigation into the disappearance of Violet Fornet.

“Are you sure you want to take her down there?” I asked him when they left.

“I want to see why they think Julia knows this woman or what she has to do with her disappearance other than the Gervais St. Germain connection. There’s nothing we know connecting Julia to Violet, but I want to see what the police think the connection is.”

“Be careful with her, Jiff. She’s really fragile right now, and I don’t trust her not to blurt out something stupid like, ‘maybe I did it,” I said.

“I’m not going to let her say a word.”

I followed Jiff and Julia downtown to the police complex located at 715 South Broad Street corner of Tulane Avenue. This was my second visit here in less than a month. The first time was when they arrested Julia and threw her in Central Lockup. Once I parked and found the correct room in the maze of corridors inside, I had to wait on a very uncomfortable metal bench in a hallway while they questioned Julia.

When they were finished, I agreed to meet both Jiff and Julia back at the guest house for the debriefing. I stopped at a ladies’ room and when I came out, Dante was waiting for me.

“This is getting worse for Julia, and you need to watch yourself or you will be tied to this mess with her,” he said.

“Oh, hello Dante, long time no speak,” I mouthed off. “Tell Hanky I’m sorry I missed her. I see you two are still partners.”

“I see you’re still dating Jiff,” he responded, the vein in his head pumping.

“Oh, another intimate conversation with you here, in the middle of police headquarters.”

“I can’t be contacting you or talking with you while I’m working this case. You’re too involved and you need to be careful.” That vein was working overtime.

“We could act like adults.” He had turned on his heel, left me standing and talking to myself.

***

Back at Julia’s, Jiff waited for me before rehashing what had happened. Jiff thought the questions were a fishing expedition. He said Dante conducted the interview and asked the questions. At one point, Hanky got up, seemed furious about something and left the room.

“She always seems furious about something,” I said.

Jiff read the questions Dante asked from his notes:

Did you know Violet Fornet?

No.

Did you know she was from Chicago?

No.

Did you know Gervais St. Germain was her boyfriend?

No.

Dante told them Violet’s family had called the New Orleans Police Department from Chicago to file a missing persons report because she had not called home for over two weeks, highly irregular for her. The last call she made home was on the night of or the night after the St. Germain murder according to the date Violet’s dad said he remembered last speaking with her. The police figured Julia knew Violet since she knew St. Germain.