Tony Dunbar - Tubby Dubonnet 02 - City of Beads by Tony Dunbar Page A

wonder. Tubby knew Raisin’s secret. Don’t worry. Be happy. Just say No.
    “Yeah. Melinda. She’s a nurse at Hotel Dieu.”
    “She must be very tolerant,” Debbie pried.
    “It’s hard to say.” Tubby tried to be noncommittal about Raisin, the reason being he’d known the guy for over twenty years and still couldn’t predict what he’d do next. No doubt this was the feature that attracted more than a few women to Raisin—even those in the pre-geriatric set they were starting to run with.
    “But you had a terrible homecoming.” She sat back and pushed aside her plate, on which she had abandoned a tiny crisp of her supper. “What an awful way to die.” Debbie had inherited bluntness from her mother.
    “They think he was dead before he was dropped in the oil, but anyhow you’re right. It sure isn’t like dying at home in your sleep. Potter was a good guy. We had some real nice times together.”
    “Do you remember the time Mr. Aucoin brought me home from the French Quarter?” she asked.
    “I sure do. I respected him for that.”
    “I guess I do, too, now,” she laughed. “He really said some things that made me think a lot about drugs.”
    “Whatever happened to your date from that night?” Tubby asked.
    “Arn? He got married. He’s studying art at UNO and living with her parents. He turned out to be a jerk.”
    Tubby nodded, his judgment about boyfriends again confirmed.
    “Mrs. Aucoin, she must be in shock.”
    “Actually she’s coping pretty well,” Tubby said, patting his lips with a napkin. “She was down at the morgue when I got there. Dr. Jazz came by to pay his respects. She was calm and went home with her brother and sister. She was great at the funeral, making all the people feel better. I called her today about the estate and everything. I don’t think it’s completely hit her yet.”
    “What do the police say?” she asked.
    Tubby waved the waiter over and ordered coffee. What kind of dessert did you have at a crêpe restaurant? Maybe they could go someplace else.
    “They’re still looking for some kind of motive. There’s not a whole lot to steal in a shipping office, especially not the kind of popgun operation Potter ran. And the cops haven’t the slightest clue as to what his business was about, so they can’t really investigate that too much. But really, who steals peanut oil? Their first thought was maybe he fell in the hold of that barge all by himself, but that was a dumb idea. Potter wouldn’t even step on his barges ’cause he didn’t like to get dirty. Anyway, the coroner nipped that since there was a head wound nobody could miss. I don’t think they have any leads at all. Except for the fact that Potter knew a couple of important people, like from card games, they wouldn’t even be going through the motions.”
    “Can you do something?”
    “Hey, I’m not a sleuth. I’m a lawyer.”
    “Yo” was all Debbie had to say to that. She sipped her coffee. “I wish you would help me with a legal problem, Daddy.”
    Tubby was immediately alarmed. “What’s the trouble, honey? Of course I’ll help.”
    “Oh, not me,” she said quickly. “It’s this group at school, Save Our River. They’ve been trying to find a volunteer lawyer to file a case against some polluters.”
    “Well, let’s see. I don’t know anything about environmental law,” Tubby hedged. “Don’t they have a law clinic at Tulane for that sort of thing?”
    “Yes they do, Daddy, but they’ve run out of money or something. They’re not taking on any new cases right now.”
    “I didn’t know you were involved in environmental work. Is it some kind of club or something?”
    “It’s a real organization,” she said defensively. “It’s mostly people from school, but they have members from all over.”
    “Tell me more about it. When did you get involved?”
    “I’ve been going to meetings for a couple of weeks. Marcos took me to one. His roommate’s the chairman.”
    Oh, that