“Was he on the phone before this happened to you?” She doubted Pitre had it in him to exact revenge by trying to get one of her people killed, but people’s stupidity surprised even her at times.

“The guy said he had to call the next appointment to tell them they’d be a little late. Like five minutes later the place was a hellhole. I got shot before I could hit the ground, and Pitre pulled me behind the bar with the other guy even though he’d been shot. Do you know how he’s doing? I owe him a drink for doing that.”

If Pitre had pulled the others to safety, that meant the point hadn’t been to kill anyone. Unless Pitre wasn’t involved. “He got winged, and he’s out of the hospital. I’ll make sure to let him know you appreciate his efforts.” She squeezed his hand and blew him a kiss. “That’s from Emma, so don’t get any funny ideas. Your job now is to relax and get better. All I need to know is if you have someone at home who can take care of you.”

“Yeah, but the doc said it’s going to be a week or so before he lets me go. He was waiting on you to move me to a private room.”

“That will make visitors a lot easier, but some of the guys are going to stick around and watch so nothing else happens to you. Your first set of visitors is probably going to be the NOPD. Any place getting shot up in the middle of Mardi Gras is going to be a priority case, so tell them what you told me, minus the guy behind the bar. On that point you have amnesia.”

“Tell me if he set this up he ain’t getting away with it.” Josh tugged on her hand a little and he sounded serious.

“He won’t be a problem, but that’s all I can say. Take care of yourself, and don’t worry about anything. I’ll handle all of it. I’ll be back later to check on you to see that you’re set up in a different room that doesn’t feel like a fishbowl.” She patted his chest and walked out with Lou. For the next part of their day they needed Dino’s services and dark tinted windows.

It didn’t take Dino long to pick them up and drive them to the office. Pitre’s flunky was tied in the room below the office that was empty because of the water table fluctuation. The business here before them used the large space as an off-loading spot when they received barge loads of goods off the river. Now you could smell the water rushing under it, and the floor and walls were almost always moist.