Fat Tuesday(78)

"No, but you have a real bad habit of spraying people with your spit, Del Ray. Your mama should've put you in braces when you were little.

That overbite of yours is as good as a shower head."

Del Ray's beady eyes shrank even smaller."I'm sure if you put your mind to it and think real hard, you'll come up with some information about Mrs. Duvall."

"Mrs. Pinkie Duvall?"

"See, you already know more than you thought you did."

"Lucky guess," the other man said, making a motion with his shoulders as though to loosen them."If it's Pinkie's old lady you're referring to, I've never laid eyes on her, and don't know what the hell you're talking about."

The loan shark tilted his head and grinned in a goading way."Aw, now, come on. Don't be lying to ol' Del Ray. We've been friends for too long."

"Friends, my ass. You're not my friend. You're a pestilence."

"I'm wounded," Del Ray said, placing his hand over his heart."Do you promise you don't know anything about Mr. Duvall's wife?"

'"I promise."

"You haven't heard that she's missing?"

"Missing?"

"Good, good. That was real good. Real sincere. If I didn't know better I might actually believe that you were surprised by that piece of news."

The other man's shoulders were still tense. He fessed up."Okay, I've heard some rumors, but I don't know any facts. Now, get out of my face.

We have an appointment on Friday. I don't want to see your ugly self until then."

As his client turned away, Del Ray's hand shot out. In it was a switchblade. He pressed the tip of it against the other man's cheek.

No longer smiling not even his evil grin Del Ray said, "You could go for your gun, but your face would get f*cked up before you could shoot me."

"You gave me till Friday," the man said, barely moving his lips.

"You'll get your money then."

"You've lied to me before."

"Not this time. I've already got the cash lined up."

"No shit?"

"Swear to God."

"Tell you what." Del Ray withdrew the blade and tapped the flat edge of it against his palm as though mulling over a fresh thought."If you come with me now, I might persuade someone to pay your debt for you."

"Pay my debt for me?"

"And you said I wasn't your friend. Ain't you ashamed?" The loan shark motioned his client toward a Cadillac parked at the curb."Mr. Duvall wants to talk to you."

"Pinkie Duvall wants to talk to me?"

"Yeah. And weren't it nice of him to invite you, personal like?"

"I'm glad you could make it on such short notice, Mr. Mccuen."

Mac stepped into Pinkie Duvall's high-rent inner sanctum. Del Ray Jones and Wayne Bardo followed at his heels. If this wasn't the lion's den, he didn't know what was. And guess who was Daniel. The odds were definitely with the house.

Trying to appear nonchalant, he sat down in the chair indicated.

Bardo and Del Ray took up posts at each of his shoulders. He looked the attorney squarely in the eye."Well, here I am, Duvall. What do you want?"

"I want my wife back."

"Back?" Mac forced a laugh."You've lost her? Huh? Well, I don't have her, but you're welcome to frisk me."

He could tell Duvall didn't appreciate his sense of humor."It's no laughing matter, Mccuen. She's been kidnapped."

"The hell you say?" he exclaimed. He swiveled his head up and around, looking first at Del Ray, then at Bardo, raising his eyebrows to show how impressed he was by the importance of this meeting. Coming back around to Duvall, he said, "Kidnapping's a federal rap. What do you want me to do about it?"

"It's not a mystery to be solved. I know who kidnapped her. Burke Basile."

Even though Mac had seen it coming, had braced himself for it, even had foretold it himself, hearing it straight from Duvall made it official Doug Pat had been edgy since he read the newspaper account of the strange incident at the Crossroads. He practically had snapped Mac's head off when he asked what Pat had learned in Jefferson Parish.

Mac had plied him with questions, but Pat had refused to elaborate, insisting that it had turned out not to be a police matter. Maybe not an official police matter, but there was no mystery now why Pat had been upset his fear of Basile's involvement had been confirmed.

Basile had a good reason to get revenge on Duvall. But he'd gone about it in a damned dramatic way. Was revenge his only motive, Mac wondered.

It was disturbing to think there might be more to it than what was obvious. But he reasoned that the best way to get information from Duvall was to continue playing dumb.

"What makes you think Basile's got your wife? What would he want with her? Ah," he said, feigning sudden enlightenment."Revenge for Kev Stuart, I bet."

Duvall looked up at Bardo and shrugged in a way that made Mac nervous.

The gesture implied, I've tried to be a nice guy and it's not working.

"Mccuen, I'm tired, worried, and angry. So I'm going to come straight to the point."

"Fine. I've got better things to do, too."