Free Tony Dunbar - Tubby Dubonnet 06 - Lucky Man by Tony Dunbar Page A

serene spot. The youngsters and their guardians were bonded together in ways that did not include him.
    She invited him to stay for a communal supper of white beans and cheese toast, but to her surprise, he said he needed to get back to town. He made up something about a meeting. They shook hands smiling, said see you again, I hope, and Tubby drove away.
    It had ended very awkwardly. Apparently he was not quite ready to be happy.

CHAPTER X
    Cherrylynn dreamed up a plan, and then she made the bold decision to put it into effect. As soon as she got to the office on Monday, she picked up the telephone and called
Gambit
, the artsy newspaper.
    “I’d like to place a personals ad, please.
    “Yes. It should read, ‘SWF, attractive redhead twenty-five (about), knows what she wants and ready for fun, loves parties, meeting new people, likes dinner and dancing— seeking good-looking man with dimples (like Mel Gibson?) Don’t wait. Call me now.”
    “I know it’s long,” she told the operator, “but I’m in a hurry.”
    She blushed.
    ***
    It was exactly seventeen days before Tubby saw Faye Sylvester again. On the Monday morning after the Judge Hughes victory celebration, the first thing Tubby did when he got to his office was fix himself a cup of coffee and chicory and pour in a little cream. Then he got comfortable at the cypress desk that had once belonged to a North Louisiana undertaker. From his perch on the forty-third floor of the Place Palais Building, he could survey the slate roofs of the French Quarter and watch oceangoing vessels power through the hairpin turn of the Mississippi River at Algiers Point. His mind could wander the world.
    While it wandered, he opened mail from his clients and gazed at the steamboat
Natchez
working its way lazily toward its berth by the Moon Walk, its decks covered with tiny tourists. He could even hear snatches of the music from the boat’s calliope— one of the tricks played by the wind.
    Suddenly he exclaimed, “She’s coming today!”
    ***
    Dear Tubby,
    I’m coming to the big city next Monday for a conference you might be interested in. I know it isn’t considered polite for a lady to ask a man for a date, but I felt we did not really have a chance to talk when you were here. Want to resume?
    Call me if you like. I hope you get this letter in time.
    From a peaceful place,
    Faye
    “She’s coming today,” he said again.
    He picked up the phone.
    He caught her going out the door.
    “Of course it would be great to get together,” he assured her. “What’s the occasion?”
    “Buddy asked me to attend a conference today and tomorrow at Loyola on counseling drug abusers through love. Would you like to join me?”
    “Gee, that sounds fascinating,” Tubby said, making a face. “Unfortunately, I’m really tied up this afternoon. Would they let you get away for dinner?”
    “Sure, I guess so. I’ll have to see what the schedule is, but, sure.”
    “We could do something special. I could cook.”
    That would be special, she said, and he told her how to find his house.
    ***
    Flowers reported that afternoon that there was indeed a bug in Judge Hughes’s chambers.
    He was seated in Tubby’s office dressed easy in khaki slacks and a madras shirt. As always, he looked tan and fit. He was also tall, dark, and handsome, and he liked classical music. Tubby knew that because he had ridden in Flowers’ car. What the detective did at home was a mystery. Tubby had never been invited for a visit.
    “It’s not what I’d call a sophisticated device,” Flowers explained. “Just a simple audio pickup right under his chair.”
    “You decommissioned it?”
    “The judge told me not to. He said it was in the right place for the message he wanted to deliver.”
    “Nothing in the phone?”
    “There’s really no way to tell. The set itself was clean.”
    “What have you got for me on Marcus Dementhe?”
    “It’s well known that he’s rich and lives off the fortune his father