Free Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye by Imari Jade Page A

everyone had arrived except Isabella Denning. He guessed she was being fashionably late.
    The sibling Petres had arrived and were off in a corner entertaining guests who had a morbid fascination with the occult, and might find their line of work interesting. Chief Anthony Norris and his wife Myrtle were seated at a table with Oliver Randall and his wife Anne, and Ernest Malloy and his wife Myra had joined him.
    The jazz band he’d hired was good and there were a few couples dancing up a storm on the floor. It was a jubilant night but the memories of the murders were still heavy on the minds of everyone.
    A few more bodies had been discovered this morning and the mode of demise were similar to the others. People were disappearing and graves were being robbed of their inhabitants…a new twist. Malcolm hoped everything said about PAK was true because he had the feeling there was something about these murders that were strange…abnormally strange. He walked away from the door and went to join the people from PAK.
    A young woman about twenty-five years old walked in and his heart literally stopped. She was the loveliest woman he’d ever seen—a toffee brown angel with a curvy body and long, black hair that curled gently around her face with the rest pulled up in a long French braid. Ernie Malloy stopped talking with his wife and waved to the young woman.
    The black gown she wore was elegant and didn’t need any frills. It dipped modestly low in front, providing a peek at her ample cleavage and it fitted her like a glove. There were no tell-tale lines and Malcolm wondered where she could possible hide a weapon. She wore a small silver cross around her neck on a silver chain. This he noted as she drew nearer. In her ears were matching silver crosses.
    Malcolm watched Ernie leave his wife’s side and escort the young woman over to the table.
    “You spruce up real well,” Malcolm overheard Ernie tell her. “I almost didn’t recognize you.”
    “Isn’t this the first time I’ve seen you in a tux?” the young woman asked him. “Talk about me; look at you all dolled up, looking like a million bucks.”
    “Hell, if I knew you had curves I would have left Myra a long time ago.”
    “Liar,” the young woman said. “You would never leave Myra. She’d kill you first.”
    Ernie chuckled. “Are you ready to meet the Mayor?” He took her arm and headed toward the end of the table.
    “As ready as I’ll ever be. Do I look okay?”
    “You look better than okay. By the way are you packing anything besides big hips, boobs and butt?”
    The young woman giggled. “I’ve got a derringer taped to my thigh, a switchblade in this pushup bra and a switchblade in sheaths on both sides of my thighs.”
    “Expecting trouble?” Ernie asked.
    “No, just being prepared,” she answered.
    “Mayor Boudreaux, I would like to introduce you to Miss. Denning.
    Miss Denning, this is Mayor Malcolm Boudreaux.”
    “Call me Malcolm,” he told her still holding her hand.
    “Then you can call me Isabella. All my friends do.”
    Malcolm released her. “Then Isabella it shall be. You do know Chief Norris, Mrs. Malloy, and Doctor Randall, so I’ll introduce you to their charming wives.” He rattled off the other two women’s names.
    Isabella shook their hands.
    “You’ve got to tell me where you got that dress,” Myra Malloy said to her after Isabella sat down. “I’m going to have to have this baby first, and then Ernie better look out.”
    Isabella winked at her and smiled. It made Malcolm’s heart skip a beat again. He signaled the band to play something. “May I have this dance, Isabella?” he asked.
    “How can I refuse?” she asked with a smile.
    * * * *
    Isabella knew what the mayor of New Orleans looked like from the television, but this was the first time she’d seen him in person. She had to admit, Malcolm Boudreaux impressed her with his black tuxedo, royal blue vest and handsome face. He wasn’t bad on the dance floor