Read PI On A Hot Tin Roof for Free Online Page B

only so much time.”
    “I got
a family
to support!” The other woman rang off.
    And Talba felt like an idiot. What to do now? She drove home slowly, moodily, trying to think her way out of it. There
was
a way—and she knew exactly what it was. But it involved manipulating someone a lot more savvy than Alberta Williams—at least where Talba was concerned.
    She found Miz Clara with her wig off and her slippers on, rocking and watching the news. “They want to build a new City Hall, baby. Whatchoo think o’ that?”
    “About time. That horrible building’s probably why all the bureaucrats have such bad attitudes.”
    “Mmm mmm. Tha’s a three-dollar word if I ever heard one, but I take ya point.” She pronounced it “pernt,” the same as Eddie did. He even said “New Erlins” when he wasn’t being extra careful; Miz Clara never did that.
    “Mama, I got a problem.”
    Miz Clara was instantly suspicious, whereas it had taken Alberta ten minutes to get to the same place. “Since when ya bring ya problems to ya ol’ mama?” But she was pleased to be consulted. Talba could tell by the “ol’ mama” part.
    “I was trying to get an undercover job and I scared the lady away. See, I need to get into somebody’s house for a couple of weeks. This lady works there, but she hates her job, so I offered her money to give it to me while she looks for a new one. I don’t know why, but she went all hinky on me.”
    “What’s ‘hinky’?”
    “That’s what the cops say when their snitches get nervous.”
    “Hinky! Lord, Lord, I’m gon’ remember that one. ’Most as good as ‘break a leg.’” Talba had taught her to say this before her performances; it never failed to crack her mother up. “What this lady do?”
    “What you do. Cleans his house.”
    Her mother let out a whoop. “Whoooeee! Sandra Wallis, you gon’ go cleanin’ some cracker’s house? Miz Clara’s little buppie girl?” Talba had taught her “buppie” also. “Oh, lordy, this I gotta see.” She cackled like a witch. “Oh, yeah, I gotta see this with my own old eyes. Now
that
one’s worth the price of admission.”
    “Does that mean you’ll help me?”
    “Well, I don’t know. Depends if any harm’s gon’ come to that poor woman.”
    “No, ma’am, it’s not. The worst that can happen is she doesn’t find a job in two weeks.”
    “Oh, I can find her a job. Ain’ no problem there. Whatchoo gon’ do in that house? Anything to make ya mama ’shamed o’ ya?”
    “Mama! Eddie’s sending me. Would Eddie do something unethical?” Miz Clara had a lot more faith in Eddie than in Talba, and her daughter knew in her heart that if either of them knew about some of her methods, she’d get fired by one and disowned by the other, not necessarily in that order.
    “Guess not,” Miz Clara said. “This a Christian lady we talkin’ about?”
    Talba nodded. “First Evangelical Baptist.”
    Miz Clara thought about it. “Antoinette Boiseau go to First Evangelical.”
    Talba breathed a sigh of relief. The problem could be solved the New Orleans way. It was all about who you knew.
    “Lemme jus’ give Antoinette a call. What this lady call herself?”
    “Alberta Williams.”
    Her mother heaved her tired body to her feet and padded off in her old blue slippers. She didn’t believe in cell phones; still kept an old-fashioned plug-in model in her bedroom. Talba thought she was going to scream with impatience during the thirty minutes it took Miz Clara to get current with Antoinette and then to ask for the reference.
    She came back nodding. “It be all right. Antoinette don’t know her, but she know somebody who do—in her ladies’ group. Miz Augustine gon’ make the call—Versie Augustine. I tell her it’s real important, she say she do it right away.”
    “Thanks, Mama. I’ve got to go over there right away. You coming?”
    “Me? You axin’ me?” She didn’t think she’d ever seen her mother look so surprised.
    “I really