Fat Tuesday(37)

Don't know what I was thinking."

"You were thinking of getting rid of me, so you could go out and try to score again tonight."

"You have a suspicious nature, Basile," said Gregory with mild reproof as he led Burke into the kitchen.

"Because I've dealt with too many lying criminals like you."

"I'm not a criminal."





"Oh, yeah?" Burke straddled one of the bar stools backward and watched his host assemble the coffeemaker."Let's see if memory serves. I recall a child-molestation case."

"He was sixteen, and it was consensual. The charges were dropped."

"Because your daddy paid off the kid's parents. Then I remember a string of public-exposure arrests."

"Nothing serious. I got probation."

"You wienie waggers are a pathetic lot, you know that, Gregory?"

"If you're going to be verbally abusive, I'll file charges of police harassment against you."

"Be my guest. I'll call your daddy, tell him you're up to your old tricks, and he'll stop paying for this swell place he's set you up in."

Gregory gnawed the inside of his cheek."Okay, you win. But you're a bastard, Basile."

"So I've been told."

Burke didn't enjoy badgering him, but Gregory James had made himself an easy target of derision. His was the classic story of a young man who hadn't lived up to his wealthy family's standards and expectations.

His eldest brother, after successfully playing major-league baseball for a few seasons, had assumed control of the family's industrial empire and added millions to its coffers. The second brother was a neurosurgeon of world renown.

Gregory had broken this chain of overachievement. He probably wouldn't have graduated from the university if his father hadn't bought him a degree by making a sizable grant to the school. Gregory then entered the seminary, the consensus being that a cleric was needed to round out the family. They were counting on a cardinal at least. Gregory endured the seminary for a year and a half before deserting that ambition, having discovered that his penchant for sexual misconduct was incompatible with a life of religious devotion. To distance themselves from his disgrace, the James clan banished him to New York, where he attended drama school.

It was there that Gregory had finally found a niche. He actually had a talent for acting and had performed in several off-Broadway productions before being arrested for performing an indecent act with another man in a public phone booth in Penn Station. Once again his wealthy father interceded, and the charges were dropped. Gregory returned home, shrouded in scandal.

This was the final straw for the Jameses, who washed their hands of son number three, although they continued to pay the bills on this townhouse. Burke figured they'd rather be out the expense than have Gregory living with them and have to confront their singular failure on a daily basis.

Gregory served the coffee."Would you care for anything in that?

Cream, sugar, a liqueur?"

"No thanks, this is fine." Gregory sat down across the bar from Burke, who could tell that the younger man was nervous."How come you're so jumpy, Gregory?"

"I can't figure out why you're here." "Consider it a social call. As you said, we go way back."

Gregory James was one of the drug division's best snitches. He was an active participant in the French Quarter's nightlife and circled in the same orbit with drug dealers, although he wasn't a user himself. He had often swapped information in exchange for leniency toward his vice of choice.

"You'd have been a real asset to the department if we could have kept you out of jail," Burke remarked as he sipped his coffee.

"Earlier you called me a criminal. I take umbrage at that, Basile," he said peevishly."I'm not a criminal."

"Then what are you?"

"A patient. I have a ... a problem."

"That's a given."

"I'm suffering an acute emotional disorder that has roots in my childhood My family's values are skewed. I was forced to be competitive with my brothers when it's not in my nature to be. They were beastly to me."

"Gee, Gregory, you're breaking my heart." "It's true! The prison psychiatrist said my problem was psychological."

"So was Ted Bundy's."

"It's not my fault!" the younger man exclaimed."It's an urge I can't control. I can't help it that I ... do ... what I sometimes ... do."

"Uh-huh. That's become a popular defense these days. Because Mommy made me wear white socks and Daddy liked Diet Dr. Pepper I whacked em both." Burke sneered in disgust."(,uys like you make me sick. You whine around, blaming everybody else for your actions. You're a grown-up now, Gregory. You are accountable for what you do."

Suddenly he came to his feet and grabbed a handful of Gregory's shirt collar."I've changed my mind. I'm taking you in." "No! No, Basile!

Please. You promised!"

"I did?"

"Yes."

"I don't remember promising."

"You did."

Burke released him slowly and returned to his stool. He fixed a hard stare on Gregory and held it for so long that Gregory began to fidget in his seat. Finally, he looked helplessly at Burke.