Louisiana Bigshot: A Humorous New Orleans Mystery; Talba Wallis #2 by Smith Julie

Author:Smith, Julie [Smith, Julie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, New Orleans mystery, female sleuth, women sleuths, Edgar winner, African-American fiction, P.I., mystery series, black female detective, street lit, urban murder mystery, P.I. series, private detective
ISBN: 9781617504464
Publisher: booksBnimble
Published: 2014-01-16T05:00:00+00:00

“I think they didn’t want you knowing their business.”

Majors nodded with satisfaction. “Tha’s what I think. And you know what else I think?”

Talba thought she did, but she asked politely, “What?”

“I think one of ’em done it.” She nodded again, several times for emphasis. “Yep. Sho’ as ya born. One of ’em done it. Scalped they own child.”

“You think it was one of the parents?”

“Oh, could of been Little King. Yep. Sho’ could of been him.”

“Why do you think he would have done it?”

Majors shrugged almost absently, her tears dried now. She was clearly excited by the subject matter. “He might of done it out of pure jealousy,” she said.

“Of Clayton?” Talba couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I thought the rest of them hated her.”

“No, ma’am. Uh-uh. Till that moment, till that night of reckonin’, she was the apple of her daddy eye. All her young life, they love her just like all folks love they chirren. Then they give me the week off and when I come back they hate her.” She snapped her fingers. “They never was nice to her another day in her life.” She brought up another tissue from somewhere and wiped a few more tears. “Nobody oughta be treated the way they treat that child.”

“What did they do, exactly?”

She turned her palms up. “Wasn’t what they did so much as the way they talk to her. Mean. Just kinda mean. Like she know they secret and they hate her for it.”

Talba squirmed. That was certainly the impression she was getting and it was ugly. She said, “I met the young one a day or two ago. Hunter.”

For the first time in the interview, Majors smiled. “Sho’ is a funny name, ain’t it? Clayton. Hunter. King. Trey. Who those people think they is? Well, now, her I like. Young Miss Hunter, she my baby. She didn’t have nothin’ to do with that scalpin’ and she never had no need to punish her sister for it. ’Course any time she nice to Clayton, the whole family mean to her.”

Talba shivered, and not from the iced tea.

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