Page 72 of The House on Prytania
I shoved the clientele book down into my backpack, pushing down my disappointment at the same time. “What are the ABC rules?”
He tapped his forehead. “Assume nothing; believe nothing; challenge and check everything. We haven’t found an answer, so we’re not done investigating.”
“Well, I appreciate it. Let me know when your next poker game is, and I’ll supply the doughnuts.”
Uncle Bernie laughed, the buttons on his shirt threatening to pop open. “I get it—cops and doughnuts. Just to let you know that some stereotypes exist for a reason”—he leaned forward—“I’ll coordinate with Jaxson. I can’t turn down a doughnut.”
I texted Jaxson to let him know we were done, then excused myself from the table, taking my backpack with me. I turned in the direction of the restroom, then quickly diverted from my path as I spotted our server heading toward another table with a pitcher of water.
“Excuse me,” I said, digging into my backpack to extract the money. “I’m at the far table in the corner, with the older gentleman. I’d like to go ahead and settle our bill now, please.” My fingers found one of the wads of money at the bottom and I drew it out to show the waitress.
She looked at the money and then back at me and frowned. “I’m sorry, but I can’t take that.”
My stomach clenched, and I was afraid I’d have to give up half of my crepes after all. “I have a credit card, but it’s maxed out until my next paycheck, so if you could wait to actually charge it...”
“I mean that I can’t take it because the older gentleman at yourtable gave me his card when he walked in, so it’s already taken care of.”
I returned to the table to see Uncle Bernie grinning up at me. “You have to get up pretty early to get one step ahead of me. I may be old, but my mind’s still nimble. Just don’t tell the wife, but I think it’s the bourbon. It worked for Winston Churchill.” He raised his glass and drained it.
“Well, next time it’s my treat, okay? You’re doing all of this work for me, and I’d like a way to repay you.”
“No repayment necessary. I appreciate the chance to be in an active investigation again—although unofficially. I should be thanking you.” He slid a wrapped piece of Dove chocolate across the table. “I always carry something sweet with me for emergencies. I thought you could use one since you’re not getting a beignet.”
I didn’t hesitate and picked it up. “Aw, that is so nice. Thank you.” I stood to put it in my back pocket for later, and my fingers quickly discovered the pocket wasn’t empty. I pulled out two crumpled ribbons, one yellow and the other purple. Uncle Bernie’s detective eyes looked at them with interest.
“The purple one fell out of Sunny’s ponytail a few days ago. The yellow one... well, I’m pretty sure this is one of the ribbons Sunny wore when she was kidnapped. Mimi has one, and I thought I had the other hidden in my apartment. And I know it was there, because my sister found it and I made sure I put it back. But when I checked after I found this one, it wasn’t there.”
“So you think it was stolen?” he asked, no doubt recalling the previous break-in, thwarted by Jolene and Barbie.
“Um, sort of.”
“Sort of?” I imagined he was probably going over his ABC checklist.Believe nothing.I took a deep breath, deciding to test his ingrained training. “I think there may have been something paranormal at work.”
“I see.” He held out his hand and I gave him the ribbons.Challenge and check everything.He placed both ribbons on the table, then pulledout a pair of reading glasses from his pocket and leaned closer. Examining the knotted parts closely, he said, “There’s blond hair stuck in both of them.”
“I know. The purple one I know for sure is Sunny’s, since I saw it in her ponytail right before I picked it up, and the yellow one would have her hair, too, assuming it was one of the ones that fell out onto the street when she was kidnapped.”
He looked at me over the rims of his glasses. “Assume nothing.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. “Do you want me to compare it to the one Mimi has?”
“Not yet. Right now, would you mind if I borrowed them? Given how much the yellow one has been handled, we probably won’t find anything, but there might be some latent prints or DNA not belonging to Sunny or any of her family members. I can pull some strings with the crime lab. New Orleans keeps them pretty busy, but there’s always a favor to be called in. I hold on to them like gold coins—only to be used for special occasions.”
“That would be great,” I said, reaching for the purple one.
Bernie stopped me. “Let me take that one, too. Since you and Sunny handled them both, I can exclude your DNA from the yellow one so that any additional ones will be easier to pinpoint.”
“That makes sense,” I said.
He pulled a handkerchief from his shirt pocket and carefully wrapped up the two ribbons without touching them. “Don’t get your hopes up, Nola. It’s a long shot to begin with, and New Orleans crime keeps the lab hopping as it is, and they might not be able to squeeze it in. Not only is this a very old case, but it’s no longer considered cold since the missing child has been found.”
“I know. But justice hasn’t been served. Even if the people who were responsible are dead and won’t see any jail time, it just seems right that their names be written down somewhere to show they were bad people.”
He carefully replaced his glasses in his shirt pocket. “And I’dagree—if we were dealing with any other family. I long ago realized that sometimes just knowing the truth has to be enough.”
“But that’s not really fair.”
Bernie leaned forward and patted my hand. “Life is rarely fair, Nola. Take the advice of an old man who’s seen a lot. Sometimes we have to choose what’s worth the fight.”
