Read Online Murder in the Rue Ursulines by Greg Herren - Free Book Online Page B

and that of the rest of the country is that we expect our politicians to be corrupt. We may be jaded, but I think it’s better than being naïve.
     And I’d been right with Sandy Carter—she’d been defeated resoundingly, since no one trusts a politician who claims not to be corrupt. I’d liked her when I met her, and had voted for her. She was a short woman with short hair she’d let go white and a booming laugh that filled a room. She was full of energy, and once she’d married off her youngest daughter, she’d thrown herself into making changes in the city.
    She was always raising money for this group or that group, talked frankly about everything, and had no qualms about calling, for example, the esteemed U.S. Senator from Metairie a ‘complete jerk and moron not fit to work as a trash collector’ in an op-ed piece when Mr. Family Values’s long-term patronage of a prostitute was exposed.
    After the flood, she’d helped organize a group of women to campaign for levee board reform; to hold the Army Corps of Engineers accountable for the city’s destruction; and had testified in front of Congress in one of the interminable and endless hearings on what had happened. I’d met her a few times since then—my landlady and employer, Barbara Castlemaine, was one of her dearest friends—and I liked her more each time.
    “Do you think she’ll come through for you?” I asked
    “Well, if anyone can, it’s Sandy.” Paige smiled at our waitress as she placed our plates in front of us, and then refilled our tea glasses. “She says that Freddy and Jillian are really committed to the city, and if I can promise that the focus of the interview will be on Operation Rebuild, they’ll probably agree to it.” She snorted. “It actually kind of pissed me off—like I’d ask them anything about their personal lives! I could give a rat’s ass why Freddy left his ex-wife…she’s in town, you know.”
    I took a bite of my burger and sighed in delight. “Who’s in town?” I asked after I swallowed, even though I already knew. When Paige was on a roll, it was best to let her have her head.
    “Freddy’s ex-wife, Glynis Parrish. The TV star?” She rolled her eyes. “Honestly, Chanse, are you sure you’re gay? It’s pretty sad when a straight woman knows more about movie stars then a gay man. I bet I could stop any other gay man on the street and he could tell you everything there is to know about Glynis and Freddy’s divorce.”
    I laughed. “Well, I wouldn’t take the bet.”
    “Anyway, Glynis is in town making a movie—how weird is that?” She shook her head. “I’m waiting for that bitch Coralie to ask me to interview her next…although come to think of it, she probably will want me to interview Glynis to go along with the piece about Frillian. I’m sure she could give a rat’s ass about Project Rebuild, the bitch.” She rubbed her eyes. “WHY on God’s green earth they gave her the city editor job I will never understand. She must have slept with someone” She swallowed a mouthful of potato. “Anyway…yeah. But you’re probably sick to death of me bitching about the paper.”
    “I never get tired of listening to you bitch.” I gave her a winning smile.
    “And guess who else is in town?” Paige rolled her eyes. “Jillian’s mother, Shirley Harris.” She peered at me. “You do know who she is, don’t you?”
    “Yeah. She did a bunch of musicals in the fifties and sixties, right?”
    Paige started laughing. “Well, you got the gay musical gene at the very least.” She shook her head. “She actually called the paper, wanting to be interviewed…”
    “I bet Coralie was all over that.” So Jillian had been right on that score.
    “Yeah, right—that’s what I thought too.” Paige moaned. “And they put her through to me —which reminds me, I need to kill the dumb bitch at the switchboard—so I put her on hold, called Coralie, and said, ‘Hey, I got a star on the line who wants