Free 5 Crime Czar by Tony Dunbar Page A

go to high school in Epps?”
    “Sure.”
    “What year did you graduate?”
    The two women covered that territory, finally coming up with the name of a guy they both vaguely knew, and Monique got Jimmy to bring them both glasses of Perrier and lemon.
    “I was glad to get the hell out of Alabama,” Monique said, playing with the water droplets on the table’s smooth surface.
    “With me, it was more of a case of had-to-go,” Daisy said.
    “Have you been in New Orleans long?”
    “Just a couple of months. I was thinking about moving on when I met Charlie.” She sniffled.
    “So what happened?”
    “Two men shot him in front of my motel, right in the head. I was sitting right beside him in his truck. He didn’t do nothing. He was just standing up for me.”
    Monique started shaking, though so quietly it was hard to notice.
    “That’s horrible. I know what you must be feeling.”
    “How could you?” Daisy demanded angrily.
    “My fiancé was killed right behind you at that bar,” Monique said. “His name was Darryl Alvarez. I was upstairs when it happened.”
    “Damn. Did you see who did it?”
    “Yes. I think I know who it was. One of them got killed in the French Quarter. The other one is probably still around. It takes a long time to get over it.”
    “Have you?”
    “I still think about Darryl. I didn’t know him that long, but he was good to me. He left me this bar.”
    “I didn’t know Charlie but two weeks.” Daisy began to sob softly. “And he didn’t have nothin’ to leave.”
    “There, there.” Monique patted her shoulder.
    Later, after they had talked some more, Monique told Daisy that there was a lawyer named Tubby Dubonnet who might help her. He had helped Monique get her affairs straightened out. Perhaps he could kick the police in the butt until they brought Charlie’s killers to justice.
    “I ain’t interested in no lawyer,” Daisy said.
    “He’s actually more like a friend.”
    Daisy shook her head.
    “I got my own plans,” she said. “Lying in that hospital bed, I had a chance to think. What I came up with is I’m gonna get the son of a bitch that pulled the trigger myself. That’s what made me get up and get out.”
    “Just how are you going to do that?”
    “I don’t exactly know yet, but I will.”
    Monique told her if she needed any help, just pick up the phone.

CHAPTER XV
    “I lost him. That’s all there is to it,” Flowers told Tubby. His face registered his discomfort. “He passed a truck, and for a split second I couldn’t see him. So I passed the truck, and he wasn’t there. Obviously, he turned right when I was out of sight. Juvenile mistake on my part.” Flowers was troubled. “Fucking
diablo
,” he muttered.
    “What?” Tubby asked.
    Flowers shook his head.
    “It could happen to anybody,” the lawyer consoled him.
    “I guess,” Flowers replied. “I’ve got my man, Jackson, watching LaRue’s house, which turns out to be his mother’s house. There’s a nurse at the old folks home who promised to beep me if LaRue shows up there again.”
    “Just let me know when you find him.”
    “What will we be doing then?” Flowers, always curious, inquired.
    “I’m going to try to arrange a meeting with him and talk him into leading me to his boss.”
    “How?”
    “I don’t know yet.” Tubby leaned back in his leather chair and stared at the painting behind Flowers’s head. “I’ll have to think up something that appeals to his nature.”
    “Might be better to break his legs first.”
    “That’s a possibility. LaRue trusts me just a little bit though, from the last time we met. When he kidnapped me, I led him to believe I might be somewhat crooked. A lot of the loot from his bank robbery was never recovered. LaRue may think I ended up with it. If I did, he’d be really impressed with me.”
    “But you actually didn’t.”
    Tubby smiled and shook his head. A lady tourist named Marguerite Patino had managed to get out of town with a sack