A Twisted Ladder (58 page)

NEW ORLEANS, 2009

S
HEILA PRICE PACED THE
street, muttering to herself and wringing her hands. There had been a cold snap, and nobody was buying. She tugged at the lacy sheer black dress that barely covered her butt. Despite the brisk temperature, Sheila started to sweat. She needed a fix.

She walked back to the heart of Iberville as quickly as her high heels could carry her, and found Carlo working the corner. He wore a blue knit cap and a denim jacket lined with fleece.

“Carlo, set me up, baby,” she said.

Carlo looked at her. “Mm hmm. You know the deal.”

“Look, I ain’t got jack right now. I’ll bring it to you later.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Come on, baby, I ain’t goin nowhere. I’ll pay you as soon as I get it.”

Carlo spat. “You won’t be bringin in nothing you stand round here tryin to work me. Get on out there and find yourself a friend, then you come see me.”

Sheila cursed and hustled away. She wrapped her arms around her thin body, more from agitation than from the cold. She joined Bea, who was already working the walk.

“How you doin?” Sheila said.

Bea shook her head. “Not too good, baby. Ain’t nobody need a date on a night like this.”

Sheila paced. “Bea, you got any money? I need to get a hamburger for my baby.”

Bea laughed. “I heard that one before. Listen honey, if I had any cash, I wouldn’t be standin out here on no street corner tonight. And if anyone gonna get a fix with my money, it’s me.”

“It really is for my baby,” Sheila said.

“Your kid’s stayin over at my mama’s house, and she already feed him.”

Sheila snorted.

FOR CARLO, BUSINESS WAS
not so bad. The usual folks had been coming by his corner. Around ten o’clock, Avery came down from his perch atop the stairwell.

“What up?”

Avery shook his head. “Nothin good, man. The ambulance done come around here, picked up one of the customers.”

“So?”

“I heard a couple a others went to the hospital, too. They all bought their shit from us. The good shit.”

Carlo cursed. He knew all the regulars by name, but he didn’t ask Avery who had gotten sick.

Avery looked Carlo in the eye. “You get your stuff from the same dude you always do?”

Carlo grunted. He managed to keep Avery in the dark about who his suppliers were, and he was not about to make an exception now. It was true that Carlo had found another supplier who cut him a good deal, and from the sound of things, the guy must have cut the stuff with some kind of filler.

“We can’t sell that shit now. Word get out, ain’t nobody gonna buy from us. They’ll all go up the street.”

Carlo gave him a hard look. “Oh? Well I guess you willing to give up your cut, then?”

“We done a little business already.”

Carlo shook his head. “Ain’t enough. I still got a load of that shit up there!” He pointed a thumb toward the brick building behind him. “The hell I s’posed to do, just throw it out?”

Avery shoved his fists in his pockets.

Carlo put a hand on his shoulder. “Aight, we gonna make this one quick. Any good customers come along, you tell them to come back in a few days. You see any a the real messed up junkies, send’m down to me, we’ll make’m a real good deal. They probably won’t even know if they get sick.”

Avery nodded. “You gonna let’m get it on here?”

“Naw, make sure they stay in the empty buildings. Let’m ride it out where no one’s around. You get back up there and keep watch for Task Force. We’ll wrap it up quick.”

Avery strode across back to his stairwell and wound his way up to the top where he had a clear view of the streets.

SHEILA WALKED BACK AND
forth, blessing passersby with her smile, but they were few and far between and no one stopped to talk. A police car approached and Bea and Sheila ducked into the liquor store until it passed.

Sheila could stand it no longer. “I’ll be back in a little while.”

Bea said, “Don’t be gettin no fix from Carlo. I heard two people already done got sick off a his junk.”

Sheila glanced back at Bea, but hurried down the street. She hoped Bea was wrong.

DADDY BLANK STRETCHED HIS
legs into the night and heaved himself out of the car.

“Nah, I didn’t expect you’d want to come. God forbid you be seen out here.”

He patted the extended hand, and closed the car door. Raindrops shimmered on black paint as the car disappeared into the darkness.

He was damned. They were all damned, he and his children. And now they were facing off, and the only remaining solutions were grim.

Better stay away from Maddy for now. Too dangerous for him to be around her.

The more effective medication was not available at the hospital. A gentle dose of China White would wrap him in a warm, tingling euphoria that made even the most troublesome questions of life and death seem unimportant. He’d already had a fix or two from the street corner pharmacist, and the effect had long since dissipated.

“HEY, CARLO,” DADDY BLANK
said. “You got a good horse for me?”

“Nah, but I can fix you up with something else. You want blow?”

Daddy Blank frowned.

“How bout some Viagra?” Carlo laughed.

“Son, why don’t you quit with the smart mouth and give me what I came for.”

Carlo shook his head. “You better come back in a few days. I’m outta stock.”

“Bullshit, you cretin. Why you giving me a hard time? Look.” He fished in his pockets and pulled out all he had. “Take it all.” He shoved the cash into Carlo’s hand. “There, now be a good boy and make a damned sale.”

Carlo tucked the money out of sight. He signaled for Avery to give Daddy Blank a double supply to match his double payment. The stuff was worthless anyway, and Daddy Blank was not really a true regular.

“Look, Daddy Blank, we almost out of supply and got some pissed-off customers.” Carlo gestured toward the empty building. “You be cool and take that shit in there where no one can see you.”

“Fine,” Daddy Blank said.

“Hey, Daddy B.” The two men turned and saw Sheila walking toward them.

“Hello there, Sheila, those are pretty shoes you got on,” Daddy Blank said as he walked away.

“You want some company?” she called after him.

He shook his head and disappeared.

Sheila continued toward Carlo, trailing her finger along the chain-link fence. “Daddy Blank said I look pretty.”

Carlo folded his arms. “He said your
shoes
was pretty. You find yourself a friend, like I told you?”

Sheila shook her head. “Ain’t nobody out tonight.” She leaned in close and continued trailing her finger from the chain-link up the expanse of Carlo’s arm. “I was thinking, maybe you could be my friend.”

Carlo looked her over. She was still pretty, though her lifestyle was taking its toll on her looks. Her features were turning hard, her mouth starting to pull back in a permanent clench. Nevertheless, still pretty.

Carlo took her by the elbow and steered her toward a battered railroad house a few doors down. His supply was worthless anyway.

“Tonight’s your lucky night.”

NEW ORLEANS, 2009

T
HE POLICE PULLED DADDY
Blank’s body from an abandoned building in Iberville, a shadowed neighborhood between the French Quarter and the Garden District. A junkie was the one who’d called it in, but not until after he had had his own fix and was coming back down.

Madeleine’s father was not the only drug-related death that week. She learned that a rogue supply of China White had hit the streets, killing Daddy and a prostitute, and putting several others in the hospital. As she wandered through the industrial flat, Severin followed her from room to room, sometimes whining or playing, and sometimes speaking sinister words.

Madeleine steeled herself. She had to work out her father’s affairs, and knew that the act of putting things in order would help her maintain a little sanity, whatever that meant. She sat on the couch with the telephone, tears streaming, making the necessary calls to notify her father’s friends and begin arrangements for a funeral.