consultant and antique appraiser by trade, Jekyl was also one of New Orleansâs premier Mardi Gras float designers. Whenever you spotted a fire-breathing dragon in the Rex kreweâs parade or a purple, eight-tentacled octopus in the Pluvius kreweâs parade, you knew it had been dreamed up by the perennially witty mind of Jekyl Hardy.
âCar-
mel
-a!â Jekyl sang out upon seeing her at the cash register.
Carmela looked up and smiled. Her dear friend Jekyl was a dead ringer for Anne Riceâs vampire Lestat. With his pale oval face, long dark hair pulled into a tight ponytail, and taste for dressing completely in black, Jekyl not only looked the part, he was a force to be reckoned with. Though he lived in a rehabbed warehouse near the low-key Bywater District, he hobnobbed with the cityâs elite and often served as a plus-one for wealthy widows at Garden District dinner parties.
Naturally, the first question out of Jekylâs mouth was about the murder at Oddities.
âHowâd you find out about that?â asked Ava.
âAre you for real?â said Jekyl. âI take it you two donât watch TV news or havenât seen the front page of todayâs
Times-Picayune
?â
Carmela and Ava exchanged startled glances.
âJekyl, what?â Carmela asked, suddenly getting a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomachâas if sheâd eaten too many pickled peppers.
âThe murder of Marcus Joubert is hot, hot news in todayâs paper,â crowed Jekyl. âYour name is even mentioned.â
âRats,â said Carmela. That wouldnât go over big with Babcock.
âBut they probably donât have anything in there about the stolen death mask,â said Ava. She jabbed Carmela with an elbow. âThey probably donât even know about that.â
âAu contraire!â
said Jekyl. âThey know all about the mask stolen from Joubertâs shop and theyâve linked it to the one stolen three weeks ago from Wallace Pitneyâs collection in Dallas.â
âThatâs not good,â said Carmela. She knew it would sting Mavis that the media had drawn that type of connection.
Jekyl went on. âThe newspaper even reported the fact that Pitney and his staff had tried to keep the theft on the down low because they figured they might get a phone call from the thief.â
âWhy would the thief call them?â asked Ava. âTo taunt them and rub their noses in it?â
âNot at all,â said Jekyl. âThe Dallas collector thought perhaps the thief might call and demand a ransom.â
âYou mean Pitney would have to pay money to get it back?â Carmela asked.
âNot exactly,â said Jekyl. âMost likely their
insurance
company would have been asked to pay. Thereâs a big business in ransoming art and antiquities back to insurance companies.â
âI never heard of that,â said Ava. âThatâs a big thing? Insurance ransom?â
âRansom and just plain old insurance fraud are getting to be popular schemes,â said Jekyl. âYou know, like boat owners who overinflate the value of their boat, then sink their own tubs just to collect the insurance money.â
âYou learn something new every day,â said Ava.
âIâve heard of people doing that with racehorses, too,â said Carmela.
Jekylâs hands flew up and he waved them wildly. âDonât even go there,â he begged. âItâs way too sad.â
Ava looked puzzled. âWhat do they . . .? Oh.â
âWeâre not going there, remember?â said Carmela.
Jekyl refocused his gaze on Carmela. âSo what does the learned Detective Edgar Babcock think about this case?â
âHeâs of a mind that Joubert might have stolen the mask and then someone stole it from him,â said Carmela.
âThat sounds so convoluted,â said Ava.
âI agree,â
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