"In the ancient world, people placed heavy stones on the graves of their dead so their souls would not wander and afflict the living." "I always thought this was simply the practice of superstitious and primitive people." "But I was about to learn that the dead can hover on the edge of our vision with the density and luminosity of mist." "And their claim on the earth can be as legitimate and tenacious as our own." "I hope this poor girl was dead before he started carving on her like that." "This poor girl didn't have a whole lot of good luck, Dave." "The murdered girl's name was Cherry LeBlanc." "Her father had disappeared after he was accused of molesting a black child in his neighbourhood." "I went to Mamou to talk to her granparents." "I learned little about her except she seemed to have been an uneducated, hapless and fatally beautiful girl." "Busted for prostitution at 15, dead at 19." "Mr Trajan?" "We've been over this three times now." "Cherry's been working here off and on for the past few weeks." "She had a night off, she's gonna show up anyhow to listen to "Hogman" Patin." "That girl had a real thing for Hogman." "Some time around one, she put her purse behind the bar and said she'd go outside for a while." " Did you know she'd been arrested for prostitution?" " I didn't." " No?" "All right." "OK." "You hired her cos you thought she was an honours student at LSU." "I can't say I care for the way you're talking to me, detective." "If I find out you've been holding back information," "Mr Trajan, I'm gonna come back here with a warrant," "Mr Trajan, for your arrest." "Did you know Cherry LeBlanc, little white girl, 19 years old?" "She worked here, didn't she?" "Do you know if she had a boyfriend at all?" "If that's what you wanna call it." "She in the business." "Is Mr Trajan involved?" " Ask him." " I don't think he was." "Otherwise you wouldn't be telling me these things." "She was a sad girl." "I told her a pretty white girl like you could have anything you want school, a car, a husband working on one of them oil rigs." "When that girl dress up, she look just like a movie star." "Who was her pimp?" "They come here for her." "When they want her, they come take her home." "Do you know who they were, what their name was?" "They guys ain't got no names." "They drive they big-ass cars up here when she get off work." "The poor thing gets in." "I don't know nothing else, me." "She wasn't about to give the name of some rich white man to an old black woman." "What rich white man?" "Some rich white man maybe... get her out of the business of selling jelly roll." "She said that just before somebody done them awful things to that young girl." "When I was hitting the bottle for months, I dreamt about a white wolf who lived in a skeletal black tree on an infinite white landscape." "At the base of the tree was a nest of pups." "In the dream, the wolf would drop to the ground and eat her young one by one." "I wondered what kind of dreams the killer of Cherry LeBlanc had." "Or maybe it was better not to know." "Could I see your driver's licence, please?" "My what?" "Driver's licence." "Please take it out your billfold, hand it to me." "Oh, yeah, sure." "Well..." "I was a little careless back there." "I'm sorry about that." " You're Elrod T Sykes?" " Yes, sir, that's who I am." "Step out the car, Mr Sykes." "Yes, sir." "Anything you say, sir." "Mr Sykes, I think you've been drinking." "I know you've been smoking marijuana." "Your lady friend just ate the roach." "Ooh, well, that wouldn't be good now, would it?" "You're under arrest, Mr Sykes." "I'm gonna take you just down here to the city jail." "I'll send a car for Miss Drummond." "Your car is gonna be towed to the pound." "This is bad news." "This is not on my agenda." " We're just starting a movie." " I enjoy all your films." "Miss Drummond's, too." "Take your car keys out the ignition, please." "El, do something." "Yeah, sure." "I feel real bad about this." "Can he make a contribution to Mothers Against Drunk Driving or something like that?" "As an admirer of your work," "I recommend you don't make any more mentions of contributions." "You don't need to show me any identification." "I really enjoyed Galaxy 9." " Excuse me, but are you the prototypical macho shithead?" " Especially Part 2." "You stay put." "Deputy will be along in a while to take you home." "Allons." "You're not gonna get sick in my truck, are you?" "No, I'm just fine." "I know where there's a dead body." "What?" "Looks like a big pile of gristle and bone." "Where was this?" "Way the hell out in Atchafalaya Swamp." "We had to pick up a scene near the old Indian reservation." "I went to take a leak." "I saw it sticking out of a sandbar." "Get back in the truck." "That swamp full of old Indian bones." "Sorry, I didn't catch your name." "Dave Robicheaux." "Mr Robicheaux." "Now, if that was an Indian I found, I was wondering what he was doing with a chain wrapped around him." "Say that again." "It's a rusted chain with links as big as my fist crisscrossed around his rib cage." "Can you find that sandbar again?" "Yes, sir, I believe I could." "I'm gonna make a confession to you Mr Sykes." "DWIs are a pain in the butt." "If I take you home, can I have your word you'll be in my office, 9.00 in the morning?" "9am, you got it." "Absolutely." "Hey, I really appreciate this." "Elrod Sykes and Kelly Drummond?" " I want to go to the set!" " Sykes is a drunk." " Please!" " His head glows in the dark." " Please!" "Maybe we could get an autographed movie poster." "Yeah, please!" "Not for you, for the hurricane relief auction." "OK." "Cool." "Please, Dave?" "Will you hush?" "I'll take her and look out for her, if it's all right with you." "Maybe we could get Kelly Drummond to sign one, too, pay for somebody's roof." "Please?" "I don't know if Mr Sykes told you he's taking a new prescription for his asthma, but evidently the medicine reacted with his system." " The studio also wishes..." " What's your name again, sir?" " Oliver Montrose." " Mr Montrose, where's Sykes at right now?" " By this time, they're on location by Spanish Lake." " Good." "So one hour ought to be enough time for you to find Mr Elrod T Sykes and bring his young ass back here to this office, shouldn't it?" "I broke my word, I'm aware of that." "But it cost 25 grand an hour and we have 100 guys standing around while a guy like me is trying to get out of trouble." "Let me explain something to you." "Yesterday, somebody raped and murdered a 19-year-old girl on the south side of this parish." "He cut her breasts off." "He pulled the entrails out of her belly." "He pushed a cypress branch up her vagina." "Can you understand why I am not interested in your film company's awe-inspiring production problems?" "Did you ever hear talk of Confederate soldiers in the mist?" "No." "About one guy in particular." "Limps along with a crutch." "I think maybe it's a general." "Thought you were making a movie about the war between the states." "You know that's not what it is." "It's over yonder." "Hold on there, Mr Sykes." "Best put some of this on." "We used to have a lot of bats down here, but the mosquitoes ate 'em all." "Boy's a long way from his Hollywood poontang, ain't he?" "This jackass is objectifying you, Mr Sykes, because he's had very little exposure to the outside world." "Don't let it bother you." "How do you reckon those bones got caught up in those roots?" "Hurricane Betsy blowing through here in '65 probably buried him and Katrina unearthed him." "Why '65?" "Hurricanes tear up this part of the country all the time." "See that left shin bone?" "Clipped in half." "That's where they shot him when he tried to run away." "You a psychic or some bullshit like that?" "No, I saw it happen about a mile from here." "You saying some white people" " lynched somebody around here?" " When we get back, you'll have to talk to your sheriff, get the coroner out here now." "I don't know about y'all over in Iberia Parish, but, er, around here, ain't nobody gonna be interested in nigger trouble that's 40 years old." "What you looking for, Mr Robicheaux?" "I don't see any remnants of a belt on his trousers... or any laces in his boots." "That boy probably did his shopping at the Goodwill." "Back then, with no body, no missing persons report, that sheriff had no reason to believe me, much less get off his ass and go to work." "You're not 17 years old any more." "The trouble I have with you is getting you away from work." "You've done everything that you can." "You have no good reason to beat yourself up." "Now drink your milk and come to bed." "I'm horny." "The sheriff over in St Clair Parish said thanks a lot for that pile of bones you found out in Atchafalaya yesterday." "They really appreciate the extra work." "He need to find a new line of work, he don't like them bones." "He said you're welcome to come over on days off, run an investigation." "Their coroner's got them bones now waitin' on ya." "Autopsy report came in on that LeBlanc girl." "Looks like we're talking about a psychopath, somebody wired to the eyes" " on crack or meth." " Maybe." "I think she knew him." "So, you don't think it was a John?" "No." "She left her purse at the bar with all her condoms in it." "Cherry LeBlanc was a working girl with ambition." "Maybe she misjudged a business opportunity here." "Who's a girl like that gonna be in business with?" "Erm..." "Baby Feet?" "Maybe Baby Feet." " Cholo." "I thought you was in the pen." " No, man." "Katrina done rinsed my hands clean." "The whole damn crime lab washed off down the river." "Ain't got nothing on me in New Orleans." "Doing fine, bro." "They ain't even got enough money to lobotomize guys like me no more." "What's going on, Dave?" " I'm investigating a murder, Julie." " No kidding." "Y'all worried about me, Dave?" "Hell, yeah." "How many guys would burn down their own father's nightclub with their father still in it?" "You got to forgive me if I get a little upset by these kinds of attitudes, Dave." "I come home to this shithole." "I'm a prominent man in the entertainment business." "I talk on the phone every day to people in California you read about in Entertainment Weekly." "They ought to have "Welcome Back Balboni Day"." "Instead, I get treated like sewer gas by you." "You understand what I'm saying, Dave." "It hurts me." "Sit down while I take a whiz." "Cholo, where's your hospitality?" "Get the man a drink." "Here, Lieutenant." "Julie was telling me about the time that nigger almost popped you with a .38." "Said he saved your life." "Weren't you and Julie baseball buddies in school?" "Take the hint, Cholo." "This guy's not a conversationalist." "You working on that Cherry LeBlanc deal?" "What do you know about that?" "All over today's paper, man." "Julie and me were just talking about it." "Sounds like you got one sick fuck on the loose." "My meter's running." "I want to talk about that murdered girl we found." " Which girl is that?" " Cherry LeBlanc." "I guess I ain't heard about it." " You don't read the newspapers?" " I've been busy." "I can see that." "We used to be friends, Dave." "I even maybe did you a favour once." "So, I'll line it out for you and any locals who wanna get the wax out their ears." "Louisiana's flat-ass broke." "New Orleans is a mortuary." "And the bottom of a toilet's got more appeal than this shithole." "So, they best wake up to the fact we are dropping close to 40 million in Iberia Parish." "They don't like the name Balboni around here?" "We'll move the whole fuckin' movie over Mississippi." "See how that floats with those jack-offs in the Chamber of Commerce." "You're in the movie business now?" "Yeah." "I'm producing White Doves with Michael Goldman." "What you think about that?" "I'm sure everybody wishes you success, Julie." "I'm gonna do a baseball movie next." "You want a part in it?" "You can go on in." "You recognize me, Dave?" "It's Doucet, isn't it?" "Yes, sir, Murphy Doucet." "You got a good memory." "Was with Jefferson Parish's Sheriff Department when you were with NOPD." "Looks like you're in the movie business now." "Yeah." "I own half of a security service now, and I'm still with the Teamsters out of Lafayette." "So I'm kind of doing double duty here." " There some kind of trouble?" " Where can I find Mr Goldman?" "Right on the other side of them trees." "I'll let him know you're coming." "It's all right." "I'll find him." "So, you're investigating a crime." "Seen any crime around here?" "Only crime I'm aware of is the air conditioning in my trailer." "You could fry an egg on the toilet seat in there." "Then, I've got a lead actor digging up skeletons in sandbars, exactly what I need while I'm shooting a picture." "Mr Goldman, is Mr Julius Balboni producing this film?" "Producing?" "Yeah." "I must've really fucked up in my previous incarnation." "Maybe... maybe I sunk the Titanic, or, er, assassinated Archduke Ferdinand." "I am the only producer." "So, Mr Balboni's lying." "Mr Balboni is investing some of his money in a motion picture." " Is that illegal?" " Congratulations." "You in business with the man that hung Fulvio Raneri's cousin up by his colon on a meat hook." "Do you recognise this girl, Cherry LeBlanc?" "Hogman Patin had murdered,  with a cane knife and in broad daylight, a white burial insurance collector who was sleeping with his wife." "He served 17 years in Angola, had a bunch of knife fights, was punished on ant hills and in cast-iron sweat boxes and was brought to salvation by a Baptist preacher in Baton Rouge." "I liked Hogman." "I don't like to have nothing to do with white folks' business... but it bothers me what somebody do to that girl." "I spoke to her about two hours before she left the juke." "She said, "Hogman, in my next life, me and you gonna get married."" "I said, "Darling, don't let those men misuse you for no chicken."" "She said, "I'm gonna have my townhouse on Lake Pontchartrain."" "She hooked up with somebody from New Orleans?" "Probably some white-trash pimp told her she's special, she's pretty." "But she done got herself killed instead." "Are you mixed up with that skeleton they found over in Atchafalaya?" "How do you know about that?" "When somebody find a dead black man, black people knows about it." "I'm listening." "A blue jay don't sit on a mockingbird's nest." "The mockingbird will whoop the blue jay's ass every time." "What are we talking about here, Sam?" "I'm talking about a black man." "No, that ain't right." "This is a nigger I'm talking about." "He was carrying on with a white woman who husband he worked for." "I think them was his bones you dug in that sandbar." "What was his name?" "Who care what's his name?" "Maybe he got what he asked for." "I say, "Past is past, and don't be messin' in it."" "You warning me?" "What was that white woman's name?" "I got to go start my beans now." "Hogman, who feared very little in the world, looked worried and frightened." "He had cautioned me because of the discovery of the lynched man." "To him, those events were still alive with an unforgiven and collective shame." "And the participants were alive too and could hurt him." "Alafair, you got to keep this raccoon out of my fried pie." "Next time, I'm gonna swat him with my broom." "Don't you dare hurt him." "Tripod didn't do anything wrong." "Why don't you try keeping the smell of cigars out of the yard?" "Alafair." "You shouldn't talk to Batist like that." "But he threatened Tripod with menacing violence." "Tripod's a raccoon, baby." "Apologise to Batist." "Sorry for what I said." "And I'm saying it cos Dave made me." "That's a beautiful child, Dave." "By the time she's 18 years old, your hair's gonna be solid white, if there's any of it left." "Oh, wow!" "This is great!" "How you doing, Mr Robicheaux?" "Hope you don't mind us coming by." "We want to have dinner with y'all tonight." "My wife's already cooking supper." "I'm on my way over take a shower." "Hurry up, we got reservations at Clementine's, everybody." "The family has plans for this evening, Mr Sykes." "This is embarrassing, El." "I have a reservation, but..." "Hey, I don't want to cause any problems." "We'll just pick up our liquids at your store and hit the road, OK?" "Mr Sykes... ..you've been driving drunk, and you've come to a cop's house to buy more booze." "Why don't you hand those keys to Miss Drummond?" "Where's that beer at?" "You're a good man." "Y'all need to be real careful." "Elrod's a shitbird, but I love him." "It's all right." "Um..." "We'll settle up." "We'll settle up later, yeah?" "All right." " Other side." " Ah!" "Come here." " Elrod!" " What?" "He just fell in the Bayou." "Check me out." " Some more?" "Made 'em myself." " Oh, thank you." "Elrod's wearing Dave's jersey." "Can you believe it?" "Mm-hm." "Now, go do your homework." "Something to drink?" " Mmm." "How about a beer?" " I think we're out." "I'm sure there's one in there somewhere." "I'm gonna go feed Alafair's rabbits." "You care to join me?" "Sure." "Is Alafair your daughter?" "She's from El Salvador." "Dave pulled her out of an airplane wreck and adopted her." "Do you have kids?" "No." " You ever see lights in the cypress trees at night?" " That's swamp gas." "It'll ignite and roll out across the waters like ball lightning." "No, sir, that's not what it is." "It's these guys out by the lake." "They have lanterns hanging from some of their ambulances." "A lot of those soldiers had maggots in their wounds." "That's the only reason they lived." "The maggots ate out the infection." "You've been drunk a long time." "Soon, all the trees will be talking to you." "A wild orchid sang a song to me one time." "She had the prettiest voice." " Yeah, I wasn't drunk." " Mmm-hmm." "This guy, the general, he's standing on a crutch by the water, and he said to me," ""You and your friend, the law man, must repel them."" "I think you're delusional." "You might wanna think about going to an AA meeting with me one time." "Maybe I was a little drunk." "I hope you have his adjutant's pistol." "To do what?" "The general said, "Your friend has the revolver of my adjutant," "Major John Moss."" " What is the matter with you?" " Come here." "Look at that." "It says CSA." "No, right there." "J Moss." "It says J Moss." "So what?" "Thanks for the call, Lou." "When I saw that electrical tape round her hands and feet, or what's left of 'em," "I thought about that LeBlanc case you got going." "Where's she at now?" "She's right there, still in that barrel." "She got about 15 big blue crabs still on her." "Coroner says, we move her, she's coming out in pieces." "We'll have a rough time getting an ID." "Maybe by her teeth." "That's the poor bastard who found her." "When did you first notice that barrel?" "About four or three weeks back." "Did you see anyone else out there, on that levee?" "Yeah." "About a month ago, in the evening," "I seen a dark-coloured car." "I remember thinkin'..." "It was brand new, you know?" "Why would anybody want to bring their new car down on that dirt road full of holes?" "Remember what kind of car it was?" "No, sir." "I'm sorry." "I just wish I hadn't been the one to find that poor woman." "That'll do." "Thank you." " The officer will take you home." " Thank you." "Jesus Christ, Dave!" "That's right." "I need a tow truck to haul off a limousine." "Can't miss it." "Right in front of Chez Narcisse." " Right now." " Copy that." "You get the Roman Army down here." "One division could've knocked off these squirrel hunters, had the Civil War over in one year." "Maybe we'll do a Bible movie next." "Yeah, but how do you fight a war with sandals?" "That's...stupid." " How did they win wars with sandals?" " Hmm?" "What's going on, Dave?" "I had a long night last night." "Found a girl in a barrel down in south St Martin Parish." " She covered up in blue crabs." " You ought to run her again." "We'll have gumbo." "You here for breakfast?" "Sit down." "You're pissed off, so you have my car towed." "Quit parking in front of fireplugs." "Fireplugs?" "I'm getting this shit because of fireplugs?" "No, Julie." "I wanna know what you have to do with a teenage hooker named Cherry LeBlanc." "Who the fuck is Cherry LeBlanc?" "You know." "You and Cholo were talking about her before I got to the Holiday Inn." "And you lied to me about it." "Calling me a liar?" "You're a mother- fuckin' lying piece of dog shit!" "I think this sweet little town's starting to rub off on you, Dave." "Gentlemen, could you please not use that language..." "Get the fuck away from my table!" "It's OK, Mr Meaux." "I'll be gone in a second." "Oh, sad to hear that." "I don't know none of these girls." "I don't have nothing to do with your business." "You said some ugly things about me, Dave, and I'm gonna let it slide." "I'll call a couple of cabs," "I'll pay the fine on my car, I'll buy some new tyres... and I'll forget everything you've been saying to me, because I got a business to run." "Everybody's been pretty polite here." "Keep it simple, stupid." "It's time for you to let people alone, Mr Robicheaux." "Ease off, Lieutenant." "This ain't good for nobody." "You're losing it, Dave." "You need to get yourself some better tranqs." "What did he do?" "Put his hand on my shoulder, I started tearing him apart." "It was like being in a drunk dream." "Balboni family'll make their movie, then they'll go away." "Balbonis are the pesticides all around South Louisiana." "Sister Mariah got 100,000 dollars out of Balboni for the Hurricane recovery fund." " How'd she do that?" " Shame and guilt." "Those nuns are really good at it." "Baby Feet don't wanna go to hell." "♪ I'm, I'm coming home ♪" "♪ Cos I feel you don't feel all so alone ♪" "♪ I'm coming back home ♪" "♪ And meet my... ♪" "Want some, er, cappuccino mix?" "Cops like coffee, right?" "Or-or a stereo?" "You know anybody been recruiting girls out the parishes?" "Try the bus depot, for starters." "But who's gonna recruit?" "Ever since Katrina, there's cash on the hoof all over this town." "Maybe this guy does more than just pimp." "Maybe he likes to hurt these girls." "Been two of 'em killed already, maybe more." "Talking about somebody that operates at the bottom of the food chain." "You think Baby Feets Balboni might have something to do this?" "You're using the names of local personalities now." "It stays with me, Jimmie." " You looking for a guy who likes to kill hookers?" " Mmm-hmm." "Don't sound like Baby Feet." "His outfit's running girls, all right, but... they're not worth nothing to him if they're dead." "Try the bus station." "Three or four of these entrepreneurs work at the bus depot." "One of 'em sticks out like shit in an ice-cream factory." "Nothing against coloured people." "What's his name?" "Brown." "You, er, ladies seem lost." "You're not from around here, are you?" "The inside of the bus depot reeked of cigar butts and the diesel exhaust that blew through the doors to the boarding area." "And I was feeling empty." "Used up after the long night." "wired with too many voices, too many people on the hustle." "Too many people who bought and sold other people." "Or killed." "I want you to make a public service announcement for me, chere." "I know what it's like to run away." "Praise Jesus..." "There's a call for Mr Adonis Brown at the public restroom pay phone." "There's a call for Mr Adonis Brown at the public restroom pay phone." "This is Adonis." "What's up?" "Hello?" "What you want, man?" "Don't do that." "I ain't no threat to you." "Look, I ain't got a gun." "I ain't no trouble." "I want to know who you been delivering these girls to." " This room's occupied, by the way." " I ain't bringing nobody to nobody..." "You know the guy I'm talking about." "Don't do this to me, man." "Tell me his name." "This guy likes to hurt people." "Tell me his name, this'll all be over with." "There's a...bald-headed, squirrel-faced white guy." "Er..." "He carries a gun, too." "Nobody fucks with him." "Is that guy you're talking about?" "You tell me." "He's got juice." "That's all I know." "I don't know his fuckin' name, man!" "He connected?" "With the cops or the mob." "He's got to be to stay in business." "That's all I know." "Why you doing this to me, man?" "God." "I shit my pants." "I can't go back out there." "That's right." "You ain't ever gonna go back out there." "You're gonna treat that bus station like it's downtown Baghdad." "Not a good place for you to be." " Who the fuck are you, man?" " You don't want to know who I am." "What you wanna do is quit doing wrong." "I'll kill you, Adonis." "I'll blow your goddamn head off if you don't find an honest line of work." "It's called the Home of Hope." "Don't worry, they won't ask you any questions." "You just ask for Sister Mariah." "Look here, this is all the money I got on me right now." "You stay gone most of the night." "You don't call." "I'm sorry." "I don't deserve to be afraid you've been hurt." "No." "You don't." "But I'm not gonna nag you." "No, sir, I wouldn't exactly call it a dead end." "If you have a seat, I'll be right with you." "Thank you." "It's a 100 million dollar contract." "He must have pocketed 60-70 million." "False load slips, bogus waybills." "Balboni Trucking hauled just about enough debris to fill a Dixie cup." "Yes, sir, we are trying." "Thank you." " Can I help you with something?" " I hope so." "This is my office." "Oh, my God, I'm sorry." "A call came in for me on your extension, and I just..." "I'm Special Agent Rosa Gomez." "Everyone calls me Rosie, so call me Rosie." "It's nice to meet you, Special Agent Rosie." ""Your detective's investigative missteps will hurt you in November."" "That's courtesy of that prick Bubba Broussard at city council." "So you called the FBI." "The FBI's been trying to nail Balboni for over a year now on a FEMA scam." "And they still have precisely nothing on him." "That's why I think they're hoping there's more to that Cherry LeBlanc case." "Course, now that they're here, that gives Broussard somebody else to blame." "Now, Balboni is throwing a birthday bash for Mr Michael Goldman this evening." "I think you should attend." "I think Cherry LeBlanc knew her killer." "What about the Jane Doe in the barrel?" "She knew him too." "There's 17 unsolved homicides in Louisiana that share some similarities with this case." "And ten of them share multiple common denominators." "All show marks from being bound, all young, all working class." "One was a high school girl, two were waitresses." "Three had been runaways." "And four were prostitutes." "The FBI has an informational advantage over Iberia Parish." "How do you like that catfish court bouillon?" "Er, it's interesting." "Thank you." "If you found the remains of a black man, and he had no belt, no laces in his boot, what speculation would you make about him?" "Obviously he'd been in jail, a parish, or city holding tank, some place they were afraid he'd harm himself." "That's what I think." "♪ You're damn right I've got the blues ♪" "♪ From my head down to my shoes... ♪" "Get outta here!" "Baby Feet was having a ball." "Trying to understand how somebody like him thinks is as productive as placing your head inside a microwave oven to study the nature of electricity." " Oh, what?" " Your name?" "Balboni." "With a B." "As in bumbling, journalistic butt wipe for one bum fuck idiot." "Hey, Dave." "Gotta get yourself some food, it's free." "Thanks, I've already eaten." "See that mad bird dog?" "Twinky Hebert LeMoyne." "That's the other half of my security service." "What's he doing here?" "He's an investor in the movie and he's trying to get laid." "You like doing business with Twinky LeMoyne?" "It's good for me." "For him it's no big deal, really." "If there's a business around here making money, you can be sure he's got a piece of it." "Oh, God, that man knows how to make money." "Looks like Mr Twinky LeMoyne's feeling ambitious and dedicated today." "I worked for Mr Twinky 28 years ago." "Back then, you breathed..." "I tried to speak with Hogman and failed." "He was evasive." "Too many people." "The waiter handed me a frosted glass filled with Dr Pepper." "I took the cup off the tray and drank it." "I didn't order that." "The ice was so cold it made my throat ache." "I'm General John Bell Hood, Commander of the Texas Brigade." "Commander of the 4th Texas Cavalry, the 5th Texas Cavalry and the 17th Texas Infantry." "How do you do?" "Do you object to shaking hands?" "Am I dead?" "You don't look like it to me." "You were at Gettysburg." "The war's over." "It's never over." "I would think you'd know that." "You were a lieutenant in the United States Army, weren't you?" "My head hurts." "My head, it..." "Sure does hurt." "Venal and evil people are destroying the world you were born in." "It's us against them, my good friend." "It's gonna be bad, isn't it?" "You've survived worse." "Don't compromise your principles, or abandon your cause." "Do you know what's waiting for me on down the road?" "For one reason or another I find I have more insight into the past than the future." "Try to keep this in mind." "It's just like when they load the cannon with horseshoes and log chain." "You think the barrage would last for ever, then all of a sudden there's a silence louder than the cannon fire." "Please don't be alarmed by the severity of my comparison." "Have a good night, Lieutenant." "Paramedics who brought you in said you were talking about" "Confederate soldiers out in the swamp." "It was an unusual night." "What's the possibility that one of the Hollywood characters laced your Dr Pepper?" " Do what?" " The tox screen came back positive for LSD." "I need to talk to the sheriff." "The sheriff was here this morning." "You talked to him for half an hour." "What'd I say?" "What'd I say?" "Nothing that made any sense to me." "What's that?" "A salamander." "When you reel him in through the water, his little legs and tail wiggle like he was swimming." "Makes the black bass hungry." "How would you define the idea of understanding?" "Well, it's knowing something and knowing what it means." "I think there's two ways of looking at the idea of understanding." "One is, if you don't look, you never will see." "The other is, if you look a little less, you might see a hell of a lot more." "You might not be over those drugs they put in your drink." "Do you think that wad of rubber latex that conceals a fish hook understands that it's really a salamander?" "Or do you think that salamander understands that it's nothing more than a wad of rubber latex concealing a fish hook?" "Jesus, Dave." "I don't know." "Ask a black bass." "I know General John Bell Hood of the Texas Calvary just like he was my own grandfather." "The general had spoken of a venal and evil man that would destroy the world I was born in." "Was he referring to the 1965 killers, to the murder of Cherry LeBlanc or to Julie Balboni?" "I was somehow convinced Baby Feet was mixed up with Cherry LeBlanc and as Twinky LeMoyne had business ties with him that made him fair game." "Are you accusing me of working with the mafia?" "When you do business with a man like Balboni, you create curiosity." "I don't do business with him." "I don't do anything with him!" "I'm a member of a group of investors that have put money into a movie production in New Iberia." "Investing in the local economy, that's all." "Are your employees union people?" "No, they certainly are not." "You own half of a security service with Murphy Doucet, don't you?" "That's right, I certainly do!" "And your partner in the security service is a Teamster steward over in Lafayette." "I think you're involved in some strange contradictions, Mr LeMoyne." "You'll have to excuse me, Detective." "I've got to lock up now." "I have a lot of people I take care of, you know?" "Would you like to have Julie Balboni for a next door neighbour?" "Would you like to have your granddaughter working for him?" "Mr Robicheaux," "I can't express to you how offensive you are." "Did you get that blonde-haired girl to lick your leg the other night?" "There's my business card." "Thank you for your time." "Here you go, Dave." "Still 1965, July, September, November." " Thank you, chere." " You're welcome." " How's Alafair?" " Bien bonne." "Great." "A nigger, you say?" "DeWitt Prejean." "Black man, name of DeWitt Prejean." "Yeah, I know that son of a bitch." "What about him?" "Were you on duty the night somebody broke him out of jail?" "I..." "I was the jailer." "Jailers don't work nights." "They hire a man for that." "Do you remember what he was charged with?" "He wasn't charged with nothin'." "Never got to that." "They busted him out of the tank." "Not according to the newspaper." "Lot of people wipe their asses with newspaper." "Newspaper said he broke into a white woman's house with a butcher knife." "Was DeWitt Prejean a rapist?" "He couldn't keep his prick in his pants, if that's what you mean." "Is it all right if I sit down here?" "You think her husband broke him out of jail?" "He might have if he could have." "He was a crippled man." "Got shot up in a war." "Where's he at now?" "In the cemetery out by the tracks, east of town." "What about the woman?" "She moved away, up north somewhere." "Er..." "What's your interest in this 40-year-old nigger trouble?" "I think I saw him killed." "Where's the man who was on duty the night of the jailbreak?" "He got drunk, you know, got his self run over by a train." "Wait a minute." "What'd you say?" "You saw what?" "What you think I saw, Mr Hebert?" "I really need your help, Dave." "I really need help." "Go ahead." "You go ahead and drown yourself, man." "I don't care." "Dave," "I planned this all week." "The guy already charged me for the boat, man." "Elrod..." "It's going to rain like hell." "Why don't you wait until it quits raining, and you can go fishing for black bass and perch and bream out here in the bayou." "When did you last catch freshwater fish after it rained?" "Oh hell, suit yourself." "Want to leave that beer cooler here with me?" "It came with the boat, dude." "Sure you don't want to come?" "Miss Drummond, you need to get yourself off of that boat right now." "Please, it's Kelly." "Watch the bend in the channel." "It's about three miles south." "The water's been low and gill nets are on the left floating on Clorox bottles." "Hello?" "How far down the bayou?" "Well, that's that bend Batist warned you about." "What you asking me, Elrod?" "Yeah, I'll come help you out." "But I am also going to bill you for my time." "I'll see you in a few." "Dude, I don't want to tell you what to do now, but there's people that's always going to be asking for something." "It don't matter how much you give." "It ain't never going to be enough." "I got it." "How'd you hit the gill net?" "Didn't you see the Clorox bottles?" "Oh, man..." "I'm an idiot, right?" "Thanks, man." "I'm sorry." "Want me to get down in the water?" "Yeah." "Get down by the bow and be ready to push when I put the motors in reverse." "Hey, are there any alligators around here?" "Oh, hell, yeah!" "They're not hungry, though." "All right." "Put on a lifejacket, El." "I swam the Trinity River once." "Watch out for water moccasins." "What?" "!" "Don't worry about him." "That water's not very deep." "I've got to give him a lifejacket." "He'd drown in a bathroom sink." "Nothing personal, Miss Kelly, but I think you're a very fine, beautiful young woman." "I'm already soaked!" "Hey, Mom." "What are you doing?" "Can I help?" "Yeah." "You can weed that row over there, if you want to." "An act of charity, one as simple as giving a person my raincoat, with a hood that obscured her face, had resulted in her death." "I knew a 19-year-old helicopter pilot from Galveston who flew missions over the Macon." "He called himself "the giver of death"." "Now I wondered if I had not taken on that role for myself." "I was burdened greatly by the deaths of those around me, Lieutenant." "But incorporating their suffering into our own lives does not change the way of the world." "The tragic death of Kelly Drummond, long-time companion of Elrod Sykes and star of the popular TV series River Valley, now appears certain to have been a case of mistaken identity." "Sources within...'" " Hello?" " You're a hard man to catch." " Who's this?" " Sugar, it's Amber." "Don't you remember me?" "Don't hurt my feelings." "No, I'm sorry, I don't remember who you are." "What can I do for you?" "It's me who's going to do you a big favour, darlin." "I'm going to give you the guy you want." "What guy are we talking about?" "The nasty old pimp who's been leavin' dead girls around." "Meet me at Club Leon in an hour." "Hey, I'm sorry about that actress, man." "Thanks for coming out, Lou." "So who is it you're supposed to be meeting up with here?" "Said her name was Amber." "Well, there's a hooker around who calls herself Amber." "What are we doing tonight?" "I'd like you to be here to cover my back." "It ain't no big deal, I just don't want to walk into a set-up." "This is a weird fucking place for a set-up, man." "When'd you start needing back-up for bullshit like this?" "Somebody's been shooting at me, man." " What are you havin'?" " Amber been in?" "Amber Martinez, short skinny Puerto Rican girl, maybe weighs 100 pounds soaking wet?" "No, she ain't been in." "What you drinking?" " Dr Pepper." " Dr Pepper." "Yes sir." "I could call someone who might know where she's at." "Why don't you do that?" "Yes sir, right away." "Hey, Momma T. Amber there?" "No word from Amber?" "No, man, not a word." "Get back in there!" "Dave!" "The fuck's going on?" "Shooter fired at me twice." "I put eight rounds in that Buick, I think he's still in there." "Looks like she took one right in the face." "What do you mean, she?" "You just popped Amber Martinez." "There's no fucking gun." "I saw the muzzle flashes, I heard the shot." "There's no gun, man." "I got this throw-down." "Do you want me to do it?" "Why would Amber Martinez be sitting in the passenger seat of her own car?" "What did the homicide investigator have to say last night?" "He told me I'm a hell of a shot." "Everybody thinks I killed an unarmed woman." "There's not any bullet holes anywhere, there's no casings and there's no gun." "It was a set-up, Dave." "What y'all doing out here?" "You can't be messing around a crime scene." "I heard you were suspended." "Indefinitely, without pay." "I'm really just an observer here." " Who's she?" " Special Agent Gomez." "This is part of an FBI investigation." "Do you have a problem with that?" "Why piss people off, Robicheaux?" "St Martin Parish ain't going to indict you over this, but if I were you, I wouldn't hang around here." "It might piss me off." "I opened up on that Buick too soon." "You thought your life was at risk, Lieutenant." " I hope you don't mind my being here." " No." "You shouldn't have remorse." "The desire to live doesn't mean you lack humanity." "Somebody's trying to drive me crazy." "I can't believe what I see or hear any more." "They say I killed an unarmed woman." "I think that would probably bother me too." "If you'd seen that woman, back of her head, her hair glued down to the carpet with her own blood..." "Think about what you just said." "You're an intelligent man." "What does your eye tell you?" "I need help." "The wind's out of the south." "There'll be thunder by afternoon." "It'll sound like Yankee cannonfire, but it'll only be thunder." "General?" "What time is it?" "What time is it?" "People go to AA meetings because they're drunks, but they also go there because it's the last stop on the line and the only place they'll find a kindred spirit." "That evening, I was waiting with Lou Girard for Elrod in front of the AA meeting, and I was worried about him because I thought the guy had melted his head." "Julie!" "Julie!" "You thug!" "You gangster!" "You mafia piece of shit, open up!" "Open up! Balboni!" "You no-talent murderer, get out here!" "Come on, man." "If I find out you had anything to do with what happened to Kelly..." "I'll shove a shotgun up your ass!" "You're a lucky little piece of fruit, Elrod." "You're valuable to my business." "See that?" "Fuck you mean, no talent?" "Take a beer, baby." "If I can vacuum the Buick, what are we looking for?" "I saw muzzle flashes coming out that Buick." "I didn't see no bullet holes in that wall." "See what you can find out." "I don't think your friend's going to make it." "What do you say we go on in?" " Come on." " OK." "Thank you, Henry." "Anyone else got something to share?" "My name's Dave, and I'm an alcoholic." "Hi, Dave." "Dave." "I felt close to Elrod Sykes." "He and I had found a strange kind of bond in the General and the death of Kelly Drummond." "It wasn't a bond I necessarily wanted, but we don't get to vote when the dead decide to direct our lives." "I'm going to miss her, Dave." "You want him to stay here?" "Guy's in bad shape." "This is our home!" "Mr Sykes just did the rainbow yawn again." "Go to bed." "The guy needs an AA friend, or he's not going to make it." "So what?" "I don't care." "Tell you what, I'll make you a deal." "First time he takes a drink, he gets 86ed right straight back to his movie star trailer house." "He pays for his share of food." "He does not tie up the bathroom." "He does not come in late." "OK." "But only for a few days." "I can't stand that bullshit about his visions any longer than that." "Do you ever carry anything but a .45?" "No, same .45" "I brought back from Vietnam." "Well, from the size of the wound and the impact of the round, I'd say a .45 killed her." "How many people know you only use that caliber?" "Not many, mostly cops." "Well, that part would worry me, if I was you." "Look her head." "She was a pretty girl." "I only use hollow-point ammunition, Sollie." "Ain't no hollow-point passed through this girl's head." "Her hair was stuck to the carpet, the blood already dried." "Did she die in that car, you want to ask me?" "Her blood lividity tells me that she was dead before she ever got into that car." "Foul ball!" "Looked right down the line to me." "You never were too good on rules and regulations, boundaries and shit like that." "What counts is the final score, my man." "There's another glove in the bag." "Hear you've been pretty busy out at that movie set." "That boy do something to hurt you?" "What's your stake in this, Dave?" "Elrod Sykes staying in my house." "That's good, Dave." "Why would I want to trouble the star of my picture?" "I'm not in this to lose money." "Come on, Julie, even when we were kids you never could let an injury or an insult pass." "You always had to get even." "What are you talking about?" "Save the hand-job, dude." "I knew you when your daddy used to beat you with a garden hose." "You talking about my family, I don't like that." "I was proud of my old man." "People ran this town back then weren't worth the sweat off his balls." "In New Iberia, we was always wops, dagos, ginnies, because you coon-asses was too fuckin' stupid to know what the Roman empire was." "You couldn't hit a bull in the butt with a bass fiddle, baby." "You hear that?" "It's General Banks's artillery firing from down on Bayou Teche." "He's targeted the wrong area, though." "There's a community of darkies under those cannonballs." "Did you see things like that in your war?" "I was in the Mekong." "There was a family of people that got caught out in the rice field." "When we buried them their faces were burned off." "They all looked alike." "Then you know it's the innocent about whom we need to be most concerned." "Hey." "We just going to leave him here?" "He don't look good." "Leave him alone." "He's got diarrhoea of the mouth maybe he learned a lesson." "That don't mean we can't drop off the guy at the hospital." "It ain't right." "You want to start signing your own paycheques, Cholo?" "Is that what you're saying?" "I didn't say that." "Just wipe this off the locals." "Isn't that what you're always saying?" "It was a starter pistol." "We found traces of paper wadding in the upholstery." "The kind they use to seal blank cartidges in a starter pistol." "I owe you a fishing trip, man." "Red fish, off Pecan Island." "Cherry LeBlanc got nailed for a prostitution charge in Lafayette when she was 16 years old." "Now, that means the court gave somebody a lot of control over her life." "Now, what if a probation or a parole officer had her selling out of her pants?" "You saw the second victim." "This guy wasn't born, he come out a furnace." "Just the same, I'm going to find out for you if her PO or social worker's still around." "Why don't you give it up, Lou?" "She gon' spend the night." "It is easy enough for you to say." "Your wife ain't no dyke." "Do you like being a movie star?" " It's just a job, honey." " Really?" "Yeah." "It's like Dave." "You think he enjoys enforcing the law, catching the bad guys, making the good people feel safe?" " Yeah." " Yeah, well..." "I like my job." "But you don't catch bad guys." "No, I don't." "But I guess people need to laugh and cry at the movies just as much as they need to feel safe." "I'd rather be safe." "Well, I'd rather you be safe." "I'm sorry about Kelly." "Me too, honey." "We have, uhm,... 50 posters here from Tears and Diamonds." "I hate that movie." "Well, 50 movie posters from Tears and Diamonds signed by Elrod Sykes will fetch about 25,000." "That's four roofs, eight with volunteer labour." " Here's your felt-tip pen." " Mmm." "It was a call from the sheriff of St Martin Parish." "Lou Girard had killed himself with a dog-leg .20 gauge in the seedy motel where he was living alone after his wife left him." "I was hoping he had found peace among the dead palm trees." "There's a half empty bottle of Bourbon here on the dresser, and a spilled bottle of Diazepam there on the coffee table." "You're writing that off as a suicide?" "Well, that's the way it looks to me." "He was in bad shape." "Mattress is covered in piss stains." "The sink is full of raw garbage." "Where's the gun at?" "By the bedside." "If Lou wanted to kill his self, how come he didn't use that .357?" "Cos he was drunk on his ass?" "Not an unusual condition for him." "He was helping me on a case, Doobie." "And?" "Maybe he found out something somebody did not want him to know." "He was trembling, eatin' pills every morning, in front of everybody." "There's no big mystery to what happened here tonight." "He was a good cop." "He was a sorry-ass drunk." "Now, if you want to look at anything else, hurry up." "I'm going to seal the place." "I'd appreciate you waiting outside just for a moment." "In fact, I'd appreciate you staying as far away from me as you can get." "Why you leaving?" "It's my foolishness, son." "Like you, I grieve over what I can't change." "Care for your own, though." "Don't emulate me." "We were always honourable, but we served venal men in a vile enterprise." "Wind's getting up." "You need to stay here." "Well said." "Absolutely right." "Say, I want you to have your photo taken with us." "Gentlemen, let's be about this business." "Are we ready, boys?" "Atten-tion!" "Always amazed at what the sciences are producing these days." "You won't tell me what's at hand, sir?" "What does it matter, as long as you stay true to your principles?" "Even the saints might take issue with that statement, General." "Ah, the admonition of a veteran." "Be of good heart, sir." "The afternoon air was like a bronze bow and dark broad-wing birds that made no sound drifted across it." "Hogman had learned about the death of Lou Girard and he wanted to talk to me." "I started to think about when I was in the pen." "And your daddy, he brought my mother food and paid for her medicine up at the store when she was sick." "You got something to say to me, Sam?" "What was the name of that nigger you dug up by the sandbar?" "DeWitt Prejean." "He was fuckin' a white man's wife." "Ask what he doing for a living, and you'll find the people been causing you all of this grief." "Who's the man I'm looking for?" "I said all I can say." "This still the state of Louisiana." "I'm in the movie with Elrod!" "We're walking down a road with plantation burning behind us" " and the..." " She's a natural." "I'm not kidding." "Mickey said the same thing." "Hey, some great work this morning." "I've been talking to that general." "Why you keep bothering' me?" "I need to know what kind of work DeWitt Prejean did." "He done nigger work." "You know, he cut lawns, cleaned out grease traps, got dead rats out from under people's houses." "What the fuck you think he did?" "Don't sound right to me." "I think he did some other kind of work, too." "You leave me alone." "You're a good judge of character." "Do I look like somebody that's going to go away?" "It was better back then." "You know it was." "What kind of work he do, Ben?" "Drove a truck." "Who for?" "It was over in Jeanerette." "I brung her out here cos she works for me, cos I can't get in and out of the car good by myself." "He worked seasonal for a white man, owned some big sugar mill." "I don't know nothing about him except he was a brother of that crippled fella." "That's all I know and nothing more." "You saying I do, then you're a goddamn liar." "Something else you want to say?" " You got a fish on your line." " Oh." " Batist?" " Yo." "How many sugar mills they got over there in Jeanerette?" " Just one." " Mmm-hmm." " Dave." " Come on in." "Stopped by to say goodbye, give you a going-away present." "Where you headed, Cholo?" "Thought I might go to Florida, maybe open a business like you got here." "What you doing with all that lawn furniture in the back end of your pick-up?" "The guy at the Holiday Inn wanted me to take it when I checked out." "Said, er,..." "I'd kind of be doing him a favour, you know..." " giving him a write-off." " Uh-huh." "You had some trouble with Baby Feet." "Yeah." "I told him he was a douchebag and I wouldn't work for him again." "That Cherry LeBlanc girl was right when she called him a needle-dick." "That's when the son of a bitch..." "Wait, wait, wait." "What's this about Cherry LeBlanc?" "If he tells you he never knew her, ask him about this." "Julie forgot he told me to take some pictures in Biloxi last year." "Is that her or not?" "Did Baby Feets kill this girl?" "Come on, Lieutenant." "You know how it works." "A guy like Julie don't do hits." "He says something to somebody, then he forgets it." "If it's a special kind of job, maybe somebody calls up a geek." "Did Baby Feets make that call?" "Start a photo album, Lieutenant." "Make up your own mind." "What's Murphy Doucet doing in this picture?" "What's the deal?" "Lou Girard was looking at her file last week." "Who busted her on the prostitution charge?" "There wouldn't be one officer." "No, it was a state police raid on a bar..." "Who sent the arrest report?" "Sergeant Murphy Doucet." "Murphy Doucet." "What's wrong, Dave?" "Got a loose ignition wire." "You got a knife I could use?" "Yeah, I ought to have something." "This should do." "Some Mexican pulled this on me in Lake Charles." "I didn't know you were a cop there." "No, I wasn't." "I was working highway for the state police." "I retired last year." "That when you got into business with Twinky?" "No, we go back way further." "Thanks for the knife." "I'll just be a second." "All my instincts had been good," "I just hadn't connected the elements together." "I was looking for somebody connected to the mob or prostitution or the police." "Maybe Doucet was all three." "I had to stop him." "What did you think y'all gonna find?" "You don't know, Murphy?" "You were a cop." "People get careless sometimes, maybe even forget they had their picture taken with one of the victims." "What are you talking about?" "If I'd been you, I wouldn't have let Cholo take my picture with Cherry Leblanc over there in Biloxi." "It is a nice photo of you though." "Why the hell are you all here?" "We're here because of you, Mr Doucet." "We've been checking all the unsolved murders of females in areas surrounding highways during the time you were working for the state police." "We're gonna talk about Kelly Drummond, yeah?" "Or Amber Martinez." "Or Lucy Roy." "What do you think you're doing?" "Rosie, I think we just found the knife that he used on Cherry LeBlanc." "That knife wasn't there!" "I'll say it was and I'll say your fingerprints are all over it." "Oh, I see..." "You and this mexican bitch are in on it together." "No, Murphy." "I'm fucking you all by myself." "Get your hands up!" "Now!" "Do you understand?" "Get against that wall!" "He's setting me up and I don't even know what this is about." "Think about it." "Think hard." "Think about 1965 just before that hurricane hit." "Remember?" "Your mate DeWitt Prejean with that chain locked around his chest, shot his leg out from underneath him." "You didn't notice the boy that was watching you from across the swamp though, did you?" "I don't know how you did it, but you planted that knife." "Time is always on the bad guy's side, Rosie, we wait for warrants while they sit on their ass." "I didn't hear what you said." "Jesus, you tore this place to pieces." "You wanna stay behind and clean it up?" "I wanna be nowhere around here when that guy gets home." "You heard he's out on bond?" "Screw that, he could be here any minute." "We got nothing." "Alfie?" "You know where your little girl's at?" "She's right here on my knee." "You sound speechless." "Turn her loose, Doucet, you don't wanna do this." "I'll make it simple for both of us, you take that knife out of the evidence locker and you put it in a zip lock bag." "At eight o'clock tomorrow morning you leave the bag in a trash can on the corner of Royal and St Anne in New Orleans." "You listen to me, Doucet, think about this, you're a cop, you can skate on us, we've been jacking you around the whole time." "You lyin' son of a bitch." "You won't rest till you fuck me up every way you can." "You said only one thing right today," "I'm gonna skate and you're gonna help me." "Finally lost your mind, Dave?" "Young lady, you need to stay away from this man." "Come on, let's go, get out of here." "Come on, let's go." "Now!" "Nothing good on TV tonight, Dave?" "Murphy Doucet has my daughter." "You hear what I said?" "That's too bad, I don't like to hear stuff like that, it upsets me." "Hey, maybe you can her face on one of them milk cartons?" "Where's my daughter, Julie?" "Where's Alafair at?" "I cut Doucet loose." "I got nothing to do with what he does." "You get off my fucking back, or I swear to God, I'll square this." "Cop or not, I'll put out an open contract." "I'll cowboy your whole fuckin' family!" "Your window of opportunity's closing down." "Where's my baby girl?" "I'm telling the truth!" "I got nothing to do with what he does!" "He's a geek!" "I don't hire geeks!" "I run 'em off!" "Last by God chance." "He's got a camp out by Bayou Vista, almost at Atchafalaya Basin." "The deed's not in his name." "Nobody knows about it." "It's at the end of the dirt road, by the salt marsh." "Alafair there?" "I hope to God she's not." "If we find the wrong thing, if Alafair's not OK, it's not because of anything you did." "Thank you." "Alfie!" "Did he hurt you, baby?" "I told him he'd better not." "I just shot a man armed with a rolled-up magazine." "No, no." "He had a gun on him." "You just don't remember it yet." "Are you OK?" "Should I call my lawyer?" "Mr LeMoyne," "I saw you and Murphy Doucet... ..kill DeWitt Prejean out on the Atchafalaya." "I watched it from across the swamp." "Am I under arrest?" "I think Doucet's been blackmailing you with it all these years." "A lot of bad things happened back in that era between the races." "But we're not the same people we were then, are we?" "I think we are." "You seem unable to let the past rest." "It's been my experience that you let go of the past by addressing it." "Please, leave." "It won't make any difference if I leave." "You're gonna drag this one around with you all day long every day, like a log chain, for the rest of your life." "Have you no mercy, sir?" "No, sir." "No, sir, I don't." "Outside, the evening air smelled of wet trees and night blooming flowers." "I saw a figure standing by a stagnant reed-choked pond." "He held himself erect in the wind with his single crutch." "His words lost in distant thunder." "I thought in the morning mists that curled around the Bayou" "I might again see General John Bell Hood, just a glimpse, perhaps, a doff of his hat, the kindness of his smile, the beleaguered affection that always seemed to linger in his face." "Then, as the days passed, and I began to let go of all violent events of that summer," "I came to accept that the General, as Bootsie had said, was only a figment of my imagination, there to remind me out of the distant past that the contest is never quite over, the field never quite ours."