Cat in a Sapphire Slipper: A Midnight Louie Mystery (Midnight Louie Mysteries) by Douglas Carole Nelson

Author:Douglas, Carole Nelson [Douglas, Carole Nelson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2008-09-01T16:00:00+00:00

Happy Hooker?

Temple adjourned to the bar off the parlor with a sense of relief, probably false. She felt on common ground here, however bizarre the situation.

A sober group of men surrounded several of the round tables, sitting on leather club chairs.

The liquor labels fronting the mirrored back of the bar were all high-end. Heavy crystal ashtrays suitable for cigars centered every polished tiger-maple tabletop.

Temple would have to say that if she were a resident sizing up the night’s customers, she’d be one happy hooker. Matt’s Polish-blond hair stood out among the dark Italian ones like a headlight, but not one guy here was shabby, including Uncle Mario, whose teeth were as snow-white as his silk tie against a black shirt. The man’s old-style gangster look made portly into muscle and balding into moneyed.

The younger Fontanas were hipper in every respect, but still radiated a slightly Old World air of elaborate courtesy that won over women everywhere.

Van von Rhine was the other blonde in the room, and Temple had missed seeing her at first. She was perched on a navy leather barstool and had faded into the faceted glitter of the mirrored bottles behind her.

After Temple had surveyed the scene, Van waved her over. “How’s it going?”

“I’m learning a lot about hordes of strangers.” Temple joined Van at the bar, deciding that an elevated seat would command more attention from this armada of men.

She skillfully hopped up via the crossbar, which anyone who is five feet tall masters early. She felt like a judge at a bench, which was just the inner buttressing she needed to play the authority card here.

“You seem one short.”

They frowned, straightening their ties and their postures.

“Not short in height, in number.”

Emilio dashed around the archway. “Sorry, I just heard from, er, Fifi, that it was the guys’ turn for grilling.”

“Who’s guarding the murder room door?” Nicky asked as their uncle nodded with grave disapproval.

“Um, three of the girls. That way they watch one another. I’ll get back up there as soon as Miss Temple lets me go.”

And she bet that he was a lot more eager to pass the time with three courtesans than here.

Smiling at the tables, she said, “I’ll need to use you guys as a sounding board. First, I’d like your impression of how the abduction was managed, and what you all did, and where, when you arrived here.”

There was the expected universal, awkward silence.

“Did any of you suspect something was wrong before you arrived here?”

Dark heads shook.

“The right limo was gassed up and idling for us. We hopped in,” Aldo said.

“Like lambs to the slaughter,” Macho Mario growled dolefully.

Imagining him as a lamb was quite the funny-bone tickler. Temple bit her lip and caught Matt’s eye, who gave his answer. “I didn’t know what normal was for these events, so it all seemed uneventful to me.”

“There was one surprise,” Aldo noted.

“What was that?” half-a-dozen basso voices wondered.

“Your cat,” he told Temple, “hitched a ride in my groomsmen-mobile. I didn’t recall anyone inviting Midnight Louie to be a ring bearer.

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