Kent Conwell - Tony Boudreaux 09 - The Crystal Skull Murders by Kent Conwell Read Free Book Online

stay. I figure after a couple weeks,
she’ll bail out. If she does it on her own, then Dora
can’t get on my back. You know what I mean?”
    I knew exactly what he meant. While I had never
met his wife socially, I had, on more than one occasion, witnessed her storming in and literally kicking
off World War III in Marty’s office. The USS Blevins was the unbecoming nickname pasted on her by the
guys in the office.

    “I don’t know, Marty.”
    “Come on, Tony. Next time you need a favor, all you
got to do is ask. I really need some help here.”
    My determination began to crumble. “How many
weeks?”
    “Two. I promise. Two”
    I figured I would regret helping him. “No more than
two. If she’s still here, you promise you’ll put her with
someone else. Right?”
    He gave me a hearty slap on the shoulder. “A promise in blood, Tony. I swear.”
    “You don’t have blood, Marty. You have vodka”
    He grinned. “Okay, in vodka.”
    I had the feeling I just taken my first step into a watery bed of quicksand. “All right. Have her meet me out
in the parking lot at five-thirty.”
    On the way to my apartment on Payton Gin Road, I
remembered Marty’s remark about expecting Doreen
to bail out of the job. Now, I wouldn’t be honest if I
didn’t admit considering various means to encourage
her to move on, but I knew if I did something underhanded, my Catholic conscience and my mother’s face
would nag at me forever. And that would be more uncomfortable than tolerating Doreen for the next two
weeks. Nope, I was better off just doing my job and leting nature take its course.

    Besides, who could say? Many of us fail over and
over until finally we find our little niche. Because I
knew the feeling well, I was always a sucker for those
niche-seekers. It wasn’t beyond the realm of reason that
this might be the niche Doreen was seeking.
    Still, I wasn’t looking forward to the next two weeks.

     

Before I left my apartment, I called Danny and told
him I was bringing my partner.
    “No problem,” he replied instantly. “The more the
merrier.”
    “This one is a woman,” I added.
    “That’s even better,” he gushed. “By the way, are you
still seeing that little rich girl? What was her name, Janice?”
    I grinned. “Just don’t get any ideas. Besides, she’s
classy, not for the likes of you”
    He roared with laughter. “And you think you got class
driving around in broken-down pickup. Why, you’re
just a Louisiana Cajun that slogged out of the swamps
and ended up in the great state of Texas, Tony”
    I shook my head as I replaced the receiver. Danny was a good friend, and I had never tried to reconcile the
fact he was on one side of the law, and I was on the
other. That was one little detail we simply ignored.

    Doreen was sitting in her Jag in the parking lot when
I pulled in. I stopped beside her and rolled down the
window. “Hop in.”
    She shook her head. “I’ll follow you”
    I’d made up my mind not to tap dance around the situation. All day, I’d been uncomfortable around her. Of
course, I had to admit it was by my choice, deferring to
her insistence of being formally addressed, following
me in her car, and her obvious repugnance toward
Goofyfoot. Maybe I was wrong, but I sensed she felt
she was superior to those about her. I had no intention
of enduring another two weeks like that.
    I decided to run the flag up the pole, express my feelings, and see which way the wind blew the flag. “Nope.
If you go, it’s in my pickup. Besides, we need to talk.”
    She frowned. “About what?”
    “You’ll see. Are you going?”
    She studied me for several seconds, then with a disgusted shake of her head, climbed out of the Jag.
    Buckling her seat belt, she demanded, “All right.
What is it you want to talk about?”
    I’ve never traveled the world, but I can’t believe any
city in any country has worse traffic at 5:30 in the afternoon than Austin, Texas.