Down at the Twist and Shout Ch. 05

Kelly looked sideways at Justine for a second, then she realized what Justine had been thinking, and moved to head that off once and for all.

"No, Justine, it's not like that; do I love Johnny? Course I do, and he loves me too, he's family, he made me family, and he's who I trust most in the world; but he's your man, honey, not mine, and he never will be. Besides, I've got me another Deaucette boy entirely in mind..."

She glanced over at Remy, and Justine, following her glance, smiled too. Kelly smiled secretly.

"Audhémar knows, he told me the boy's kinda slow and shy when it comes to girls, so it's up to me to make him dance on the line and reel him in real slow, but he and tante Clodille approve, they like me, and you know something? That boy can cook, I mean not just grill and plate, he's like a magician in the kitchen, tante Clodille says she doesn't know where he gets it from, but anyone who catches him is in for a well-fed, happy life, hint, hint! I guess now you know, it's no surprise it's gonna be me, he's my kind of guy, he's cuter than all get out, he's just sweet and polite as can be, and he can cook; boy's the perfect package!"

Kelly grinned naughtily at Justine.

"Thing is, I've been dancing around him for a while now, I think I got him interested, what do you think, maybe it's time cutie-pie Rémy found out I'm a natural redhead?"

Justine gasped and blushed, then both their giggles rang out, Kelly blushing and ducking behind Justine when Rémy looked her way, gabbling "he's looking at me, he's looking at me!" like a teenager with her first crush.

*

Epilogue:

Justine was dozing, tired out from finally getting her fractious baby to sleep, and oppressed by the torrid, crunching heat of New Orleans in August that the air-con did little to alleviate. Her baby, Sandrine-Ysabeau slept soundly in the antique crib next to her, lulled by Justine's automatic rocking of the little rocker. It was Saturday, and Johnny should have been sleeping, he was working that night, settled back into his job keeping the rich and careless from paying for their indiscretions, but he'd been restless all day, dozing only fitfully at the best of times, and she could hear him at the very edge of hearing, prowling restlessly around downstairs in the den.

The sound of the landline phone shrilling jarred her fully awake. She let it ring, letting Johnny pick up the extension in the den, and the muted rumble of his voice drifting up through the floor grate began to lull her back to her half-asleep state again. Still only partially awake, she heard him hang up, then nothing; obviously it was work-related, nothing for her to worry about. Justine relaxed and let herself slip back to sleep, her foot still automatically rocking the crib.

It might have been minutes or hours later that she sensed Johnny standing silently in the doorway, staring at her. Her eyes drifted open, and her welcoming smile fled as she saw the expression on his face, and a cold hand gripped her heart; that was his 'bad news' face; something was wrong.

"Baby, what is it...?" she murmured, "What's happened? Tell me, baby, you look like Hell, what's going on?"

Johnny walked carefully into the room in his sock feet, avoiding the squeaky floorboard so as not to wake the baby.

"Justy, that was Las Vegas PD, checkin' up on you, they need to know where you were year ago..." he murmured

Justine stared in puzzlement, before motioning him out of the room so they could talk without disturbing the baby.

"Start again, baby; why would Las Vegas police be checking up on me? I've never been there." she whispered, her puzzlement obvious in her expression.

"Baby, it's about that...it's about Carlo, baby, an'..."

Justine's heart skipped a beat."What about him, Johnny, what's he done?"

Johnny grimaced, not relishing what he was about to tell her.

"Month or so ago, group of desert hikers outside a place called Tecolote, in San Miguel County, New Mexico, come across a shallow grave, pretty much ripped apart by coyotes, whatnot, but no ID, bin there 'bout a year, he'd been shot in back of the head, wrapped in ole blanket, and dumped under a pile o' rocks. County Sheriff's crime scene investigators done what they could, all they found was couple bullets, no proper ID or any kinda prints they could 'dentify, so 's far as they concerned, it jes' one more desert body dump for they cold-case files. Three days ago, police in Las Vegas called to old filling station on th' edge o' town, gangland style killing, woman found bound an' gagged, kneelin' an' shot in back o' the head, also bin dead 'bout a year, forensics say it same gun used to kill the man in Tecolote. The gun, a 25 caliber Baby Browning reported stolen in New York by Georgina Machado was lyin' next to her. Her ID said she was Gina Machado, and she had Carlo's ID in her purse. Thing is, I 'member that woman Carlo livin' with after y'all split up, she called Gina March. It looks like she kill Carlo out in the badlands and carry on to Vegas alone, prolly flashed some cash around, someone musta seen it an' decided they wanted it, an' played for keeps. She wearing your daddy's locket with you name in it, that how they put the pieces together. I'm sorry baby-girl, Carlo and his gal knock you out an' take your money you work so hard for, but they din't deserve to die for it..."

Justine stared at him silently until he wound down, a single tear coursing down her cheek. She didn't love Carlo, he'd betrayed her and driven her away, but she'd loved him once, she'd been married to him for nearly five years, and she didn't grudge him the money he'd stolen from her; it was a small price to pay for having him gone from her life, but she'd never wanted him dead, she'd never wished any ill on him at all; she was ecstatically happy with her Johnny bear and her baby girl, but it was still a shocking jolt to hear he'd died so pointlessly.

"Johnny, can we...?" she began, and Johnny nodded.

"Way ahead of you, Minou, least we can do is give Carlo Christian burial, he warn't wicked, jes' stupid, an' that no reason to die that way. I spoke with the LVPD, they're arranging the remains be sent back to New York, I think Carlo should be buried next to his mom and daddy, I'll get the funeral home to look up if Gina got any family, otherwise we get her a plot of her own, jes' dumpin' her in some pauper's grave don't sit right with me, there's been enough vengeance takin' with this family, so we jes' put her to rest an' forgive her what she done, an' that be an end to it, okay?"

Justine hugged her husband tightly, letting the shock and distress ebb away. With news of Carlo's death, that part of her life was gone forever, now it was time to concentrate on the child sleeping in the other room, and the new life growing inside her, here, surrounded by her new life and new family, a long and strange way from her old life.

The End