Louella LeBoeuf was pacing her living room floor impatiently when she heard a light rapping on the front door.
She walked softly to a window, raised a slat in her blinds, and saw her friend Wanda Dugas standing on the stoop. She went to the door, unlatched the safety chain, which she almost never used, and let Wanda in. “Hey, cher,” she said. “Glad you could come.”
Wanda stepped inside. Louella closed the door, turned a deadbolt lock, and replaced the chain. She embraced her young friend. “Great to see you.”
“Louella, you're okay, right? You're not gonna tell me you're sick, or moving away?”
Louella smiled. “No, nothing like that. See, I've done something, well, pretty wild for me. And now that I've done it I don't know what to do with what I've found.”
Wanda looked at her friend, confused. “You haven't met a man, have you?”
Louella laughed. “Oh, cher, goodness no. Okay, lemme get to the point. You know I quit Tom Huff, right?”
“Yes, of course. It's the most entertaining story in town at the moment. You'd be amazed at the number of versions I've heard at the Alibi.”
“Well, what I didn't tell you is that I was so upset that I took something from Huff 's office—something that I hoped might damage him, though I couldn't be sure about that.”
“Like what?”
“Some documents. Those,” she said, pointing to the folders on her nearby coffee table.
“Louella,” said Wanda, “that's hilarious. Good for you!”
“Well, you might not think so after you read them. Come, cher. Sit down. Start with the first two piles. I'll go make us some coffee.”
“Oh, I'd love a good cup of coffee,” replied Wanda. “I've got to cram for an exam later tonight.”
Wanda began reading as Louella disappeared into her kitchen. It only took about five minutes for the stuff to sink in. Her reaction was even more animated than Louella's. She shouted in the direction of the open kitchen door. “This is—this is, uh…I mean, Louella, this is incredible!”
“Isn't it?” said Louella, emerging from the kitchen. “My boss was bribing the governor! I mean, $287,697, that's no small amount of money. My God, the governor even wrote him a thank-you note! And that's just the tip of the Tom Huff iceberg! He's poisoning our marsh. He's buying prostitutes for the sheriff. He's …” Louella sputtered into silence. It was too overwhelming.
Wanda shook her head—then suddenly turned pale. “Oh, no,” she said, more to herself than to Louella. “This is awful. Just awful.”
“Yes, it is awful.”
“Ah,” Wanda replied. “It's actually worse than awful. It's the governor. You remember me telling you that not too long ago I met him at that crawfish boil at my Galjour relatives’ house?”
“Yes.”
“Well, what I didn't say is that I think my cousin Julie—you know, she's the smart one who runs the Department of Environmental Conservation up in Baton Rouge?—well, I think she and the Guv might be sweet on each other.”
“What?” said Louella. “Your cousin is dating the governor?”
“No, not exactly dating. It's complicated. Julie doesn't go for monkey business, and I don't think she would actually go out with Governor Evangeline as long as he's the governor and she has this big state job. But I saw them together, and yes, there was an unmistakable spark. My uncle and aunt saw it, too. People think they can hide such things, but they can't.”
“Aw, well, I'm sorry,” said Louella. “Maybe I shouldn't have done this, maybe—”
“Louella, no, no, you've done the right thing. If your old boss is running a criminal enterprise out of his office, people need to know. If there's a document incriminating the Guv, well, that's too bad. But I'm afraid Julie will be crushed by this if it gets out. I don't care about the governor, but I just don't want her to be blindsided.”
“I totally understand,” said Louella. “So, what do you want to do?”
Wanda stared up at the ceiling as if in thought. Finally, she said, “Louella, here's an idea. Why don't I go see Julie and show her the documents? She's totally trustworthy. She'd never put her feelings for the governor above the law. She's also a lawyer and very up-to-date on things and might have ideas about what to do. And at least that way, she won't be surprised.”
“That sounds sensible,” said Louella. “We certainly can't trust this to any of the local authorities. I mean, I had no idea how much money Tom Huff gave Juke to throw around and who was getting it.”
Wanda shook her head. “Ah, Louella, I haven't wanted to say anything about Juke because I didn't want to discourage you about your job. But I'm not surprised. Juke, after he gets a little drunk, is always bragging about how much money Huff pays him.”
“And how much would that be?”
“A hundred thousand dollars a year—plus an unlimited expense account. At least that's what he claims.”
“Good Lord!” Louella said in disgust. “Do you know what Tom Huff paid me?”
“I'm afraid to ask.”
“Forty-three thousand a year. He paid me forty-three thousand a year and promised me raises I never got. All the while he was giving a semiliterate, crude, alcoholic sexual harasser all that money! Excuse my French, Wanda, but that bastard!”
“Well, you clearly did the right thing to quit.”
“No,” said Louella, “the mistake was ever going to work for him in the first place. But, oh, well, what's done is done. So, what are we gonna do about the rest of this stuff ? Your cousin maybe can help us with the governor, but these other things—well, it's all an outrage.”
Wanda looked evenly at her neighbor. “Yes, it is an outrage. And you're right. We somehow have to get it into the hands of people who could take it to the proper authorities outside of Chacahoula Parish and even outside of Baton Rouge.”
“Any ideas?”
“Hmm,” Wanda mused. “Let's see—an honest person in Chacahoula Parish not beholden to the oil companies or politicians. Well, here's an idea:
Gary Harmon.”
“The lawyer in town?”
“Yes. He's a regular of mine at the Alibi. Completely honest. He takes all these unpopular causes—you know, the conservationists against the oil companies, that sort of stuff. And he doesn't have much use for the local politicians, including the sheriff.”
“So, you know him pretty well?”
“Well enough to think he'd help us or at least steer us in the right direction.”
“So we should go to his office?”
“No,” Wanda said emphatically. “This stuff really is dynamite, and it might be hard to explain what business we had there if anybody became suspicious. But nobody would think it strange if Gary and I were chatting. In fact, I think he's a little sweet on me. He chats me up all the time.”
“Does he?”
Wanda found herself blushing. “Well, yes, no—I dunno. I like Gary a lot, but I'm too busy for that stuff right now.”
“Well, we can talk about your love life later,” said Louella. “But what you propose sounds good to me. And listen, really, now that you know all this stuff, you can change your mind. I don't know what kind of friend I am, dragging you into the middle of all this—”
Wanda interrupted. “Shush, Louella. Are you kidding? This is a hell of a lot more interesting than those psych courses I'm taking at school. Anyway, it'll give me an excuse to chat up Gary.”
Louella managed a smile. “Well, I'm glad you're getting something out of this, cher.”
The women went silent for a while. Then Wanda said, “I think I should take the whole pile and make backup copies. I'll call my cousin and set up a time to see her. And if I see Gary tonight, I'll talk to him and call you in the morning before I go to school.”
“Actually, no phone calls,” Wanda added. “I'll come over for coffee. We can even have a signal—three quick knocks on the glass panel of your front door, how's that?”
“Wanda, we're in a movie!”
Wanda laughed. “Yes, and we just have to remember we're the good guys and the good guys always win. At least in the movies.”