Imogene in New Orleans by Hunter Murphy

staying on the balcony. In fact, her huffs and puffs fell on deaf ears.
    Goose needed no convincing. He shuffled inside first, happy to return to the heavy carpeting and the cool corner where he had a bone and a pallet.
    Jackson tried to get Imogene’s mind off the lieutenant’s presence. “Imogene, you took some great pictures. Would you hand me your camera? We need to get them printed. I think they’ll help us see things we didn’t see in the shock of finding Glenway yesterday.” Jackson held his hand out, and Imogene, after a bit of “hemming and hawing,” gave him the camera. Jackson fiddled with the camera, then looked over at her. “You took five hundred pictures.”
    “Yes, indeed. Like I said, I’ll be a regular, ol’ arteest if I stay here long enough.” Her eyes brightened.
    “Mother, you don’t have to take so many.” Billy sighed.
    “Hey, boss man, did you and Jackson buy that camera for me or for y’all?” She eyed them. “That’s what I know. We ain’t gotta print ’em all. ’Sides, Allen said he already put ‘em on his computer. Speakin’ of Allen, I wonder if he’s picked up sweet Neil from jail yet.”
    “Allen says Neil will be out soon.” Jackson concentrated on the list of suspects. Buddy’s name stuck out to him much more so than Catfish’s. “Why don’t we take a visit out to Algiers? We can let Imogene ride the ferry across the river. Plus, I don’t feel comfortable staying here right now with Rogers in the building.”
    “What’s that lawman gonna do to us?” She removed her cell phone from her brassiere and asked her son for Allen’s number. Billy lay on the bed, trying to calm himself. Goose rested on his pallet and licked Billy’s hand, which rested on the floor as Glenway’s had in the studio when they found him.
    “What’s wrong with you, son? Havin’ a spell?” Imogene limped over to him. “You need me to bring you something? A drank, a nerve tablet?” He had his face covered in a pillow, as if to block out the sounds from his partner and mother.
    “Should I call the amb’lance?” He waved her off and she tottered back to her chair. “Hey, Jack, quit worryin’ over that piece of paper and go check on your partner.”
    “He’s just having a panic attack, Imogene. I think he’s worried about the lieutenant being here in the building.” He and Imogene heard a muffled sound from underneath the pillow.
    “And why aren’t y’all worried?”
    Imogene looked at him sideways. “What you say, son?”
    He removed the pillow. “I said, why aren’t you worried about the lieutenant being in the building?”
    “Shoot. What’s he want with two gays, an old woman, and a fat bulldog? He ain’t after us, son.” Imogene straightened her hat and pressed down a crease in her pants.
    There was a loud, powerful knock at the door. Goose, who up until then, had continued to lick Billy, began barking like he was on fire. He bolted toward Imogene in order to get a better view.
    Imogene jumped up from her chair and started toward the entrance. Billy said, “No. Sit down, Mother. Let Jackson open the door for the lieutenant.” She turned around at Billy’s urging and waited a moment. The knock resounded and this time with even greater urgency. Goose belted a series of ferocious responses.
    Jackson stuffed the list and the camera in his shorts pocket. He then cleared the table of everything that might be incriminating. He crammed Glenway’s leather journal in the bottom of a suitcase perched on a stand and then zipped it fully. Imogene was already several steps closer to the door as Jackson scanned the room for other items that should be hidden. Goose continued growling, and as soon as another knock boomed at the door, he bellowed at the walls.
    “Y’all are afraid of that lawman, but I’ve seen worser than him by far. Shoot.” Imogene leaned in and took a gander through the peephole, and then began unlocking the door.
    “Mother, no, don’t do it,”