Louisiana Bigshot A Talba Wallis Novel

Chapter One Under normal circumstances, getting a Louisiana PI license is so routine as to be boringyou take a course, you pass a test, and you pay your money. Usually, there's only one slight catchyou can't be issued a license unless you're already hired. But Talba Wallis seemed to have found another one. Shewasalready hired, and she'd made ninety-seven on the test. For nearly five months she'd worked as an apprentice for Mr. Eddie Valentino of E. V. Anthony Investigations. And still, she almost didn't get her license. You have to submit a few little things with your application-a copy of your driver's license, five-by-seven-inch photo, and fingerprints. For the last the State Board of Private Investigator Examiners provides official FBI cards. All you have to do is take them to law enforcement agency that offers a fingerprinting service and plunk down a few small bucks. "Piece o'cake," Eddie said. "Take ya ten minutes, max." So one gorgeous September day on her lunch hour, Talba drove out to 715 South Broad Street, headquarters of the New Orleans Police Department. A good thing it's close, she thought. She had a client coming in at one, and at three, she had to resume her surveillance of a suspected errant wife. The woman was a college professor whose last class was over then, and Talba was in a hurry to wrap up the case. Eddie's jokes about "extracurricular activities" were getting tedious. Nonetheless, she was in a great mood. She sailed in feeling buoyant and powerful. Finally, she was getting the damned license. She liked the job a lot. A whole lot. And a funny thing, it was a great way to make friends. It wasn't something anyone ever thought about on career day at school, but once you said the wordsprivate investigatorit was amazing how many people blurted, "I'd love to do that!" They wouldn't, of course. For one thing, there was the tediumof records searches, surveillance, online research, court appearances, intake interviews, half a dozen other things. For another, most people thought divorce cases were sleazy, and these were a good chunk of the work. Actually, Talba liked themshe liked catching scumbags (of either sex) and, though originally hired for her computer skills, she'd turned out to be good at it. It wasn't a job for everybody, but despite the fact that she was such a computer wiz she impressed even herself, a sensitive and talented poet (in her opinion), and a baroness(she'd decided), it suited her. So she was in an excellent mood as she entered the building. A female functionary sporting two-inch purple nails with a tiny picture on each of them pointed to a door on the right. No stairs, no elevator. Couldn't be more convenient. Talba stepped through to a nearly dark, closet-sized anteroom opening onto a large, light, comfortable-looking room, which was populated by two peoplean enormous seated woman in a black dress and a smallish, wiry-looking man in uniform. Both were and African-American, as was Talba herself. The well-padded woman had a motherly look to her. Pencil in hand, she was poring over something in which she seemed to have a deep and abiding interest. She may or not have heard Talba enter, but either way, she didn't look up. The man was talking on the phone. Talba stood politely for a few minutes, curious as to what was so important the woman couldn't take time out to serve a customer. And finally, she got tired of it. "Excuse me," she said. The woman looked at her over nondescript glasses that couldn't hide a pair of bulging eyesSmith, Julie is the author of 'Louisiana Bigshot A Talba Wallis Novel' with ISBN 9780765343802 and ISBN 0765343800.