Ask any tourist caught doing something wrong in the French Quarter and they will tell you the same thing. "Do NOT FUCK with NOPD." This is followed very closely with, "Do whatever you can to avoid going to OPP." Orleans Parish Prison. Full of people awaiting trial for murder, rape, theft. There had never been a place that Arthur had wished to see less. But here he was sitting in general lock-up, hoping Lee would show up soon. She was his only chance.
New Orleans Police were not buying his story. They didn't believe that he didn't murder the woman. Especially when it turned out that she was a high-priced call-girl who specialize in the macabre. If you had perversions, and money, you called her. She would do just about anything. Or so Arthur had been informed repeatedly by the detectives. They tried every which way to get some scrap of confession out of him. After Arthur had given his statement, what he could remember, the police immediately arrested him on suspicion of murder. Apparently blacking out wasn't a legitimate excuse for not remembering the night before.
The detectives interrogated Arthur over and over, but Arthur hadn't been a private eye this long not to know how to avoid answering a question. The third time they tried to get Arthur to change his story, he refused to answer any more questions, and just repeated that he wouldn't answer any more questions without his lawyer. That behavior ended up with him sitting behind bars, waiting on his lawyer Lee.
While Arthur sat there waiting, he racked his memory to provide some clue as to what happened the previous night. He remembered setting up the tail for the assignment, waiting in the bar, following the assignment. Arthur rubbed his right hand gently, his knuckles still hurt from disabling the two men in the alley. "Funny," he thought, "the police haven't made that connection yet. Maybe they were found and released." Arthur was fairly certain that if the police knew about it, they would be piling charges on his head, locking him away in a deep dark hole. Arthur remembered opening the door and going down the hallway. After that, he could remember nothing until waking.
Arthur was sure he had been drugged, but no matter how much he searched himself, Arthur could find no needle marks. There should have been something, and yet the only wounds he had were from fighting the previous night. And the large lump on the back of his head. Arthur thought wryly that he was lucky to be alive. "A blow that hard should have killed me." Indeed, the back of his head hurt fiercely to the touch, making Arthur wonder if it wasn't cracked or damaged. "That's all I need now, for my brain to start leaking out." He chuckled in derision. The way his luck was going, that might soon be the reality.
Lost in thought, Arthur didn't see Lee approach. It wasn't until she cleared her throat that Arthur looked up. And then found himself grinning ear to ear. Lee wasn't a supermodel by any means. She was short, with long legs and a small torso. She had nice hips, but a flat butt. Her stomach was as flat as she could make it, but Lee's genetic make-up didn't give her much help, she still had a slight stomach. Her chest was full and quite a nice place to rest one's head. Arthur liked her raven black hair the most, it was so silky smooth and electrified one's touch. She was the perfect woman for him. Except she was married. And wouldn't leave her husband. No matter how many times he asked. Lee was also his lawyer. That was her stated reason.
Lawyer, or lover, Arthur couldn't have been happier to see her. Lee, on the other hand, was not so excited to be here, in this manner. The frown on her face, and stiff way she held herself betrayed this. She looked quite lawyerly in her dress suit, all formal. Arthur stood and approached the bars of the cell. Lee stepped forwards, but still out of arm's reach. Affection of any sort was immediately out of the question, Lee was letting him know that she was here strictly professionally. Arthur's smile slipped from his face, he started to worry a little.
"What the hell have you done now?"
Lee's voice was stern and cold, distant. "No, don't answer yet. I don't want to talk about that here." Taking a deep breath, Lee's voice gained some more warm as she continued. "Since you called 911, have no priors, and don't seem to have any real connection to the whore, the police are releasing you. However, you cannot leave town, as they still have questions and are looking for some sort of solid evidence to lock you in here for good." Arthur nodded. He had figured as much. Arthur knew he had no blood on him, and the 911 call helped. But there was still the problem with the dead woman, and Arthur also knew the police weren't just going to let him walk right out of here.
"But they are going to let you leave with me," Lee continued, "even though I am not sure I want anything to do with you right now." Lee's disapproval of the whole situation was palpable. All Arthur could do was nod. Though he longed for the chance to explain what had happened, Arthur knew this wasn't the place for it. It would need to wait until they were safe and secured.
Thirty minutes later, Arthur was on the street with Lee walking towards her car. "I'm going to take you home," she spoke. It was the first time she had said anything since speaking to him outside the cell. After that, silence. Cold, hard silence. "You need a bath, you smell like dead fish." Arthur said nothing until they had gotten in the car and pulled out into the street. Then he spoke, quietly and concisely,
"I am sorry you had to come down there."
Lee started to open her mouth to speak, but Arthur raised his hand to forestall her.
"Let me finish, please."
Lee nodded her head. Arthur continued, "I am glad that you came, and you are right. I stink to high heaven, but home is not where I need to go." Lee looked at him in puzzlement. "I need to go to my office. We can talk there. It will be safe there." Giving him a long hard stare, Lee reluctantly nodded and turned the car down the next street, changing directions. Arthur was staring in the rearview mirror. Very shortly, he nodded to himself.
"We have a tail." he thought. Arthur was fairly sure it was the police, but he wasn't sure. It probably didn't matter anyway. Whomever had killed that poor hooker probably had more than likely already searched his office. Arthur was fairly sure they weren't the ones tailing him. Either way, he had to get to his office. Arthur felt that it wouldn't be a good idea to tell Lee about this. She had been through enough already, and Arthur really wasn't sure what another scare would do to her. Best not to find out until he had to.
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