Imogene in New Orleans Read Online Free PDF Page B

Glenway?” Her eyes seemed to almost pierce Neil with their grayness. When the light hit them, they flashed a few dark specks like some sort of exotic marble.
    Neil lowered his head as if he was studying her. “Lena, listen. You and I have always gotten along, and I care about you, but if you think I’m dumb enough to believe there wasn’t anything going on between you and him, then you’re wrong. Now, he never told me about all these meetings with you or about the money he apparently gave you.”
    Lena grabbed her mesh hat off her head and rubbed her scalp. “So, you tryin’ to say you tell Allen ever’thang you do, Neil? Don’t take Lena Ward for no fool, baby. You sayin’ you ain’t got no secrets between y’all and y’all livin’ together for fawty years?” Lena stamped her good foot on the concrete steps. She slid to the edge of the stoop to wait on Neil’s response. He glared back at her and grunted, as if he wanted to speak but could only sputter.
    Lena nodded. “Dat’s what I know. You got nothing on me. Shoot, we grown-ass people…” She turned to Imogene and lowered her voice. “’scuse my tongue, Imogene…but sometime grown people do keep thangs from one another. All’s I know is we need to get over this here. ’Cause I plan to keep doing what I do till I go meet the Lawd.” She stuck her chin in the air as if she’d said all she needed to say.
    “Amen to that, sister,” Imogene said. “You told it plain there. Now, Neil, can you leave all this be for a minute and take a rest? I don’t believe we need to go no further.” Imogene slid closer to Lena, clearly hoping she’d met a kindred soul.
    Neil’s mustache trembled. “Can y’all bring Glenway back from the dead? I’ll let this go when I see Glenway walk on this porch and sit beside you. Now, he did something for you, Lena Ward, something you’re not telling, and I plan to find out what it was if I don’t do anything else.” He rolled the calendar up and smacked the column, knocking a few chips of white paint onto the porch. He marched over to the edge and stared out past Lena’s praline shop, away from everyone else, and began mumbling to himself. He nervously switched the rolled calendar from one hand to the other.
    Just then they heard the screech of tires. A vehicle approached the house at full speed, and even though they lived on a busy thoroughfare, where no less than fourteen parades passed on Fat Tuesday, the noise from the approaching vehicle caught their attention.
    Jackson turned to see who it was just as an unmarked police car jumped the curb and nearly rammed the concrete wall separating Neil’s yard from the sidewalk. Lieutenant Rogers swung open his door and bolted out of the car with his pistol in his hand, pointing it straight at Neil’s chest.
    “Stay still, Ned, or whatever the hell you’re name is. You run again, and I’ll put a bullet in you.” Jackson heard the officer click the revolver, ready to unload on Neil.

Four
    “Baby, I told you to stop your carryin’ on,” Lena swung around to face the gunman. Neil raised his hands and the calendar high above his head.
    “Oh, it’s him,” Lena mumbled. “That devil will shoot, too. I wished I stayed makin’ prawleens over at the shop.” Imogene touched Lena’s shoulder in a sort of gentle prompt.
    “Shoot me, Lieutenant Rogers. Go ahead, you ass. My name’s Neil. That’s N-E-I-L. Do you know my friends at the city council? I’ll have your job quicker than you can say the word ‘unemployment.’” He barked the words but still kept his hands in the air.
    Rogers huffed, as if he’d heard worse. He took a few steps onto the property. A cop car drove up and parked on the curb behind the other vehicle. Two police officers jumped out and pointed their guns at Neil.
    “I don’t care who you know. You can’t take evidence from a crime scene. Surely, your ‘friends’ on the city council understand that.” Rogers walked toward Neil and