Gone South

by

Robert R. McCammon

"A gothic picaresque that mixes gritty plot and black comedy....

GONE SOUTH is about more than it first appears to be. Its characters

arrive not only at immediate goals but at unexpected personal

destinies.

Yet the author does not neglect to fullfill the requirements of a

thriller.... [A] smoothly constructed and satisifying story. . -The

Wall Street Journal "Dramatic and riveting.... Robert R. McCammon

assembles an extraordinary collection of characters in a fast-paced

adventure. . .

-Oceanside (CA) Blade-Citizen Preview

"An embrace tale o desperation and discovery, of violence and

redemption. GONE SOUTH is a story so bravely innovative it will

electrify your imagination.

... Utterly absorbing."

-@a (OK) World

"GONE SOUTH is a punch in the gut, a bullet whizzing by the ear.

Fierce, driving action shoves the book along at a breakneck pace....

McCammon's storytelling ability has its usual high quality; the

characters-especially the two bounty hunters-are compelling.... GONE

SOUTH is almost film noir in its approach, with descriptions that make

you prickle with the sweat-drenched heat of Louisiana summer and the

equally sweaty desperation of people at their wits' end.... N"at

McCammon seems to be aiming at is a hybrid form of Southern fiction, a

combination of William Faulkner's distinct characterization, Tennessee

Williams' deviant and dark underpinnings, and McCammon's own personal

twists of plot."

-Birmingham News

Books by R@ R. McCammon

Baal Bethany's Sin Blue World Boy's Life Gone South Mine Mystery

Walk The Night Boat Stinger Swan Song They T-nirst Ushers Passing The

Wolf's Hour

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and

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@,20 The Good Son

it was hell's season, and the air smelled of burning children.

This smell was what had destroyed Dan Lambert's taste for

barbecued pork sandwiches. Before August of 1969, the year he'd turned

twenty, his favorite food had been barbecue crispy at the edges and

drenched with sloppy red sauce.

After the eleventh day of that month, the smell of it was enough

to make him sick to death.

He was driving east through Shreveport on 70th Street, into the

glare of the morning sun. It glanced off the hood of his gray pickup

truck and stabbed his eyes, inflaming the slow ache in his skull. He

knew this pain, and its vagaries.

Sometimes it came upon him like a brute with a hammer, sometimes

like a surgeon with a precise scalpel. During the worst times it hit

and ran like a Mack truck and all he could do was chew on his rage and

lie there until his body came back to him.

It was a hard thing, dying was.

In this August of 1991, a summer that had been one of the hottest

in Louisiana's long history of hellish seasons, Dan was forty-two years

old. He looked ten years older, his rawboned, heavily lined face a

testament to his ceaseless combat with pain. It was a fight he knew he

couldn't win. if he knew for certain he would live three more years,

he wasn't sure if he'd be happy about it. Right now it was day-to-day.

Some days were all right, some weren't worth a bucket of warm spit.

But it wasn't in his nature to give up,

no matter how tough things got. His father, the quitter, had not

raised a quitter. In this, at least, Dan could find strength.

He drove on along the arrow-straight line of 70th Street, past

strip malls and car lots and fast-food joints. He drove on into the

merciless sun and the smell of murdered innocents.

Lining the commercial carnival of 70th Street was a score of

barbecue restaurants, and it was from their kitchen chimneys that this

odor of burned flesh rose into the scalded sky. It was just after nine,

and already the temperature sign in front of the Friendship Bank of

Louisiana read eighty-six degrees. The sky was cloudless, but was more

white than blue, as if all the color had been bleached from it. The

sun was a burnished ball of pewter, a promise of another day of misery

across the Gulf states. Yesterday the temperature had hit a hundred

and two, and Dan figured that today it was going to be hot enough to

fry pigeons on the wing.

Afternoon showers passed through every few days, but it was just

enough to steam the streets. The Red River flowed its muddy course

through Shreveport to the bayou country and the air shimmered over the

larger buildings that stood iron-gray against the horizon.

Dan had to stop for a red light. The pickup's brakes squealed a

little, in need of new pads. A job replacing rotten lumber on a patio

deck last week had made him enough to pay the month's rent and

utilities, and he'd had a few dollars left over for groceries. Still,

some-things had to slide. He'd missed two payments on the pickup, and

he needed to go in and see Mr. Jarrett to work something out. Mr.

Jarrett, the loan manager at the First Commercial Bank, understood that

Dan had fallen on hard times, and cut him some slack.

The pain was back behind his eyes. It lived there, like a hermit

crab. Dan reached beside himself on the seat, picked up the white

bottle of Excedrin, and popped it open. He shook two tablets onto his

tongue and chewed them. The light turned green and he drove on, toward

Death Valley.

Dan wore a rust-colored short-sleeve shirt and blue jeans

with patches on the knees. Under a faded blue baseball his

thinning brown hair was combed back from his fore and spilled over his

shoulders; haircuts were not high on his list of priorities. He had

light brown eyes and a closecropped beard that was almost all gray. On

his left wrist was a Timex and on his feet was a sturdy pair of brown,

much-scuffed workboots. On his right forearm was the bluish-green

ghost of a snake tattoo, a reminder of a burly kid who'd had one too

many cheap and potent zombies with his buddies on a night of leave in

Saigon. That kid was long gone, and Dan was left with the tattoo. The

Snake Handlers, that's what they'd been. Not afraid to stick their

hands in the jungle's holes and pull out whatever horror might be

coiled up and waiting in there. They had not known, then, that the

entire world was a snake hole, and that the snakes just kept getting

bigger and meaner. They had not known, in their raucous rush toward

the future, that the snakes were lying in wait not only in the holes

but in the mowed green grass of the American Dream. They got your legs

first, wound around your ankles, and slowed you down. They slithered

into your guts and made you sick and afraid, and then you were easy to

kill.

In the years since that Day-Glo memory of a night in Saigon, Dan

Lambert had shrunken. At his chest-thumping, Charlie-whomping best

he'd stood six-two and carried two hundred and twelve pounds of Parris

Island-trained muscle. Back then, he'd felt as if he could swallow

bullets and shit iron. He weighed about a hundred and seventy pounds

now, and he didn't think he was much over six feet. There was a

gauntness in his face that made him think of some of the old Vietnamese

people who'd huddled in their hootches with eyes as terrified as those

of mongrel dogs expecting a boot. His cheekbones jutted, his chin was

as sharp as a can opener under the beard. It was the fact that he

rarely ate three meals a day, and of course a lot of his shrinkage was

due to the sickness, too.

Gravity and time were the giant killers, he thought as he drove

along the sun-washed highway with the back of his

sweat-wet shirt stuck to the seat. Gravity shrank you and time

pulled you into the grave, and not even the Snake Handlers could beat

such fearsome enemies as those.

He drove through pale smoke that had drifted from the chimney of

Hungry Bob's Barbecue Shack, the cook getting all that meat good and

black for the lunch crowd. A tire hit a pothole, and in the truck's

bed his box of tools jangled. They were the hammers, nails, levels and

saws of a carpenter.

At the next intersection he turned right and drove south into an

area of warehouses. It was a world of chainlink fences, loading docks,

and brick walls. Between the buildings the heat lay trapped and

vengeful. Up ahead a halfdozen pickup trucks and a few cars were

parked in an empty lot. Dan could see some of the men standing around

talking.

Another man was sitting in a folding chair reading a newspaper,

his CAT hat throwing a slice of shade across his face. Standing near

one of the cars was a man who had a sign hanging around his neck, and

on that sign was hand-lettered WILL WORK FOR FOOD.

This was Death Valley.

Dan pulled his truck into the lot and cut the engine. He unpeeled

his damp shirt from the backrest, slipped the bottle of aspirin into

his pocket, and got out. "There's Dan the man!" Steve Lynam called

from where he stood talking with Darryl Glennon and Curtis Nowell, and

Dan raised a hand in greeting.

"Mornin, Dan," Joe Yates said, laying his newspaper in his lap.

"How's it hangin'?"

"It's still there," Dan answered. "I think."

"Got iced tea." A plastic jug and a bag of Dixie cups sat on the

ground next to Joe's folding chair. "Come on over."

Dan joined him. He drew iced tea into a cup and eased himself

down beside Joe's shadow. "Terry got a ticket," Joe said as he offered

Dan some of the newspaper. "Fella came by 'bout ten minutes ago,

lookin' for a man to set some Sheetrock. Picked Terry and off they

went."

"That's good." Terry Palmeter had a wife and two kids to feed.

"Fella say he might be needin' some more help later on?"

"Just the one Sheetrock man." Joe squinted up toward the sun. He

was a lean, hard-faced man with a nose that had been broken and

flattened by a vicious fist somewhere down the line. He'd been coming

here to Death Valley for over a year, about as long as Dan had been.

On most days Joe was an amiable gent, but on others he sat brooding and

darkspirited and was not to be approached. Like the other men who came

to Death Valley, Joe had never revealed much about himself, though Dan

had learned the man had been married and divorced the same as he had.

Most of the men were from towns other than Shreveport. They were

wanderers, following the promise of work, and for them the roads on the

map led not so much from city to city as from hot-tarred roofs to

mortared walls to the raw frameworks of new houses with pinewood so

fresh the timbers wept yellow tears. "God, it's gonna be a cooker

today," Joe said, and he lowered his head and returned to his reading

and waiting.

Dan drank the iced tea and felt sweat pricker* the back of his

neck. He didn't want to stare, but his eyes kept returning to the man

who wore the desperate hand-lettered sign. The

an had sandy-blond

hair, was probably in s lite twenties,

and wore a checked shirt and stained overalls. His

face was @ boyish, though it was starting to take on the tautness of

true hunger. It reminded Dan of someone he'd known a long time ago. A

name came to him: Farrow. He let it go, and the memory drifted away

like the acrid barbecue smoke.

"Looky here, Dan." Joe thumped an article in the Oaper.

"President's economics honcho says the recession's over and

everybody ought to be in fine shape by Christmas. Says new

construction's already up thirty percent."

"Do tell," Dan said.

"Got all sorts of graphs in here to show how happy we oughta be."

He showed them to Dan, who glanced at the meaningless bars and arrows

and then watched the man with the sign again. "Yeah, things are sure

getting' better all over, ain't they.?" Joe nodded, answering his own

cynical question. "Yessir. Too bad they forgot to tell the workman."

"Joe, who's that fella over there?" Dan asked. "The guy with the

sign."

"I don't know." He didn't lift his gaze from the paper.

"He was there when I got here. Young fella, looks to be. Hell,

ve

man jack of us would work for food if it came to that, b% e don't

wear signs advertisin' it, do we?"

"Maybe we're not hungry enough yet."

"Maybe not," Joe agreed, and then he said nothing else.

More men were arriving in their pickups and cars, some with wives

who let them out and drove off. Dan recognized others he knew, like

Andy Slane and Jim Neilds. They were a community of sorts, scholars in

the college of hard knocks.

Fourteen months ago Dan had been working on the payroll of the AA

Construction Company. Their motto had been We Build the Best for Less.

Even so, the company hadn't been strong enough to survive the bottom

falling out of the building business. Dan had lost his job of five

years and quickly found that nobody was hiring carpenters full-time.

The first thing to go had been his house, in favor of a cheaper

apartment. His savings had dwindled amazingly-and frighteningly-fast.

Since his divorce in 1984 he'd been paying child support to Susan, so

his bank account had never been well padded. But he'd never been a man

who needed or expected luxuries, anyway. The nicest thing in his

possession was his Chevy pickup-"metallic mist" was the correct name of

its color, according to the salesman-which he'd bought three months

prior to the crash of AA Construction. Being behind the two payments

bothered him; Mr. Jarrett was a fair man, and Dan was not one to take

advantage of fairness. He was going to have to find a way to scrape

some cash together.

He didn't like looking at the man who wore the handlettered sign,

but he couldn't help it. He knew what trying to find a steady job was

like. With all the layoffs and businesses going under, the help-wanted

ads had dried up to nothing.

Skilled laborers like Dan and the others who came to Death Valley

were the first to feel the hurt. He didn't like looking at the man

with the desperate sign because he feared he might be seeing his own

future.

Death Valley was where men who wanted to work came to wait for a

"ticket." Getting a ticket meant being picked for a job by anyone who

needed labor. The contractors who were still in business knew about

Death Valley, and would go there to find help when a regular crewman

was sick or they needed extra hands for a day or two. Regular

homeowners sometimes drove by as well, to hire somebody to do such jobs

as patching a roof or building a fence. The citizens of Death Valley

worked cheap.

And the hell of it, Dan had learned by talking to the others, was

that places like Death Valley existed in every city. It had become

clear to him that thousands of men and women lived clinging to the edge

of poverty through no fawt of their own but because of the times and

the luck of the draw. The recession had been a beast with a cold eye,

and it had wrenched families young and old from their homes and

shattered their lives with equal dispassion.

"Hey, Dan! How many'd ya kill?"

Two shadows had fallen across him. He looked up and made out

Steve Lynam and Curtis Nowell standing beside him with the sun at their

backs. "What?" he asked.

"How many'd ya kill?" Curtis had posed the question.

He was in his early thirties, had curly dark brown hair, and wore

a yellow T-shirt with no stenciled on it. "How many chinks? More than

twenty or less than twenty?"

"Chinks?" Dan repeated, not quite grasping the point.

"yeah

Curtis dug a pack of Winstons and a lighter from his jeans

pocket. "Charlies. Gooks. Whatever you dudes called 'em back then.

You kill more than twenty of 'em?"

Joe pushed the brim of his cap up. "You fellas don't have anythin'

better to do than invade a man's privacy?"

"No," Curtis said as he lit up. "We ain't hurtin'anythin' by

askin, are we, Dan? I mean, you're proud to be a vet, ain't you?"

"Yes, I am." Dan sipped his" tea again. Most of the Death Valley

regulars knew about his tour of duty, not because he particularly cared

to crow about it but because Curtis had asked him where held gotten the

tattoo. @is @ a big

mouth and he was on the dumb side: a bad combination.

"I'm proud I served my country," Dan said.

"Yeah, you didn't run to Canada like them draft-dodgin' fuckers

did, huh?" Steve asked. He was a few years older than Curtis, had

keen blue eyes and a chest as big as a beer keg.

"No," Dan answered, "I did what I was told."

"So how many?" Curtis urged. "More than twenty?"

Dan released a long, weary breath. The sun was beating down on

his skull, even through the baseball cap. "Does it really matter?"

"We want to know," Curtis said, the cigarette clenched between his

teeth and his mouth leaking smoke. "You kept a body count, didn't

you?"

Dan stared straight ahead. He was looking at a chain-link fence.

Beyond it was a wall of brown bricks. Sun and shadow lay worlds apart

on that wall. In the air Dan could smell the burning.

"Talked to this vet once in Mobile," Curtis plowed on.

"Fella was one-legged. He said he kept a body count. Said he

knew how many chinks he'd killed right to the man."

"Jesus Christ!" Joe said. "Why don't you two go on and pester

the shit outta somebody else? Can't you see Dan don't want to talk

about it?"

"He's got a voice," Steve replied. "He can say if he wants to

talk about it or not."

Dan could sense Joe was about to stand up from his chair.

When Joe stood up, it was either to go after a ticket or knock the

ugly out of somebody. "I didn't keep a body count," Dan said before

Joe could leave the folding chair. "I just did my job."

"But you can kinda figure out how many, right?" Curtis wasn't

about to give up until he'd gnawed all the meat off this particular

bone. "Like more or less than twenty?"

A slow pinwheel of memories had begun to turn in Dan's mind.

These memories were never far from him, even on the best of days. in

that slow pinwheel were fragments of scenes and events: mortar shells

blasting dirt showers in a jungle where the sunlight was cut to a murky

gloom; rice paddies

a

The Good Son shimmering in the noonday heat; helicopters circling

overhead while soldiers screamed for help over their radios and sniper

bullets ripped the air; the false neon joy of Saigon's streets and

bars; dark shapes unseen yet felt, and human excrement lying within the

perimeter wire to mark the contempt the Cong had for Uncle Sam's young

men; rockets scrawling white and red across the twilight sky;

AnnMargret in thigh-high boots and pink hot pants, dancing the frug at

a USO show; the body of a Cong soldier, a boy maybe fifteen years old,

who had stepped on a mine and been blown apart and flies forming a

black mask on his bloody face; a firelight in a muddy clearing, and a

terrified voice yelling motherfucker motherfucker motherfucker like a

strange mantra; the silver rain, drenching the trees and vines and

grass, the hair and skin and eyes and not one drop of it clean; and the

village.

Oh, yes. The village.

Dan's mouth was very dry. He took another swallow of tea. The

ice was almost gone. He could feel the men waiting for him to speak,

and he knew they wouldn't leave him alone until he did. "More than

twenty."

"Hot damn, I knew it!" Grinning, Curtis elbowed Steve in the ribs

and held out his palm. "Cough it up, friend!"

"Okay, okay." Steve brought out a battered wallet, opened it, and

slapped a five-dollar bill into Curtis Nowell's hand. "I'll get it

back sooner or later."

"You boys ain't got trouble enough, you gotta gamble your money

away?" Joe sneered.

Dan set his cup down. A hot pulse had begun beating at his

temples. "You laid a bet," he said as he lifted a wintry gaze to the

two men, "on how many corpses I left in 'Nam?"

"Yeah, I bet it'd be more than twenty," Curtis said, "and Steve

bet it'd be-' , I "I get the drift." Dan stood up. It was a slow,

easy movement though it hurt his knees. "You used me and what I did to

win you some cash, Curtis?"

"Sure did." It was said proudly. Curtis started to push the

river into his pocket.

"Let me see the money."

Still grinning, Curtis held the bill out.

Dan didn't smile. His hand whipped forward, took the money, and

had it in his grip before Curtis's grin could drop. "Whoa!" Curtis

said. "Give it here, man!"

"You used me and what I did? What I lived through? I think I

deserve half of this, don't you?" Without hesitation, Dan tore the

bill in two.

"Hey, man! It's against the fuckin'law to tear up money!"

"Sue me. Here's your half."

Curtis's face had reddened. "I oughta bust your fuckin, head is

what I oughta do!"

"Maybe you ought to. Try, at least."

Sensing trouble, a few of the other men had started edging closer.

Curtis's grin returned, only this time it was mean. "I could take you

with one hand, you skinny old bastard."

'You might be right about that." Dan watched the younger man's

eyes, knowing that in them he would see the punch coming before

Curtis's arm was cocked for the strike.

"Might be. But before you try, I want you to know that I haven't

raised my hand in anger to a man since I left'Nam. I wasn't the best

soldier, but I did my job and nobody could ever say I'd gone south."

Dan saw a nerve in Curries left eyelid begin to tick. Curtis was close

to swinging. "If you swing on me," Dan said calmly, "you'll have to

kill me to put me down. I won't be used or made a fool of, and I won't

have you winnin' a bet on how many bodies I left in my footprints. Do

you understand that, Curtis?"

"I think you're full of shit," Curtis said, but his grin had

weakened. Blisters of sweat glistened on his cheeks and forehead. He

glanced to the right and left, taking in the half-dozen or so

onlookers, then back to Dan. "You think you're something' special

'cause you're a vet?"

"Nothin' special about me," Dan answered. "I just want you to

know that I learned how to kill over there. I got better at it than I

wanted to be. I didn't kill all those Cong with a gun or a knife. Some

of 'em I had to use my hands. Curtis, I love peace more than any man

alive, but I won't take disrespect. So go on and swing if you want to,

I'm not goin' anywhere."

"Man, I could break your damn neck with one punch," Curtis said,

but the way he said it told Dan he was trying to decide whether to push

this thing any further.

Dan waited. The decision was not his to make.

A few seconds ticked past. Dan and Curtis stared at each other.

"Awful hot to be fightin'," Joe said. "Grown men, I swear!"

"Hell, it's only five dollars," Steve added.

Curtis took a deep drag on his cigarette and exhaled smoke through

his nostrils. Dan kept watching him, his gaze steady and his face

placid though the pain in his skull had racheted up a notch.

"Shit," Curtis said at last. He spat out a shred of tobacco.

"Give it here, then." He took the half that Dan offered.

"Keep you from tapin' it back together and spendin' it, at least."

"There ya go. Ya'll kiss and make up," Joe suggested.

Curtis laughed, and Dan allowed a smile. The men who'd thronged

around began moving away. Dan knew that Curtis wasn't a bad fellow;

Curtis just had a bad attitude sometimes and needed a little sense

knocked into him. But on this day, with the sun burning down and no

breeze stirring the weeds of Death Valley, Dan was very glad push had

not come to shove.

"Sorry," Steve told him. "Guess we didn't think it'd bother you.

The bet, I mean."

"Now you know. Let's forget it, all right?"

Curtis and Steve moved off. Dan took the Excedrin bottle from his

pocket and popped another aspirin. His palms were damp, not from fear

of Curtis, but from fear of what he might have done had that particular

demon been loosed.

"You okay?" Joe was watching him carefully.

"Yeah. Headache."

"You get a lot of those, don't you?"

"A few."

"You seen a doctor?"

"Yeah." Dan put the bottle away. "Says it's migraine."

"Is that so?"

"Uh-huh." He knows I'm lyin', Dan thought. There was no need to

tell any of the men here about his sickness. He crunched the aspirin

between his teeth and washed it down with the last of his iced tea.

"Curtis is gonna get his clock cleaned one fine day", im said.

"Fella don't have no sense."

"He hasn't @ved enough, that's his problem."

"Right. Not like us old relics, huh?" Joe looked up at the sky,

measuring the journey of the sun. "Did you see some hell over there,

Dan?"

Dan settled himself back down beside his friend's chair.

He let the question hang for a moment, and then he said, "I did.

We all did."

"I just missed getting' drafted. I supported you fellas all the

way, though. I didn't march in the streets or nothin'."

"Might've been better if you had. We were over there way too

long."

"We could've won it," Joe said. "Yessir. We could've swept the

floor with them bastards if we'd just-" "That's what I used to think,"

Dan interrupted quietly. "I used to think if it wasn't for the

protesters, we could've turned that damn country into a big asphalt

parkin'lot." He drew his knees up to his chest. The aspirin was

kicking in now, dulling the pain. "Then I went up to Washington, and I

walked along that wall. You know, where the names are.

Lots of names up there. Fellas I knew. Young boys, eighteen and

nineteen, and what was left of 'em wouldn't fill a bucket. I've

thought and thought about it, but I can't fipre out what we would've

had if we'd won. If we'd killed every Charlie to a man, if we'd

marched right into Hanoi and torched it to the ground, if we'd come

home the heroes like the Desert Storm boys did ... what would we have

won?"

"Respect, I guess," Joe said.

"No, not even that. It was past time to get out. I knew it when

I saw all those names on that black wall. When I saw mothers and

fathers tracin' their dead sons' names on paper to take home with 'em

because that's all they had left, I knew the protesters were right. We

never could've won it.

Never."

"Gone south," Joe said.

"What?"

@'Gone south. You told Curtis nobody could ever say you'd gone

south. What's that mean?"

Dan realized he'd used the term, but hearing it from the mouth of

another man had taken him by surprise.

"Somethin' we said in 'Nam," he explained. "Somebody screwed

up-or cracked up-we said he'd gone south."

"And you never screwed up?"

"Not enough to get myself or anybody else killed. That was all we

wanted: to get out alive."

Joe grunted. "Some life you came back to, huh?"

"Yeah," Dan said, "some life."

Joe lapsed into silence, and Dan offered nothing else.

Vietnam was not a subject Dan willingly talked about.

If anyone wanted to know and they pressed it, he might tell them

hesitantly about the Snake Handlers and their exploits, the childlike

bar girls of Saigon and the jungle snipers he'd been trained to hunt

and kill, but never could he utter a word about two things: the village

and the dirty silver rain.

The sun rose higher and the morning grew old. It was a slow day

for tickets. Near ten-thirty a man in a white panel truck stopped at

Death Valley and the call went up for two men who had experience in

house-painting. Jimmy Staggs and Curtis Nowell got a ticket, and after

they left in the panel truck everybody else settled down to waiting

again.

Dan felt the brutal heat sapping him. He had to go sit in his

truck for a while to get out of the sun. A couple of the younger bucks

had brought baseball gloves and a ball, and they peeled off their wet

shirts and pitched some as Dan and the older men watched. The guy with

the hand-lettered sign around his neck was sitting on the curb, looking

expectantly in the direction from which the ticket givers would be

coming like God's emissaries. Dan wanted to go over and tell him to

take that sign off, that he shouldn't beg,

but he decided against it.   You did what you had to do to get by.

Again the young man reminded Dan of someone else.

Farrow was the name. It was the color of the hair and the boyish

face, Dan thought. Farrow, the kid from Boston.

Well, they'd all been kids back in those days, hadn't they?

But thinking about Farrow stirred up old, deep pain, and Dan

shunted the haunting images aside.

Dan had been born in Shreveport on the fifth of May in 1950. His

father, who had been a sergeant in the Marine Corps but who liked to be

called "Major" by his fellow workers at the Pepsi bottling plant, had

departed this life in 1973 by route of a revolver bullet to the roof of

the mouth.

Dan's mother, never in the best of health, had gone to south

Florida to live with an older sister. Dan understood she had part

interest in a flower shop and was doing all right. His sister, Kathy,

older than he by three years, lived in Taos, New Mexico, where she made

copper-and-turquoise jewelry. Of the two of them, Kathy had been the

rebel against the major's rigid love-it-or-leave-it patriotism. She'd

escaped just past her seventeenth birthday, jumping into a van with a

band of folksingers-"scum of the earth," the major had called them-and

hitting the road to the golden West. Dan, the good @had finished high

school, kept his hair cut short, had become a carpenter's apprentice,

and had been driven by his father to the Marine recruiting center to do

his duty as a "good American."

And now Dan was waiting, in the city of his birth, for a ticket in

the hot stillness of Death Valley.

Around eleven-thirty another panel truck pulled up. Dan was

always amazed at how quickly everybody could move when the day was

passing and tickets were in short supply.

Like hungry animals the men jostled for position around the panel

truck. Dan was among them. This time the call was for four laborers

to patch and tar a warehouse's roof. Joe Yates got a ticket, but Dan

was left behind when the panel truck drove away.

As twelve noon passed, some of the men began leaving.

Experience taught that if you hadn't gotten a ticket by noon,

you'd struck out. There was always tomorrow. Rain or shine, Death

Valley and its citizens would be here. As one o'clock approached, Dan

got into his pickup, started the The Good Son engine, and drove through

the charred-meat smoke for home.

He lived in a small apartment complex about six miles from Death

Valley, but on the same side of town. Near his apartment stood a

combination gas station and grocery store, and Dan stopped to go inside

and check the store's bulletin board. On it he'd placed an ad that

said "Carpenter Needs Work, Reasonable Rates" with his telephone number

duplicated on little tags to be torn off by potential customers. He

wanted to make sure all the tags weren't gone; they were not. He spent

a few minutes talking to Leon, the store's clerk, and asked again if

Mr. Khasab, the SaudiArabian man who owned the store, needed any help.

As usual, Leon said Mr. Khasab had Dan's application on file.

The apartment building was made of tawny-colored bricks, and on

these blistering days the little rooms held heat like closed fists.

Dan got out of his truck, his back sopping wet, and opened his mailbox

with his key. He was running an ad in the Jobs Wanted section of the

classifieds this week, with his phone number and address, and he was

hoping for any response. Inside the mailbox were two envelopes. The

first, addressed to "Occupant," was from a city councilman running for

reelection. The second had his full name on it-Mr. Daniel Lewis

Lambert-and its return address was the First Commercial Bank of

Shreveport.

"Confidential Information" was typed across the envelope in the

lower left corner. Dan didn't like the looks of that. He tore open the

envelope, unfolded the crisp white sheet of paper within, and read it.

It was from the bank's loan department. He'd already assumed as

much, though this stiff formality was not Mr.

Jarrett's style. It took him only a few seconds to read the

paragraph under the Dear Mr. Lambert, and when he'd finished he felt

as if he'd just taken a punch to the heart.

... valued loan customer, however ... action as we see proper at

this time ... due to your past erratic record of payment and current

delinquency ... surrender the keys,

registration, and appropriate papers ... 1990 Chevrolet pickup

truck, color metallic mist, engine serial number ... 2

"Oh my God," Dan whispered.

... immediate repossession ...

Dan blinked, dazed in the white glare of the scorching

Tickin,q

sun.

They were taking his truck away from him.

When he pushed through the revolving door into the First

Commercial Bank at ten minutes before two, Dan was wearing his best

clothes: a short-sleeve white shirt, a tie with pale blue stripes, and

dark gray slacks. He'd removed his baseball cap and combed his hair,

and on his feet were black shoes instead of the workman's boots. He'd

expected the usual cold job of full-blast air-conditioning, but the

bank's interior wasn't much cooler than the street. The

air-conditioning had conked out, the tellers sweating in their booths.

Dan walked to the elevator, his fresh shirt already soaked. In

his right hand was the envelope, and in the envelope was the letter of

repossession.

He was terrified.

The loan department was on the second floor. Before he went

through the solemn oak door, Dan stopped at a water fountain to take

another aspirin. His hands had started trembling. The time of

reckoning had arrived.

The signature on the letter was not that of Robert "Bud" Jarrett.

A man named Emory Blanchard had siped it.

Beneath Blanchard's signature was a title: Manager. Two months

ago Bud Jarrett had been the loan department's manager. As much as he

could, Dan steeled himself for whatever lay ahead, and he opened the

door and walked through.

In the reception area was a sofa, a grouping of chairs, and a

magazine rack. The Secretary, whose name was Mrs. Faye

Duvall, was on the telephone at her desk, a computer's screen

glowing blue before her. She was forty-nine, grayhaired, fit, and

tanned, and Dan had talked to her enough to know she played tennis

every Saturday at Lakeside Park.

She had taken off the jacket of her peach-hued suit and draped it

over the back of her chair, and a fan aimed directly at her whirred

atop a filing cabinet.

Dan saw that the closed door behind her no longer had Mr.

Jarrett's name on it. On the door was embossed MR. E.

BLANCHARD. "One minute," Mrs. Duvall said to Dan, and returned to

her phone conversation. It was something to do with refinancing. Dan

waited, standing before her desk. The window's blinds had been closed

to seal out the sun, but the heat was stifling even with the fan in

motion. At last Mrs.

Duvall said good-bye and hung up the phone, and she smiled at Dan

but he could see the edginess in it. She knew, of course; she'd typed

the letter.

"'Afternoon," she said. "Hot enough for you?"

"I've known worse."

"We need a good rain, is what we need. Rain would take the

sufferin' out of that sky."

"Mr. Jarrett," Dan said. "What happened to him?"

She leaned back in her chair and frowned, the corners of her mouth

crinkling. "Well, it was sudden, that's for sure. They called him

upstairs a week ago Monday, he cleaned out his desk on Tuesday, and he

was gone. They brought in this new fella, a real hard charger." She

angled her head toward Blanchard's door. "I just couldn't believe it

myself. Bud was here eight years; I figured he'd stay till he

retired."

"Why'd they let him go?"

"I can't say." The inflection of her voice, however, told Dan she

was well aware of the reasons. "What I hear is, Mr.

Blanchard was a real fireball at a bank in Baton Rouge.

Turned their loan department around in a year." She shrugged.

"Bud was the nicest fella you'd ever hope to meet.

But maybe he was too nice."

"He sure helped me out a lot." Dan held up the letter. "I got

this today."

is

Ticking

"Oh. Yes." Her eyes became a little flinty, and she sat up

straighter. The time for personal conversation was over.

"Did you follow the instructions?"

"I'd like to see Mr. Blanchard," Dan said. "Maybe I can work

something' out."

"Well, he's not here right now." She glanced at a small clock on

her desk, "I don't expect him back for another hour."

"I'll wait."

"Go ahead and sit down, then. We're not exactly crowded at the

minute." Dan took a seat, and Mrs. Duvall returned to her task on the

computer screen. After a few moments, during which Dan was lost in his

thoughts about how he was going to plead his case, Mrs. Duvall cleared

her throat and said, "I'm sorry about this. Do you have enough money

to make one payment?"

"No." He'd gone through his apartment like a whirlwind in search

of cash, but all he'd been able to come up with was thirty-eight

dollars and sixty-two cents.

"Any friends you could borrow it from?"

He shook his head. This was his problem, and he wasn'ting to

ag anybody else into it.

"Don't you have a steady job yet?"

"No. Not that, either."

Mrs. Duvall was silent, working on the keyboard. Dan put the

letter in his pocket, laced his fingers together, and waited. He

didn't have to be told that he was up Shit Creek without a paddle and

that his boat had just sprung a leak.

The heat weighed on him. Mrs. Duvall got up from her chair and

angled the fan a little so some of the breeze came Dan's way. She

asked if he wanted a cold drink from the machine down the hall, but he

said he was fine.

"I tell you, this damn heat in here is somethingjawfW!" she said

as she backed the cursor up to correct a mistake.

"Air-conditionin' busted first thing this mornin', can you believe

it?"

"It's bad, all right."

"Listen, Mr. Lambert." She looked at him, and he winced inside

because he could see pity in her expression. "I've

gotta tell you that Mr. Blanchard doesn't go for hard-luck

stories. If you could make up for one payment, that might help a whole

lot."

"I can't," Dan said. "No work's been comin' in. But if I lose my

truck, there's no way I can get to a job if somebody calls me. That

truck. . . it's the only thing I've got left."

"Do you know anythin' about guns?"

'Pardon?"

"Guns," she repeated. "Mr. Blanchard loves to go huntin', and he

collects guns. If you know anythin' about guns, you might get him

talkin' about 'em before you make your pitch."

Dan smiled faintly. The last gun he'd had anything to do with was

an M-16. "Thank you," he said. "I'll remember that."

An hour crept past. Dan paged through all the magazines, looking

up whenever the door to the hallway opened, but it was only to admit

other loan customers who came and went.

He was aware of the clock on Mrs. Duvall's desk ticking. His

nerves were beginning to fray. At three-fifteen he stood up to go get

a drink of water from the fountain, and that was when the door opened

and two men entered the office.

"Hello, Mr. Blanchard!" Mrs. Duvall said cheerfully, cueing Dan

that the boss had arrived.

"Faye, get me Perry Griffin on the phone, please." Emory

Blanchard carried the jacket of his rit blue I seersucker suit over

his right arm. He wore a white shirt and a yellow tie with little blue

dots on it. There were sweat stains at his armpits. He was a

heavyset, fleshy man, his face ruddy and gleaming with moisture. Dan

figured he was in his midthirties, at least ten years younger than Bud

Jarrett. Blanchard had close-cropped brown hair that was receding in

front, and his square and chunky face coupled with powerful shoulders

made Dan think the man might've played college football before the

beers had overtaken his belly. He wore silver-wire-rimmed glasses and

he was chewing gum.

The second man had likewise stripped off the coat of his

tan-colored suit, and he had curly blond hair going

gray on the sides. "Step on in here, Jerome," Blanchard raid as

he headed for his office, "and let's do us a little badness."

"Uh ... Mr. Blanchard?" Mrs. Duvall had the telephone to her

ear. She glanced at Dan and then back to Blanchard, who had paused

with one hand on the doorknob. "Mr.

Lambert's been waitin' to see you."

Who?"

Dan stepped forward. "Dan Lambert. I need to talk to you,

please."

The force of Blanchard's full pze was a sturdy thing. His eyes

were steely blue, and they provided the first chill Dan had felt all

day. In three seconds Blanchard had taken Dan in from shoetips to the

crown of his head. 14 I'm sorry?" fris eyebrows rose.

"Repossession," Mrs. Duvall explained. "Chevrolet pickup

truck"

"Right!" Blanchard snapped his fingers. "Got it now.

Your letter went out yesterday, I recall."

"Yes sir, I've got it here with me. That's what I need to talk to

you about."

Blanchard frowned, if s teeth had found a fly in his

as his chewing gum. "I believe the instructions in that letter

were clear, weren't they' "They were, yeah. But can I just have two

minutes of your time?"

"Mr. Griffin's on the line," the secretary announced.

"Two minutes," Dan said. Don't beg, he thought. But he couldn't

help it; the truck was his freedom, and if it was

taken from him, he'd have nothing.   "Then I'll be gone, I

swear.'s

"I'm a busy man."

"YeS sir, I know you are. But could you just please hear me outr'

The chilly blue eyes remained impassive, and Dan feared it was all

over. But then Blanchard ghed ansi

d dd resipedly, "All right, sit down and I'll get to you.

Faye, pipe al' Perry into my office, will you? "Yes sir."

Dan settled into his chair again as Blanchard and the other man

went into the inner office. When the door had firmly closed, Mrs.

Duvall said quietly, "He's in a good mood. You might be able to get

somewhere with him."

"We'll see." His heart felt like a bagful of twisting worms.

He took a long, deep breath. There was pain in his skull, but he

could tough it out. After a few minutes had passed, Dan heard

Blanchard laugh behind the door; it was a hearty, gut-felt laugh, the

kind of laugh a man makes when he's got money in his pockets and a

steak in his belly. Dan waited, his hands gripped together and sweat

leaking from his pores.

It was half an hour later when the door opened again.

Jerome emerged. He looked happy, and Dan figured their business

had been successful. He closed the door behind him. "See ya later on,

Faye," he told Mrs. Duvall, and she said, "You take care, now."

Jerome left, and Dan continued to wait with tension pawing his nerves.

A buzzer went off on Mrs. Duvall's desk, and Dan almost jumped

out of his chair. She pressed a button. "Yes sir?"

"Send Mr. Lambert in," the voice said through the interCOM.

"Good luck," Mrs. Duvall told Dan as he approached the door, and

he nodded.

Emory Blanchard's office was at a corner of the building, and had

two high windows. The blinds were drawn but shards of sunlight arrowed

white and fierce between the slats. Blanchard was sitting behind his

desk like a lion in his den, imperial and remote. "Shut the door and

have a seat," he said. Dan did, sitting in one of two black leather

chairs that faced the desk. Blanchard removed his glasses and wiped

the round lenses with a handkerchief. He was still chewing gum. The

sweat stains at his armpits had grown; moisture glistened on his cheeks

and forehead. "Summertime." He spoke the word like a grunt. "Sure

not my favorite season."

"It's been a hot one, all right." Dan glanced around the office,

noting how this man had altered it from Bud Jarrett's homey simplicity.

The carpet was a red-and-gold Oriental,

and behind Blanchard on oak shelves that still smelled of the

sawmill were thick leather-bound books, meticulously arranged tomes

that were for display more than for reading.

A stag's head with a four-point rack of antlers was mounted on a

wall and beneath it a brass plaque read nm BUCY, nm HERE. Prints of

fox hunts were hung on either side of the stopped buck. On the wide,

smooth expanse of Blanchard's desk were it=ed photographs of an

attractive but handy made-up blond woman and two children, a girl of

seven or eight and a boy who looked to be ten. The boy had his fathers

cool blue eyes and his regal bearing, the girl was all bows and white

lace.

"My kids," Blanchard said.

.'Nice-lookin' family."

Blanchard returned the glasses to his face. He picked up the

boy's picture and regarded it with admiration. -yance made

all-American on his team last year. Got an arm @ Joe Montana. He sure

raised a holler when we left Baton Rouge, but he'll do fine."

"I've got a son," Dan said.

"Yessir." Blanchard put the photograph back in its place next to a

small Lucite cube that had a little plastic American flag mounted

inside it. Written on the cube in red, white, and blue were the words

I Supported Desert Storm.

wait about nine more years, you'll see Yance Blanchard

it.

brealdn' some passin' records at LSU, I @tee He swiveled his chair

around to where a computer a telephone, and the intercom were set up.

He smtched the computer on, pressed a few keys, and black lines of

information appeared. "Okay, there's your file," he said. "You a

Cajun, Mr. Lambert?"

"No."

derin metimes can "Just won '. SO you can't tell who's a Cajun and

who's not. Allrighty, let's see what we've got here."

Carpenter, are you? Employed at AA Construction, are you?"

were employed at AA Construction until November of this year."

"The company went bankrupt." He'd told mr. Jarrett about it, of

course, and it had gone into his file.

"Construction bidness hit the rocks, that's for sure. You

freelancin' now, is that it?"

"Yes sir."

"I see Jarrett was lattin' you slide some months. Delinquent two

payments. See, that's not a good thing. We can let you get by

sometimes if you're one payment behind, but two payments is a whole

different story."

"Yes sir, I know that, but I ... kind of had an understandin' with

Mr. Jarrett."

Even as he said it, Dan knew it was the wrong thing to say.

Blanchard's big shoulders hunched up almost imperceptibly, and he

slowly swiveled his chair around from the computer screen to face Dan.

Blanchard wore a tight, strained smile. "See, there's a problem," he

said. "There is no Mr. Jarrett at this bank anymore. So any

understandin'

you might've had with him isn't valid as far as I'm concerned."

Dan's cheeks were stinging. "I didn't mean to be-" "Your record

speaks for itself," the other man interrupted. "Can you make at least

one payment today.?"

"No sir, I can't. But that's what I wanted to talk to you about.

If I could ... maybe ... pay you fifteen dollars a week until a job

comes along. Then I could start makin' the regular payments again.

I've never been so long between jobs before. But I figure things'll

pick up again when the weather cools off."

"Uh-huh," Blanchard said. "Mr. Lambert, when you lost your job

did you look for any other kind of work?"

"I looked for other jobs, yeah. But I'm a carpenter. That's what

I've always done."

"You subscribe to the paper?"

"No." His subscription had been one of the first items to

be cut.

"They run classified ads in there every day. Page after page of

'em. All kinds of jobs, just beggin'."

"Not for carpenters. I've looked, plenty of times." He saw

Blanchard's gaze fix on his snake tattoo for a few seconds, then veer

away with obvious distaste.

"When the goin' gets tough," Blanchard said, "the tough get goin'.

Ever hear that sayin'? If more people lived by it, we wouldn't be

headin' for a welfare state."

"I've never been on welfare." The pain flared, like an engine

being started, deep in Dan's skull. "Not one day in my life."

Blanchard swiveled to face the computer's screen again.

He gave a grunt. "Vietnam vet, huh? well, that's one point in

your favor. I wish you fellas had cleaned house like the boys did over

in Iraq."

"It was a different kind of war." Dan swallowed thickly.

He thought he could taste ashes. "A different time."

"Hell, fightin's fightin'. Jungle or desert, what's the

difference?"

The pain was getting bad now. Dan's guts were clenched up. "A

lot," he said. "In the desert you can see who's shootin' at you." His

gaze ticked to the Lucite cube that held the plastic flag. Something

small was stamped on its lower left corner. Three words. He leaned

forward to read them.

Made in China.

"Health problem," Blanchard said.

"What?" "Health problem. Says so right here. What's your health

problem, Mr. Lambert?"

Dan remained silent.

Blanchard turned around. "You sick, or not?"

Dan put one hand up against his forehead. Oh, Jesus, he thought.

To have to bare himself before a stranger this way was almost too much

for him.

"You aren't on drugs, are you?" Blanchard's voice had taken on a

cutting edge. "We could've cleaned house over there if so many of you

fellas hadn't been on drugs."

Dan looked into Blanchard's sweating, heat-puffed face. A jolt of

true rage twisted him inside, but he jammed it back down again, where

it had been drowsing so long. He in that moment that Blanchard was the

kind of man who enjoyed kicking a body when it was beaten. He leaned

toward Blanchard's desk, and slowly he pulled himself out

of the black leather chair. "No, sir," he said tersely, "I'm not

on drugs. But yeah, I am sick. If you really want to know, I'll tell

you."

"I'm listenin'."

"I've got leukemia," Dan said. "It's a slow kind, and some days I

feel just fine. Other days I can hardly get out of bed.

I've got a tumor the size of a walnut right about here." He

tapped the left side of his forehead. "The doctor says he can operate,

but because of where the tumor lies I might lose the feelin' on my

right side. Now, what kind of carpenter would I be if I couldn't use

my right hand or leg.?"

"I'm sorry to hear that, but-" "I'm not finished," Dan said, and

Blanchard was quiet"You wanted to know what was wrong with me, you

oughta have the manners to hear the whole story." Blanchard chose that

moment to glance at the gold Rolex watch on his wrist, and Dan came

very close to reaching across the desk and grabbing him by his yellow

necktie. "I want to tell you about a soldier." Dan's voice was

roughened by the sandpaper of raw emotion. "He was a kid, really. The

kind of kid who always did what he was told. He drew duty in a sector

of jungle that hid an enemy supply route. And it was always rainin' on

that jungle. It was always drippin' wet, and the ground stayed muddy.

It was a silver rain. Sometimes it fell right out of a clear blue sky,

and afterward the jungle smelled like flowers gone over to rot. The

silver rain fell in torrents, and this young soldier got drenched by it

day after day. It was slick and oily, like grease off the bottom of a

fryin' pan. There was no way to get it off the skin, and the heat and

the steam just cooked it in deeper." Dan drew up a tight, terrible

smile. "He asked his platoon leader about it.

His platoon leader said it was harmless, unless you were a tree or

a vine. Said you could bathe in it and you'd be all right, but if you

dipped a blade of sawgrass in it, that sawgrass would blotch up brown

and crispy as quick as you please. Said it was to clear the jungle so

we could find the supply route. And this young soldier ... you know

what he did?"

"No," Blanchard said.

"He went back out in that jungle again. Back out in that dirty

rain, whenever they told him to. He could see the jungle dyin'. All

of it was shrivelin' away, being' burned up without fire. He didn't feel

right about it because he knew a chemical as strong as that had to be

bad for skin and bones.

He knew it. But he was a good soldier, and he was proud to fight

for his country. Do you see?"

"I think so. Agent Orange?"

"It could kill a jungle in a week," Dan said. "What it could do

to a man didn't show up until a long time later.

That's what being' a good soldier did to me, Mr. Blanchard. I

came home full of poison, and nobody blew a trumpet or held a parade.

I don't like being' out of wort I don't like feelin' I'm not worth a

damn sometimes. But that's what my LIFE is right now."

Blanchard nodded. He wouldn't meet Dan's eyes. "I

really, truly, am sorry. I swear I am. I know things are tough

out there."

"Yes sir, they are. That's why I have to ask you to give me one

more week before you take my truck. Without my truck, I don't have any

way to get to a job if one comes open. Can you please help me out?"

Blanchard rested his elbows on his desk and laced his fingers

together. He wore a big LSU ring on his right hand.

His brows knitted, and he gave a long, heavy sigh. "I feel for

you, Mr. Lambert. God knows I do. But I just can't give you an

extension."

Dan's heart had started pounding. He knew he was facing disaster

of the darkest shade.

"Look at my position." Blanchard's chewing gum was going ninety

miles a minute. "My superiors kicked Bud Jarrett out of here because

of the bad loans he made. They hired me because I don't make bad

loans, and part of my job is to fix the mess Jarrett left behind. One

week or one month: I don't think it would really matter very much, do

you?"

"I need my truck," Dan rasped.

"You need a social. worker, not a loan officer. You could get

yourself chocked into the VA hospital."

"I've been there. I'm not ready to roll over and die yet."

"I'm@rry, but there's nothin' I can do for you. It's bidness, you

see? You can bring the keys and the paperwork tomorrow mornin'. I'll

be in the office by ten." He swiveled around and switched the

computer's screen off, telling Dan that their conversation was over.

"I won't do it," Dan said. "I won't."

"You will, Mr. Lambert, or you'll find yourself in some serious

trouble."

"Jesus Christ, man! Don't you think I'm already in serious

trouble? I don't even have enough money to buy decent groceries! How

am I gonna get around without my truck?"

"We're finished, I think. I'd like you to leave now."

Maybe it was the pain building in Dan's skull; maybe it was this

final flat command from the man who was squeezing the last of the

dignity from his life. Whatever it was, it shoved Dan over the edge.

He knew he should not. Knew it. But suddenly he was reaching out

toward the photographs and the Made in China American flag, and as he

gritted his teeth the rage flew from him like a dark bird and he swept

everything off the top of Blanchard's desk in a swelling crash and

clatter.

"Hey! Hey!" Blanchard shouted. "What're you doin'?"

"Serious trouble," Dan said. "You want to see some serious

trouble, mister?" He halted the chair he'd been sitting on and slammed

it against the wall. The sign that said The Buck Stops Here fell to

the floor, and books jittered on the perfect shelves. Dan picked up

the wastebasket, tears of frustration and shame stinging his eyes, and

he threw its contents over Blanchard, then flung the wastebasket

against the stag's head. A small voice inside Dan screamed at him to

stop, that this was childish and stupid and would earn him nothing, but

his body was moving on the power of singleminded fury. If this man was

going to take his freedom from him, he would tear the office apart.

Blanchard had picked up the telephone. "Security!" he yelled.

"Quick!"

Dan grabbed the phone and jerked it away from him, and it too went

flying into the shelves. As Dan attacked the

fox-hunt pictures, he was aware in a cold, distant place that

this was not only about the truck. It was about the cancer in his

bones and the growth in his brain, the brutal heart of Death Valley,

the jostling for tickets, the dirty silver rain, the major, the

village, his failed marriage, the son who had been infected with his

father's poison. It was all those things and more, and Dan tore the

pictures off the walls, his face contorted, as Blanchard kept shouting

for him to stop. A good soldier, Dan thought as he began pulling the

books off the shelves and fringing them wildly around the office. A

good soldier good soldier I've always been a goodSomeone grabbed him

from behind.

"Get him out!" Blanchard hollered. "He's gone crazy!"

A pair of husky arms had clamped around Dan's chest, pinning his

own arms at his sides. Dan thrashed to break free, but the security

guard was strong. The grip tightened, forcing the air from Dan's

lungs. "Get him outta here!"

Blanchard had wedged himself into a corner, his face mottled with

red. "Faye, call the police!"

"Yes, sir!" She'd been standing in the open door, and she hurried

to the phone on her desk.

Dan kept fighting. He couldn't stand to be confined, the pressure

on his chest driving him to further heights of frenzy. "Hold still,

damn it!" the guard said, and he began dragging Dan to the door.

"Come on, you're goin' with-" Panic made Dan snap his head backward,

and the guard's nose popped as bone met cartilage. The man gave a

wounded grunt, and suddenly Dan was free. As Dan turned toward him, he

saw the guard-a man as big as a football linebacker, wearing a gray

uniform-sitting on his knees on the carpet. His cap had spun away, his

black hair cropped in a severe crew cut, his hands cupped over his nose

with blood leaking between the sausage-thick fingers. "You busted my

nose!" he gasped, his eyes slatted and wet with pain. "You sumbitch,

you busted my nose!"

The sight of blood skidded Dan back to reality. He hadn't meant

to hurt anyone; he hadn't meant to tear up this man's office. He was

in a bad dream, and surely he must soon wake UP.

But the bad dream took another, more wicked turn.

"You sumbitch," the guard said again, and he reached with bloody

fingers to the pistol in a holster at his waist. He pulled the gun

loose, snapping off the safety as it cleared the leather.

Going to shoot me, Dan thought. He saw the man's finger on the

trigger. For an instant the smell of ozone came to him-a memory of

danger in the silver-dripping jungle and the flesh prickled at the back

of his neck.

He lunged for the guard, seized the man's wrist, and twisted the

gun aside. The guard reached up with his free hand to claw at Dan's

eyes, but Dan hung on. He heard Mrs.

Duvall shout, "The police are comin'!" The guard was trying to

get to his feet; a punch caught Dan in the rib cage and almost toppled

him, but still he held on to the guard's wrist. Another punch was

coming, and Dan snapped his left hand forward with the palm out and

smashed the man's bleeding nose. As the guard bellowed and fell back,

Dan wrenched the pistol loose. He got his hand on the grip and fumbled

to snap the safety on again.

He heard a click behind him.

He knew that sound.

Death had found him. It had slid from its hole here in this

sweltering office, and it was about to sink its fangs.

Dan whirled around. Blanchard had opened a desk drawer and was

lifting a pistol to take aim, the hammer cocked back and a finger on

the trigger. Blanchard's face was terrified, and Dan knew the man

meant to kill him.

It took a second.

One second.

Something as old as survival took hold of Dan. Something ancient

and unthinking, and it swept Dan's sense aside in a feverish rush.

He fired without aiming. The pistol's crack vibrated through his

hand, up his snake-tattooed forearm and into his shoulder.

"Uh," Blanchard said.

Blood spurted from a hole in his throat.

Blanchard staggered back, his yellow necktie turning

scarlet. His gun went off, and Dan flinched as he heard the

bullet hiss past his head and thunk into the door jamb. Then Blanchard

crashed to the floor amid the family photographs, fox-hunt prints, and

leather-bound books.

Mrs. Duvall screamed.

Dan heard someone moan. It was not Blanchard, nor the guard. He

looked at the pistol in his hand, then at the splatter of red that lay

across Blanchard's desk. "Oh, God," Dan said as the horror of what

he'd just done hit him full force. "Oh, my God ... no . . ."

The gears of the universe seemed to shift. Everything shut

down.to a hazy slow-motion. Dan was aware of the guard cowering

against a wall. Mrs. Duvall fled into the corridor, still shrieking.

Then Dan felt himself moving around the desk toward Blanchard, and

though he knew he was moving as fast as he could, it was more like a

strange, disembodied drifting. Bright red arterial blood was pulsing

from Blanchard's throat in rhythm with his heart. Dan dropped the

pistol, got down on his knees, and pressed ]Iis hands against the

wound. "No!" Dan said, as if to a disobedient child. "No!"

Blanchard stared up at him, his chilly blue eyes glazed and his mouth

half open. The blood kept spurting, flowing between Dan's fingers.

Blanchard shuddered, his legs moving feebly, his heels plowing the

carpet. He coughed once. A red glob of chewing gum rolled from his

mouth, followed by rivulets of blood that streamed over his lower lip.

"No oh God no please no don't die," Dan began to beg.

Something broke inside him, and the tears ran out. He was trying

to stop the bleeding, trying to hold the blood back, but it was a tide

that would not be turned. "Call an ambulance!" he shouted. The guard

didn't move; without his gun the man's courage had crumpled like cheap

tin.

"Somebody call an ambulance!" Dan pleaded. "Hang on!"

he told Blanchard. "Do you hear? Hang on!"

Blanchard had begun making a harsh hitching noise deep in his

chest. The sound filled Dan with fresh terror. He knew what it was.

He heard it before, in 'Nam: the death watch, ticking.

The police, Mrs. Duvall had said.

The police are comin'.

Blanchard's face was white and waxen, his tie and shirt soaked

with gore. The blood was still pulsing, but Blanchard's eyes stared at

nothing.

Murder, Dan realized. Oh Jesus, I've murdered him.

No ambulance could make it in time. He knew it. The bullet had

done too much damage. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Dan said, his voice

cracking. His eyes blurred up with tears.

"I'm sorry, dear God I'm sorry."

The police are comin'.

The image of handcuffs and iron bars came to him. He saw his

future, confined behind stone walls topped with barbed wire.

There was nothing more he could do.

Dan stood up, the room slowly spinning around him. He looked at

his bloodied hands, and smelled the odor of a slaughterhouse.

He ran, past the guard and out of the office. Standing in the

corridor were people who'd emerged from their own offices, but when

they saw Dan's bloody shirt and his gray-tinged face they scurried out

of his way. He ran past the elevator, heading for the stairwell.

At the bottom of the stairwell were two doors, one leading back

into the teller's area and another with a sign that said EMERGENCY Exrr

ONLY! ALARM WILL SOUND! As Dan shoved the exit door open, a

high-pitched alarm went off in his ear.

Searing sunlight hit him; he was facing the parking lot beside the

bank. His truck was in a space twenty yards away, past the automatic

teller machine and the drive-up windows. There was no sign yet of a

police car. He ran to his truck, frantically unlocked the door, and

slid behind the wheel. TWo men, neither of them a police officer, came

out of the emergency exit and stood gawking as Dan started the engine,

put the truck into reverse, and backed out of the parking space. His

brakes shrieked when he stomped on the pedal to keep from smashing the

car parked behind him.

Then he twisted the wheel and sped out of the lot, and with

another scream of brakes and tires he took a left on the

street. A glance in his rearview mirror showed a police car, its

bubble lights spinning, pulling up to the curb in front of the

building. He had no sooner focused his attention on the street ahead

than a second police car flashed past him, trailing a siren's wail, in

the direction of the bank.

Dan didn't know how much time he had. His apartment was five

miles to the west. Beads of sweat clung to his face, blood smeared all

over the steering wheel.

A sob welled up and clutched his throat.

He cried, silently.

He had always tried to live right. To be fair. To obey orders

and be a good soldier no matter what slid out of this world full of

snake holes.

As he drove to his apartment, fighting the awful urge to sink his

foot to the floorboard, he realized what one stupid, senseless second

had wrought.

I've gone south, he thought. He wiped his eyes with his

snake-clad forearm, the metallic smell of blood sickening

him in the hellish August heat.   Gone south, after all this time.

And he knew, as well, that he'd just taken the first step of a

journey from which there could be no return.

Mark of Cain

Hurry! Dan told himself as he pulled clothes from a dresser

drawer and jammed them into a duffel bag. Mavin'too slow huny they'll

be here soon any minute now ...

The sound of a distant siren shocked his heart. He stood still,

listening, as his pulse rioted. A precious few seconds passed before

he realized the sound was coming through the wall from Mr. Wycoffs

apartment. The television set. Mr.

Wycoff, a retired steelworker, always watched the Starsky and

Hutch reruns that came on every day at three-thirty.

Dan turned his mind away from the sound and kept packing, pain like

an iron spike throbbing in his skull.

He had torn off the bloody shirt, hastily scrubbed his hands in the

bathroom's sink, and struggled into a clean white T-shirt. He didn't

have time to change his pants or his shoes,l his nerves were shredding

with each lost second. He pushed a pair of blue jeans into the duffel

bag, then picked up his dark blue baseball cap from the dressers top

and put it on. A framed photograph of his son, Chad, taken ten years

ago when the boy was seven, caught his attention and it too went into

the bag. Dan went to the closet, reached UP to the top shelf, and

brought down the shoebox that held thirty-eight dollars, all his money

in the world. As he was shoving the money into his pocket, the

telephone rang.

The answering machine-a Radio Shack special

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clicked on after three rings. Dan heard his own voice asking the

caller to leave a message.

"I'm callin' about your ad in the paper," a man said. "I need my

backyard fenced in, and I was wonderin'-" Dan might have laughed if he

didn't feel the rage of the law bearing down on him.

could th

-if you d do e job and what you'd charge. If you'd call me back

sometime today I'd appreciate it. My number's . .

Too late. Much, much too late.

He zipped the bag shut, picked it up, and got out.

There were no sounds yet of sirens in the air. Dan threw the bag

into the back of his truck, next to the toolbox and he got behind the

wheel and tore out of the parking'lot. He crossed the railroad tracks,

drove six blocks east, and saw the signs for Interstate 49 ahead. He

swung the pickup onto the ramp that had a sign saying 1-49 SOUTHBOUND.

Then he steadily gave the truck more gas, and he merged with the

afternoon traffic, leaving the industrial haze of Shreveport at their

backs.

Killer, he thought. The image of blood spurting from Blanchard's

throat and the man's waxen face was in his brain, unshakable as gospel.

It had all happened SO fast, he felt still in a strange, dreamlike

trance. They would lock him away forever for this crime; he would die

behind prison walls.

But first they had to catch him, because he sure as hell wasn't

giving himself up.

He switched on his radio and turned the dial, searching

Shreveport's stations for the news. There was country music, rock 'n'

roll, rap, and advertisements but no bulletin yet about a shooting at

the First Commercial Bank. But he knew it wouldn't take long; soon his

description and the description of his truck would be all over the

airwaves. Not many men bore the tattoo of a snake on their right

forearms.

He realized that what he'd worn as a badge of pride and courage in

'Nam now was akin to the mark of Cain.

Tears were scorching his eyes again. He blinked them away. The

time for weeping was over. He had committed the

most stupid, insane act of his life; he had gone south in a way he

would never have thought possible. His gaze kept flicking to the

rearview mirror, and he expected to see flashing lights coming after

him. They weren't there yet, but they were hunting for him by now.

The first place they'd go would be the apartment. They would've gotten

all the information about him from the bank's computer records.

How long would it take for the state troopers to get his license

number and be on the lookout for a metallic-mist Chevrolet pickup truck

with a killer at the wheel?

A desperate thought hit him: maybe Blanchard hadn't died.

Maybe an ambulance had gotten there in time. Maybe the paramedics

had somehow been able to stop the bleeding and get Blanchard to the

hospital. Then the charge wouldn't be murder, would it? In a couple

of weeks Blanchard could leave the hospital and go home to his wife and

children. Dan could plead temporary insanity, because that's surely

what it had been. He would spend some time in jail, yes, but there'd

be a light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe. MayA horn blew, jarring

him back to reality. He'd been drifting into the next lane, and a

cream-colored Buick swept past him with a furious whoosh.

He passed the intersection of the Industrial Loop Expressway, and

was moving through the outskirts of Shreveport.

Subdivisions of blocky tract houses, strip mall, and apartment

complexes stood near warehouses and factories with vast parking lots.

The land was flat, its summer green bleached to a grayish hue by the

merciless sun. Ahead of him, the long, straight highway shimmered and

crows circled over small animals that had been mangled by heavy wheels.

It came to Dan that he didn't know where he was going.

He knew the direction, yes, but not the destination. Does it

matter? he asked himself. All he knew is, he had to get as far from

Shreveport as he could. A glance at the gas gauge showed him the tank

was a little over a quarter full. The Chevy got good gas mileage for a

pickup truck; that was one

Mark of cain

of the reasons he'd bought it. But how far could he get with

thirty-eight dollars and some change in his pocket?

His heart jumped. A state trooper's car was approaching, heading

north on the other side of the median. He watched it come nearer, all

the spit drying up in his mouth. Then the car was passing him, doing a

steady fifty-five. Had the trooper b him d the wh I looked at m? D

kept watch,

the rearview mirrOr, but the trooper car's brake lights didn't

flare. But what if the trooper had recognized the pickup truck and

radioed to another highway patrol car waiting farther south? on this

interstate the troopers could be massing in a roadblock just through

the next heat shimmer.

He was going to have to get off 1-49 and take a lesser-traveled

Parish road. Another four miles rolled under the tires before he saw

the exit Of highway 175, heading south toward the town Of Mansfield.

Dan slowed his speed and eared onto the ramp, which turned into a

two-lane road bordered by thick stands of pines and palmettos. As he'd

figured, this route was all but deserted, just a couple of cars visible

far ahead and none at his back. Still, he drove the speed limit and

watched warily for the highway patrol.

Now he was going to have to decide where to go. The Texas line

was about twenty miles to the west. He could be

in Mexico in fifteen hours or so. If he continued on this road,

he would reach the bayous and swampland on the edge of the Gulf in a

little over three hours. He could get to the Gulf and head either west

to Port Arthur or east to New Orleans. And what then? Go into hiding?

Find a job? Make up a new identity, shave Off his beard, bleach out

the tattoo?

He could go to Alexandria, he thought. That city was less than a

hundred miles away, just below the heart of louisiana. He'd lived

there for nine years, when he'd been working with FOrdham construction.

His ex-wife and son lived there still, in the house on Jackson Avenue.

Right. His mouthed into a grim line. The police would have

that address too, from the bank's recorcls. Dan had faithfully made

his child support payments every month. If he went to that house, the

POlice would swarm all over him. And besides, Susan was so afraid of

him anyway that she wouldn't let him in the door even if he came as a

choirboy instead of a killer. He hadn't seen his ex-wife and

seventeen-year-old son in over six years. It had been better that way,

because his divorce was still an open wound.

He wondered what the other Snake Handlers would think of a father

who had attacked his own little boy in the middle of the night. Did it

matter that in those days Dan had been half crazy and suffered

nightmarish flashbacks? Did it matter that when he'd put his hands

around the boy's throat he'd believed he was trying to choke to death a

VietCong sniper in the silver-puddled mud?

No, it didn't. He remembered coming out of the flashback to

Susan's scream; he remembered the stark terror on Chad's tear-streaked

face. Ten seconds more-just tenand he might have killed his own son.

He couldn't blame Susan for wanting to be rid of him, and so he hadn't

contested the divorce.

He caught himself-, the truck was drifting toward the centerline

again as his attention wandered, He saw some dried blood between his

fingers that he'd missed with the soap and rag, and the image of

Blanchard's bleached face stabbed him.

A glance in the rearview mirror almost stopped his heart entirely.

Speeding after him was a vehicle with its lights flashing. Dan

hesitated between jamming the accelerator and hitting the brake, but

before he could decide to do either, a cherry-red pickup truck with two

grinning teenagers in the cab roared past him and the boy on the

passenger side stuck a hand out with the middle finger pointed skyward.

Dan started trembling. He couldn't stop it. Sickness roiled in

his stomach, a maniacal drumbeat trapped in his skull. He thought for

a few seconds that he was going to pass out as dark motes spun before

his eyes like flecks of ash.

Around the next bend he saw a narrow dirt road going off into the

woods on his right. He turned onto it and followed it fifty yards into

the sheltering forest, his rear tires throwing up plumes of yellow

dust.

Mark of Cain

Then he stopped the truck, cut the engine, and sat there under the

pines with beads of cold sweat on his face, His stomach lurched. As

the fire rose up his throat, Dan scrambled out of the truck and was

able to reach the weeds before he threw up. He retched and retched

until there was nothing left, and then he sat on his knees, breathing

sour steam as birds sang in the trees above him.

He pulled the tail of his T-shirt out and blotted the sweat from

his cheeks and forehead. Dust hung in the air, the sunlight lying in

shards amid the trees. He tried to clear his mind enough to grapple

with the problem of where to go. To Texas and MexiCO? To the Gulf and

New Orleans? Or should he turn the truck around, return to Shreveport,

and give himself up?

That was the sensible thing, wasn't it? Go back to Shreveport and

try to explain to the police that he'd thought Blanchard was about to

kill him, that he hadnt meant to

lose his temper, that he was so very, very sorry.

Stone walls, he thought. stone walls waiting.

At last he stood up and walked unsteadily back to truck. He got

in, started the engine, and turned on the radio.

He began to move the dial through the stations; they were weaker

now, diminished by distance. Seven or eight minutes @ and then Dan

came upon a woman's coot matterof-fact voice.

"- - - shooting at the First Commercial Bank of ShrevePort just

after three-thirty this afternoon . .

Dan turned it up.

... accOrding to police, a disturbed Vietnam veteran entered the

bank with a gun and shot Emory Blanchard, the bank's loan manager.

Blanchard was pronounced dead on arrival at All Saints Hospital. We'll

have more details as this story develops. In other news, the city

council and the waterworks board found themselves at odds again today

when ... "

Dan stared at nothing, his mouth opening to release a soft, agonized

gasp.

Dead on arrival It was official now. He was a murderer.

But what was that about entering the bank with a gun?

"That's wrong," he said thickly. "It's wrong." The way it

sounded, he'd gone to the bank intent on killing somebody.

Of course they had to put the "disturbed Vietnam veteran" in

there, too. Might as well make him sound like a psycho while they were

at it.

But he knew what the bank was doing. What would their customers

think if they knew Blanchard had been killed with a security guard's

gun? Wasn't it better, then, to say that the crazy Vietnam veteran had

come in packing a gun and hunting a victim? He kept searching the

stations, and in another couple of minutes he found a snippet: ". . .

rushed to All Saints Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Police caution that Lambert should be considered armed and dangerous.

.

"Bullshit!" Dan said. "I didn't go there to kill anybody!"

He saw what would happen if he gave himself up. They wouldn't

listen to him. They'd put him in a hole and drop a rock on it for the

rest of his life. Maybe he might hve only three more years, but he

wasn't planning to die in prison and be buried in a pauper's grave.

He engaged the gears. Head to the bayou country, he decided.

From there he could go either to New Orleans or Port Arthur. Maybe he

could find a freighter captain who needed cheap labor and didn't care

to ask questions. He turned the truck around and then he drove back to

Highway 175. He took a right, southbound again.

The truck's cab was a sweat box, even with both windows down. The

heat was weighing on him, wearing him out. He thought about Susan and

Chad. If the news was on the radio, it wouldn't be long before it hit

the local TV stations. Susan might already have gotten a call from the

police. He didn't particularly care what she thought of him; it was

Chad's opinion that mattered. The boy was going to think his father

was a cold-blooded killer, and this fact pained Dan's soul.

The question was: what could be done about it?

He heard an engine gunning behind him.

He looked in the rearview mirror.

'Mark of Cain

And there was a state trooper's car right on his tail, its blue

bubble lights spinning.

Dan had known true terror before, in the jungles of Vietnam and

when he'd seen Blanchard's gun leveling to take aim. This instant,

though, froze his blood and stiffened him up like a dime-store dummy.

The siren yowled.

He was caught.

He jerked the wheel to the right, panic sputtering through his

nerves.

The trooper whipped past him and was gone around the next curve in

a matter of seconds.

Before he could think to stop and turn around, Dan was into the

curve and saw the trooper pulling off onto the road's shoulder. A

cherry-red pickup truck was down in a ditch, and one of the teenage

boys was standing on the black scrawl the, tires had left when he'd

lost control of the wheel. The other boy was sitting in the weeds, his

head lowered and his left arm clasped against his chest. As Dan glided

past the accident scene, he saw the trooper get out of the car and

shake his head as if he knew the boys were lucky they wereret scattered

like bloody rags amid the pines.

When the trooper's car was well behind, Dan picked up his speed

again. Dark motes were still drifting in and out of his vision, the

sun's glare still fierce even as the afternoon shadows lengthened. He'd

had not a bite of food since breakfast, and he'd lost the meager

contents of his stomach.

He considered stopping at a gas station to buy a candy bar and a

soft drink, but the thought of pulling off while a state trooper was so

close behind him put an end to that idea. He kept going, following the

sun-baked road as it twisted like the serpent on his forearm.

Mile after mile passed. The traffic was sparse, both in front and

behind, but the strain of watching in either direction began to take its

toll. The shooting replayed itself over and over in his mind. He

thought of Blanchard's wife-widow, that is-and the two children, and

what they must be going through right now. He began to fear what

might be lying in wait for him around the curves. his headache

returned with a vengeance, as did his tremors. The heat was sapping his

last reserves'of strength, and soon it became clear to him that he had

to stop somewhere to rest.

Another few miles @, the highway running between pine forest broken by

an occasional dusty field, and then Dan saw a gravel road on his right.

As he slowed down, prepared to turn into the woods and sleep in his

truck, he saw that the road widened into a parking lot. There was a

small whitewashed church standing beneath a pair of huge weeping willow

trees. A linle wooden sign in need of repainting said.

VICTORY IN THE BLADOD BApTist.

It was as good a place as any. Dan pulled into the gravel lot,

which was de@, and he drove the track around to the back of the church.

When he was hidden from the road, he cut the engine and slid the key

out. He pulled his wet shirt away from the backrest and lay down on

the seat. He closed his eyes, but Blanchard's death leapt at him to

keep him from finding sleep.

He'd been lying down for only a few minutes when someone mpped

twice against the side of his truck Dan bolted upright, blinking

dazedly. Standing there beside his open window was a shin black man

with a long-jawed face and a tight cap of white hair. Over the man's

deep-set ebony eyes, the thick white brows had merged together. "You

Okay, mister?" he asked.

"Yeah." Dan nodded, still a little disoriented. "Just needed to

rest."

"Heard you pull up. Looked out the winda and there you were."

"I didn't know anybody was around."

"Well," the man said, and when he smiled he showed alabaster teeth

that looked as long as piano keys, "just me and God sittin' inside

talkin'."

Dan started to slide the key back into the ignition. "I'd better

head on."

"Now, hold on a minute, I ain't mnnin'you off. You don't mind me

sayin', you don't appear to be up to snuff. You travelin' far?"

Mark of Cain

"Yes." "Seems to me that if a fella wants to rest, he oughta

rest. If you'd like to come in, you're welcome."

"I'm ... not a religious man," Dan said.

"Well, I didn't say I was gonna preach to you. 'Course, some

would say listenin' to my sermons is a surefire way to catch up on your

sleep. Name's Nathan Gwinn." He thrust a hand toward Dan, who took

it.

"Dan . . ." His mind skipped tracks for a few seconds. A name

came to him. "Farrow," he said.

"Pleased to meet you. Come on in, there's room to stretch out on

a pew if you'd like."

Dan looked at the church. It had been years since he'd set foot

in one. Some of the things he'd seen, both in Vietnam and afterward,

had convinced him that if any supernatural force was the master of this

world, it smelled of brimstone and devoured innocent flesh as its

sacrament.

"Cooler inside," Gwinn told him. "The fans are workin' this

week."

After a moment of deliberation, Dan opened the door and got out.

"I'm obliged," he said, and he followed Gwinnwho wore black trousers

and a plain light blue short-sleeve shirt-through the church's back

door. The interior of the church was Spartan, with an unvarnished

wooden floor that had felt the Sunday shoes of several generations. "I

was writin' my sermon when I heard you," Gwinn said, and he motioned

into a cubicle of an office whose open window overlooked the rear lot.

Two chairs, a desk and lamp, a file cabinet, and a couple of peach

crates full of religious books had been squeezed into the little room.

On the desk was a pad of paper and a cup containing a number of

ballpoint pens. "Not havin' much luck, I'm a'fearca" he confided.

"Sometimes you dig deep and just wind up scrapin' the bottom. But

I ain't worried, something'll come to me. Al, ways does. You want some

water, there's a fountain this way."

Gwinn led him through a corridor lined with other small rooms, the

floor creaking underfoot. A ceiling fan stirred the heat. There was a

water fountain, and Dan went to work

satisfying his thirst. "You a regular camel, ain't you?"

Gwinn asked. "Come on in here, you can stretch yourself out."

Dan followed him through another doorway, into the chapel. A dozen

pews faced the preacher's podium, and the sunlight that entered was cut

to an underwater haze by the pale green glass of the stained windows.

Overhead, two fans muttered like elderly ladies as they turned, fighting

a lost cause. Dan sat down on a pew toward the middle of the church,

and he pressed his palms against his eyes to ease the pain throbbing in

his skull.

"Nice tattoo," Gwinn said. "You get that around here?"

"No. Someplace else."

"Mind if I ask where you're headin' from and where you're gain

I'm "From Shreveport," Dan said. "I'm goin' to-" He paused. "I'm

just goin'."

"Your home in Shreveport, is it?"

"Used to be." Dan took his hands away from his eyes.

"I'm not real sure where I belong right now." A thought struck

him. "I didn't see your car outside."

"Oh, I walked from my house. I just live 'bout a half-mile up the

road. You hungry, Mr. Farrow?"

"I could do with something', yeah." Hearing that name was strange,

after all this time. He didn't know why he'd chosen it; probably it

was from seeing the young man who was begging work at Death Valley.

"You like crullers? I got some in my office; my wife baked term

just this mornin'."

Dan told him that sounded fine, and Gwinn went to his office and

returned with three sugar-frosted crullers in a brown paper bag. It

took about four seconds for Dan to consume one of them. "Have

another," Gwinn offered as he sat on the pew in front of Dan. "I

believe you ain't et in a while."

A second pastry went down the hatch. Gwinn scratched his longjaw

and said, "Take the other one, too. My wife sure would be tickled to

see a fefla enjoyin' her bakin' so much."

When the third one was history, Dan licked the sugar from his

fingers. Gwinn laughed, the sound like the msp of a rusty

Mark of Cain

saw blade. "Part camel, part goat," he said. "Don't you go

chemin' on that bag, now."

"You can tell your wife she makes good crullers."

Gwinn reached into a trouser pocket, pulled out a silver watch,

and checked the time. "'Bout quarter to five. You can tell Lavinia

yourself if you want to."

"Pardon?"

"Supper's at six. You want to eat with Lavinia and me, you're

welcome." He returned the watch to his pocket.

"Won't be no fancy feast, but it'll warm your belly up. I can go

call her, tell her to put another plate on the table."

"Thanks, but I've gotta get back on the road after I rest

some.   "

"Oh." Gwinn lifted his shaggy white brows. "Decide where ygu're

goin', have you?"

Dan was silent, his hands clasped together.

"The road'Il still be there, Mr. Farrow," Gwinn said quietly.

"Don't you think?"

Dan looked into the preacher's eyes. "You don't know me.

I could be . . . somebody you wouldn't want in your house."

"True enough. But my Lord Jesus Christ says we should feed the

wayfarin' stranger." Gwinn's voice had taken on some of the singsong

inflections of his calling. "'Pears to me that's what you are. So if

you want a taste of fried chicken that'll make you hear the heavenly

choir, you just say the word and you got it."

.1 Dan didn't have to think very long to make a decision.

All right.   I'd be grateful."

"Just be hungry!    Lavinia always makes a whoppin' supper

on Thursday nights anyhow." Gwinn stood up. "Lemme go on back

and call her. Why don't you rest some and I'll fetch you when I'm

ready to go."

"Thank you," Dan said. "I really do appreciate this." He lay

down on the pew as Gwinn walked back to his office. The pew was no

mattress, but just being able to relax for a little while was glorious.

He closed his eyes, the sweat cooling on his body, and he searched for

a few minutes of sleep that might shield him from the image of Emory

Blanchard bleeding to death.

In his office, Reverend Gwinn was on the telephone to his wife.

She stoically took the news that a white stranger named Dan Farrow was

joining them for supper, even though Thursday was always the night

their son and daughter-in-law came to visit from Mansfield. But

everything would work out fine, Lavinia told her husband, because

Terrence had called a few minutes before to let her know he and AmeHa

wouldn't be there until after seven.

There'd been a raid on a house where drugs were being sold, she

told Nathan, and Terrence had some paperwork to do at the jail.

"That's our boy," Gwinn said. "Gonna get elected sheriff yet."

When he hung up, the reverend turned his attention again to the

unwritten sermon. A light came on in his brain.

Kindness for the wayfarin' strange. Yessir, that would do quite

nicely!

They always amazed him, the mysterious workings of God did. You

never knew when an answer to a problem would come right out of the

blue; or, in this case, out of a gray Chevy pickup truck.

He picked up a pen, opened a Bible for reference, and began to

write an outline of his message for Sunday morning.@

The Hand of Clint

"Two cards."

"I'll take three."

"Two for me."

"One card."

"Oh, oh! I don't like the sound of that, Bents. Well, dealers

gonna take three and see what we got."

The poker game in the back room of Leopol4's Pool Hall, on the

rough west end of Caddo Street in Shreveport, had started around two

o'clock It was now five forty-nine, according to the Regulator clock

hanging on the cracked sea-Ween wall. Beneath a gray haze of cigarette

and stogie smoke, a quintet of men regarded their cards in silence poo

es around the felt-topped table. Out where the I table were, balls

struck together like a pistol shot, and from the aged Wurlitzer jukebox

Cleveland Crochet hollered about Sugar Bee to the wail of a Cajun

accordion.

The room was a hotbox. Three of the men were in shirtsleeves, the

fourth in a damp T-shirt. The fifth man, however, had never removed

the rather bulky jacket of his iridescent, violet-blue sharkskin suit.

In respect of the heat, though, he'd loosened the knot of his necktie

and unbuttoned the starched collar of his white shirt. A glass of melting

ice and pale, cloudy liquid was placed near his right hand. Also within

reach was a stack of chips worth three hundred and nineteen dollars.

His fortunes had risen and

fallen and risen again during the progress of the game, and right

now he was on a definite winning jag. He was the man who'd requested

one card, so sure was he that he owned a hand no one else could touch.

The dealer, a bald-headed black man named Ambrose, finally cleared

his throat. "It's up to you, Royce."

"I'm in for five." Royce, a big-bellied man with a flamecolored

beard and a voice like a rodent's squeak, tossed a red chip on top of

the ante.

"I fold." The next man, whose name was Vincent, laid his cards

facedown with an emphatic thump of disgust.

There was a pause. "Come on, Junior," Ambrose prodded.

"I'm thinkin'." At age twenty-eight, Junior was the youngest of

the players. He had a sallow, heavy-jawed face and unruly

reddish-brown hair, sweat gleaming on his cheeks and blotching his

T-shirt. He stared at his cards, a cigarette clenched between his

teeth. His lightless eyes ticked to the player next to him. "I

believe I got you this time, Mr.

Lucky. "

The man in the sharkskin suit was engrossed in his own cards. His

eyes were pallid blue, his face so pale the purple-tinged veins were

visible at his temples. He looked to be in his mid-thirties, his body

as lean as a drawn blade. His black hair was perfectly combed, the

part straight to the point of obsessiveness. At the center of his

hairline a streak of white showed like a touch of lightning.

"Put up or fold 'em," Ambrose said.

"See the five and raise you ten." The chips clattered down.

'Fifteen dollars," the man in the sharkskin suit said, his voice

so soft it neared a whisper, "and fifteen more." He tossed the chips

in with a flick of his right wrist.

"Oh, lawwwwdy!" Ambrose studied his cards with heightened

interest. "Talk to me, chillen, talk to me!" He picked up his cigar

stub from an ashtray and puffed on it as if trying to divine the future

in smoke signals.

Nick, the pool hall's bartender, came in while Ambrose was

deliberating and asked if anybody needed their drinks

freshened. Junior said he wanted another Budweiser, and Vincent

said he'd have a refill of iced tea. The man in the sharkskin suit

downed his cloudy drink in two long swallows and said, "I'll have

another of the same."

"lib ... you sure you don't want some sugar in that?"

Nick asked.

"No supr. Just straight lemon juice."

Nick returned to the front room. Ambrose puffed out a last

question mark and put his cards facedown. "Nope. My wife's gone have

my ass as it is."

Royce stayed in and raised another five spot. Junior chewed his

lower lip. "Damn it, I've gotta stay in!" he decided. "Hell, I'll

raise five to you!"

"And fifteen more," came the reply.

"Sheeeeyit!" Ambrose grinned. "We gots us a showdown here!"

"I'm out." Royce's cards went on the table.

Junior leaned back in his chair, his cards close to his chest and

fresh sweat sparkling on his face. He glowered long and hard at the

man beside him, whom he'd come to detest in the last two hours.

"You're fuckin' bluffin," he said. "I caught you last time you tried

to bluff me, didn't I?"

"Fifteen dollars to you, Junior," Ambrose said.

"What'cha gone do?"

"Don't rush me, man!" Junior had two red chips in front of him.

He'd come into the game with over a hundred dollars. "You're tryin' to

fox me, ain't you, Mr. Lucky?"

The man's head turned. The pale blue eyes fixed upon Junior, and

the whispery voice said, "The name is Flint."

"I don't give a shit! You're tryin' to rob me, I figure I can

call you whatever I please!"

"Hey, Junior!" Royce cautioned. "Watch that tongue, now!"

"Well, who the hell knows this guy, anyhow? He comes in here,

gets in our game, and takes us all for a ride! How do we know he ain't

a pro?"

"I paid for my seat," Flint said. "You didn't holler when you

took my money."

"Maybe I'm hollerin' now!" Junior sneered. "Does anybody know

him?" he asked the others. Nick came in with the drinks on a tray.

"Hey, Nick! You ever see this here dude before?"

"Can't say I have."

"So how come he just wandered in off the street lookin' to play

poker? How come he's sittin' there with all our damn money?"

Flint snapped the cards shut in his left hand, drank some of the

fresh lemon juice, and rubbed the cold glass across his forehead.

"Meet the raise," he said, "or go home and cry to your mommy."

Junior exhaled sworls of smoke. Crimson had risen in his cheeks.

"Maybe you and me oughta go dance in the alley, what do you think about

that?"

"Come on, Junior!" Ambrose said. "Play or fold!"

"Nick, loan me five dollars."

"No way!" Nick retreated toward the door. "This ain't no bank in

here, man!"

"Somebody loan me five dollars," Junior said to the others. This

demand was met with a silence that might have made stones weep. "Five

dollars! What's wrong with you guys?"

"We don't loan money in this room," Ambrose reminded him. "Never

have and never will. You know the house rules."

"I'd loan it to you if you were in a tight!"

"No you Wouldn't. And I wouldn't ask. The rule is: you play with

your own money."

"Well, it's sure nice to know who your friends are!" Junior

wrenched the cheap wristwatch off his arm and slid it in front of

Flint. "Here, damn it! 'that's gotta be worth fifteen or twenty

bucks!"

Flint picked up the watch and examined it. Then he returned it to

the table and leaned back, his cards fanned out again and resting

against his chest. "Merchandise isn't money, but since you're so eager

to walk out of here a loser, I'll grant you the favor."

"Favor. " Junior almost spat the word. "Yeah, right! Come on,

let's see what you've got!"

"Lay yours down first," Flint said.

"Glad to!" Slap went the cards on the table. "Three queens! I

always was lucky with the women!" Junior grinned, one hand already

reaching out to rake in the chips and his watch.

But before his hand got there, it was blocked by three aces.

"I was always smart at poker," Flint said. "And smart beats lucky

any day."

Junior's grin evaporated. He stared at the trio of aces, his

mouth crimping around the cigarette.

Flint scooped up the chips and put the wristwatch into his inside

coat pocket. While Nick didn't loan money, he did sell poker chips.

It was time, Flint knew, to cash in and be on his way. "That does it

for me." He pocketed the rest of his winnings and stood up. "Thank

you for the game, gentlemen."

"Cheater.

"Junior!" Ambrose snapped. "Hush up!"

"Cheater!" Junior scraped his chair back and rose to his feet.

His sweating face was gorged with blood. "You cheated me, by God!"

"Did I?" Flint's eyes were heavy-lidded. "How?"

"I don't know how! I just know you won a few too many hands

today! Oh, yeah, maybe you lost some, but you never lost enough to put

you too far behind, did you? Nosir! You lost just to keep us playin',

so you could set me up for this shit!"

"Sit down, Junior," Vincent told him. "Some people gotta win,

some gotta lose. That's why they call it gamblin'."

"Hell, can't you see it? He's a pro is what he is! He came in

here off the street, got in our game, and made fools outta every damn

one of us!"

"I see," Ambrose said wearily, "that it's almost six o'clock.

Honey'll skin my butt if I don't get home."

"Gone skin your butt anyhow for losin' that paycheck," Royce said

with a high giggle.

"Humility keeps me an honest man, my friends." Ambrose stood up

and stretched. "Junior, that look on your face could scare eight lives

out of a cat. Forget it now, hear?

You can't win every day, or it wouldn't be no fun when you did."

Junior watched Flint, who was buttoning his jacket.

Beneath Flint's arms were dark half-moons of sweat. "I say that

bastard cheated! There's something' not right about him!"

Flint suddenly turned, took two strides forward, and his face and

Junior's were only inches apart. "I'll ask you once more. Tell me how

I cheated, sonny boy."

"You know you did! Maybe you're just slicker'n owl shit, but I

know you cheated somehow!"

"Prove it," Flint said, and only Junior saw the faint smile that

rippled across his thin4ipped mouth.

"You dirty sonora-" Junior hauled back his arm to deliver a punch,

but Ambrose and Royce both grabbed him and pulled him away. "Lemme

go!" Junior hollered as he thrashed with impotent rage. "I'll tear

him apart, I swear to God!"

"Mister," Ambrose said, "it might be best if you don't come 'round

here again."

"I wasn't plannin' on it." Flint finished off his lemon juice,

his face impassive. Then he turned his back on the other men and walked

out to the bar to cash in his chips. His stride was as slow and

deliberate as smoke drifting. While Nick was counting the money,

Junior was escorted to the street by Ambrose, Vincent, and Royce.

"You'll get yours, Mr. Lucky!" was Junior's parting shot before the

door closed.

"He flies off the handle sometimes, but he's okay." Nick laid the

crisp green winnings in Flint's pale palm. "Better not walk around

with that kinda cash in this neighborhood."

"Thank you." He gave Nick a twenty. "For the advice."

He started walking toward the door, his hand finding the car keys

in his pocket, and over the zydeco music on the jukebox he heard the

telephone ring.

"Okay, hold on a minute. Hey, your name Murtaugh?"

Nick called.

Flint stopped at the door, dying sunlight flaring through the

fly-specked windows. "Yes."

"It's for you."

"Murtaugh," Flint said into the phone.

"You seen the TV in the last half hour?" It was a husky,

ear-hurting voice: Smoates, calling from the shop.

"No. I've been busy."

"Well, wrap up your bidness and get on over here. Ten minutes."

Click, and Smoates was gone.

Even as six o'clock moved past and the blue shadows lengthened,

the heat was suffocating. Flint could smell the lemon juice in his

perspiration as he strode along the sidewalk. When Smoates said ten

minutes, he meant eight.

It had to be another job, of course. Flint had just brought a

skin back for Smoates this morning and collected his commission-forty

percent-on four thousand dollars.

Smoates, who was the kind of man who had an ear on every corner and

in every back room, had told him about the Thursday afternoon poker pine

at Leopold's, and with some time to kill before going back to his motel

Flint had eased himself into what had turned out to be child's play. If

he had any passion, it was for the snap of cards being shuffled, the

clack of spinning roulette wheels, the soft thump of dice tumbling

across sweet green felt; it was for the smells of smoky rooms where

stacks of chips rose and fell, where cold sweat collected under the

collar and an ace made the heartbeat quicken. Today's winnings had

been small change, but a game was a game and Flint's thirst for risk

had been temporarily quenched.

He reached his ride: a black 1978 Cadillac Eldorado that had seen

three or four used car lots. The car had a broken right front

headlight, the rear bumper was secured with burlap twine, the passenger

door was crumpled in, and the southern sun had cracked and jigsawed the

old black paint.

The interior smelled of mildew and the chassis moaned over

potholes like a funeral bell. Flint's appetite for gambling didn't

always leave him a winner, the horses, greyhounds,

and the casinos of Vegas took his money with a frequency that

would have terrified an ordinary man. Flint Murtaugh, however, could

by no stretch of the imagination be called ordinary.

He slipped his key into the door's lock. As it clicked open, he

heard another noise-a metallic snap-very close behind him, and he

realized quite suddenly that he would have to pay for his inattention.

"Easy, Mr. Lucky."

Flint felt the switchblade's tip press at his right kidney.

He let the breath hiss from between his teeth. "You're makina

real big mistake."

Do tell. Let's walk. Turn in that alley up there."

Flint obeyed. There weren't many people on the sidewalk, and

Junior kept close. "Keep welkin'," Junior said as Fl@nt turned into the

alley. Ahead, in the shadows between buildings, was a chain-link fence

and beyond it a parking garage. "Stop," Junior said. "Turn around and

look at me."

Flint did, his back to the fence. Junior stood between him and

the street, the knife low at his side. It was a meanlooking

switchblade, and Junior held it as if he had used it before. "I

believe your luck's run out." Junior's eyes were still ashine with

anger. "Gimme my money."

Flint smiled coldly. He unbuttoned his sharkskin jacket, and in

so doing he tapped a finger twice on his belt buckle, which bore his

initials in scrolled letters. He lifted his hands.

"It's inside my coat. Come get it, sonny boy."

"I'll cut you, damn it! I'll give you some shit like you never

had before, man!"

"Will you? Sonny boy, I'm gonna give you three pieces of wisdom.

One." He raised a finger of his left hand. "Never play poker with a

stranger. Two." Two fingers of his right hand went up. "Never raise

against a man who asks for a single card. And three . .

Something moved at Flint's chest, underneath the white linen

shirt.

Flint's necktie was pushed aside. Through the opening of an

undone button emerged a dwarf-sized hand and a slim,

hairless white arm. The hand gripped a small doublebarreled

derringer aimed at Junior's midsection.

"Wh@n you've got the drop on a man," Flint continued, "never,

never let him face you."

Junior's mouth hung open. "Jesus, " he whispered.

"You've ... got ... three ...

"Clint. Steady. " Flint's voice was sharp; the derringer had

wobbled a few inches to the right. "Drop the knife, sonny boy." But

Junior was too stunned to respond. "Clint. Down.

Down. Down." The arm obeyed, and now the derringer was pointed

in the vicinity of Junior's knees. "You'll be a cripple in three

seconds," Flint promised.

The knife clattered to the gritty pavement.

Flint frowned, sliding his two hands into his pants pockets. The

third hand held the derringer steady. "I should've figured on this,"

Flint said, mostly to himself.

"Clint. Holster."

The wiry arm retreated into his shirt. Flint felt the gun slide

into the small holster under his right shoulder. The arm twitched

once, a muscle spasm, and then lay pressed against Flint's chest with

the fingers wedged beneath his belt buckle. "Good Clint," Flint said,

and he walked quickly toward Junior, who still stood shocked and pping.

Flint withdrew his right hand, which now wore the set of brass

knuckles that had been in his pocket. The blow that followed was fast

and decisive, hitting Junior on the chin and snapping his head back

Junior gave a garbled cry and staggered into some garbage cans, and then

Flint swung again-a graceful, almost balletic motion-and the brass

knuckles crunched into the cheekbone on the left side of Junior's face.

Gasping, Junior fell to his knees. He stayed there, his head

swaying from side to side and the anger washed from his eyes by the

tears of pain.

"You know," Flint observed, "what you said about givin' me some

shit is really funny. It really, truly is." Flint touched the

knuckles of Junior's right hand with the toe of his polished black

wingtip. The cheap wristwatch fell to the

pavement beside Junior's fingers. "See, nobody on this earth can

give me any more shit than I've already had to endure.

Do you understand?"

"Ahhhhplleesh," Junior managed.

"I've been where you are," Flint said. "It made me meaner. But

it made me smarter, too. Whatever doesn't kill you makes you smarter.

Do you believe that?"

"Immmmaeuff," Junior said.

"Take your watch," Flint told him. "Go on. Pick it up."

Slowly, Junior's hand closed around the watch.

"There you go." The cold smile had never left Flint's face.

"Now I'm gonna help your education along."

He summoned up his rage.

It was an easy thing to find. It had grinning faces in it, and

harsh, jeering laughter. It had the memory of a bad night at the

blackjack table, and of a loan shark's silky threats. It had Smoates'

voice in it, commanding Ten minutes. It had a lifetime of torment and

bitterness in it, and when it emerged from Flint it was explosive. The

hand of Clint felt that rage and clenched into a knotty fist. Flint

inhaled, lifted his foot, exhaled in a whoosh, and stomped Junior's

fingers beneath his shoe.

The watch broke. So did two of the fingers and the thumb.

Junior gave a wail that shattered into croaking, and he lay

writhing on his side with his hand clasped to his chest and bits of

watch crystal sticking into his palm.

Flint stepped back, sweat on his face and the blood pounding in

his cheeks. It took him a few seconds to find his voice, and it came

out thick and raw. "You can tell the police about this if you want

to." Flint returned the brass knuckles to his pocket. "Tell 'em a

freak with three arms did it, and listen to 'em laugh."

Junior continued to writhe, his attention elsewhere.

"Fare thee well," Flint said. He stepped over Junior, walked out

of the alley, and got into his car. In another moment he had fired up

the rough and rumbling engine and pulled away from the curb en route to

the Twilight Zone Pawn Shoppe on Stoner Avenue.

As he drove, Flint felt sick to his stomach. The rage was

gone, and in its place was shame. Breaking the boy's fingers had

been cruel and petty; he'd lost control of himself, had let his baser

nature rule him. Control was important to Flint.

Without control, men fell to the level of animals. He pushed a

cassette tape into the deck and listened to the cool, clean sound of

Chopin's piano preludes, some of his favorite music. It made him think

of his dream. In the dream, he stood on a rolling, beautiful emerald@n

lawn, looking toward a white stone mansion with four chimneys and a

huge stained-glass window in front.

He believed it was his home, but he didn't know where it was.

"I'm not an animal." His voice was still coarse with emotion.

"I'm not."

A dwarf-sized left hand suddenly rose up before his face, swatting

at his cheek with the ace of spades.

"Stop that, you bastard," Flint said, and he pushed Clint's arm back

down where it belonged.

The twilight Zone Pawn Shoppe stood between Uncle Joe's @s and the

Little Saigon Take-out Restaurant. Flint drove around back and parked

next to Eddie Smoates's late-model Mercedes-Benz. The door at the rear

of the pawn shop had a sign identifying it as Dam BA BoNm MD CouzcmoNs.

Clint was moving around under Flint's shirt, getting hungry, so Flint

reached into the backseat for a box of Ritz crackers before he got out

of the car. He pushed a button on the brick wall beside the door, and a

few seconds @ Smoates's voice growled through an intercom mounted

there: "You're late."

"I came as soon as A buzzer cut him off, announcing that the door

had been electronically unlocked. Flint pushed through it into the

air-conditioning. The door locked again at has back, Smoates kept a

lot of valuables around, and he was a careful man. There was a small

reception area with a few plastic chairs, but the office had closed for

regular business an hour ago. Flint knew where he was going; this

place was as familiar to him as his brother's arm. He walked past the

reception desk and knocked on a door behind it.

"In!" Smoafts @ and @t entered.

As usual, Eddie Smoates sat at the center of a rat's nest of

piled-up papers and Me folders. The office smelled of @c, onions, and

grease: the prime ingredients of the Little Saigon @ut dinner that lay in

S@foam plates and CUPS atoP Smoates's untidy desk. The man was stuffing

the rubber-lipped mouth in his moon-round face with @ chicken. Smoates

had the quick, dark eyes of a ferret, his broad wdp shaved bald and a

gray goatee adorning his chin.

He had massive forearms and shoulders that maed his lime-green Polo

shirt, though his belly was becoming voluminous as well. Twenty years

ago Smoates had been a profesional wrestler, wearing a mask and going

by the name X the Unimown. He said, "Siddahn" as he sucked piem of

gallic chicken off the bones, and Flint sat in one of the two chou-s

that faced the desk. behind Smoates was a metal door that led into the

pawn shop, which he also owned. On a rack of shelves pushed

precariously against a wall were a halfdozen TV wb, ten VCRS, and a

dozen or so swm amps.

The TV sets were on, all tuned to different channels though their

volumes were too low to be audible.

Smoates, a noisy eater, lwt f@. Grease on his chin and in his

goatee. Flint was repelled by Smoates's lack of manners. He @ stared

fixedly at his employer's prized collection of what Smoates called his "

pretties."

Hold in a glass cuno cabinet were such items as a mumnufied cat with two

heads, a severed human hand with seven fingers in a jar of murky

preservative, the skull of a baby with an extra eyehole in the center

of its forehead, and- the cruelest trick, it seemed to Flint-an embalmed

monkey with a third arm protruding from its neck! On a shelf above

the "MWee,

were the photo albums that contained the pictures Smoates had collected of

what seemed to be his driving passion next to making money and that

Smoates was a connoseur of freaks. As other men enjoyed vintage wine, fine

paintings, or , Smoates craved @ue oddities of flesh and bone. Flint, who

lived in an apartment in the town of Monroe a hundred miles east of

Shreveport, had never visited his employer's home in the six years he'd

been on the Dixie payroll, but he understood from one of his

fellows that Smoates kept a basement full of freak memorabilia gleaned

from five decades of carnival sideshows. Whatever it was that made a

man long to gaze upon the most bizarre and hideous of malformed

creations, it ran dark and twisted right to the roots of Smoates's

soul.

Such fascination disgusted Flint, who considered himself a

well-bred gentleman. But then, Flint himself might still be an object

of disgusting fascination had Smoates not visited the sideshow tent

that advertised, among other attractions, Flint and Clint, the Two in

One. Smoates had paid Flint to go with him to a photography studio and

pose shirtless for a series of pictures, which had presumably wound up

with the others in the photo albums. Flint had no desire to page

through the albums; he'd seen enough freaks in the flesh to last him a

lifetime.

"You win or lose?" Smoates asked, not looking up from

his garuc chicken.

tti won."

"How much?"

"Around three hundred and fifty."

"That's good. I like when you win, Flint. When you're happy, I'm

happy. You are happy, right?"

"I am," Flint said gravely.

"I like for my boys to be happy." Smoates paused, searching his

plate of bones for a shred of meat. "Don't @ like them to be late, though.

Ten minutes ain't fifteen. You need a new watch?"

"No." Clint's arm suddenly slid from the front of Flint's shirt

and began scratching and tickling at his chin. Flint took a @tz

cracker from the box and put it into the fingers.

Immediately the arm withdrew, and from beneath Flint's shirt came

the sound of crunching.

Smoates pushed his plate aside, his fingers gleaming with grease.

His eyes had taken on a feverish glint. "Open your @," he commanded.

"I like to watch him eat."

As much as he detested to, Flint obeyed. Smoates was the man with

the wallet, and he didn't tolerate disobedience from his "boys."

Flint's fingers undid the buttons, len*

Smoates have a clear view of the slim white dwarfish arm that was

connected at the elbow to an area just beneath Flint's solar plexus.

"Feed him," Smoates said. Flint took another cracker from the box. He

reft the soft bones of his brother move within lum, a slow shifting that

pressed against his own organs. Flint could smell the cracker and his

hand searched the air for it, but Flint guided it the fist-siwd growth

that protruded from his right side. Sumtes was leaning forward,

watching. The growth was as pale as the arm, was hairless and eyeless

but had a set of @ nostrils, ears @ tiny seashells, and a pair of thin

Hps. As the cracker came nearer, the lips parted with a soft, wet

noise to show the small, sharp teeth and tongue that might have

belonged to a ldtten. The mouth accepted the cracker, the teeth

crunched down, and Flint pulled his fingers back to avoid being nicked.

Sometimes Clint was overeager in his feeding.

"Amazin'." Smoates wore a dreamy smile. "I swear, I don't know

how your wires got crossed, but they sure did, didn't they" Flint

rebuttoned his shirt, except for the one button at the center he

usually left open. His face was impassive.

"What did you want to see me about?"

"Take a look at this." Smoates picked up a remote control from

his desk, pressed down with a big, greasy thumb, and one of the VCRs

clicked into Play mode. Static sizzled on one of the TV screens for a

few seconds, then the grave face of a dark-haired newswoman appeared.

She was speaking into a microphone, while behind her was a police car and a

knot of people standing around a building's revolving door. Smoates

used a second remote control to boost the volume.

this afternoon in what police are saying was the act of a d te and

disturbed man," the newswoman said.

"Emory B who was the loan manager of the First Commercial Bank,

was pronounced dead on @ at All Saints Hospital. This was the scene

just a few moments ago when Clifton Lyies, the bank's president, made a

public statement."

so

The picture changed. A grim-faced man with white hair was

standing in front of the building, reporters holding a forest of

microphones around him. "I want to say we don't intend to sit still

for this outrage," Lyles said. "I'm announcin' right now a reward in

the amount of fifteen thousand dollars for Lambert's capture." He held

up a hand to ward off the shouts. "No, I'm not takin' questions.

There'll be a full statement for the press later. I just hope and

pray that man is caught before he kills anybody else.

Thank you very much."

The newswoman came on again. "That was Clifton Lyles, president

of the First Commercial Bank. As you can see behind me, there's still

a lot of activity here as the police continue to-" The videotaped image

stopped. Smoates turned the volume down. "Crazy fucker went in there

and shot Blanchard.

Fella lost his marbles when he found out his pickup truck was

being' repossessed. You up to goin' after this skin?"

Flint had been feeding Clint during the videotape. Now he chewed

on a cracker himself, leaving his brother's fingers searching through

the opening of the undone button. "I always am," he answered.

"Figured so. I got a call in." Smoates had a connection in the

police department who, for a fee, fed him all the information he

required. "Have to move fast on this one.

Tell you the truth, I don't think there's much chance of getting'

him. Every badge in the state'll be gunnin' for him.

But there's nothin' else on the docket, so you might as well give

it a try." He struck a kitchen match and lit a black cheroot, which he

gripped between his teeth. He leaned back in his chair and spewed

smoke toward the ceiling. "Give you a chance to take the new man out

on a trainin' run."

"The new man? What new man?"

"The new man I'm thinkin' of hirin' on. Name's Eisley.

Came in to see me this afternoon. He's got potential, but he's

green. I need to see what he's made of."

"We work alone," Flint said quietly.

"Eisley's stayin' at the 0" Plantation Motel out by the airport."

Smoates fished for his notepad on the cluttered

desktop. "Room Number Twenty-three," he said when he'd found it.

"We work alone," Flint repeated, a little more forcibly.

"Uh-huh. That may be, but I want you to take Eisley along this

time."

Flint shifted uneasily in his chair. A small terror had begun

building within him. "I don't ... I don't allow anyone else into my

car."

"Are you jivin' me?" Smoates scowled across the desk, and his scowl

was not pretty. "I've seen that bucket of bolts.

Nothin' special about it."

"I know, but ... I'm particular about who I ride with."

"Well, Eisley ain't a nigger, if that's what bothers you."

"No, that's not it. I just ... Clint and me ... we'd rather work

alone."

"Yeah, you already said that. But you're elected. Billy Lee's in

Arkansas on a job, Dwayne's still laid up with the flu, and I ain't

heard from Tiny Boy in two weeks. Figure he must've gone back to the

sideshow, so we need some fresh blood 'round here. Eisley might work

out just fine."

Flint choked. He lived alone-if a man whose brother was trapped

inside his body in a wicked twist of genetics could ever be truly

alone-and preferred it that way.

Having to deal with another person at close quarters might

drive him right up the wall.   "What's wrong with him?"

"Who?"

"Eisley," Flint said, speaking slowly and carefully.

"Somethin' must be wrong with him, or you wouldn't want to hire

him on."

Smoates drew on his cheroot and tapped ashes to the floor. "I

like his personality," he said at last. "Reminds me of a fella I used

to think real highly of."

"But he's a freak, right? You don't hire anybody but freaks."

"Now, that ain't exactly correct. I hire-" He paused, mulling it

over. "Special talents," he decided. "People who impress me, for one

reason or 'mother. Take Billy Lee, for instance. He don't have to say

a word, all he has to do is

stand there and show his stuff, and he gets the job done. Am I

right?"

Flint didn't answer. Billy Lee Klaggens was a

six-foot-sixinch-tall black man who had paid his dues on the freak-show

circuit under the name of Popeye. Klaggens, a fearsome visage, could

stand there and stare at you and the only thing moving about him would

be his eyeballs as blood pressure slowly squeezed them almost out of

his skull. Faced with such a sight, the skins KIMens hunted became as

hypnotized as rabbits watching a cobra flare its hood-and then Klaggens

sprayed a burst of Mace in their eyes, snapped on the handcuffs, and

that was all she wrote. Klaggens had worked for Smoates for over ten

years, and he had taught Flint the ropes.

"Eisley's got a special talent, if that's what you're getting' at."

A little thread of smoke leaked from the gap between his front teeth.

"He's a born communicator. I think he could make the fuckin' sphim

talk. He knows how to work people.

Used to be in show business."

"Didn't we all," Flint said.

"Yeah, but Eisley's got the gift of pb. You and him, you'll make

a good team."

"I'll take him out on a trainin' run, but I'm not teamin'up with

him. Or with anybody.

"Okay, okay." Smoates grinned, but on his face it looked more

like a sneer. "Flint, you gotta loosen up, boy! You gotta get over

this antisocial problem, you'll be a lot happier-" The telephone half

buried beneath file folders rang, and Smoates snatched up the receiver.

"Dixie Bail Bonds and Collections ... well, you took your sweet

fuckin' time, didn't you? Let's have the story." He tossed Flint the

notepad and a ballpoint pen. "Daniel Lewis Lambert ...

Vietnam veteran ... unemployed carpenter. . ." He snorted smoke

through his nostrils. "Shit, m%an, gimme something' I can use!" He

listened, the cheroot at a jaunty angle in his mouth. "Cops think he's

left town. Armed and dangerous. Ex-wife and son in Alexandria.

What's the address?" He relayed it to Flint, who wrote it down.   "No

other relatives in state? Sumbitches are gonna be waitin' for him

to show up in Alexandria then, right? Hell, they gone get him 'fore I

even send my boy out. But gimme the license number and a description of

his truck anyhow-, we might get lucky." Flint wrote that down as well.

"What's Lambert look like?" was the next question, and Lambert's

description went on the notepad's page. "Anythin' else? Okay, then.

Yeah, yeah, you'll get your money this week. You hear that

they've picked Lambert up, you gimme a call pronto. I'll be home.

Yeah, same to you." He hung up. "Cops figure he might be on his way

to Alexandria. They'll have the house staked out, for sure."

"Doesn't sound to me like I've got a snowball's chance in Hell of

grabbin' him." Flint tore off the page and folded it "Too many cops in

the picture."

"It's worth a shot. Fifteen thousand smacks ain't hay. If you're

lucky, you might catch him 'fore he gets to the house."

"I'd agree with you if I didn't have to haul freight."

Smoates drew on his cheroot and released a ragged smoke ring that

floated toward the ceiling. "Flint," he said, "you been with

me-what?-six years, goin' on seven? You're one of the best trackers I

ever had. You're smart, you can think ahead. But you got this

attitude problem, boy. YOU forget who pulled you out of that sideshow

and who pays your bills."

"No, I don't," Flint answered crisply. "You won't let me."

Smoates was silent for a few seconds, during which he stared

without blinking at Flint through a haze of smoke.

"You tired of this job?" he asked. "If you are, you can quit

anytime you please. Go on and find yourself some other line of work.

I ain't stoppin' you."

Flint's mouth was dry. He held Smoates's haughty stare as long as

he could, and then he looked away.

"You work for me, you follow my orders," Smoates continued. "You

do what I say, you draw a paycheck. That make sense to you?"

"Yeah," Flint managed to say.

"Maybe you can grab Lambert, maybe you can't. I think

Eisley's got potential, and I want to see what he's made of.

Only way to do that is to send him out on a run with somebody, and

I say that somebody is you. So go get him and hit the road. You're

wastin' my time and money."

Flint took the box of crackers and stood up. He pushed his

brother's arm down under his shirt and held it there. Now that he'd

been fed, Clint would be asleep in a few minutes; unless he was called

upon, all he basically did was eat and sleep. Flint's eyes found the

three-armed monkey in the curio cabinet, and the same surge of anger

that had made him break Junior's fingers swelled up in him and almost

spilled out.

"I'll give Eisley a call and tell him you're on the way," Smoates

said. "Check in with me from the motel."

I'm not an anima4 Flint thought. Blood pulsed in his face.

He felt Clint's bones twitch within him like the movement of

someone trapped in a very bad dream.

"Standin' there ain't gonna get you nowhere," Smoates told him.

Flint turned away from the three-armed monkey and the bald-headed

man behind the desk. When the door had closed at Flint's back, Smoates

released a harsh little hiccup of a laugh. His belly shook. He

crushed his cheroot out in the plate of grease and bones, and it

perished with a bubbly hiss. His laughter gurgled and swelled.

Flint Murtaugh was on his way to meet the Pelvis.

-7

A Ways to Go

Three hours after shooting a man to death, Dan Lambert found

himself sitting on a screened porch, a ceiling fan creaking overhead,

with a glass of honeysuckle tea in his hand and a black woman offering

him a refill from a purple pitcher.

"No ma'am, thank you," he said.

"Lemme get on back to the kitchen, then." Lavinia Gwinn put the

pitcher down on the wicker table between Dan and Reverend Gwinn.

"Terrence and Amelia oughta be here 'bout another half hour."

"I hope you don't mind me stayin'. I didn't know your son was

comin' over when your husband invited me."

"Oh, don't you worry, we gots plenty. Always cook up a feast on

Thursday nights." She left the porch, and Dan sipped his tea and

listened to the cicadas droning in the green woods around the

reverend's white clapboard house.

The sun was sinking lower, the shadows growing between the trees.

Reverend Gwinn occupied a wicker rocking chair, his fingers laced

around his tea glass and his face set with the expression of a man who

is calm and comfortable with life.

"You have a nice house," Dan said.

"We like it. Had a place in the city once, but it was like livin'

in an alarm clock. Lavinia and me don't need much to get by on@

"I used to have a house. In Alexandria. My ex-wife and son still

live there."

"Is that where you're headed, then?"

Dan took a moment to think about his answer. It seemed to him now

that all along he'd known the house on Jackson Avenue was his

destination. The police would be waiting for him there, of course.

But he had to see Chad, had to tell his son that it had been an

accident, a terrible collision of time and circumstance, and that he

wasn't the cold-blooded killer the newspapers were going to make him

out to be.

"Yes," he said. "I believe I am."

"Good for a man to know where he's goin'. Helps you figure out

where you've been."

"That's for damn sure." Dan caught himself. "lib ...

sorry.

"Oh, I don't think the Lord minds a little rough language now and

again, long as you keep His commandments."

Dan said nothing. Thou shalt not kill, he was thinking.

"Tell me about your son," Gwinn said. "How old is her "Seventeen.

His name's Chad. He's... a mighty good boy.

"You see a lot of him?"

"No, I don't. His mother thought it was for the best."

Owinn grunted thoughtfully. "Boy needs a father, I'd

"Maybe so. But I'm not the father Chad needs."

"How's that, Mr. Farrow?"

"I messed up some things," Dan said, but he didn't care to

elaborate.

A moment passed during which the smell of frying chicken drifted

out onto the porch and made the hunger pangs sharpen in Dan's belly.

Then Reverend Gwinn said, "Mr. Farrow, excuse me for sayin' so, but

you look @ a man who's seen some trouble."

"Yes sir." Dan nodded. "That's about right."

"You care to unburden it?"

Dan looked into the reverend's face. "I wish I could. I wish I

could tell you everythin' I've been through, in Vietnam and after I

left that damned place, but that's no

excuse for what I did today." He looked away again, shamed by

Gwinn's compassion.

"Whatever you did, it can be forgiven."

"Not by me. Not by the law, either." He lifted the cool glass

and pressed it against his forehead for a few seconds, his eyes closed.

"I wish I could go back and make everythin' right. I wish I could

wake up and it'd be mornin'again, and I could have another chance." He

opened his eyes. "That's not how life works though, is it?"

"No," Gwinn said. "Not this life, at least."

"I'm not much of a religious man. Maybe I saw too many young boys

get blasted to pieces you couldn't have recognized as part of anythin'

human. Maybe I heard too many cries for God that went unanswered."

Dan swigged down the rest of his tea and set the glass aside. "That

might sound cynical to you, Reverend, but to me it's a fact."

"Seems to me no one's life is easy," Gwinn said, a frown settling

over his features. "Not the richest nor the poorest."

He rocked gently back and forth, the runners creaking. "You say

you've broken the law, Mr. Farrow?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me what you've done?"

Dan took a long breath and let it go slowly. The cicadas trilled

in the woods, two of them in close harmony. "I killed a man today," he

answered, and he noted that Gwinn ceased his rocking. "A man at a bank

in Shreveport. I didn't mean to. it just happened in a second. It

was . . . like a bad dream, and I wanted to get out of it but I

couldn't. Hell, I was never even a very good shot. One bullet was all

it took, and he was gone. I knew it, soon as I saw where I'd hit him."

"What had this man done to you?"

Dan had the sudden realization that he was confessing to a

stranger, but Gwinn's sincere tone of voice urged him on.

"Nothin', really. I mean ... the bank was repossessin' my pickup.

I snapped. Just like that. I started tearin' up his office. Then

all of a sudden a guard was there, and when he pulled a gun on me I got

it away from him. Blanchard-the man I shot-brought a pistol out of his

desk and aimed it at me. I heard the hammer of his gun click. Then I

pulled the

trigger." Dan's fingers gripped the armrests, his )muckles white.

"I tried to stop the bleedin', but there wasn't much I could do. I'd

cut an artery in his neck. I heard on the radio that he was dead on

arrival at the hospital. I figure the police are gonna catch me sooner

or later, but I've got to see my son first. There are some things I

need to tell him." "Lord have mercy," Gwinn said very quietly.

"Oh, I'm not deservin' of mercy," Dan told him. "I'd just like

some time, that's all" "Time," the reverend repeated. He took the

silver watch from his pocket, snapped it open, and looked at the numerals.

"If you don't want me sittin' at your table," E)an said, -1

can tmrstand."

Gwinn's watch was returned to the pocket. "My son," he said, "will

be here any minute now. You didn't ask what kinda work Terrence does."

"Never thought to."

"My son is a deputy sheriff in Mansfield," Gwinn said, and those

words caused the flesh to tighten at the back of Dan's neck. "Your

description on the radio?" ac "Yes."

"Terrence might not have heard about it. Then again, he might've."

Gwinn held Dan's gaze with his dark, intense eyes- "Is what you've

told me the truth, Mr. FamvO" "It is. Except my name's not Farrow.

It's Lambert."

" Fair enough. I believe you." Gwinn stood up, leaving the

chair rocldng. He went into the house, calling for his wife.

Dan left his chair as well, his heart beating hard. He hmm the

reverend say, "Yeah, Mr. FarrovVs got a ways to go and he's not gonna

be stayin' for dinner after all."

"Oh, that's a shame," lavinia answered. 11IMe chic@s all done!"

"Mr. Farrow?" There was just a trace of tension in Gwinn's

voice- "You care to take some chicken for the roadt' "Yes sir," Dan said

from the front door. "I sure would." The reverend returned carrying a

paper bag with some grease stains on the bottom. fris wife was

following

behind him. "What's your hurry, Mr. Farrow.? Our boy oughta be

here directly!"

"Mr. Farrow can't stay." Gwinn pushed the paper bag into Dan's

hand. "He's gotta get to ... New Orleans, didn't you say, Mr.

Farrow?"

"I believe I might have," Dan said as he accepted the fried

chicken.

"Well, I'm awful sorry you're not gonna be joinin' us at the

table," Lavinia told him. "You gots family waitin' for Your, "Yes, he

does," Gwinn said. "Come on, Dan, I'll walk you to your truck."

"You take care on that road now," Lavinia continued, but she

didn't leave the porch. "Crazy things can happen out there.

"Yes ma'am, I will. Thank you." When he and the reverend had

reached the pickup and Lavinia had gone back inside, Dan asked, "Why

are you helpin' me like this?"

"You wanted some time, didn't you? I'm givin' you a little bit.

You better get on in there."

Dan slid into the driver's seat and started the engine. He

realized that some of Blanchard's dried blood still streaked the

steering wheel. "You could've waited. Just turned me in when your son

got here."

"What? And scare Lavinia half to death? Take a chance on my boy

getting' hurt? Nosir. Anyhow, seems like you've had enough trouble

today without me makin' more for you. But you listen to me now: the

sensible thing to do is turn yourself in after you see your son. The

police ain't savages; they'll give an ear to your story. All runnin's

gonna do is make things worse."

"I know that."

"One more thing," Gwinn said, his hand on the window frame.

"Maybe you're not a religious man, but I'll tell you something' true:

God can take a man along many roads and through many mansions. It's

not where you are that's important; it's where you're goin' that

counts. Hear what I'm sayin'?"

"I think so."

"Well, you keep it to heart.   Go on now, and good luck to

YOU.   "

"Thanks." I'll need it, he thought. He put the Chevy into

reverse.

"So Ion" Gwinn let go of the truck and stepped back.

"The Lord be with you."

Dan nodded and reversed the truck along the dn-t drive that led

from the reverend's house to the cracked concrete of Highway 175.

Gwinn ftW watching him go as Dan backed onto the road and then put the

truck's gearr, into first. The reverend lifted his hand in a farewell and

Dan drove away, hWM southbound again but @s soon @ bs head clear and

for the moment ri-re of pain and a paper bag full of fried chicken on

the seat beside him. He had driven perhaps a mile from Gwinn's house

when a car came around the bend and passed him, going north, and he saw

a young black man at the wheel and a black woman on the side. Then he

was around the curve hunself, and he gave the truck a little more gas.

The Lord be with yo,4 he thint. BW where had the Lord been at three

o'clock @s afternoon?

Dan reached into the bag and found a drumstick, and he chewed on

it as he followed the curvy country road deeper into the Loumm h d. As

the sun continued to @ in the west and the miles clicked off, Dan f hu

thoughts on what lay ahead of him. If he mM east and got on the

freeway apm he would reach Alexandria in about an hour. If he @ stayed on

this

slower route, it would take double that- The sun would be gone in another

five minutes or so.

The police would surely be watching out the house on J Avenue, and those

prowl cars had mighty strong still He couldn't even risk driving past the

house. How long would it take before the police decked off their surve

?

He might @ about giving lumself up after he'd @ to @ but he wasn't

going to let the boy see him handcuffs. So the question was: how was

he going to set to Chad without the police jumping all over him first?

South of a small hamlet called Behnont, @ pard into a

Texaco station, bought five dollars worth of gas, a Buffalo Rock

ginger ale to wash down the excellent fried chicken, and a Louisiana

roadmap. The gray-haired woman who took his money was too interested

in her Soap Opera Digest to pay him much attention. In the steamy blue

evening Dan switched on the pickup's headlights and followed Highway

175 as it connected with Highway 171 and became a little smoother. At

the town of Leesville, where he found himself stopped at a traffic

light right in front of the police station, he took a left onto Highway

28 East, which was a straight shot into Alexandria. He had about

thirty miles to go.

Fear started clawing at him again. The dull throbbing in his head

returned. Full dark had fallen, a sickle moon rising over the trees.

Traffic was sparse on the road, but every set of headlights in his

rearview mirror stretched Dan's nerves.

The nearer he got to Alexandria, the more he doubted this mission

could be accomplished. But he had to try; if he didn't at least try,

he wouldn't be worth a damn.

He passed a sign that said AuxANDm i8 Nu.

The police are gonna be there, he told himself. They'll get me

before I can walk up the front steps. Would they have the telephone

tapped, too? If I called Susan, would she put Chad on the phone or

would she hang up?

He decided he couldn't drive up to the house. There had to be

another way. But he couldn't drive around in circles, either.

NDRm io im. the next sign said.

He didn't know what to do. He could see the glow of Alexandria's

lights on the horizon. Two more miles reeled off the odometer. And

then he saw a blinking sign through the trm on his right-HIDEAWAY M TOR

coRT-and he lifted his foot from the accelerator. Dan slowed down as

the turnoff to the motor court approached. He had another instant of

indecision, but then he turned off I-lighway 28 and guided the pickup

along a dirt road bordered by scraggly pines and palmettos. The

headlights revealed gin-en-painted cottages tucked back amid the trees.

A red wooden arrow with oFncE on it pointed in the dimdion he was

going. Dan

saw no lights in any of the cottages, and a couple of them looked

as if their roofs were an ill wind away from collapse.

The grounds were weeded-up and forlorn, a swing set rusted and

drooping next to an area of decaying picnic tables. Then the driveway

stopped at a house painted the same shade of vomito green as the

cottages, a rust-splotched station wagon parked alongside. A yellow

buglight burned on the front porch, and other lights showed in the

windows. The ledeaway, it appeared, was open for business.

As Dan cut the engine, he saw a figure peer through a window at

him, then withdraw. He'd just gotten out when he heard a screen door's

hinges skreek.

"Howdy," a man said. "How're you doin'?"

"I'm all right," Dan lied. He was facing a slim, bucktoothed gent

who must've stood six-four, his dark hair cut as if a bowl had been

placed on his head as a guide for the ragged scissors. "You got a

vacancy?"

The man, who wore blue jeans and a black Hawm=print shirt with

orange flowers on it, gave a snorty @.

"Nothin' but," he said. "Come on in and we'll fix you up."

Dan followed the man up a set of creaky stairs onto the porch. He

was aware of a deep, slow rumbling noise on the sultry air', frogs, he

thought it must be. Sounded like hundreds of them, not very far away.

Dan went into the house behind the man, who walked to a desk in the

dingy little front room and brought out a Nifty notebook and a

ballpoint Pen. "AMghty," the man said, offering a grin that could've

popped a bottle top. "Now we're ready to do some bidness." He opened

the notebook, which Dan saw was a repstmtion log that held only a few

@bbled names. "I'm Harmon DeCayne, glad you decided to stop over with

us."

"Dan Farrow." They shook hands. DeCayne's palm felt oily.

"How many nights, Mr.   FarrowT' t'imt one.   @9

I'm YOU from?"

"Baton Rouge," he decided to say.

"Well, you're a long way from home to@t, @'t your,

DeCayne wrote down the fake information. He seemed so excited,

his hand was trembling. "We got some nice cottages, real nice and

comftable."

"That's good." Dan hoped the cottages were cooler than the

house, which might've served as a steam bath. A small fan on a scarred

coffee table was chattering, obviously overmatched. 'How much?" He

reached for his wallet.

"Uh-" DeCayne paused, his narrow brow "Does six dolim suit you?"

"Seven do@. Paid in advance, if you please."

DeCayne jumped. The woman's voice had been a high, nasty

whiplash. She had come through a corridor that led to the rear of the

house, and she stood watching Dan with small, dark eyes.

"Seven do@," she repeated. "We don't take no checks or plgmtic.09

"My wife," DeCayne said; his grin had expired.     "Hannah.   "

She had red hair that flowed over her thick@ shoulden in a torrent

of @ curls. Her face was about as as a chunk of limestone, all sharp

edges and forbidding angles. She wore a shapeless lavender-colored

shift and rubber flipflops, and she stood maybe five feet tall, her

body compact and vnde-tupped and her legs @ white tree . She was

holding a meat cleaver, her fingers ghstemng with blood.

"Seven dollars it is," Dan agreed, and he paid the man.

The money went into a metal tin that was instantly locked by one

of the keys on a key ring attached to DeCaynes belt.

Hannah DeCayne said, "Give him Number Four. It's cimimt.pl

"Yes, bon." De Cayne plucked the proper key from a wan plaque

where six other keys were hangm "Get him a fan," she instructed her

husband. He opened a closet and brought out a fan similar to the one

that fought the steam currents. "A pffla, too."

"Yes, bon." He leaned into the closet again and emerged with a

bare prow. He gave Dan a nervous smile that didn't

do much to hide a glint of pain in his eyes. "Nice and comftable

cottage, Number Four is."

"Does it have a phone?" Dan asked.

"Phone's right here," the woman said, and she motioned with the

meat cleaver toward a telephone on a table in the corner. "Local calls

cost fifty cents."

"Are Alexandria numbers long distance?"

"We ain't in Alexandria. Cost you a dollar a minute."

And she'd time him to the second, too, he figured. He couldn't

call Susan with this harpy listening over his shoulder. "Is there a

pay phone around anywhere?"

"One at the gas station couple of miles up the road," she said.

"If it's workin'."' Dan nodded. He stared at the cleaver in the

woman's fist.

"Been choppin' some meat?"

"Froglegs," she said.

"Oh." He nodded again, as if this made perfect sense.

"That's what we live on," she continued, and her lower lip curled.

"Ain't no money in this damn place. We sell froglegs to a restaurant

in town. Come out of the pond back that way." She motioned with the

cleaver again, toward the rear of the house. Dan saw jewels of blood on

the blade. "What'd you say your name was?"

"Farrow. Dan Farrow."

"Uh-huh. Well, Mr. Farrow, you ever seen a cockeyed fool

before?" She didn't wait for an answer. "There's one, standin' right

beside you. Ever heard of a cockeyed fool buyin' a damn motel on the

edge of a swamp pond? And then puttin' every damn penny into a damn

fairyland?"

"Han?" Harmon's voice was very quiet. "Please."

"Please, my ass," she hissed. "I thought we was gonna be makin'

some money by now, but no, I gotta damn fool for a husband and I'm up

to my elbows in froglegs!"

"I'll show you to your cottage." Harmon started for the door.

"Watch where you step!" Hannah DeCayne warned Dan.

"Damn frogs are breedin' back in that pond. There's hundreds of

'em 'round here. Show our guest the fairyland

while you're at it, why don'tcha?" This last statement had been

hurled at her husband like a bucketful of battery acid.

He ducked his shoulders and got out of the house, and Dan darted

another glance at the woman's meat cleaver before he followed.

"Enjoy your stay," she said as he went through the door.

Holding the fan and the pillow, Harmon climbed into the pickup

truck and Dan got behind the wheel. Harmon made a slight nasal

whistling sound as he breathed, kind of Mo a steam kettle on a slow

boil. "Number Four's up that rind," he said with an upward jerk of his

chin. "Turn right."

Dan did. "Woman's always on me," Harmon said bitterly.

"So I messed up, so what? Ain't the @ first man in the world to

mess up. Won't be the last neither."

"That's true," Dan agreed.

"It's that way." Harmon motioned to a weed-grown pathway

meandering off into the woods.

What is? The cottage?"

"No. The fairyland. There's your cottage up road."

The headlights showed a dismal-looking green-daubed dump waiting

ahead, but at least the roof appeared sturdy.

Also revealed by the headlights was a squattage of frogs, maybe

two dozen or more, on the dirt road between Dan's truck and the

cottage. Dan hit the brake, but Harmon said, "Hell, run 'em over, I

don't give a damn."

Dan tried to ease through them. Some squawked and leapt for

safety, but others seemed hypnotized by the lights and met their maker

in a flattened condition. Dan parked in front of the cottage and

followed DeCayne inside, the noise of the frogs a low, throbbing

rumble.

He hadn't expected much, so he wasn't disappointed. The cottage

smelled of mildew and Lysol, and the pent-up heat inside stole the

breath from his lungs. DeCayne turned on the lights and plugged in the

fan, which made a rackrting sound as if its blades were about to come

loose and fly apart.

The bed's mattress had no sheet, and none was offered. Dan

checked the bathroom and found two fist-size frogs croaking on the

shower tiles. DeCayne scooped them up and tossed them out the back

door. Then he presented the key to Dan.

"Checkout time's twelve noon. 'Course, we're not expectin' a

rush, so you can take your time."

"I'll be leavin' early anyway-" "Okay." He'd already put the

pillowcase on the pillow and directed the fan's sullen breeze toward

the bed. "You need anythin' else?"

"Not that I can think of." Dan didn't plan to steep here; he was

going to bide his time for a few hours and then call Susan from the gas

station's pay phone. He walked outside with DeCayne and got his duffel

bag from the truck.

"Hannah's right about watchin'where you step," the man said.

"They can make an awful mess. And if you find any more in the cottage,

just pitch 'em out back." DeCayne looked toward his own house, which

stood fifty yards or so away, the lights just visible through the

woods. "Well, I'd better get on back. You married, Mr. Farrow?"

"Used to be."

"I knew you were a free man. Got the look of freedom about you.

I swear, sometimes I'd give anythin' to be free."

"All it takes is a judge."

DeCayne grunted. "And let her steal me blind? Oh, she laughs at

me and calls me a fool, but someday I'll show her.

Yessir. I'll fix up the fairyland the way it oughta be and the

tourists'll come from miles around. You know, I bought all that stuff

for a song."

That stuff " "In the fairyland. The statues and stuff. It's all

in there: Cinderella's castle, Hansel and Gretel, the whale that

swallowed Jonah. All they need is patchin' and paint, they'll be like

new."

Dan nodded. It was obvious the man had constructed some kind of

half-baked tourist attraction along that weeded-up pathway, and

obvious too that the tourists had failed to arrive.

"One of these days I'll show her who's a fool and who's smart,"

DeCayne muttered, mostly to himself. He sighed resignedly. "Well,

hope you have a good night's sleep." He began walking back to his

house, frogs jumping around his shoes.

Dan carried his duffel bag into the cottage. In the bathroom he

found a sliver of soap on the sink, and he removed his baseball cap and

damp shirt and washed his face and hands with cool water. He was

careful to get rid of the last traces of blood between his fingers and

under his nails. Then he took a wet piece of toilet paper outside and

cleaned the pickup's steering wheel. When he returned to the cottage, he

discovered in the bedside table's drawer a six-month-old Newsweek

magazine with Saddam Hussein's face on the cover. Beneath the magazine

was the more useful discovery of a deck of cards. He sat down on the

bed, leaning back against the plastic headboard, and he took off his

wristwatch and laid it beside him. It was twelve minutes after nine;

he'd decided that he'd go make the call at eleven o'clock.

He dealt himself a hand of solitaire, the first of many, and he

tried with little success to get Blanchard's dying face out of his

mind. In a couple of hours he might either see Chad or be in the back

of a police car heading for jail. Was it worth the risk? He thought

it was. For now, though, all he could do was wait and play out the

cards before him. The wristwatch's second hand was moving, and the

future would not be denied.

Meet the Pelvis

As Dan had been driving away from Reverend Gwinn's house, a black

1978 Cadillac Eldorado with a broken right headlight and a crumpled

passenger door turned into the parking lot of the Old Plantation Motel

'near Shreveport's regional airport.

In the sultry twilight gloom, the place looked as if Sherman had

already passed through. Flint Murtaugh guided his car past a rusted

cannon that defiantly faced the north. A tattered Confederate flag

drooped on its warped pole. The motel's office was constructed to

resemble a miniature plantation manor, but the rest of the place was

definitely meant for the slaves. Trash floated on the brown surface of

the swimming pool's water, and two men sat sharing a bottle beside an

old Lincoln up on cinder blocks.

Flint stopped his car before the door marked twenty-three and got

out. Beneath Flint's shirt, Clint twitched in an uneasy sleep. Flint

heard a man's and woman's voices tangled in argument through an open

door, cursing each other purple. Beer cans and garbage littered the

parched grass. Flint thought that the South wasn't what it used to be.

He knocked on the door of number twenty-three. A dog began

barking from within, a high-pitched yap yap yap yap.

"It's all right, Mama," he heard a man say.

That voice. Familiar, wasn't it?

A latch clicked. The door opened a few inches before the chain

stopped it.

Flint was looking at a slice of pudgy face and a sapphireblue eye.

An oily comma of dark brown hair hung down over the man's forehead.

"Yes sir?" that deep, slightly raspy, oh-so-familiar voice asked as

the dog continued to yap in the background.

"I'm Flint Murtaugh. Smoates sent me."

"Oh, yessir! Come on in!" The man took the chain off, opened the

door wider, and Flint caught his breath with a startled gasp.

Standing before him, wearing a pair of black pants and a red shirt

with a wide, tall collar and silver spangles on the shoulders, was a

man who had died fourteen years before.

"Don't mind Mama," Elvis Presley said with a nervous grin. "She's

got a bark, but she don't have no bite."

"You're. . ." No, of course it wasn't! "Who the hell are you?"

"Pelvis Eisley's the name." He offered a fleshy hand, the fingers

of which were laden with gaudy fake diamond rings.

Flint just looked at it, and the other man withdrew it after a few

seconds as if fearful he'd caused offense. "Mama, get on back now!

Give him some room! Come on in, pardon the mess!"

Flint crossed the threshold as if in a daze. Pelvis Eisleythe

big-bellied, fat-jowled twin of Elvis Presley as he'd been the year of

his death at Graceland-closed the door, relocked it, and scooped up a

grocery sack from the nearest chair. It was filled, Flint saw, with

potato chip bags, boxes of doughnuts, and other junk food. "There you

go, Mr. Murtaugh, you can set yourself right here."

"This is a joke, isn't it?"   Flint asked.

"Sir?"

A spring jabbed his butt, and only then did Flint realize he'd sat

down in the chair. "This has got to be a-" Before he could finish, a

little barking thing covered with brownand-white splotches leapt onto

his lap, its wet pug nose mashed flat and its eyes bulbous. It began

yapping in his face.

Meet the Pelvis

"Mama!" Pelvis scolded. "You mind your manners!" He lifted the

bulldog off Flint and put her down, but the animal was instantly up on

Flint's lap again.

"I reckon she likes you," Pelvis said, smiling an Elvis sneer.

"I ... hate ... dogs," Flint replied in his chill whisper.

"Get it off me. Now.

"Lordy, Mama!" Pelvis picked the dog up and held her against his

jiggling belly while the animal continued to bark and struggle. "Don't

everbody in this world enjoy your shenanigans, you hear? Hold still!"

The dog's thrashings made Flint think of a Slinky. Its watery eyes

remained fixed on him as he used his handkerchief to brush the dog

hairs from the knees of his pants.

"You want something'to drink, Mr. Murtaugh? How 'bout some

buttermilk?"

"No. " The very smell of buttermilk made him deathly ill.

"Got some pickled pig's feet, if you want a bite to-" "Eisley,"

Flint interrupted, "how much did that bastard pay you?"

"sir?9t

"Smoates. How much did he pay you to pull this joke on me?" !

Pelvis frowned. He and the struggling dog wore the same

expression. "I don't believe I know what you mean, sir."

"Okay, it was a good joke! See, I'm laughin'!" Flint stood up,

his face grim. He glanced around the cramped little room and saw that

Eisley's living habits were the equivalent of buttermilk and pickled

pig's feet. On one wall a large poster of Elvis Presley had been

thumb-tacked up; it was the dangerous, cat-sneer face of the young

Elvis before Las Vegas stole the Memphis from his soul. On a table was

a beggar's banquet of cheap plaster Elvis statues and busts; a

cardboard replica of Graceland; a framed photograph of Elvis standing

with his gloomy, hollow-eyed mother, and a dozen other Elvis

knickknacks and geegaws that Flint found utterly repugnant. Another

wall held a black velvet portrait of Elvis and Jesus playing games on the

steps of what was

presumably heaven. Flint felt nauseated. "How can you stand to

live in all this crap?"

Pelvis looked stunned for a few seconds. Then his grin flooded

back. "Oh, now you're joshin' me!" The dog got away from him and

slipped to the floor, then leapt up onto the bed amid empty Oreo and

Chips Ahoy coolde bags and started yapping again.

"Listen, I've got a job to do, so I'll just say fare thee well and

get out." Flint started for the door.

"Mr. Smoates said you and me was gonna be partners," Pelvis said

with a hurt whine. "Said you was gonna teach me eveethin' you knew."

Flint stopped with his hand on the latch.

"Said you and me was gonna track a skin together," Pelvis went on.

"Hush, Mama!"

Flint wheeled around, his face bleached to the shade of the white

streak in his hair. "You mean ... you're tellin' me ... this is not a

joke?"

"No sir. I mean, yes sir. Mr. Smoates from the office to get

me, 'cause that's where the phone is.

Mr. Smoates said you was on your way, and we was gonna track a

skin together. Uh ... is that the same as being' a bounty hunter?"

Pelvis took the other man's shocked silence as agreement. "See, that's

what I w:anna be. I took a detective course by mail from one of thera

magazines. I was livin' in Vicksburg then. Fe@ who runs a detective

agency in Vicksburg said he didn't have a job for me, but he told me

all about Mr. Smoates. Like how Mr. Smoates was always on the

lookout @or-let's see, how'd he put it?-special talent, I think he

said. Anyhow, I come from Vicksburg to see Mr.

Smoates and we had us a talk this afternoon. He said for me to

hang 'round town a few days, maybe he'd give me a tryout. So I guess

this is what this is, huh?"

"You've got to be insane," Flint rasped.

Pelvis kept grinning. "Been called worse, I reckon."

Flint shook his head. The walls seemed to be closing in on him,

and on all sides there was an Elvis. The dog was yapping, the noise

splitting his skull. The awful stench of

Fella come

Meet the Pelyls

buttermilk wafted in the air. Something close to panic grabbed

Flint around the throat. He whirled toward the door, wrenched the

latch back, and leapt out of the foul Elvisized room. As he ran along

the breezeway toward the office with Clint twitching under his shirt,

he heard the nightmare calling behind him: "Mr. Murtaugh, sir? You all

right?"

In the office, where a Confederate flag was nailed to the wall

next to an oil portrait of Robert E. Lee, Flint all but attacked the

pay phone. "Hey, careful there!" the manager warned. He wore blue

jeans, a Monster Truck T-shirt, and a Rebel cap. "That's motel

property!"

Flint shoved a quarter into the slot and punched Smoates's home

number. After four rings Smoates answered- "Yeah?"

"I'm not goin' out with that big shit sack!" Flint sputtered.

"No way in Hell!"

"Ha," Smoates said.

"You tryin' to be funny, or what?"

"Take it easy, Flint. What's ratin, you? "You know what, damn

it! That Eisley! Hell, he thinks he's Elvis! I'm a professional! I'm

not goin' on the road with somebody who belongs in an asylum!"

"Eisley's sane as you or me. He's one of them Elvis

impersonators." Smoates let out a laugh that so inflamed Flint, he

almost jerked the phone off the wall. "Looks just like him, don't he?"

"Yeah, he looks like a big shit sack!"

"Hey!" Smoates's voice had taken on a chill. "I was a fan of

Elvis's. Drilled my first piece of pussy with 'Jailhouse Rock' playin'

on the radio, so watch your mouth!"

"I can't believe you'd even think about hirin'him on! He'r, as

green as grass! Did you know he took a detective course by mail?"

"Uh-huh. That puts him ahead of where you were when I hired you.

And as I recall, you were pretty green yourself.

Billy Lee raised hell about havin' to take you out your first

time."

"Maybe so, but I didn't look like a damn fool!"

"Flint," Smoates said, "I like the way he looks. That's why I

want to give him a chance."

"Are you crazy, or am I?"

"I hire people I think can get the job done. I hired you cause I

figured you were the kind of man who could get on a skin's track and

not let loose no matter what. I figured a man with three arms was

gonna have to be tough, and he was gonna have something' to prove, too.

And I was right about that, wasn't I? Well, I've got the same feelin'

about Eisley. A man who walks and talks and looks like Elvis Presley's

gotta have a lot of guts, and he's already been down a damn hard road.

So you ain't the one to be sittin' in judgment of him and what he can

or can't do. Hear?"

"I can't stand being' around him! He makes me so nervous I can't

think straight!"

"Is that so? Well, that's just what Billy Lee said about you, as

I remember. Now, cut out the bellyachin' and you and Eisley get on

your way. Call me when you get to Alexandria."

Flint opened his mouth to protest again, but he realized he would

be speaking to a deaf ear because Smoates had already hung up. "Shit!"

Flint seethed as he slammed the receiver back onto its hook.

"Watch your language there!" the manager said. "I run a refined

place!" Flint shot him a glance that might've felled the walls of Fort

Sumter, and wisely the manager spoke no more.

At Number Twenty-three Flint had to wait for Eisley to unlock the

door again. The heat hung on him like a heavy cloak, anger churning in

his constricted belly. He understood the discomfort of pregnancy, only

he had carried this particular child every day of his thirty-three

years. Inside the room, the little bulldog barked around Flint's shoes

but was smart enough not to get in range of a kick. "You okay, Mr.

Murtaugh?" Eisley asked, and the dumb innocence of vis-voice was the

match that ignited Flint's powder

kegHe grasped Eisley's collar with both hands and slammed

his bulk up against the Elvis poster. "Ouch," Pelvis said,

showing a scared grin. "That ldnda smarted."

"I @ you," Flint said icily. "I dislike you, your hair, your

clothes, your dead fat hillbilly, and your damn ugly dog." He heard

the mutt growling and felt it plucking at his trouser leg, but his

anger was focused on Eisley. "I believe I've never met anybody I

dislike worse. And Clint doesn*t care for you worth a shit, either." He

let go of Pelvws conu to unhook a button. "Clintl Out!" Ms brother's

hand and arm slid it-re @ a shin white serpent. The fingers found

Pelvis's face and began to explore his features. Pelvis made a noise @

a squashed frog. "You know what you are to mer, Flint asked. "Dirt.

if you get under my feet, I'll step on you.

Got it?"

"Lordy, lardy, lardy." Pelvis stared transfixed at Flint's's roving

hand.

"You have a car?"   "Sir?"

"A car! Do you have one?"

"Yes sir. I mean, I did. 0" Priscilla broke down on me when I

was co@ back from semng Mr. SmoateL Had to get her towed to the shop."

His eyes followed the @. "Is that ... ... a magic trick or somethinr'

Flint had hoped that if he had to take this fool with him Eisley would at

least be confined to his own car Then, without warning, @ did the

unthinkable thing.

"Mr. M " he said, "that's the damnedest best trick I ever seen"

And he reached out, took Clint's hand in his own, and shook it "Howdy

there, pardnerl" Flint Passed out from shock. He couldn't remember

anyone ever touching Clint. The sensation of a s hand c@ to Clint's

was like a buzz saw raked up his spine.

"I men you could go on television with a trick as good as that!"

Eisley continued to pump Clint's arm, oblivious to the danger that

coded before him.

Flint gasped for breath and staggered bac@ contact between Eisley

and his brother. Clint's arm bobbing up and down, the htfle hand so

cupped

"You ... you Words could not convey Flint's indignation. Mama had

seen this new development and had skittered away from Flint's legs,

bouncing up onto the bed where she mpid-fired barks at the bobbing

appendage.

"You ... don't touch me!" Flint said. "Don't you ever dare touch

me again!" Eisley was still grinning. This.man, Flint realized, had

the power to drive him stark mving insane.

"Get packed," he said, his voice choked. "We're leaven' in five

minutes. And that mutt's stayin' here."

"Oh ... Mr. Murtaugh, sir." At last Eisley's face showed genuine

concern. "Mama and me go everywhere together."

"Not in my car." He shoved Clint's arm back down inside his

shirt, but Clint came out again and kept warching around as if he wanted

to continue the hand shaking. "I'm not carryin' a damn mutt in my

car!"

"Well, I can't go, then." Pelvis sat down on the bed, his

expression petulant, and at once Mama was in his lap, licking his

double chins. "I don't go nowhere without Mama."

"Okay, good! Forget it! I'm leaven'!"

Flint had his hand on the doorknob when Pelvis asked, in all

innocence, "You want me to call Mr. Smoates and tell him it didn't

work out?"

Flint stopped. He squeezed his eyes shut for a few seconds. The

rage had leapt up again from where it lived and festered, and it was beating

like a dark fist behind the door of his face.

"I'll call him," Pelvis said. "Ain't no use you wastin' the

quarter."

Leave the hillbilly jerk, Flint thought To hell with Smoates,

too.  I don't need him or his lousy job. I don't need anybody.

But his anger began to recede like a bayou tide, and beneath it

was the twisted, busted-up truth: he could not go back to the sideshow,

and without Smoates, what would he do?

Flint turned toward Pelvis. Mama sat in Pelvis's lap, warily

watching Flint. "Do you even know what this job is about?" Flint

asked. "Do you have any idea?"

"You mean bounty huntin? Yes sir. It's @ on TV, where-" "Wrong!"

Flint had come close to shoufln it, and Mama stiffened her back and

began a low grow@ Pelvis stroked her a couple of times and she quieted

down again. -It's not like on TV. It's dirty and dangerous, and you're

out there on your own with nobody to help you if @ up. You can't ask

the cops for help, 'cause to them yolere @ you have to walk-or crawl-

hellholes you wouldnt even imagine. Most of the time all you're gonna do

is spend hours sittin' in a car, waitin'. You're gonna be it*' to Vt

infOrmatiOn @ the kind of who'd just as soon

be cuttin' your fl" to see your blood rtm."

"'Oh, I can take care of myself," Pelvis --i aint got a gun, but I

know how to use one. That was chapter four in the manual."

"Chapter four in the manual." Flint's voice dripped sarcasm.

'Uh-huh. WelL being' a gun@ in it businessD either get you killed or

be@d bars. You cimlt use firepower on a"Wy unless it's in self-Mense

and yowve got wi , otherwise it's you who's goin' to @ And let me tell

you, a bounty hunter in prison would be @ a T-bone fta in a dog

pound."

"You mean if the felws runmn, away @ you, you cant shoot him?"

"Right. You nail somebody in the back and he die% it's your neck

in the noose. So you have to ure your wits and be a good poker player."

Clsir?tl

"You've 80t to know how to Muk the deck in yDur favor,Mnt

exphfted. "I've got my own tricks. At close range I use a can of

Mace. Know what that is?,' "Yes sir. It's that spray Mff that burns

your sidn. "The kind I use can b@d a man for about thn-ty second By

that time you ought to have the cuffs on him and he's on the ground,

We as a little imb."

,well, ru bet-, Pelvis said. -mr. smoates told me you were @ be a

@ty @ teacher.' Flint had to endure another wave of nW, he lowered hen

head and waited it out. "Eisley," he said, "you know what a loan

shark is?"

"Yes sir, I do."

"That's what Smoates is. He owns five or six loan companies in

Louisiana and Arkansas and ninety percent of the work he'll expect you

to do is collectin' money. And that's not pretty work either, I

promise you, 'cause you have to shut your eyes to people's misfortunes

and either scare the cash out of them or get rough, if it comes to

that. The bounty-huntin'thing is just kind of a sideline. You can

some good money out of it if the reward's high enough, but it's no

game. Every time you go out after a skin, you're riskin'your life.

I've been shot at, swung on with knives and billy clubs, I've had a

Doberman set on me, and one @ even tried to take my head off with a

samurai sword. You don't get a lot of second chances in this business,

Eisley.

And I don't care how many mail-order detective courses you took,

if you're not cold-blooded enough, you'll never survive your first skin

hunt." Flint watched the other man's eyes to see if his message was

getting through, but all he saw was dumb admiration. "You know

anydiin' about the skin we're supposed to collect?"

"No sir."

"His name's Lambert. He's a Vietnam veteran. Killed a man at a

bank this afternoon. He's probably half crazy and armed to the teeth.

I wouldn't care to meet him if there wasn't a chance of some big money

in it. And if I were you, I'd just go call Smoates and tell him you've

thought this thing over and you've decided to pass."

Pelvis nodded. From the glint in Pelvs eye, Flint could tell

that a spark had fired in the man's brain like a bolt of lightning over

Lonely Street.

"Is that what you're gonna do, then?"

"Well, I just figured it out," PL-Ivis said. "That ain't no

trick, is it? You really do have three arms, don't YOU?"

The better to strangle you with, Flint thought. "That's right-I,

"I never saw such a thing before! I swear, I thought it was

a trick at first, but then I got to lookin' at it and I could tell

it was real! What does your wife have to say about it?"

"I've never been married." Why did I tell him that? Flint asked

himself. There was no reason for me to tell him about myself! "Listen

to me, Eisley. You don't want to go with me after this skin. Believe

me, you don't."

"Yes sir, I do," Pelvis answered firmly. "I want to learn

everythin' I can. Mr. Smoates said you was the best bounty hunter

there is, and I was to listen to you like you was God hisself. You say

jump, I'll ask how high. And don't you worry about Mama, she don't

have accidents in the car.

When she wants to pee or dookie, she lets out a howl." He shook

his head, awestruck. "Three arms. Now I've seen it all. Ain't we,

Mama? Ain't we seen it all now?"

Flint drew a long breath and let it out. Time was wasting.

"Get up," he said, and those were two of the hardest words he'd

ever uttered. "Pack enough for two nights."

"Yes sir, yes sir" Pelvis fairly jumped up from the bed.

He started throwing clothes into a brown suitcase covered with

Graceland, Memphis, and Las Veps stickers. Mama had sensed Pelvis's

excitement, and she began running in circles around the room. For the

first time, Flint saw that Pelvis was wearing a pair of honest-to-god blue

suede shoes that were run down at the heels.

"I can't believe I'm doin' this," he muttered. "I must be out of

my mind."

"Don't you worry, I'll do whatever you say," Pelvis promised.

Underwear, socks, and gaudy shirts were flying into the suitcase.

"I'll be so quiet, you'll hardly know I'm there!"

"I'll bet."

"Whatever you say, that's my command. Uh ... you mind if I load

up some groceries? I get kinda hungry when I travel."

"Just do it in a hurry."

Pelvis stuffed another grocery sack with @ dough nuts, peanut

butter crackers, Oreos, and dog biscuits. He smiled broadly, his idol

sneering at Flint over his shoulder.

"We're ready!"

"One very, very important rule." Flint stepped toward

Pelvis and stared at him face-to-face. "You're not to touch

me. Understand? And if that dog touches me, I'm throwin' it out

the window. Hear!?"

"Yes sir, loud and clear." Pelvis's breath made Flint Big 0"

Frog wince; it smelled of buttermilk.

Flint turned away, pushed Clint's arm under his shirt, and stalked

out of the wretched room. Pelvis hafted the suitcase and the

groceries, and with a stubby, wagging to, Mama followed her king.

Dan pushed a quarter into the pay phone's slot outside an Amoco

gas station on Highway 28, less than seven miles west of Alexandria.

It was twenty minutes after eleven, and the gas station was closed. He

pressed the 0 and told the operator his name was Daniel Lewis and he

wanted to make a collect call to Susan Lambert at 1219 Jackson Avenue

in Alexandria.

He waited while the number clicked through. Pain thrummed in his

skull, and when he licked his rips his tonpe scraped,like sandpaper.

One ring. Two. Three. Four.

TheYre not home, he thought. They're gone, because Susan knew Id

want to seeFive rings. Six.

"Hello?" Her voice was as tight as barbed wire.

"I have a collect call for Susan Lambert from Daniel @s," the

operator said. "Will you accept the charges?"

Silence.

"Ma'am?" the operator urged.

The silence stretched. Dan heard his heartbeat pounding.

Then: "Yes, I'll accept the charges."

"Th@ you," Dan said when the operator had hung up.

"The police are here. They're waitin' to see if you'll show."

"I knew they would be. Are they listenin' in?"

"Not from in here. They asked me if I thought you'd can

and I said no, we hadn't talked for years. It has been years, you

know."

"I know." He paused, listening for clicks on the line. He heard

none, and he'd have to take the risk that the police had not gone

through the process of tapping the wires.

"How's Chad?"

"How would you think he is, to find out his father's shot a man

dead?"

That one hurt. Dan said, "I don't know what you've heard, but

would you like to hear my side of it?"

Again she was silent. Susan had always had a way of making

silence feel like a chunk of granite pressed down on your skull. At

least she hadn't hung up yet. "The bank fired Mr. Jarrett, their loan

manager," he began. "They hired a new man, and he was gonna repossess

my truck. He said some bad things to me, Susan. I know that's no

excuse, but-I' "You're right about that," she interrupted.

"I just went crazy for a minute. I started tearin' his office up.

AB I could think of was that without my truck I was one more step down

the hole. A guard came in and he pulled a gun on me. I got it away

from him, and then all of a sudden Blanchard had a pistol too and I

knew he was gonna shoot me. I swear I didn't mean to kill him.

Everythin' was happenin' so fast, it was like falhn' off a train. No

matter what the TV or radio says, I didn't go to that bank lookin'to

kill somebody. Do you believe me?"

No answer.

"We've had our troubles," Dan said. His knuckles were aching, he

was gripping the receiver so tightly. "I know ...

you got afraid of me, and I can't blame you. I should've gotten

help a long time ago, but I was afraid to. I didn't know what was

wrong with me, I thought I was losin' my mind. I had a lot to work

through. Maybe you won't believe me, but. I never Red to you, did I?"

"No," she replied. "You never lied to me."

.411M not lyin' now. When I saw the gun in Blanchard's hand, I

didn't have time to think.   It was either him or me.

After it waS done, I ran because I knew I'd killed him. I swear

to God that's how it happened."

"Oh, Jesus," Susan said in a pained voice. "Where are your Here

was the question Dan had known she would ask.

Did he trust her that the police were not listening? Wouldn't she

have had to sign forms or something to permit them to mn a tap? They

were no longer man and wife and had a troubled history, so why would

the police assume she wouldn't tell them if he called? "Are you going

to tell them?" he asked.

"They said if I heard from you, I was to let them know."

"Are you?"

"They told me you'd be armed and dangerous. They said you might

be out of your mind, and you'd probably want money from me."

"not's a crock of bullshit. I'm not carryin' a gun, and I didn't

call you for money."

"Why did you call me, Dan?"

"I ... I'd like to see Chad."

"No," she said at once. "Absolutely not."

"I know you don't care much for me. I don't blame you.

But please believe me, Susan. I don't want to hurt anybody.

I'm not dangerous. I made a mistake. Hell, I've made a lot of

mistakes.'

"You can fix this one," she said. "You can give yourself up and

plead self-defense."

"Who's gonna listen to me? Hell, that guard's gonna say I had the

gun stashed in my clothes. The bank'll stand behind him, 'cause they

sure won't admit a sick old vet could get a pistol away from-" "Sick?

What do you mean, sick?"

He hadn't wanted this thing to come up, because he needed no

sympathy. "I've got leukemia," he said. "From the Agent Orange, I

think. The doctors say I can last maybe two years. Three at the

most."

Susan didn't respond, but he could hear her breathing.

"If the police take me, I'll die in prison," he went on. "I

can't spend the last two years of my LIFE witherin' away behind

bars. I just can't."

"You ... you damn fool!" she suddenly exploded. "My God! Why

didn't you let me know?"

"It's not your concern."

"I could've given you some money! We could've worked something'

out if you were in trouble! Why'd you keep sendin' the money for Chad

every month?"

"Because he's my son. Because I owe you. Because I owe him. "

"You were always too stubborn to ask for help! That was always your

problem! Why in the name of God couldn't you"-her voice cracked, a

sound of emotion that astonished Dan-"couldn't you break down just a

little bit and call me?"

"I'm callin' you now," Dan said. "Is it too late?"

She was silent. Dan waited. Only when he heard her sniffle and

clear her throat did he realize she was weeping.

"I'll put Chad on," she said.

"Please," he said before she could leave, "can't I see him?

Just for five minutes? Before I called I thought it'd be enough

to hear his voice, but I need to see him, Susan. Isn't there some

way?"

"No. The police told me they're gonna watch the house all night-"

"Are they out front? Could I slip in the back?"

"I don't know where they are or how many. All I've got is a phone

number they gave me. I figure it's to a mobile phone, and they're

sittin' in a car somewhere on the street."

"The thing is," Dan said, "I'd like to see both of you.

After tonight I'm hitting the road. Maybe I can get out of the

country if I'm lucky."

"Your name and picture's all over the news. How long do you think

it'll be before somebody recognizes you and the law either tracks you

down or shoots you down? You do know about the reward, don't you?"

"What reward?"

"The president of that banics put fifteen thousand dollars on your

head."

Dan couldn't hold back an edgy laugh. "Hell, all I was askin' for

was a week's extension. Now they're ready to spend fifteen thousand

dollars on me? No wonder the economy's so screwed up."

"You think this is funny'.?" Susan snapped, and again her voice

was thick with emotion. "It's not a damn bit funny!

Your son's gonna always know his father was a killer! You think

that's funny, too?"

"No, I don't. But that's why I want to see him. I want to

expltin things. I want to see his face, and I want him to see mine.

"There's no way, unless you want to give yourself up Dan."

"Listen ... maybe there is," he said, his shoulder pressed against

a wall of rough bricks. "If you're willing, I mean. It depends on

you."

A few seconds passed in which Susan made, no response.

"You want to hear the idea?" he urged.

"I can't make any promises."

"Just hear me out. When I hang up, dial that number and tell 'em

I called."

"What?"

"Tell 'em they were right. I've got two or three guns and I sound

like I'm out of my head. Tell 'em I said I was comin' over to see you

as soon as I could get there. Then tell 'em you're afraid to stay in

the house and you want to spend the night at a motel."

", "That won't work. They'll know I'm lyin.

"Why will they? They're not watchin' you, they're watching the

house. They already believe I'm carrying a load of guns and I'm ravin'

mad, so they'll want you to get out.

They'll probably clear the whole block."

"They'd follow me, Dan. No, it wouldn't work."

"It's worth a try. They might send a man to follow you to the

motel and make sure you get checked in, but likely as not he won't stay

around very long. The only thing is, you've got to make 'em believe

you're scared to death of me."

"That used to be true," she said.

"You're not still scared of me, are YOU?"

"No, not anymore."

"All I'm askin' for is five minutes," Dan said. "Then I'm gone."

She paused, and Dan knew he'd said all he could. At last she

sighed heavily. "I'll need some time to get a suitcase packed. You

want me to call you when we get settled?"

"No, I shouldn't stay where I am and I don't have a phone in my

room. Can we meet somewhere?"

"All right. How about Basile Park? At the amphitheater?"

Basile Park was about three miles from the house.

"That'll do. What time?"

"An hour or so, I guess. But listen: if a policeman comes with

me, or they won't let me take my own car, I won't be there. They might

follow me without me knowin'. Are you willin' to " chance it?"

"I am.

"All right. I'm crazy for doin' it, but all right. I'll try to

make it, but if I'm not there-" "I'll wait as long as I can," Dan said.

"Thank you, Susan.

You don't know how much this means to me."

"I'll try," she repeated, and then she hung up.

He returned the receiver to its cradle. His spirit felt lightened.

He and Susan had gone to several outdoor concerts at Basile Park, and

he knew the amphitheater there. He checked his watch to give himself

an hour, then he got back into the pickup truck and drove toward the

Hideaway. He thought about the fifteen thousand dollars, and he wished

he'd seen that much money in a year's time. They wanted him caught

fast, that was for sure.

Before he reached the turnoff to the motor court, it crossed Dan's

mind that Susan might be setting him up. The police might have been

listening after all, and would be waiting for him at the park. There

was no way to know for certain. He and Susan had parted on bitter

terms, yes, but there had been some good times, hadn't there? A few

good memories to hold on to? He remembered some, and he hoped she did.

He was Chad's father, and that was a link to Susan that could never be

broken. He would have to take the

risk that she wasn't planning on turning him in. If she was ...

well, he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

He drove past the DeCaynes' house on the way to his cottage, and

he was unaware that the sound of his engine awakened Hannah from a

troubled sleep.

She wasn't surt what had wakened her. Harmon was snoring in the

other bed, his mouth a cavern. Hannah got up from under the sweat-damp

sheet, her red hair-the texture of a Brillo pad-confined by a shower

cap. She recalled bits and pieces of a nightmare she'd had; the

monster in it had been a warty frog with skinny human legs. Wearing

only a bra and panties that barely held her jiggling mounds in check,

she padded, into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator's freezer, and

got an ice cube to rub over her face. The kitchen still smelled of

blood and frog guts, and in the freezer were dozens of froglegs wrapped

in butchers paper for delivery to the restaurant. While she was at it,

Hannah opened the carton of vanilla ice cream that was in the freezer

as well, and she got a spoon and took the carton with her to the front

room to gorge herself until she was sleepy again.

She switched on the radio, which was tuned to the local country

music station. Garth Brooks was singing about Texas girls. Hannah

walked to a window and pushed aside the curtain.

The lights were on in Number Four. Something about that man she

didn't like, she'd decided. Of course, she didn't @ too many people to

begin with, but that man in Number Four gave her a creepy feeling. He

looked sick, for one thing. Skinny and pale, like he might have AIDS

or something. She didn't like his tattoo, either. Her first husband

had been in the merchant marine, was illustrated from wrists to

shoulders, and she couldn't abide anything that reminded her of that

shiftless sonofabitch.

Well, he'd be gone soon enough. They'd be seven dollars richer, and

every cent helped. Hannah plopped down on the sofa, her spoon

strip-mining the ice cream. Reba McEntire serenaded her, and Hannah

saw the bottom of the carton.

The news came on, the newscaster talking about a fire last

night in Pineville. The Alexandria town council was meeting to

discuss pollution in the Red River. An Anandale woman had been

arrested for abandoning her baby in the bus station's bathroom. A

mentally disturbed Vietnam veteran had shot to death an official at a

bank in Shreveport, and". . . fifteen thousand dollars reward has been

offered . . .'$ Hannah's spoon paused in its digging.

". . . by the First Commercial Bank for the capture of Daniel

Lewis Lambert. Police consider Lambert armed and extremely dangerous.

Lambert was last seen driving a gray 1989 Chevrolet pickup truck. He

is forty-two years old, six-feet-one with a slim build; he wears a

beard and . . ."

Hannah had a mouthful of ice cream. She stared at the radio, her

eyes widening.

". . . has the tattoo of a snake on his right forearm. Police

advise extreme caution if Lambert is sighted. The number to call is.

. ."

She couldn't swallow. Her throat had seized up. As she bolted to

her feet, she spat the contents of her mouth onto the floor and a cry

spiraled out: "Ha on! Harmon, get up this minute!"

Harmon wasn't fast enough for her. He found himself being grabbed

by both ankles and hauled out of bed. "You crazy?" he yelped.

"Whatzamatter "He's a killer!" Hannah's hair, which had a will of its

own, had burst free from the shower cap. Her hair went wild, her mouth

rimmed with ice cream foam. "I knew something'was wrong with him I knew

it when I seen him he killed a man in Shreveport got that tattoo on Ins

arm fifteen thousand dollars reward Hear me?"

"Huh?" Harmon said.

Hannah grasped him by the collar of his red-checked pajamas.

"Fifteen thousand dollars!" she shrieked into his face. "By God,

we're gonna get us that money! Now, stand up and put your clothes on!"

As Harmon pulled on his pants and Hannah struggled into her

shapeless shift, she managed to drill the story

through his thick skull. Harmon's face blanched, his fingers

working his shirt buttons into the wrong holes. He started for the

telephone. "I'll go call the law right n-" A viselike hand clamped to

his shoulder. "You listen to me!" she thundered. "You want to throw

that money out the window? You think the cops won't cheat us outta

every damn penny, you're dumber than a post! We're gonna catch him and

take him in ourselves!"

"But ... Hannah ... he's a killer!"

'.He ain't nothin' but a big al' frog!" she glowered, her hands

on her stocky hips. "'Cept his legs are worth fifteen thousand

dollars, and you and me are gonna take him to market! So you just shut

up and do what I say! Understand?"

Harmon shut up, his thin shoulders bowed under the redheaded

pressure. Hannah left the room, and Harmon heard her rummaging around

in the hallway's closet.

Harmon got his ring of keys from the bureau and hooked them around

a belt loop, his fingers trembling. When he looked up, Hannah was

holding the double-barreled shotgun that was their protection against

burglars. He said, "That gun's so old, I don't know if it'll even-"

She squelched him with a stare that would freeze time. Hannah also

held a box of shells; there were five inside, and she loaded the

shotiun and then pushed the other three shells into a pocket.

"We gotta got him out in the open," she said. "Get him outside

where he can't get to his guns."

We ought to call the law, Hannah!   Jesus, I think I'm 'bout to

heave!"

"Do it later!" she snarled. "He might be a crazy killer, but I

don't know many men who can do much killin' when they've got their legs

blowed off! Now, you just do what I say and we'll be rich as Midas!"

She snapped the shotgan's breech shut, slid her feet into her rubber

flipflops, and stalked toward the front door. "Come on, damn it!" she

ordered when she realized Harmon wasn't following, and he came slinking

after her as pale as death.

Mysterious Ways

In Number Four, Dan checked his watch and saw it was time to go.

He'd swallowed two aspirin and laid down for a while, then had put on

clean underwear and socks and the pair of blue jeans from his duffel

bag. Now he stood before the bathroom's dark-streaked mirror, wetting

his comb and slicking his hair back. He put on his baseball cap and

studied his face with its deep lines and jutting cheekbones.

Susan wasn't going to recognize him. He was afraid again, the

same kind of pawing fear as when he'd walked into the bank. More than

likely, this was the last time he would ever see his son. He hoped he

could find the words he needed.

First things first: getting to Basile Park without being stopped

by the police. Dan halted the duffel bag over his shoulder, picked up

the cottage's key, and opened the front door into the humid night. The

frogs had quieted except for a few low burps. Dan went to hit the wall

switch to turn off the ceiling's bulb when he heard a metallic clink

from the direction of his pickup truck, and he realized with a jolt

that someone was standing there at the light's edge, watching him.

Dan whipped his head toward the sound. "Hey, hey!" a man said

nervously. It was Harmon DeCayne, sweat sparkling on his cheeks. He

lifted his hands to show the palms.

"Don't do nothin' rash, now!"

"You scared the hell out of me! What're you doin' here?"

"Nothin'l I mean to say ... I saw the lights." He kept his hands

upraised. "Thought you might need something'."

"I'm pullin' out," Dan said, his nerves still jangling. "I was

gonna stop at your house and leave the key on the porch."

"Where you headin'? It's awful late to be on the road, don't you

think?"

"No, I've got places to go." He advanced on DeCayne, intending to

stow his duffel bag in the rear of the truck, and the other man

retreated, that clinking noise coming from the key ring that Dan saw

was fixed to one of DeCayne's belt loops. Dan abruptly stopped. His

radars had gone up. He smelled a snake coiled in its hole. "You all

right?"

"Sure I'm all right! Why wouldn't I be all right?"

Dan watched the man's eyes; they were glassy with fear.

He knows, Dan thought. Somehow, he knows. "Here's the key," he

said, and he held it out.

"Okay. Sure. That's ri-" Dan saw DeCayne's eyes dart at

something behind him.

The woman, Dan realized. He had the mental image of a meat

cleaver coming at him.

He set himself and whirled around, bringing the duffel bag off his

shoulder in a swinging blow.

BOOM! went a gun seemingly right in his face. He felt the heat

and the shock wave and suddenly the burning rags of the duffel bag were

ripped from his hands and the fiery shreds of his clothes were flying

out of it like luminous bats Hannah DeCayne Marred backward holding a

shotgun with smolm ho@ from the breech. Dan had an instant to register

that the duffel bag had absorbed a point-blank b@, and then the woman

righted herself and a holler burst from her sweat-shining face. Dan

saw the shotgun leveled at his mi@on. He jumped away from its dark

double eyes a heartbeat before a gout of fire spewed forth and he

landed on his belly in the weeds. His ears were ringing, but over that

tintinnabulation he heard a wet smack and the c?ump of buckshot hitmw

metal. He scrambled into the woods that lay alongside the cottage, his

mind shocked loose of everything but the need to run like hell.

Behind Dan, Harmon DeCayne was watching his shirt turn red. The

impact had lifted him up and slammed him back against the pickup truck,

but he was still on his feet. He pressed his hands against his

stomach, and the blood ran between his fingers. He stared, blinking

rapidly, through the haze of smoke that swirled between him and his

wife.

"Now you've done it," he said, and it amazed him that his voice

was so calm. He couldn't feel any pain yet; from his stomach to his

groin was as cold as January.

Hannah gasped with horror. She hadn't meant to fire the first

time; she'd meant to lay the barrels up against the killer's skull, but

his bag had hit the gun and her finger had twitched. The second time

she'd been aiming to take him down before he could rush her. Harmon

kept staring at her as his knees began to buckle. And then the rage

overcame Hannah's shock and she bellowed, "I told you to get out of the

way! Didn't you hear what I told your' Harmon's knees hit the ground.

He swallowed thiddy, the taste of blood in his mouth. "Shot me," he

rasped. "You ...

damn bitch. Shot me."

"It's not my fault! I told you to move! You stupid ass, I told

you to move!"

"Ahhhhhh," Harmon groaned as the first real pain tore at his

tattered guts. Blood was pooling in the dust below him.

Hannah turned toward the woods, her face made even uglier by its

rubber-lipped contortion. 'You ain't getting' away!" she yelled into

the dart She popped the shotgun open and reloaded both barrels. "You

think I'm lattin' fifteen thousand dollars get away in my woods, you're

crazy!

You hear me, Mr. Killer?"

Dan heard her. He was lying on his stomach in the underbrush and

stubbly palmettos forty feet from where the woman was standing. He'd

seen Harmon fall to his knees, had seen the woman reloading her

shotgun. Now he watched as Hannah walked to her husband's side.

She looked down at Harmon's damp, agownd face. "You mess up every

damn thing," she said coldly, and then she lifted the shotgun and fired

a shell into the pickup's left front tire. The tire exploded with a

whoosh of air and the

pickup lurched @ a poleaxed horse. Dan almost cried out, but he

clasped a hand over his mouth to prevent it.

"You ain't goin' nowhere in your truck!" Hannah shouted toward

the woods. "You might as well come on out!" Dan still wore his baseball

cap, beads of sweat coming to his face. AD his, other clothes were blown

to rags, his metallic-mist Chevrolet pickup crippled, his hopes of

getting to Basile Park blown to pieces, too. The red-haired witch held

the shotgun at hip level, its barrels aimed in his direction. "Come on

out, Mr. Killer!" she yelled. Beside her, Harmon was still on his

knees, his hands pressed to the wet mess of his midsection and his head

drooping. "All right then!" she said. "I can play hide-and@k if you

want to, and first chance I get I'll blow your damn brains outt" She

suddenly began swidng into the woods almost directly toward where Dan

was stretched out. Pawc stuttered through lum; there was no way he

could fight a loaded shotgun. He bolted up and ran again, dwM into the

thicket. His spine crawled in expectation of the blast. "I hear you!"

Hannah squalled. He heard the noise of her stocky body smashing

through the foliage. "Don't you mn, you twtardl" She was coming like a

hell-bound freight train. Low pine branches whipped into Dan's face as

he ran, thorns grabbing at his trousers. Under his feet, frogs grumped

and jumped.

His right shoe caught a root and he staggered, coming PeWously

close to f@g. The underbrush was dense, and the noise he was making

would've brought his Vietnam platoon leader down on his head like a

fifty-pound anvil. He had neither the quick legs nor the balance of

his youth. All he cared about at the moment was putting distance

between himself and a shotgun shen.

And then he smelled oily stapance and his shoes splashed into

water. Mud bogged him down. It was the hill pond.

"You wanna go swimmin'?" Hannah shouted from behind him.

Dan couldn't see how large the pond was, but he knew he didn't din

try to get across it. The woman would shoot him

whUe he was knee-deep in muck. He backed out of the water to

firmer earth and set off again through weeds and brush that edged the

pond. No longer could he hear the woman following him, and it leapt

through his mind that she knew these woods and might be bunkered down

somewhere ahead. He pushed through a tangle of vines. Up beyond the

canopy of pines and willow trees he caught sight of a few stars, as

distant as Basile Park seemed to be. And then he entered a stand of

waist-high weeds and he walked right into the arms of the figure that

stood in front of him.

In that instant he probably gained a dozen or so new gray hairs.

He came close to wetting his pants. But he swung at the figure's head

and pain shot through his imuckles when he connected with its jaw. The

figure toppled over, and it was then that Dan realized it was a plaster

mannequin.

He stood over it, wringing his bruised hand. He could make out

two more mannequins nearby as if frozen in hushed conversation, their

clothes weatherbeaten @.

Dark shapes lay before him,.but he was able to discern what seemed

to be a carousel half covered with kudzu. He had stumbled into Harmon

DeCayne's fairyland.

He went on, past the rotting facade of a miniature castle.

There was a broken-down Conestoga wagon and a couple of rusted car

hulks. Bricks were underfoot, and Dan figured this was supposed to

have been the main street of an enchanted village. Other mannequins

dressed as cowboys and Indisanq stood about, the citizens of DeCayne's

imagination. Dan moved past a huge tattered fabric shape with rotting

wooden ribs that he thought might have been Jonah's whale, and suddenly

he was looking at a high mesh fence topped with barbed wire that marked

the edge of DeCayne's propertyI can climb the fence, he decided. The

barbs'fl be tough, but they'll be kinder than that dsimn shotgun. Once

I get over, I canCan what? he asked himself. Without my truck I'm not

getting' very far.

But there was another set of wheels close by, wasn't there?

The station wagon parked next to the DeCayne@ house.

He remembered the key ring on Harmon's belt loop.

Would the station wagon's key be on it? Would the car even run?

It had to; how else did they get their froglegs to market?

But to get the key ring he would have to double back through the

woods and avoid the woman, and that was a tall and dangerous order.

He stood there for a moment, his hands grasping the fence's mesh.

Beyond the fence was just more dark woods.

If he had any hope of getting to Basile Park, he would have to go

back for the key ring.

Dan let go of the fence. He drew a deep breath and released it.

His head was hurting again, but the ringing in his ears had . He turned

away from the fence and started back the way he'd come, creeping slowly

and carefully, his senses questing for sound or motion.

A on ed mannequin wearing a crown or tiara of some kind-a deformed

fairy princess-stood on his right in the high weeds as he neared

Jonah's whale. And suddenly Dan caught a sinuous movement from the

corner of his eye, over beside a crumbling structure festooned with

kudzu. He was ah-eady diving into the weeds as the shotgun boomed, and

a split second later the princess's head and neck exploded in a shower

of plaster. He lay on his side, breathing hard. "Got you, didn't I?"

Hannah shouted. "I know I winged you that time!"

He heard the shotgun snap open and then shut again. The woman was

striding toward him, her flipflops maidng a smacking noise on the

bricks. Dan felt what seemed to be a length of pipe next to his

shoulder. He reached out and touched cold fingers. It was the

princess's missing arm.

He picked it up and rose to his feet. There was Hannah DeCayne,

ten feet in front of him, the shotglm aimed just to his left. He flung

the plaster arm at her, saw it pinwheel around and slam into her

collarbone, and she bellowed with pain and fell on her rump, the

shotgun going off into the air.

Then Dan tore away through the weeds with the speed of

desperation, leaving the woman cursing at his back.

He found the pond again, and ran along its boggy edge. In another

few minutes he pushed out of the underbrush

twenty yuds away from his lamed pickup truck Harmon DeCayne was

still in the same position, kneeling with his head bowed and his hands

clasping his bloody middle.

Dan leaned over the man and grasped the ring.

DeCayne's eyes were closed, his breathing ghastly. Dan pulled the

keys loose, and suddenly DeCayne's eyes opened and he lifted his head,

blood leaking from the corner of his mouth.

"HannahT' DeCayne gasped.

"Be still," Dan told him. "Which key starts the station wagonri

"Don't ... don't hurt me."

"I'm not gonna hurt you. Which key starts the-I' DeCayne's mouth

stretched open. He shrieked in a voice that sliced the night: "Hannah!

He's got the keysf" Dan would've slugged lum if the man hadn't been

gutshot. He stood up as DeCayne continued to sound the alarm. In a

couple of minutes the woman would beaR over him. Dan ran along the

road toward the DeCayn house.

Harmon's shoufin faded, but the damage was done. Reaching the

station wagon, Dan opened the door on its groaning hinges and slid

behind the wheel. The inside of the car smelled like the it-og pond.

He tried to jam a key into the ignition, but it refused. The next key

balked as well. He saw a blurred movement, and by the house lights

made out Hannah DeCayne runwng toward him on the road, her hair flying

behind her, her sweating face a nctus of rage. She was holding the

shotgun like a club, and Dan she must be out of shells but she still

could knock his brains out of his ear The third Imy would not fit.

tin "You ain't getting' away!" she roared. "You @t get away!t.

Dan's fingers were slippery with sweat. He chose not the fourth

key, but the fifth.

It slid in.

He turned it and pressed his foot down on the gas pedal.

The station wagon went ehehehehBOOM and a gout of black smoke flew

from the exhaust. Dan jammed the

Mysterious Ways

gearshift into reverse and the car obeyed @ a glacier, and then

Hannah DeCayne was right there beside him and she jerked his door open

and swung at his @ with the shotpu's stocl Dan had seen the blow

coming, and he ducked down in the seat as the shotgun slammed against

the door frame. Then Hannah was lunging into the car after him even as

Dan picked up speed in reverse, and she tried to claw at his eyes with

one hand while the other beat at him with the gun. He kicked out at

her, caught her right hip, and she staggered back. Then he swerved the

car around in a bone-jarring half circle and dust bloomed up between

him and the woman. Dan shoved the g@it into drive, floored the

accelerator, and the car rattled forward. One of the side vnndows

suddenly shattered inward from another blow of the shotgun's stock,

bits of glass stinging Dan's neck. He looked back, saw Hannah DeCayne

running after him as the station wagon picked up speed, and she cursed

his mother and tried to grab hold of the open door again. Then he was

leaving her behind and he found the headlight switch an instant before he

would've smashed into a weeping willow tree. As it was, he jerked the

wheel and scraped a dent along the passenger side. He got the door closed l@

looked in the rearview mirror but could see nothing through the

swirling dust. It wouldn't have surprised him, though, if Hannah

DeCayne had been hanging on to the exhaust pipe with her teeth.

Then he reached Highway 28 and steered toward Alexandria and

Basile Park. The woman had given him a blow on the left shoulder with

the shotgun's stock, and though it hurt like hell, it wasn't broken.

Better that than a cracked skull He debated stopping at the Amoco

station to call an ambulance, but he figured Hannah would run into the

house first thing and do it. The station wagon's tank was a little

less than three-quarters full, which was a real blessing. He had his wallet,

the clothes on his back, and his baseball cap. He @ had his skin on,

too. He counted himself lucky.

H@ had stopped running. There was no use in it, and her lungs

were on fire. She watched the station wagon's lights move away. For a

long time she stood in the dark, her

hands clenching and loosening again on the empty shotgun.

She heard his voice-a weak voice now-calling her.

"Hannah? Hannah?"

At last she turned her back on the highway and limpedpainfully, a

braise blackening on her right hip-to where Harmon was crouched on his

knees.

"Hannah," he groaned, "I'm hurt bad."

She'd lost her flipflops. She looked at the bottom of her left

foot, which had been cut by a shard of glass. The sight of that

wound, with its angry edges, made something start ticking @ a bomb in

her brain.

"Call somebody," Harmon said. His eyelids were at half mast, his

hands clasped together in the gory swamp of his stomach. "You ...

gotta . . ."

"Lost us fifteen thousand dollars." Hannah's voice was hollow and

weary. "You mess up every damn @" "No ... I didn't. It was you ...

messed up."

She shook her head. "He read you, Harmon. He )mew. I told you

to get out of the way, didn't I? And there went fifteen thousand do@

down the road. Oh my God, what I could've done with that mo-" She

stopped speaking and stared blankly at the dust, a pulse beating at her

temple.

"I'm hurtin'," Harmon said.

"Uh-huh. The thing is, they could prob'ly sew you up at the

hospital."

He reached up a bloody hand for her. "Hannah ... I need help."

"Yes, you do," she answered. "But from now on I think I'm gonna

help myself." Her eyes had taken on the glitter of small, hard stones.

"Too bad that killer stopped here. Too bad we found out who he was.

Too bad he fought the shotgun away from you."

What?- Harmon whispered.

"I tried to help you, but I couldn't. I ran into the woods and

hid, and then I seen what he done to you."

"Have you ... lost your mind?"

"My mama always told me the Lord moves in mysterious ways," H@

mid. "I never believed her tffl @ very minute."

Harmon watched his wife lift the shotgun over her head like a

club.

He made a soft, mewling noise.

The shotgun's stock swung down with all the woman's bitter fury

behind it. There was a noise like an overripe melon being crushed.

The shotgun rose up again. Sometime during the next half-dozen blows,

the stock splintered and broke away. When it was done, Hsinnah DeCayne

was bathed in sweat and gasping, and she had bitten into her lower lip.

She looked down at the ruins and wondered what she had ever seen

there. She wiped the shotgun's barrel off with the hem of her shift,

dropped it on the ground beside the crumpled form, andthen she limped

into the house to make the call.

Time the Thief

The rust-splotched station wagon crept through the of Alexandria,

past the dark and quiet houses, past the teardrop-shaped streetlamps,

past sprinklers hissing on the parched brown lawns.

Dan drove slowly, alert for the police. His shoulder was

stiffening, his body felt as if he'd been tumbled a few times inside a

cement mixer, but he was alive and free and Basile Park was less than a

mile away.

He'd seen no police cars and only a few other vehicles out at this

late hour. He turned onto a street that led into the manicured park,

following it past an area of picnic tables and tennis courts. A sign

pointed the way to the amphitheater, beyond the public parking lot.

His heart sank; the lot was empty. But maybe she hadn't been able to

shake the police. Maybe a lot of things. Or maybe she'd just dded

not to show up.

He decided to wait. He stopw , @ station wagon, cut the lights

and the engine, and',i*'there in the dark, the song of cicadas reaching

him f@ a nearby stand of pines.

What had happened to his pickup track still speared him.

This whole nightmare was accountable to the truck, and it had

taken that red-haired witch two seconds to destroy its usefulness.

Damn, but he was going to miss it. A real workingman's truck, he

recalled the salesman saying. Easy payments, good warranty, made in

America.

Dan wondered what Blanchard's wife and children were feeling like

about now, and he let the thoughts of his pickup truck go.

Time ticked past. After thirty minutes Dan decided to give her

fifteen more. @en the fifteen vm gone, he stop@ loo@g at his watch.

She wasn't coming.

Five more minutes. Five more, and then he'd a@ it and leave.

He leaned back and closed his eyes, listening to the night sounds.

It took only a few heartbeats, only a few breaths, and he was back

m the @ The name of the v@e 'was Cho Yat It was in the lowlands, where

rwe padches ed under the August sun and the jungle hid sniper nests and

snake holes. The platoon had stopped at Cho Yat while Captain Aubrey

and the South Vietnamese translator bunkered down in the shade to ask

the YWage elders about Cong activity in the sector. The elders

answcxed reluctantly, and in riddle It was not their war. As the

other Snake Handlers waited, eight or nine children gathered around for

a closer look at the foreign giants. A new man-green as grass, just in

a few days before-sitting next to Dan opened his knapsack and gave one

litue boy a chocolate bar. "Hershey," the man said. He was from

Boston, and he had a clipped Yankee accent. "Can you say that?

Hershey."

"Hishee, " the child answered.

"Good enough. Why don't you give some of that to your-" But the

little boy was ah-eady running away, peeling the tinfoil back and

jamming the chocolate into his mouth, with other children yeBM in

pursuit. The Bostonian-his eyes cornflower blue in a young, ununed

face, his hair as yellow as the sun-had looked at Dan and shrugged. "I

guess they don't go in for sharing around here."

"Nope," Dan had replied. "If I were you, rd leave it to the

captain to do the talking. You'll be wanting that in a few hours."

The rust-splotched station wagon crept through the streets of

Alexandria, past the dark and quiet houses, past the teardrop-shaped

streetlamps, past sprinklers hissing on the parched brown lawns.

Dan drove slowly, alert for the police. His shoulder was

stiffening, his body felt as if he'd been tumbled a few times inside a

cement mixer, but he was alive and free and Basile Park was less than a

mile away.

He'd seen no police cars and only a few other vehicles out at this

late hour. He turned onto a street that led into the manicured park,

following it past an area of picnic tables and tennis courts. A sign

pointed the way to the amphitheater, beyond the public parking lot.

His heart sank, the lot was empty. But maybe she hadn't been able to

shake the police. Maybe a lot of things. Or maybe she'd just derided

not to show up. I -A

He decided to wait. He stopped the station wagon, cut the lights

and the engine, and,"* there in the dark, the song of cicadas reaching

him f@'@a nearby stand of pines.

What had happened to his pickup truck still speared him.

This whole nightmare was accountable to the truck, and it had

taken that red-haired witch two seconds to destroy its usefulness.

Damn, but he was going to miss it. A real workingman's truck, he

recalled the salesman saying.   Easy payments, good warranty, made in

America.

Dan wondered what Blanchard's wife and children were feeling like

about now, and he let the thoughts of his pickup truck go.

Time ticked past. After thirty minutes Dan decided to give her

fifteen more. When the fifteen was gone, he stopped looking at his

watch.

She wasn't coming.

Five more minutes. Five more, and then he'd accept it and leave.

He leajaed back and closed his eyes, listening to the night

sounds.

It took only a few heartbeats, only a few breaths, and he was back

m the @ ' .

The name of the v@e was Cho Yat. It was in the lowlands, where

nce padches steamed under the August sun and the jungle hid sniper

nests and snake holes. The platoon had stopped at Cho Yat while

Captain Aubrey and the South Vietnamese translator bunkered down in the

shade to ask the @ elders about Cong activity in the sector The elders

answered reluctantly, and in riddles. It was not their war. As the other

Snake Handlers wated, eight or mne children gathered around for a

closer look at the formp giants. A new man-green as grass, just in a

few days before-sitting next to Dan opened his knapsack and gave one

little boy a chocolate bar. "Hershey," the man said. He was from

Boston, and he had a clipped Yankee accent. "Can you say that?

Hershey."

"Hishee, " the child answered.

"Good enough. Why don't you give some of that to your-" But the

little boy was already running away, peeling the tinfoil back and

jamming the chocolate into his mouth, with other children yelling in

pursuit. The Bostonian-his eyes cornflower blue in a young, unlined

face, his hair as yellow as the sun-had looked at Dan and shrugged. "I

guess they don't go in for sharing around here." "Nope," Dan had

replied. "If I were you, I'd leave it to the captain to do the tradin'.

You'll be wanting it in a few horn."

"I'll survive."

"Uh-huh. Well, if I were you, I'd do what I was told and no more.

Don't offer, don't volunteer, and don't be givin' away your food."

"It was just a chocolate bar. So what?"

"You'll find out in a minute."

It was actually less than a minute before the green Bostonian was

surrounded by shouting children with their hands thrust out. Some of

the other villagers came over to see what they might scrounge from the

bountiful knapsacks of the foreign giants. The commotion interrupted

Captain Aubrey's questioning of the elders, and he came storming at the

Bostonian like a monsoon cloud. It was explained to the soldier that

he was not to be giving away his food or any other item in his

possession, that the elders didn't want gifts because the Cong had been

known to slaughter whole villages when they found canned goods,

mirrors, or other trinkets. All this had been said with Captain

Aubrey's face about two inches from the Bostonian's, and by the time

the captain was finished speaking in his voice that could curl a

chopper's rotors, the Bostonian's face had gone chalky under his fresh

sunburn.

"It was just a piece of candy," the young man had said when

Captain Aubrey returned to his business and the children had been

scattered away. "It's no big deal."

Dan had looked at the Bostonian's sweat-damp shirt and seen his

name printed there in black stencil over the pocket: Farrow. "Out here

everythin's a big deal," Dan had told him. "Just lay low, do what

you're supposed to, and don't go south, you might live for a week or

two."

The platoon had left Cho Yat, moving across the flat, gleaming

rice paddies toward the dark wall of jungle that lay beyond. Their

patrol had lasted four hours and discovered not so much as the print of

a Goodyear-soled sandal It was on the way out when the point team had

radioed to Captain Aubrey with the message that something was burning in

Cho Yat.

Emerging from the jungle with the others, Dan had seen

the dark scrawl of smoke in the ugly yellow sky. A harsh, hot

wind had washed over him, and in it he'd smelled a sickly-sweet odor

like pork barbecue.

He'd known what the odor was. He'd smelled it before, after a

flamethrower had done its work on a snake hole.

Captain Aubrey had ordered them to double-time it to the village,

and Dan had done what he was told because he'd always been a good

soldier, the smell of burning flesh swirling around him in the pungent

air and his boots slogging through rice-paddy mud.

His eyes opened in the dark.

He peered into the rearview mirror.

Headlights were approaching along the park road.

He stopped breathing. If it was a police car ... His fingers

weift to the key in the ignition switch. The headlights came closer.

Dan watched them coming, sweat glistening on his face. Then the car

stopped about twenty feet away and the lights went out.

His breathing resumed on a ragged note. It was a darkcolored

Toyota, not a police car. Dan watched the rearview mirror for a few

seconds longer, but he saw no other lights.

He sat there waiting. So did the Toyota's driver. Well, he would

have to make the first move. He got out and stood beside the station

wagon. The driver's door of the Toyota opened, and a woman got out.

The courtesy light gave Dan a brief glimpse of the young man who sat in

the passenger seat.

"Dan?" If the sound of her voice had been glass, it would have

cut his throat.

"It's me," he answered. His palms were wet. His nerves seemed

twisted together in the pit of his stomach.

She came toward him. She stopped suddenly, when she could see his

face a little better. "You've changed," she said.

"Lost some weight, I guess."

Susan had never been one to shrink from a challenge. She showed

him she still had her grit. She continued to walk toward him, toward

the man who had suffered midnight mges and deliriums, who had attacked

their son in his bed,

who had brought some of the hell of that war back with him when

the last helicopter left Saigon. Susan stopped n when she was an arm's

length away.

"You look good," he told her, and it was the truth. Susan had

been on the thin side when they'd divorced, but now she looked fit and

healthy. He figured her nerves were a lot steadier without him around.

She'd cut her dark brown hair to just above her shoulders, and Dan

could tell that there was a lot of gray in it. Her face was still

firm-jawed and more attractive than he remembered. More confident, too.

There was some pain in her eyes, which were a shade between gray and

green. She wore jeans and a short-sleeved pale blue blouse. Susan was

still Susan: a minimum of makeup, no flashy jewelry, nothing to

announce that she was anything other than a woman who accepted no

pretense. "You must be doin' all right," he said.

"I am. We both are."

He looked anxiously toward the park road. Susan said, "I didn't

bring the police."

"I believe you."

"I told 'em you called, and that I was afraid to stay at the

house. I wouldn't have taken so long, but they had one of their men

follow me to the Holiday Inn. He sat out in the parkin' lot for about

an hour. Then all of a sudden he raced off, and I thought for sure

they'd caught you."

Dan figured the man had gotten a radio call. By now the police

must be swarming all over the Hideaway Motor Court.

"I thought you'd be in a pickup truck," Susan said.

"I stopped at a motel outside town and the couple who own the

place found out who I was. They tried to get the reward by blastin' me

with a shotgun. The woman gut-shot her own husband by accident and

then blew out one of the truck's tires. Only way I could get here was

by takin' their car."

"Dan-" Susan's voice cracked. "Dan, what're you gonna do?"

"I don't know. Keep from getting' caught, I hope. Maybe find a

place where I can rest awhile and think some things

through." He offered a grim smile. "This hasn't been one of my

best days."

"Why didn't you tell me you needed money? Why didn't you tell me

you were sick? I would've helped you!"

"We're not man and wife anymore. It's not your problem."

"Oh, that's just great!" Her eyes flashed with anger. "It's not

my problem, so you get yourselfjammed in a corner and You wind up killing

somebody! You think it's always you against the world, you never would

let anybody help you! I could've given you a loan if you'd asked!

Didn't you ever think about that?"

"I thought about it," he admitted.   "Not very long, though."

"Bullheaded and stubborn! Where'd it get you? Tell me that!"

"Susan?" he said quietly. "It's too late for us to be fightin',

don't you think?"

"The stubbornest man in this world!" Susan went on, but the anger

was leaving her. She put a hand up against her forehead. "Oh Jesus.

Oh my God. I don't ... I can't even believe this is real." "You ought

to see it from where I'm standin'."

"The leukemia. When'd you find out?"

"In January. I figure it had to be the Agent Orange. I knew it

was gonna show up in me sooner or later." Heed to tell her about the

knot in his brain-that, too, he felt had to do with the chemical-but he

let it slide. I-They ran some tests at the V.A. hospital. Doctors

wanted me to stay there, but I'm not gonna lie in a bed and wait to

die. At least I could work. When I had a job, I mean."

"I'm sorry," she said. "I swear to God I am."

"Well, it's the hand I got dealt. What happened at that bank was

my own damn fault. I went south, Susan. Like we used to say in 'Nam.

I screwed up, the second passed and there was no bringin' it back

again." He frowned, staring at the pavement between them. "I don't

want to spend whatever time I have left in prison. Worse yet, in a

prison hospital.

So I don't know where I'm goin', but I know I can't go

back." He leveled his gaze at her again. "Did you tell Chad my

side of it?"

She nodded.

"You took a big chance comin' out here to meet me. I know it's

not easy for you, the way I used to be and all. But I couldn't just

say a few words to him over the phone and leave it like that. Lettin'

me see him is the kindest thing you ever could've done for me."

"He's your son, too," she said. "You've got the right."

"You mind if I sit in the car with him for a few minutes?

Just the two of us?"

She motioned toward the Toyota. Dan walked past her, his heart

pounding. He opened the driver's side door and looked in at the boy.

Hi, Chad, he meant to say, but-he couldn't speak. At seventeen

years, Chad was hardly a boy anymore. He was husky and

broad-shouldered, as Dan himself used to be. He was so changed from

the picture Dan had-the picture left behind at the Hideaway Motor

Court-that the sight of him was like a punch to Dan's chest. Chad's

face had lost its baby fat and taken on the angles and planes of

manhood.

His sandy-brown hair was cut short, and the sun had burnished his

skin. Dan caught the scent of Aqua Velva; the young man must've shaved

before they'd left the motel.

Chad wore khaki trousers and a blue-and-red tie-dyed T-shirt, the

muscles in his arms defined. Dan figured he did outdoor work, maybe

light construction or yardkeeping. He looked fine, and Dan realized

this was going to be a lot tougher than he'd thought.

"Do you recognize me?" he asked.

"Kinda," Chad said. He paused, thinking it over. "Kinda not."

Dan eased into the driver's seat, but he left the door ajar to

keep the courtesy light on. "It's been a long time."

"Yes sir," Chad said.

"You workin' this summer?"

"Yes sir. Helpin' Mr. McCullough."

"What kind of work?"

"He's got a landscapin' business. Puts in swimmin' pools, too."

"That's good. You helpin' your mom around the house?"

"Yes sir. I keep the grass cut."

Dan nodded. Chad's speech was a little hesitant and there was a

dullness in his eyes. Otherwise, there was no outward sign of Chad's

mental disability. Their son had been bornas the counselor put

it-"learning disabled." Which meant his thinking processes were always

going to be labored, and tasks involving intricate detail would be

difficult for him.

This fact of life had added to the fuel of Dan's anger in those

bad years, had made him curse God and strike out at Susan.

Now, tempered by time, he thought that the Agent Orange might have

afflicted Chad. The poison that had seeped into Dan had d@:in his

sperm for years, like a beast in a basement, and:@ from him through

Susan into their son. None of what he suspected could be proven in any

court of law, but Dan thought it was true as surely as he remembered

the oily feel of the dirty silver rain on his skin.

Watching Chad try to put his thoughts together was like someone s

to open a rusted lock. Most times the tumblers feff into place, but

Dan remembered that when they didn't, the boy's face became an agony of

frustration.

"You've really grown up," Dan said. "I swear, time's a thief."

"Sir?" Chad frowned; the abstract statement had passed him by.

Dan rubbed the bruised knuckles of his right hand. The moment had

arrived. "Your mom told you what I did, didn't she?"

"Yes sir. She said the police are after you. That's why they

came to the door."

"Right. You'll probably hear a lot of bad things about me.

You're gonna hear people say that I'm crazy, that I walked into

that bank with a gun, lookin' to kill somebody." Dan was speaking

slowly and carefuly, and keeping eye contact with his son. "But I

wanted to tell you, face-to-face, that it's not true. I did shoot and

kill a man, but it was an accident. It

happened so fast it was like a bad dream. Now, that doesn't

excuse what I did. There's no excuse for such a thing." He paused,

not knowing what else to say. "I just wanted you to hear it from me,"

he added.

Chad looked away from him and worked his hands together. "Did ...

that man you killed... did he do something' bad to you?"

"I wish I could say he did, but he was just doin' his job."

"You gonna give yourself up?"

'No.

Chad's gaze came back to him. His eyes seemed more focused and

intense. "Mom says you can't get away. She says they'll find you

sooner or later."

"Well," Dan said, "I'm p@in' on it being' later."

They sat in silence for a moment, neither one looking at the

other. Dan had to say this next thing he couldn't recall his

father-the spit-and-polish major-ever saying it to him, which made

saying it doubly difficult and doubly important. "I wasn't such a good

father," he began. "I had some things inside me that wouldn't let go.

They made me blind and scared. I wasn't strong enough to get help,

either.

When your mom told me she wanted a divorce, it was the best thing

she could've done for all of us." Tears suddenly burned his eyes, and

he felt a brick wedged in his throat.

"But not one day goes by that I don't think about you, and wonder

how you're doin'. I know I should've called, or written you a letter,

but ... I guess I didn't know what to say. Now I do." He cleared his

throat with an effort. "I just wanted you to know I love you very,

very much, and I hope you don't think too badly of me."

Chad didn't respond. Dan had said everything he needed to. It

was time to go. "You gonna take good care of your mom?"

"Yes sir." Chad's voice was thick.

"Okay." He put his hand on his son's shoulder, and it crossed his

mind that he would never do this again. "You hang tough, hear.9" Chad

said, "I've got a picture."

"A picture? Of what?"

lis

"You." Chad reached into his back pocket and brought out his

wallet. He slid from it a creased photograph.

"See?"

Dan took it. The photo, which Dan recalled was snapped at a Sears

studio, showed the Lambert family in 1978.

Dan-burly and beardless, his face sunburned from some outdoors

carpentry job but his eyes deepset and hauntedand Susan were sitting

against a paper backdrop of summer mountains, the four-year-old Chad

smiling between them.

Chad's arms were clutched to their shoulders. Susan, who appeared

frail and tired, wore a brave smile. Looking at the picture, Dan

realized it was the image of a man who hadn't yet learned that the past

was a more implacable enemy than any VietCong crouched in a snake

hole. He had given his nightmares power over him, had re@ to seek help

because a man-a good soldier-did not admit weakness.

And in the end that war he'd survived had taken everything of

worth away from him.

It was the picture, he thought, of a man who'd gone south a long,

long time ago.

"You have a picture of me?" Chad asked. Dan shook his head, and

Chad took a folded piece of paper from the wallet.

"You can have this one if you want it."

Dan unfolded the paper. It was a picture of Chad in a football

uniform, the number fifty-nine across his chest. The camera had caught

him in a posed lunge, his teeth gritted and his arms reaching for an

off-frame opponent.

"I cut it out of last YaWs annual," Chad explained. "That was the

day the whole team got their pictures taken. Coach Pierce said to look

mean, so that's what I did."You did a good job of it. I wouldn't' care

to line up against you." He gave his son a smile. "I do want this.

Thank you." He refolded the picture and put it in his own pocket,

and he rewmed the Sears studio photograph to Chad. And now, as much as

he wished it weren't so, he had to leave.

Chad knew it, too. "You ever comin' back? he asked.

"No," Dan said. He didn't know quite how to end this.

Awkwardly, he offered his hand. "So long."

Chad leaned into him and put his arms around his father's

shoulders.

Dan's heart swelled. He hugged his son, and he wished for the

impossible- a rolling-back of the years. He wished the dirty silver

rain had never fallen on him. He wished Chad had never been

contaminated, that things could've been patched up with Susan, and that

he'd been strong enough to seek help for the nightmares and flashbacks.

He guessed he was vnshing for a miracle.

Chad said, up close to his ear, "So long, Dad."

Dan let his son go and got out of the car. His eyes were wet. He

wiped them with his forearm as he walked to the station wagon, where

Susan waited. He'd almost reached her when he heard a dog barking, a

high-pitched yap yap yap.

Dan stopped in his tracks. The sound had drifted across the park,

its direction hard to pinpoint. It was close enough, though, to

instantly set Dan's nerves on edge. Where had it come from? Was

somebody walking a dog in the park at this hour.9 Wherever it was, the

dog had stopped barking. Dan glanced around, saw nothing but the dark

shapes of pine trees that stood in clusters surrounding the parking

lot.

"You all right?" Susan looked as if she'd aged five years in the

last few minutes.

"Yeah." A tear had trickled down his cheek into his beard. for

bringin' him."

"Did you think I wouldn't?"

"I didn't know. You took a chance, that's for sure."

"Chad needed to see you as much as you needed to see him." Susan

reached into her jeans pocket. "I want you to have this." Her hand

emerged with some greenbacks. "I raided the cookie jar before we left

the house."

"Put it away," Dan said. "I'm not a charity case."

"This isn't the time to be proud or stupid." She grabbed his hand

and slapped the money into it. "I don't know how much cash you've got,

but you can use another sixty dollars."

He started to protest, but thought better of it. An extra

sixty dollars was, in its own way, a small miracle. "I'll call it

a loan."

"Call it whatever you please. Where're you goin' from here?"

"I don't know yet. Maybe I'll head to New Orleans and sign on a

freighter. I can still do a day's work."

Susan's face had taken on the grave expression Dan remembered that

meant she had something important to say but she was working up to it.

"Listen," she said after a moment, "you mentioned findin' a place to

rest. I've been seem' a fella for the past year. He works for an oil

company, and we've talked about ... maybe getting' more serious."

"You mean married serious?" He frowned, not exactly sure how he

felt about this bolt from the blue. "Well, you picked a fine time to

tell me."

"Just hear me out. He's got a cabin in a fishin' camp, down in

the bayou country south of Houma. The camp's called Vermilion. Gary's

in Houston, he won't be back till next week."

It took a few seconds for what Susan was saying to get through to

him. Before Dan could respond, Susan went on.

"Gary's taken Chad and me down there a few weekends. He checks on

the oil rigs and we do some fishin'. There's no alarm system. Nothin'

much there to steal. The nearest neighbors a mile or so away."

"Bringin' Chad was enough," Dan told her. "You don't have to-" "I

want to," she interrupted. "The cabin's two or three miles past the

bridge, up a turnoff on the left. It's on the road that's a straight

shot out of Vermilion. Painted gray with a screened-in porch.

Wouldn't be hard to get past the screen and break a windowpane."

"What would Gary say about that?"

"I'll explain things. There'll be food in the pantry; you

wouldn't have to go out."

Dan grasped the door's handle, but he wasn't yet ready to leave.

The police would be out there, hunting him in the night, and he was

going to have to be very, very careful. "I

could use a day or two of rest. Figure out what to do next."

He hesitated. "Is this fella ... Gary ... is he good to you?"

"He is. He and Chad get along real well, too."

Dan grunted. It was going to take him some time to digest this

news. "Chad needs a father," he said in spite of the pain it caused

him. "Somebody who takes him fishin'. Stuff like that."

""I'm sorry," Susan said. "I wish I could do more for you."

"You've done enough. More than enough." He pushed the money into

his pocket. "This is my problem, and I'll handle it."

"Stubborn as hell." Her voice had softened. "Always were, always

will be."

He opened the station wagon's door. "Well, I guess this is good-"

A flashlight clicked on.

Its dazzling beam hit Dan's eyes and blinded him.

"Freeze, Lambert!" a man's voice ordered.

@e of Fire

The shock paralyzed Dan. Susan caught her breath with a harsh psp

and spun around to face the intruder.

"Easy, easy," the man behind the flashlight cautioned. He had a

whisPery, genteel southern accent. "Don't do anythin' foolish, Lambert.

"I'm armed."

He was standing about twenty feet away. Dan expected to be hit by

a second light, and then the policemen would nish in, slam him against

the car, and frisk him. He lifted his hands to shield his face from

the stabbing white beam. 'I,m not packin' a gun."

"That's good." It was a relief to Flint urt gh

t M all , who had crePt up from the edge of the parking lot by

keeping the woman's car between himself and the fugitive. He'd been

standing there for a couple of minutes in the darkness, listening to

their conversation. In his left hand was the flashlight, in his right

was a .45 automatic aimed just to Lambert's side. "Put your hands

behind your head and lock your fingers."

It's Over, Dan thought. He could run, maybe, but he wouldn't get

very far. Where were the other policemen, though? Surely there wasn't

just the one. He obeyed the command.

Susan was squinting into the light. She'd talked to the policemen

in-charge of the stakeout on her house and to the one who'd followed

her to the Holiday Inn; she hadn't heard

this man's voice before. "Don't hurt him," she said. "It was

self-defense, he's not a cold-blooded killer."

Flint ignored her. "Lambert, walk toward me. Slowly."

Dan paused. Something was wrong; he could feel it in the silence.

Where were the backup policemen? Where

were the police cars, the spinning bubble lights and the crackling

radios? They should've converged on him by now, if they were even

here. "Come on, move it," Flint said. step out of the way."

Lady, Susan thought. The other policemen had addressed her as

Mrs. Lambert. "Who are you?"

"Flint Murtaugh. Pleased to meet you. Lambert, come on."

"Wait, Dan." Susan stepped in front of him to take the full force

of the light. 'Show me your badge."

Flint clenched his teeth. His patience was already stretched tinn

from the hellish drive with Pelvis Eisley and Mama. He was in no mood

for complications. Flint had never cared to know the names of all the

characters Elvis Presley had played in his wretched movies. Trying to

@ Eisley cease jabbering about Presley was as futile as trying to make

that dsamn mutt stop pawing at fleas. Flint was @ and his sharkskin

suit was damp with sweat, Clint was agitated by the beat and kept

twitching, and it was long past time for a cold shower and a glass of

lemon juice.

"I'd @ to see your badge," Susan repeated, the man's hesitation

rue@ her doubt. Flint Murtaugh, he'd said.

Why hadn't he said Offiw Murtaugh?

"Listen, I'm not plannin' on a long relationship with YOU people,

so let's cut the chatter." Flint had taken a sidestep so the light hit

Lambert's face again. Susan moved to shield her ex-husband once more.

"Lady, I told you to step out of the way.1% "Do you have a badge, or

not?tl Flint's composure was fast unraveling. He wanted Lambert to

come to him because he didn't want to have to Pass the woman; if she

grabbed for the flashlight or the gun, things could get messy. He

wished he'd circled around the

other side and crept up on Lambert from behind to keep the woman

from being between them. It was Eisley's fault, he decided, for

screwing up his concentration. Flint had a small spray can of Mace in

his inside coat pocket, and he suspected that he might have to use it.

"Lady," he replied, "that man standin' there is worth fifteen thousand

dollars to me. I've come from Shreveport to find him, and I've had a

hard night. You really don't want to get yourself involved in this."

"He's not a policeman," Dan said to Susan. "He's a bounty hunter.

You workin' for the bank?"

"Independent contract. Keep your fingers locked, now, let's don't

cause anymore trouble."

"You mind if I ask how you found me?"

"Time for that when we're drivin'. Come on, real slow and easy."

It had been a lucky break, actually. Flint had driven along Jackson

Avenue and had seen the police surveillance teams, one at either end of

the block. Held parked two streets away and sat beside a hedge in

someone's Yard, watching the house to see what developed. Then the

woman had pulled out of her garage, followed by another policeman in an

unmarked car, and Flint had decided to tag along at a distance. At the

Holiday Inn he'd been on the verge of calling it quits when her

watchdog had rushed off, obviously answering a radio summons, but then

the woman had emerged again and Flint had smelled an opportunity.

"Don't do it," Susan said before Dan could move. "if he doesn't

work for the state of Louisiana, he doesn't have any right to take you

in."

"I've got a gun!" Flint was about ready to snort steam.

"You understand me?"

"I know a gun's not a badge. You're not gonna be shootin' an

unarmed man."

"Mom?" Chad called from the car. "You need some help?"

"No! Just stay where you are!" Susan directed her attention at

the bounty hunter again. She took two steps toward him.

"Susan!" Dan said. "You'd better keep-"

"Hush. Ixt somebody help you, for God's sake."   She advanced

another step on Flint. "You're a vulture, aren't

you? Swoopin' in on whatever meat you can snatch.

"Lady, you're tryin' to make me forget MY manners.

You ready to shoot a woman, too? You and Dan could share the

same cell." She moved forward two more paces, and Flint retreated one.

"Dan?" Susan said calmly. "He's not takin' you anywhere. Get in

your car and go."

"No! No, goddamn it!" Flint shouted. "Lambert, don't you move!

I won't kill you, but I'll sure as hell put some hurt

on you!"

"He's empty talk, Dan." Susan had decided what needed to be done,

and she was getting herself into position to do it.

She took one more step toward the bounty hunter. "Go on, get in

the car and drive away."

Flint hollered, "No, you don't!" It was time to put i I Lambert

on the ground. Flint jammed the automatic into his waistband and

plucked the small red can of Mace from inside his coat. He popped the

cap off with his thumb and put his index finger on the nozzle. The

concentrated spray had a range of fifteen feet, and Flint realized he

was going to have to shove the woman aside to get a clear shot at

Lambert. He was so enraged he almost fired a burst into her eyes, but

he'd never Maced a woman and he wasn't going to start now. He stalked

toward her and was amazed when she stood her ground. "To hell with

this!" he snarled, and he jabbed an elbow at her shoulder to drive her

out of the @e of fire.

But suddenly she was moving. I She was moving very, very fast.

She clamped a wiry hand to his right wrist, stepped into him with

her own shoulder, and pivoted, her elbow thunking upward into FUnt's

chin and rattling his brains.

His black wingtips left the pavement. His trapped wrist was turned

in on itself, pain shooting up his arm. Somewhere in midair he lost

both the flashlight and the Mace. As he went over the woman's hip, one

word blazed in Flint's consciousness: sucker. Then the ground came up

fast and hard and he slammed down on his back with a force that

whooshed the

Line of Fire

breath from his lungs and made stars and comets pinwheel through

his skull. Susan stepped back from the fallen man and scooped up the

flashlight. "Way to go, Mom!" Chad yelled, leaning out of the

Toyota's window.

"Damn" was all Dan could think to say. It had happened so quickly

that his hands were Stan locked behind his head.

"How did you-" "Tar kwon do," Susan said. She wasn't even

breathing hard. "I've got a brown belt."

. Now Dan understood why Susan hadn't been afraid to meet him. He

lowered his hands and walked to her side, where he looked down the

@light's beam at the bounty hunters pained and pallid face. A comma of

white-streaked hair hung over Flint Murtaugh's sweat-glistening

forehead, and he'd curled up on his side and was clutching his right

wrist.

Dan saw the automatic and freed it from the man's waistband.

"Brown belt or not, that was a damn fool thing to do. You could've

gotten yourself killed." He removed the, bullet clip, threw it in one

direction and the gun in another.

"He had something' in his other hand." Susan shone the light

around. "I couldn't tell what it was, but I heard him drop it." She

steadied the beam on Murtaugh again. "I can't figure out where he came

from. I thought I made sure nobody was follow-" She stopped speaking.

Then, her voice tight: "Dan. What is that?"

He looked. The front of the man's white shirt was twitching, as

if his heart were about to beat through his chest. Dan stared at it,

transfixed, and then he reached down to touch it.

"Mr. Murtaugh! Mr. Murtaugh, you all right?"

Dan straightened up. Another man was out there in the dark. Both

Dan and Susan had the eerie sensation that they recognized the voice's

deep, snarly resonance, but neither one of them could place it. A dog

began to yap again, and on the pavement Flint gave a muffled half-groan,

half e.

tti Susan switched the light off. "You'd better hit it. Ge n'

kind of crowded around here."

Dan hurried to the station wagon and Susan followed

him, and so neither of them saw the slim, pale third arm push free

from Flint Murtaugh's shirt and flail angrily in the air. Dan got

behind the wheel, started the engine, and turned on the headlights.

Susan reached in and grasped his shoulder. "Good luck," she said over

the engine's rumbling.

"Thanks for everything."

"I did love you," she told him.

"I know you did." He put his hand over hers and squeezed it.

"Take care of Chad."

"I will. And you take care of yourself."

"So long," Dan said, and he put the station wagon in reverse and

backed away past the bounty hunter. Flint pulled himself up to his

knees, pain stabbing through his lower back and his right wrist surely

sprained. Clint's was thrashing around, the hand clenched in a

fighting fist.

Through a dreamlike haze Flint watched the fifteenthousand-dollar

skin twist the station wagon around and drive across the parking lot.

Flint tried to summon up a yell but a hoarse rasp emerged: "Eisley!

He's comin' at you!"

In another moment Dan had to stomp on the brake. He feared he

must be losing his mind, because right there in front of the pickup

stood a big-bellied, pompadour-haired -up black Cadillac behind him

blocking Elvis Presley, a beat the road. Elvis-a credible impersonator

for sure-was holding on to a squirming little bulldog. "Where's Mr.

Murtaugh?" Elvis shouted in that husky Memphis drawl.

"What'cha done to him?"

Dan had seen everything now. He hit the gas pedal taking the

station wagon up over the curb onto the park's grass. The rear tires

fislrtailed and threw up clods of earth.

Elvis scrambled out of the way, bellowing for Mr. Murtaugh.

Flint had gotten to his feet and was hobbling in the dion of the

Cadillac. His left shoe hit something that clattered and rolled away:

the can of Mace. "Eisley, stop him!" he hollered as he paused to

retrieve the spray can, the bruised muscles of his back stiffening.

"Don't let him get-awwwww, shit!" He'd seen the station wagon

maneuvering around the Caddy, and he watched with helpless it"

as it bumped over the curb again onto the road, something

underneath the vehicle banging with a noise like a dropped washtub.

Then the skin war, picking up speed and at the park's entrance turned

right with a shriek of flayed rubber onto the street.

"Mr. Murtaugh!" Pelvis cried out with relief as Flint reached him.

"Thank the Lord! I thought that killer had done-I,

"Shut up and get in the car!" Flint shouted. "Move your fat

ass!" Flint flung himself behind the wheel, started the engine, and as

he jammed down on the gas pedal Pelvis anaged to heave his bulk and

Mama into the passenger side- Flint got the Cadillac turned around with

a necktwisting spin in the parking lot, the single headlight's beam

grazing Past the woman who stood beside her car. He had an instant to

see that her son had reached out for her and their hands were clasped.

Then Flint, his face a perfect picture of he@cious rage, took the

Cadillac roaring out of Basile Park in pursuit.

"I thought sure he'd done killed you!" Pelvis hollered gh ca

rozen over the hot wind whipping throu the r. His f

pompadour was immobile. Mama had slipped from his grasp and was

wildly bounding from backseat to front and back again, her high-pitched

barks like hot nails being driven into the base of Flint's skull.

Clint's arm was still thrashing, angry as a stomped cobra. Pelvis

shouted, "You see that fella try to run me down? If I'd've been a step

slower, I'd be lookin' like a big al' waffle 'bout now! But I foxed

him, 'cause when I jigged to one side he jagged to the other and I just

kept on jiggin'. You saw it, didn't you? When that fella tried to run

me-I, Flint pressed his right fist against Pelvis's lips. Momma seized

Flint's sleeve between her teeth, her eyes wide and wet and a guttural

growl rumbling in her throat. "I swear to Jesus," Flint seithed, "if

you don't shut that mouth I'm puttin' you out right here!"

"It's shut." Pelvis caught Mama and pulled her against him.

Reluctantly, she let go of Flint's sleeve. Flint returned

both hands to the steering wheel, the speedometer's needle

trembling toward sixty. He saw the station wagon's taillights a

quarter-mile ahead.

"You want me to shut up," Pelvis said with an air of wounded

dignity, "all you have to do is ask me kindly. No need to jump down my

throat jus' 'cause I was tellin' you

how I stared Death square in the face and-" "Eisley. " Tears of

frustration sprang to Flint's eyes, which utterly amazed him; he

couldn't remember the last time he'd shed a tear. His nerves were

jangling like fire alarms, and he felt a hair away from a rubber room.

The speedometers needle was passing sixty-five, the Cadillac's aged

frame starting to shudder. But they were gaining on the station wagon,

and in another few seconds they'd be right up on its rear fender.

Dan had the gas pedal pressed to the floor, but he couldn't kick

any more power out of the engine. The thing was making an unearthly

metallic roar as if on the verge of blowing its cylinders. He saw in

his rearview mirror the one-eyed Cadillac speeding up on his tail, and

he braced for collision. There was a blinking caution light ahead,

marking an intersection. Dan had no time to think about it; he twisted

the wheel violently to the left. As the station wagon sluggishly

obeyed, its worn tires skidding across the pavement, the Cadillac hit

him, a grazing blow from behind, and sparks shot between their crumpled

fenders. Then, as Dan fought the wheel to keep from sliding over the

curb into somebody's front yard, the Cadillac zoomed past the

intersection.

"Hold on!" Flint shouted, his foot jamming the brake pedal. The

Eldorado was heavy, and would not slow down without screaming, smoking

protest from the tires. Pelvis clung to Mama, who was trying her

damnedest to jump into the backseat. Flint reversed to the

intersection, the bitter smoke of burned rubber swirling through the

windows, and turned left onto a winding street bordered by brick homes

with manicured lawns and honest-to-God white picket fences. He sped

after Lambert, but there was no sign of the station wagon's taillights.

Other streets veered off on either

side, and it became clear after a few seconds that Lambert had

turned onto one of them.

"I'll find you, you bastard!" Flint said between clenched teeth,

and he whipped the car to the right at the next street.

It, too, was dark.

"He's done gone," Pelvis said.

"Shut up! Hear me? Just shut your mouth!"

"Statin' a fact,' Pelvis said.

Flint took the Cadillac roaring to the next intersection and turned

left. His palms were wet on the wheel, sweat clinging to his face.

Clint's hand came up and stroked his chin, and Flint cuffed his brother

aside. Flint took the next right, the tires squealing. He was in a

mazelike residential area, the streets going in all directions. Anger

throbbed like drumbeats at his temples, pain lancing his lower back He

tasted panic like cold copper in his mouth. Then he turned right onto

another street and his heart kicked.

Three blocks away was a pair of red taillights.

Flint hit the accelerator so hard the Cadillac leapt forward like

a scalded dog. He roared up behind Lambert's car, intending to swerve

around him and cut him off. But in the next instant Flint's triumph

shriveled into terror. The Cadillac's headlight revealed the car was

not a rust-eaten old station wagon but a new Chevrolet Caprice. Across

its fast-approaching rear end was silver lettering that spelled Out

AUXAND@ POLICE.

Flint stood on the brake pedal. A thousand cries for God, Jesus,

and Mother Mary rang @ crazy bells in his brain. As the Cadillac's

tires left a quarter-inch of black rubber on the pavement, the prowl

cars driver punched it and the Caprice shot forward to avoid the crash.

The Caddy stewed to one side before it stopped, the engine rattled and

died, and the police cruiser's bubble lights started spinning. It

backed up, halting a couple of feet from Flint's busted bumper. A

spotlight on the drivers side swiveled around and into Flint's face @

an angry Cyclopean eye.

"Well," Pelvis drawled, "now we've done shit and stepped in it."

Over nearer the intersection with the flashing caution

light, Dan started the station wagon's engine and backed out of

the driveway he'd pulled into. He eased onto the street, his

headlights still off. The black Cadillac had sped past about two

minutes before, and Dan had expected it to come flying back at any

second. As the saying went, it was time to git while the gittin' was

good. He switched on his lights and at the caution sipal took a left

toward Interstate 49 and the route south. There were no cars ahead of

him, nor any in his rearview mirror. But it was going to be a long

night, and a long drive yet before he could rest. He breathed a

good-bye to Alexandria, and a good riddance to the bounty hunters.

Flint, still stunned by the sudden turn of events, was watching the

red and blue lights spin around. "Eisley, you're a jinx," he said

hoarsely. "That's what you are. A jinx." Two policemen were getting

out of the car. Flint pushed the can of Mace under his seat. Clint's

arm resisted him, but he forced it inside his shirt and buttoned his

coat. The two officers both had young, rawboned faces, and they didn't

appear happy. Before they reached the Cadillac, Flint dug his wallet

out and presed his left arm over his chest to pin Clint down. "Keep

your mouth zipped," he told Pelvis. "I'll do all the talkin'."

The policeman who walked up on Flint's side of the car had a fresh

crew cut and a jaw that looked as if it could chop wood. He shone a

flashlight into Flint's eyes. "You near 'bout broke our necks, you

know that? Look what you did to my cap." He held up a crushed and

formless thing.

"I'm awful sorry, sir." Flint's voice was a masterpiece of

studied remorse. "I'm not from around here, and I'm lost. I guess I

panicked, 'cause I couldn't find my way out."

"Uh-huh. You had to be goin' at least sixty. Sign back there says

fifteen miles an hour. This is a residential zone."

"I didn't see the sign-', "Well, you seen the houses, didn't you?

You seen our car in front of you. Seems to me you're either drunk,

crazy, or mighty stupid." He shifted the light, and its beam fell upon

Pelvis. "Lordy, Walt! Look what we've got here!"

"How you fellas doin'?" Pelvis asked, grinning. In his arms Mama

had begun a low, menacing growl.

"I bet this'll be a real interestin' story," the policeman

with the light said.   "Let's see a driver's license.   Your ID,

too, Mr. Presley sir."

Flint fumbled to remove the license from his eelskin wallet and

hold Clint immobile at the same time. His wrist was still hurting @

hell. Eisley produced a battered wallet that had the face of Elvis on

it in brightly colored Indian beads. "I never did believe he was dead,

did you, Randy?, Walt said with un@sed mirth. He was taller than his

partner and not quite as husky. "I always knew it was a wax body in

that coffin!"

"Yeah, we might get ourselves on Geraldo Riviera for this," Randy

said. "This is better'n seem' green men from Mars, ain't it? Call

the tag in." Walt walked around back to write it down and then returned

to the cruiser. Randy inspected the licenws under the light. ,@t M

From Monroe, huh? What're you doin'here in the middle of the

night?"

"Uh . . . well, I'm . . . Flint's mind went blank. He tried

to pull up something, anything- "I'm ... that is to say . . ."Officer,

sir?" Pelvis spoke up, and Flint winced. "We're tryin' to find the

Holiday Inn. I believe we must've took the wrong turn."

The "light settled on Pelvis's face.   "The Holiday Inn's

over toward the interstate.   The sign's lit up; it's hard to miss."

"I reckon we did, though.1

Randy spent a moment examining Pelvis's license. Clint gave a twitch

under Flint's shirt, and Flint felt sweat dripping from his armpits. "Pelvis

Eisley," Randy said.

"That can't be your born name. "No sir, but it's my legal name."

"What's your born name?

"Uh ... well, sir, I go by the name that's written dovm right-"

"Pelvis ain't a name, it's a bone. What name did your mama and

daddy give you? Or was you hatched?"

. Flint didn't care for the nasty edge in the policeman's voice.

"Hey, I don't think there's any call to be-

"Hush up. I'll come back to you, don't you worry about it.

I asked for your born name, sir."

"Cecil," came the quiet reply. "Cecil Eisley."

"Cecil." Randy slurred the name, making it sound like something

that had crawled out from under a swamp log.

"You dress like that all the time, Cecil?"

"Yes sir," Pelvis answered in all honesty. In his lap @a

continued her low growling.

"Well, you're 'bout the damnedest sight I ever laid eyes on. You

mind tellin' me what you're in costume for?"

"Listen, Officer," Flint said. He was terrified Pelvis was going

to start blabbering about being a bounty hunter, or about the fact that

Lambert was somewhere close by. "I was the one driven', not him."

"Mr. Murtaugh?" Randy leaned his head nearer, and Flint had the

startling thought that he'd seen the policeman's face before, when its

thin-lipped mouth was twisted into a cruel girin and the garish midway

lights threw shadows into the deep-set eye sockets. "When I want you

to speak, I'll ask you a question. Hear me?"

His was the face of a thousand others who had come to the it-eak

show to leer and laugh, to fondle their girlfriends in front of the

stage and spit tobacco on Flint's polished shoes.

Flint felt a hard nut of dispst in his throat. Clint lurched

under his shirt, but luckily Flint had a firm grip and the policeman

didn't see. "There's no reason to be rude," Flint said.

Randy laughed, which was probably the worst thing he could've

done. It was a humorless, harsh laugh, and it made Flint want to smash

it back through the man's teeth. "You want to see rude, you keep on

pushin' me. You come flyin' up on my rear end and almost wreck my car,

I'm not about to kiss you for it. Now you're real, real close to a

night in jail, so you'd best just sit there and keep your mouth shut."

Flint stared sullenly at him, and the policeman gjared back.

"It's a clean tag," Walt said, returning from the cruiser's radio.

" I'm just about to get the story from Cecil," Randy told him.

"Let's hear it."

@pp

"Well, sir . . ." Pelvis cleared his throat. Flint waited, his

head lowered. "We're on our way to New Orleans. Going'to a convention

there, at the Hyatt Hotel. It's for Elvis interpemtors like me."

"Now I can retire. I've heard everythin'," Randy sod, and Walt

laughed.

"Yes sir." Pelvis wore his stupid smile like a badge of honor.

"See, the convention kicks off tomorrow." "If that's so, how come

you're lookin' for the Holiday Inn?"

"Well ... see, we're supposed to meet some other fellas goin' to

the convention, too. We're all gonna travel together.

I reckon we just missed seem' the sign, and then we got all

turned around. You know how it is, being' in a strange place not

knowin' where you are and it so late and everythin'.

Couldn't find no phone, and I'm te@, you we were getting9

mighty scared 'cause these days you gotta be careful where you

wind up, all them murders you see on the newr every time you turn on

the-I' "All right, all right." Randy gasped like a man surfacing for

air. He stabbed the light into Flint's eyes again. "You an Elvis

impersonater too?"

" No sir, he's my manager," Pelvis said. "We're like two peas in

a pod."

Flint felt queasy. Clint's arm jumped and almost got away from

him.

"Walt? You got any ideas on what to do with these two?

Should we take 'em in?"

"That's the thing to do, seems to me."

"Yeah." The light was still aimed at Flint's face.

lost is no excuse for speedin' through a residential area. You

could've killed somebody."

"Us, for instance," Walt Ndd.

"Right.   You need to spend a night in jail, to get your thinkin'

straight."

Great, Flint thought bitterly. When they searched him down before

Putting him in the cell, they were going to jump out of their

jackboots.

"'COurse," Randy went on, "if everybody at the station

i 135

was to find out we almost got rear-ended by Elvis Presley, we'd be

takin' it in the shorts for God only knows how long.

So, Mr. Manager Man, you'd best be real glad he's with you, cause

I don't like your face and if I had my druthers I'd put you smack-dab

under the jail. Here." The policeman handed him the licenses. For a

few seconds Flint was too dumbfounded to take them.

"Mr. Murtaugh, sir?" Pelvis said. "I believe he's lettin' us

"With a major wamin'," Randy added sternly. "Hold the

speed down. Next time you might be goin' to a cemetery instead of

a convention."

Flint summoned up his wits and took the licenses.

"Thank you," he forced himself to say. "It won't happen again."

"Damn straight it won't. You follow us, we'll take you to the

Holiday Inn. But I want Cecil to drive."

"Sir?"

"I want Cecil where you're sittin'," Randy said. "I don't trust

you behind my car. Come on, get out and let him take the wheel."

"But ... it's ... my car," Flint sputtered.

"He's got a valid driver's license. Anyway, the Holiday Inn's not

very far. Come on, do like I'm tellin' you."

"No ... listen ... I don't let anybody else drive my-" Pelvis put

a hand on Flint's shoulder, and Flint jumped as if he'd received an

electric shock. "Mr. Murtaugh? Don't you worry, I'll be real

careful."

"Move it," Randy said. "We've got other places to be."

Pelvis put Mama into the backseat and came around to the drivers

side. With an effort that bordered on the superhuman, Flint got out

and, holding Clint's arm firmly against his chest, eased into the

passenger seat. In another moment they were following the police

cruiser out of the maze of residential streets, and Pelvis smiled and

said, "I never drove me a Cadillac before. You know, Elvis loved

Cadillacs. Gave 'em away every chance he got. He seen some people

lookin' at a Cadillac in a showroom one time, he pulled out a big wad

of cash and bought it for'em right there

on the spot. Yessir." He nodded vigorously. "I believe I could

get to like drivin' a Cadillac."

"Is that so?" Flint had broken out in a cold sweat, and he

couldn't help but stare at Eisley's fleshy hands guiding the car.

"You'd better enjoy it, then, because ten seconds after those hick cops

drive off will be the last time you sit behind MY steerin'wheel! Do

you have a cement block for a brain? I told you to keep your mouth

shut and leave the talkin' to me! Now we've gotta go back to that damn

Holiday Inn when we could've been on Lambert's ass! I could've talked

our way out of trouble if you hadn't opened your big mouth!

Jesus Christ! All that crap about an Elvis convention in New

Orleans! We're lucky they didn't call the men with the butterfly nets

right then and there!"

"Oh, I went to that convention last year," Pelvis said. "At the

Hyatt Hotel, just like I said. 'Bout two hundred Elvises showed up,

and we had us a high old time."

"This is a nightmare." Flint pressed his fingers against his

forehead to see if he was running a fever. Reality, it seemed, had

become entangled with delirium. I'llm at home in my bed, and this is

the chili peppers I ate on my pizza."

Pelvis wheezed out a laugh. "Nice to know you still got your

sense of humor, seem'as how we lost Lambert and all."

"We haven't lost him. Not yet."

"But ... he's gone. How're we gonna find him again?"

"You're ridin' with a professional Eisley!" Flint said pointedly.

"First thing you learn in this business is to keep your eyes and ears

open. I got close enough to hear Lambert and his ex-wife talkin'. She

was tellin'him about a cabin in a fishin' camp south of Houma.

Vermilion, she said the camp was called. I heard her tell him where it

is. She said to break a windowpane, and that there'd be food in the

pantry. SO that might be where he's headed."

"I swanee!" Pelvis gushed. "Mr. Smoates said you was gonna be a

good partner!"

"Get that partners shit out of your head!" Flint snapped.

"We're not partners! I'm saddled with you for this one skin hunt,

and that's all! You've already screwed up big-time when I told you to

keep that mutt quiet back in the park;

That damn harkin' aim

op on me, and that's how ost shot me out of my shoes!   Made

me so nervous I let him get the dr he got away!"

"I was meanin'to ask you about that," Pelvis said. "What

happened?"

That damn woman-" Flint paused. No, he thought; being knocked

on your ass by a woman was not a thing Smoates needed to hear about.

"She distracted me," he said.

"Then Lambert charged in before I could use the Mace.

He's a Vietnam vet, he put me down with some kind ofjudo throw.

"

"Lucky he didn't take your gun and shoot you," Pelvis said. "Him

being' such a crazy killer, I mean."

"Yeah." Flint nodded. "Lucky."

Which led him to a question: why hadn't Lambert used the gun on

him when he was lying helpless on the ground?

Maybe because he hadn't wanted to commit another murder in front

of his ex-wife and son, Flint decided. Whatever the reason, Flint

could indeed count himself fortunate to still be alive.

At the Holiday Inn-the same motel where Flint and Pelvis had sat

in the parking lot watching the door to Susan Lambert's room-the two

Alexandria policemen gave them

a further warning about getting the

broken heat re

Flint took the Cadillac's wheel and b

paired, and as soon as the police cruiser had driven away, anished

Pelvis and Mama to the rear seat. In another five minutes Flint was

back on Interstate 49, heading south again. He, kept his speed below

sixty-five. There was no point courting trouble from the highway

patrol, and if Lambert was going to the fishing camp cabin, he'd still

be there by the time Flint found the place. If the troopers didn't

stop Lambert first, and i@mbert hadn't headed off in another direction.

But it was a gamble worth taking, just as Flint had gambled on

following Lambert's ex-wife.

The way ahead was dark. Houma was down in swamp and Cajun

territory. Flint had never heard of Vermilion before, but he'd find it

when they got down there. It wasn't an area Flint would've ventured

into without a good reason, though.

Line of Fire and best left h Those swamp dwellers were a roug

breed, an

alone. At least-thank God-Eisley was quiet d Flint could get his

thoughts in order.

Something that sounded like a warped buzz saw started whining in

the backseat.

Flint looked into the rearview mirror. Pelvis was stretched out

and snoring, with Mama's head cradled on his shoulder. The bulldog

added to the noise by growling in her sleep.

A thought came to Flint unbidden: At least he's got something' that

gives a' damn about him.

Which was more than he could say for himself.

But then, there was always Clint. Good al'blind and mute Clint,

who had ruined his life as surely as if he had been born a leper.

The waY ahead was dark. Flint was determined to find Lambert now;

this was a matter of honor. He wasn't afraid of anything on this

earth, least of all a crazy killer too stupid to shoot a man who was

down and defenseless. This was a gone to be played out to the last

card, winner take all. He was going to drag that skin back to Smoates

and show that bastard what being a professional was all about.

Flint thought of the mansion in his dream, the white stone mansion

with four chimneys and a huge stained-glass winre dow in front. His

home, he believed. The place whe his mother and father lived. The

rich, refined people who had seen a mass of twitching flesh growing

from their baby's chest and, horrified, had given the baby up to the

four winds of adoption. His home. It had to be, because he dreamed of

it so often. He would find it yet, and he would find that man and

woman and show them he was their son, born of refinement into a cold and

dirty world. Maybe it lay to the south- maybe it lay somewhere at the

end of this road, and if he'd gone south long before this he would've

found it like a hidden treasure, an answer, a shining lamp.

Maybe.

But right now the way ahead was dark.

Traveling by Night

Forty-six miles south of Alexandria, as the sultry nightwind swept

in through the station wagon, Dan felt sleep pulling at him.

He was on Highway 167, which paralleled 1-49 and twisted through

cane-field country. It was all but deserted.

Dan had seen no trooper cars since leaving Basile Park, and

there'd been no headlights behind him for the last twenty minutes.

Houma was still a good seventy miles away, and Vermilion maybe twelve

or fifteen miles beyond that. He had to find another roadmap; his last

one had been left in his pickup truck. But the fishing camp cabin

would be worth the extra miles. He could hide there for a couple of

days, get some decent rest, and decide where to go.

His eyelids were heavy, the drone of the tires hypnotic.

He'd tried the radio, but it was lifeless. The pain in his skull

was building again, and maybe this was the only thing keeping him

awake. He needed a cup of coffee, but on this road the few cafes he

passed looked to have been closed up since nightfall. After three more

miles he came to a crossroads that had a sign pointing east to 1-49.

He sat there, weighing the risk of trying to find a truckstop on the

interstate. It won out over the chance of nodding off at the wheel and

running into a ditch.

The interstate was a dangerous place, because the troopers prowled

there. At this time of the morning, though

nearing three o'clock-the truck drivers in their big, sn ing ngs

were masters of the four-lane. Dan passed a sign that said

Lafayette-"the heart of Acadiana"-was thirty miles ahead. Five miles

later he saw green neon that announced CAJUN COUNTRY TRUCK STOP 24

HOURS and he took the next exit. The truck stop was a gray

cinder-block building, not much to look at, but he could see a waitress

at work through the restaurant's plate-glass window. A tractor-trailer

truck was parked at the diesel pumps, its tank being filled by an

attendant. In front of the restaurant was a red Camaro with a Texas

vanity plate that proclaimed its owner to be AN Al s'rud. Dan drove

around back and parked next to two other cars, an old brown Bonneville

and a dark blue Mazda, both with Louisiana plates, that probably

belonged to the employees. He felt light-headed with weariness as he

trudged into the restaurant, which had a long counter and stools and a

row of red vinyl booths.

"How you be doin'?" the waitress asked from behind the counter in

-thick Cajun dialect. "Goon set yourself anywhere." She was a

heavyset blond woman, maybe in her mid-forties, and she wore a

red-checked apron over a white uniform. She returned to her

conversation with a gray-haired gent in overalls who sat at the counter

nursing a cup of coffee and a glazed doughnut.

Dan chose a booth beside the window so he had full view of the

parking lot. Sitting three booths in front of him were a young man and

woman. Her back was to Dan, her wavy shoulder-length hair the color of

summer wheat. The young man, who Dan figured was twenty-seven or

twenty-eight, wore his dark brown hair pulled

back into a ponytail, and he had a sallow, long-jawed face and deepset

ebony eyes that fixed Dan with a hard stare over his companion's

shoulder.

Dan nodded toward him, and the young man blinked sullenly and

looked away.

The waitress came with a menu. Her name tag read DONNA Lu- "Just

a cup of coffee," Dan told her. "As strong as you can make it."

"HonI can make it jump out the cup and two-step," she

promised, and she left him to go back through a swinging door to

the kitchen.

Dan took off his baseball cap and ran a hand over his forehead to

collect the sheen that had gathered there, Fans were turning at the

ceiling, their cool breezes welcome on his skin. He leaned against the

backrest and closed his eyes. But he couldn't keep them shut because

the death of Emory Blanchard was still repeating itself in the haunted

house of his mind. He rubbed his stiff shoulder and then reached back

to massage his neck. He'd escaped two tight squeezes since midnight, but

if a state trooper car pulled

up right then, he didn't know if he would have the energy to get

up from his seat.

"You know what I think? I think the whole thing's a pile of

shit!" It was the young man in the booth, talking to the woman. His

voice dripped venom. "I thought you said I was gonna make some money

out of this!"

"I said I'd pay you." Her voice was smoky and careful.

"Keep it down, all right?"

"No, it ain't all right! I don't know why the hell I said I'd do

this! It's a bunch of lies is what it is!"

"It's not lies. Don't worry, you'll get your money."

The young man looked as if he were about to spit something back at

her, but his piercing gaze suddenly shifted, locking onto Dan. "Hey!

What're you starin' at?"

"I'm just waitin' for a cup of coffee."

"Well look somewhere else while you do it!"

"Fine with me." Dan averted his eyes, but not before he'd noted

that the young man wore a black T-shirt imprinted with yellow skulls

and the legend @ai i . The woman got him to quiet down a little, but

he was still mouthing off about money. He kept cutting his eyes at

Dan. Lookin' for trouble, Dan thought. Pissed off about something and

ready to pick a fight.

The waitress brought his coffee. Donna Lee had been right; this

java had legs. "Keep the pot warm, will you?"

Dan suggested as he sipped the high octane. She answered, "Goon

do it," and walked behind the cash register to take the gray-haired

man's money. "See you next run-through,"

she told him, and Dan watched him walk out to his tractor-trailer

rig at the diesel pumps.

"Made a fool of me is what you did-I" the young man

started up again.   "Come all this way to find a fuckin' fairy

tale!"

"Joey, come on. Calm down, all right? "You think I'm supposed

to be happy? Drive all this way, and then you gimme this big load of

shit and ask me to calm down?" His voice was getting louder and

harsher, and suddenly he reached out across the table and seized his

companion's wrist. "You played me for a fuckin' fool, didn't you?"

"Ease up there, friend!"   Donna Lee cautioned from behind the

counter.

"I ain't talkin' to you!" Joey snapped. "So just shut up!"

"Hey, listen here!" She strode toward their booth on her chunky

legs, her cheeks reddening. You can get your sassy tail gone, I

won't cry."

"It's okay," the Young woman said, and Dan saw her pug-nosed

profile as she glanced to the left at Donna Lee.

.'We're just talkin'."

"TaM kinda rough, don't he?"

"Gimme the damn check, how @ut it?" Joey said.

"Pleased to." Donna Lee pulled the checkpad and a pencil from a

pocket of her apron and totaled up their order.

"Han, you need any help?"

"No." She'd worked her wrist free and was rubbing where his

fingers had been. "Thanks anyhow."

Dan happened to catch Joey's glare again for a split second, and

the young man said, "God damn!" and stood up from the booth. His

cowboy boots clacked on the linoleum, approaching Dan. "Joey, don't!"

the young woman called, but then Joey was sliding into the seat across

from him.

Dan drank down the rest of his coffee, paying him no attention.

Inside, he was steeling himself for the encounter.

"I thought I told you to quit starin' at me," Joey said with quiet

menace.

Dan lifted his gaze to meet Joey's.   The young man's eyes

were red-rimmed, his gaunt face strained by whatever inner demons

were torturing him. A little tarnished silver skeleton hung from the

lobe of his left ear. Dan had met his kind before: a walking

hair-trigger, always a hot flash away from explosion. Dan said calmly,

"I don't want any trouble."

"Oh, I think you're askin' for a whole truckload of it, old man."

Dan was in no shape to be fighting, but damned if he'd take this

kind of disrespect. If he was going down, he was going down swinging.

"I'd like to be left alone."

"I'll leave you alone. After I take you out in the parkin' lot

and beat the shit outta-" Joey didn't finish his threat, because Dan's

right hand shot out, grasped the silver skeleton, and tore it from his

earlobe. As Joey shouted with pain, Dan caught a left handful of

T-shirt and jerked the young man's chest hard against the table's edge.

Dan leaned forward, their faces almost touching. "You need some

manners knocked into you, boy. Now, I'd suggest that you stand up and

walk out of here, get in your car, and go wherever you're goin'. If

you don't want to do that, I'd be glad to separate you from your

teeth."

A drop of blood was welling from Joey's ripped earlobe.

He sneered and started to fire another taunt into Dan's face,

which might have cost the young punk at least a broken nose.

whack! Something had just slammed onto the tabletop.

Dan turned his head and looked at a baseball bat that had eight or

nine wicked nails stuck through it.

"Pay attention," Donna Lee said. She was speaking to Joey, who

had abruptly become an excellent listener. "You goon stand up, pay

your check, leave me two dollars tip, and haul ass out, my sight.

Mister, let him loose."

Dan did. Joey stood up, his nervous gaze on the brainbuster.

Donna Lee stepped back and then followed him to the cash register.

"Get you 'mother cup in a minute" she told Dan.

"Sorry. He gets like that sometimes."

It was the Young woman, standing next to his booth. Dan looked up

at her, said, "No harm d-" and then he stopped because of her face.

The left side of it, the side he'd seen in profile, was very pretty.

Across the bridge of her pug nose was a scatter of freckles. Her mouth

had the, lush lips lonely men kissed in their dreams, and her blond

hair was thick and beautiful Her eyes were soft blue, the blue of a

cool mountain @.

But the,right side of her face was another story, and not a kind

one.

It was covered by a'huge purplish-red birthmark that began up in

her hair and continued all the way down onto her throat. The mark had

ragged edges like the coast on a map Of some strange and unexplored

territory. Because the

left side of her f achingly perfect righ side ace was so , the t

was that much harder to look at. "Done," Dan finished, his gaze

following the maroon inlets and coves. Then he met her eyes, and he

recognized in them the same kind of deep, soul-anchored pain he'd seen

in his own mirror.

The instant of an inner glimpse passed. She glanced at empty

coffee cup. "You'd better get something, to eat, mister," she said in

that voice Mo velvet and smoke. "You don't look so hot."

"Been a rough day." Dan noted that she wore no makeup and her

clothes were simple: a violet floral-patterned shortsleeve blouse and a

pair of lived-in blue jeans. She carried a small chestnut-colored

purse, its strap around her left shoulder. She was a slim girl, not a

whole lot of meat on her bones, and she had that wiry, hardscrabble

Texar, look.

maybe she stood five-two, if that.. Dan tried to envision her

without the birthmark; lacking it, she might resemble the kind of

fresh-faced girl-next-door in magazine ads. With it, though, she was

traveling by night in the company of Joey the punt "Arden!" His money

had been slapped down beside the cash register. "You comin' or not?"

"I am." She started to walk away, but Dan said, "Hey, you think

he wants this?" and he offered her the silver skeleton.

"Reckon he does," she answered as she took it from his palm.

"Fuck it, I'm goin'!" Joey shouted, and he stormed through the front

door.

"He's got a mouth on him," Dan told the girl.

"Yeah, he does get a little profane now and again. Sorry for the

trouble."

"No apology needed."

She followed Joey, taking long strides with her dusty brown boots,

and Donna Lee said to her, "Honey, don't you suffer no shit, hear?"

After the girl was gone, Donna Lee brought the coffeepot over to Dan

and refilled his cup. "I hate a bastard think he can stomp on a woman,"

she confided. "Remind me of my ex-husband. Didn't have a pot to pee

in the way he laid 'round all day, and he had that mean mouth, too.

You travelin' far?"

"A distance," Dan said.

"Where to?@' Dan watched her set the coffeepot down on his table,

a sure sign she wanted to stick around and talk. "South," he decided to

say.

"Such a shame, huh?"

"What is?"

"That girl. You know. Her face. Never seen a birthmark so bad

before. No tellin' what that do to a person."

Dan nodded and tasted his fresh cup.

"Listen," Donna Lee continued, "you don't mind me being' so

personal, you don't look to be feelin'well. You up to drivin'?"

"I'm all right." He felt, however, as if he had the strength of a

wrung-out dishrag.

"How 'bout a piece of strawberry pie? On the house?"

He was about to say that sounded fine, when Donna Lee's eyes

suddenly flicked up from him and she stared out the window. "Uh-oh.

Looky there, he's at it again!"

Dan turned his head and saw Joey the punk and the girl named Arden

arguing beside the red Camaro. She must've said something that made

his hair-trigger flare, because he lifted his arm as if to strike her a

backhanded blow and.she retreated a few steps. His face was contorted

with anger, and

now Dan and Donna Lee could hear his shouting through the glass.

"I swear to God Lee ai res ed!

gumbo, a s dip y, I,l knew when I stuck eye on him he was gonna

be trouble.

Lemme go get my slugger." She went behind the counter, where

she'd stashed the nail-studded baseball bat.

Outside, Joey had stopped short of attacking the girl. Dan

watched him throw open the Camaro's trunk and toss a battered brown

suitcase onto the pavement. Its latches popped, the suitcase spilling

clothes in a multicolored spiral. A 'small pink drawstring bag fell

out, and Joey attacked it with relish. He charged it and gave it a

vicious kick, and Arden Scooped it up and backed away, holding it

protectively against her chest, her mouth crimped bitterness.

"You get on outta here!" Donna Lee yelled from the door, her

slugger ready for action. Two attendants from the gas station were

coming over to see what the ruckus was about, and they looked like

fellows who could chew joey up at least as well as the slugger could.

"Go on, 'fore I call the law!"

"Kiss my ass, YOU Old bitch!" Joey hollered back, but he'd seen

the two men coming and he started moving faster. He banged the trunk

shut and climbed into the car. "Arden, i,m quits with you! Hear

me?

"Go on, then! Here, take it and go on!" She had some money in

her fist, and she flung the bills at him through the Camaro's window.

The engine boomed. joey shouted something else at her, but it was

drowned by the engine's noise.

Then he threw the Camaro into reverse, spun the car around in a

half circle facing the way out, and laid on the horn at the same time as

he hit the accelerator. The wide rear tires shrieked and smoked, and

when they bit pavement they left black teethmarks- As the Camaro roared

forward, the two gas station attendants had to jump for their lives.

Dan watched through the window as the studmobile tore off across the

parking lot and in three eyeblinks it had dwindled to the size Of its

red lights. The car headed for the I49

northbound ramp, and very soon it was lost from sight

sao as ro gh Dan took a drink Of coffee and watched the girl.

She didn't cry, which is what he'd expected. Her expression was grim but

resolute as she opened her purse and put the

pink drawstring bag into it, and then she began to pick up her

scattered items of clothing and return them to the suitcase. Donna Lee

had a few words with the gas station boys, the nail-pierced slugger

held at her side. Arden kept glancing in the direction the Camaro had

gone as she retrieved her belongings. Donna Lee helped her round up

the last few items, and then the girl snapped her suitcase shut and

stood there with her birthmarked face aimed toward the northern dark.

The two attendants returned to their building, Donna Ize came back into

the restaurant and put the slugger away behind the counter, but Arden

stood alone in the parking lot.

"She okay?" Dan asked.

"Say he'll be back," Donna Lee told him. "Say he got a bad temper

and sometime it make him get crazy, but after a few minute he come to

his sense."

"Takes all kinds, I guess."

"Yes, it do. I swear I would've brained him if I'd got close

enough to swing. Knocked some that meanness out his cars." Donna Lee

walked over to Dan's booth and motioned with a lift of her chin. "Look

at her out there. Hell, if a man treat me that way, I swanee I

wouldn't stand 'round waitin' on him. Would you?"

"No, I sure wouldn't."

Donna Lee gave him a smile of approval. "I'm gonna get you that

strawberry pie, on the house. That suit you?"

"Sounds fine."

"You got it, then!"

The pie was mostly sugary meringue, but the strawberries were

fresh. Dan was about halfway through it when Arden came back into the

restaurant, lugging her suitcase. "Awful warm out there," she said.

"Mind if I sit and wait?"

"'Course you can, bon! Sit down and rest you'seIP" Donna Lee had

found a stray to mother, it seemed, and she hurriedly poured a glass of

iced tea and took it to Arden, who chose a booth near the door. Donna

Lee sat down across from her, willing to lend an ear to the girl's

plight, and Dan couldn't help but overhear since they were sitting

Traveling by Might

just a couple of booths away. No, Joey wasn't her husband, Arden

told Donna Lee. Wasn't even really her boyfriend, though they'd gone

out together a few times. They lived in the same apartment complex in

Fort worth, and they'd been on their way to Lafayette. joey played

bass guitar in a band called the Hanoi lanes, and Arden had worked the

sound board and lights for them on weekends. Mosay fraternity parties

and such. Joey was so high-strung because he had an artistic

temperament, Arden said. He threw a fit every once in a while, to let

off steam, and this wasn't the first time he'd ditched her on the

roadside. But he'd be back He always came back.

Dan looked out the window. just dark out there, and nothing else.

"HonI wouldn't wait for him, myself," Donna Lee said.

"I'd just as soon take the bus back home."

"He'll be here. He'll get about ten miles up the road, then he'll

cool off."

"Ain't no ldnda man throw a girl out his car to take her chance.

I'd go on home and tell that sucker to kiss my Dixie cup. You got

business in Lafayette?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Family live there?"

"No," Arden said. "I'm goin' to meet somebody."

"That's where I'd go, then. I wouldn't trust no fella threw me

out the car. Next time he might throw you out where there's not a soul

to help you."

"Joey'll be back." Arden kept watching through the window. "Any

minute now."

"Damned if I'd be waitin' here for him. Hey, friend!" Dan turned

his head.

"You goin' south, aren't you? Gotta go through Lafayette.

YOu want to give this young lady a ride?"

"Sorry," Dan answered. "I'm not carryin I passengers.tl "Thanks

anyway," Arden said to Donna Lee, "but I wouldn't ride with a

stranger."

"Well, I'll tell you something"bout Donna Lee Boudreax.

I've worked here goin' on nine year,. I've seen a lot of folk

come and go, and I've got to where I can read em real good.

I knew your friend was trouble first sight, and if I say that fe@

over there's a gentleman, you can write it in the book.

Friend, you wouldn't harm this young lady, would you?"

"No," Dan said, "but if I was her father I sure wouldn't want her

ridin' with a stranger in the middle of the night."

"See there?" Donna Lee @ her penciled-on eyebrows.

'He's a gentleman. You, want to go to Lafayette, you'd be safe

with him."

"I'd better stay here and wait," Arden insisted. "Joey'd really

blow up if he came back and found me gone."

"Hell, girl, do he own you? I wouldn't give him the satisfaction

of findin' me waitin'."

Dan took the last bite of his pie. It was time to get moving

again, before this booth got too comfortable. He put his baseball cap

back on and stood up. "How much do I owe Your, "Not a thing, if you'll

help this young lady out." He looked out the window. Still no sign of

a Camaro's headlights. "Listen, I'd like to, but I can't. I've got to

get on down the road."

"Road goes south," Donna Lee said. "Both of you headin' that way.

Ain't no skin off your snout, is it?"

"I think she's old enough to make up her own mind." Dan saw that

Arden was still mfing out at the dark highway. He felt a pang of

sadness for her. If the right side of her face were as pretty as the

left, she sure wouldn't have to be waiting for a punk who cursed her

and left her to fend for herself. But he had enough problems without

taking on another one. He put two dollars down on the table for the

coffee, said "Thanks for the pie," and heed for the door. 1 out."

"Speak up, bon," Donna lie urged. 'Train's pullin But Arden

remained silent. Dan walked out of the restaurant into humidity that

steamed the sweat from his pores before he'd even reached the station

wagon. He drove over to the self-serve pumps, where he intended to top

off the tank. He needed another roadmap as well, and when the gas

stopped flowing he went into the office, bought a Louisiana map, and

paid what he owed for the fill-up.

iso

He was standing under the lights, searching the map south of Houma

for a place called Vermilion, when he heard the sound Of bOOts coming

up behind him. He looked around and there she stood, suitcase in hand,

her birthmark dark purple in the fluorescent glow.

"I don't think he's comin'back this time," she said.   I-you got

room?"

"I thought you said you wouldn't ride with a stranger.@

"EverYbody's a stranger when you're a long way from

home. I don't want to wait around here anymore- If you give me a

ride, I'll pay you ten dollars.

"Sorry."   Dan folded the map and got behind the steering wheel.

"It's a birthmark, not leprosy,

Arden said with some grit in her voice.     "You won't catch it.

Dan paused with his hand on the ignition.    "A southbound

trucker ought to be along PrettY soon.    You can hitch a ride with

him."

"If I wait for a trucker, no tellin' what might turn up.     you

look too damn tired to try anythin', and even if believe I could

outrun you. you did,

He couldn't argue with her logic. Even with all that caffeine in

his system, he still felt as weak as a whipped pup, his joints ached

like bad teeth, and a glance into the rearview mirror had shown him a

PastY-white face with what looked like dark bruism under his eyes. In

truth, he ust used Thd-gir

was i about up- I was waiting for his answer.

Lafayette was about twenty-five miles. Maybe it would be good to

have somebody along to keep him awake, and then he could find a place

to rest until nightfall.

"Climb in, he Wd.

Arden halted her suitcase into the rear seat.        stgot a lot of

glass back here.

eah

"Y - Window was broken, I haven't had a chance to clean it

outt

She took the passenger seat. Dan started the engine and followed the

ramp to I-49 southbound. The truck stop fell

behind, and in a couple of minutes the glow of green neon was

gone

Arden looked back only once, then she

straight ahead as if she'd decided that where she was going was

more important than where she'd been.

Dan imagined that her birthmark would bleach white if she knew who

she was riding with. Donna Lee would've taken the slugger to him rather

than put this girl in his care.

Dan kept his speed at fifty-five, the engine laboring. State

troopers were lurking somewhere on the interstate; maybe waiting around

the next curve, looking for a stolen station wagon with a killer worth

fifteen thousand dollars behind the wheel.

He never had put much faith in prayer.

Right now, with the dark pressing all around, his strength

tattering away, and his future a question mark, a silent prayer seemed

to be the only shield at hand.

Jupiter

The first lights of LafaYette were ahead. Dan said, "We,re almost

there. Where do you need to go?"

Arden had been quiet during the drive, her eyes closed and her

head tilted to one side. Now she sat up straight and took her

bearings. She opened her purse, unfolded a piece of paper, and started

to read by the highway lights what was written there. "Turn off on

Darcy Avenue. Then youln go two miles east and turn right on planters

Road. "What are you lookin' for? Somebody's house?"

"The T%yin O@ nursin' home."

Dan glanced quickly at her. "A nursin'home? That's why YOu came

all the way from Fort Worth?"

"Flint's right."

"You have a relative livin' there?"

..No, just somebody I have to see."

Must be somebody mighty important, Dan thought. Well, it wasn't

his business. He took the turn onto Darcy Avenue

and drove east

along a wide thoroughfare lined with fast

f joints, strip malls, a

00d nd restaurants with names like King Crawdaddy and Whistlin'

Willie's Cajun Hut. Everything was closed but an Occasional gas

station, and only a couple of other cars passed by. Dan turned right

on planters Road, which ran Past apartment complexes and various small

businesses. "How far is it from here?"

"Not far.

His curiosity about the nursing home was starting to get the best

of him. If she hadn't come the distance from Fort Worth on account of

a relative, then who was it she needed to see? He had his own

problems, for sure, but the situation intrigued him. "Mind if I ask

who you're goin' to visit?"

"Somebody I used to know, growin' up."

"This person know you're comin'?"

'No. V9

"You think quarter to four in the mornin' is a good time to visit

somebody in a rest home?"

"Jupiter always liked early mornin'. If he's not up yet, I'll

@t."

"Jupiter?" Dan asked.

"That's his name. Jupiter Krenshaw." Arden stared at him. "How

come you've taken such an interest?"

"No special reason. I guess I just wanted to know."

"All right, I reckon that's only fair. I used to know Jupiter

when I was fifteen, sixteen years old. He worked on the farm where I

was livin'. Groomed the horses. He used to tell me stories. Thinp

about his growin' up, down in the bayou.

Some of 'em made-up stories, some of 'em true. I haven't seen him

for ten years, but I remember those stories. I tracked down his

nearest relative, and I found out Jupiter was in the nursin'home." She

watched Planters Road unreal in the headlights. "There's something' I

need to talk to him about. Somethin' that's very, very important to

me."

"Must be," Dan commented. "I mean, you came a long way to see

him."

She was silent for a moment, the warm wind blowing in around them.

"You ever hear of somebody called the Bright girl?" Dan shook his

head. "No, can't say I have. Who is she?"

"I think that might be it," Arden said, lifting her chin to

indicate a low-dung brick building on the right. In another moment Dan

could see the small, tastefully lit sign that announced it was indeed

the Twin Oaks Retirement Home.

The pl= was across from a strip mall, but it didn't look too bad;

it had a lot of windows, a long porch with white wicker furniture, and

two huge oak trees stood on either side of the

entrance. Dan pulled up to the front, where there w wheelchair

ramp and steps carpeted with Astroturf. l,okay," he said. "This is

your stop."

She didn't get out. "Can I ask a favor of you?"

"You can ask."

:'How much of a hurry are you in?"

'I'm not hurryin', but I'm not dawdlin', either."

"Do You have time to wait for me? It shouldn't take too long, and

I sure would appreciate a lift to a motel."

He thought about it, his hands on the wheel. A motel room was

what he needed, too; he was just too tired to make it the rest of the

way to Vermilion. He'd found the fishing camp on the roadmap: a speck

on Highway 57 about fifteen miles south of Houma, near where the

pavement ended in the huge baYOU swamp of Terrebonne Parish. "I'll

wait," he decided.

"Thanks." She leveled her gaze at him. "I'm gonna leave my

suitcase. You won't run off soon as I walk in the door, will you?"

"NO, I'll stick." And maybe catch some sleep while he waited, he

thought.

"Okay." She nodded; he seemed trustworthy, and she counted

herself lucky that she'd met him. --i don-t even know your name."

'Dan," he said.

'I'm Arden Halliday." She offered her hand, and Dan shook it. "I

appreciate you helpin' me like this. Hope I didn't take you too far

out of your way."

He shrugged. "I'm headed down south of Houma any.

how." Instantly he regretted telling her that, because if she

happened to find out who he was, that information would go straight to

the police. He was so tired, he was forgetting a slip of the lip could

lead him to prison.

"I won't be long," she promised, and she got out and walked up the

steps, entering the building through a door with etchedi0ass panels.

It occurred to him that the smart thing to do might be to set her

suitcase on the porch and hit the accelerator, but he dismissed the

idea. Weariness was creeping through his

bones, his eyes heavy-lidded. He was going to ask her to get

behind the wheel when she was finished inside. He cut the engine and

folded his arms across his chest. His eyes closed, and he listened to

the soft humming of insects in the steamy night.

"Mister?"

Dan opened his eyes and sat bolt upright.   A man was standing

beside his window, peering in. Dan had an instant of cold terror

because the man wore a cap and uniform with a badge at his breast

pocket.

"Mister.?" the policeman said again. "You can't park here."

"Sir?" It was all Dan could get out.

"Can't park here, right in front of the door. It's against the

fire code."

Dan blinked, his vision blurred. But he could make out that the

face was young enough to have acne eruptions, and on the bw%e was

stamped TWIN OAKS SECURITY.

"You can park 'round the side there," the security guard said.

"If you don't mind, I mean."

"No. No, I don't mind." He almost laughed; a lanky kid who was

probably all of nineteen had just about scared his hair white. "I'll

move it." He reached down -to restart the engine, and at that moment

Arden came out of the building and down the steps.

"@y problem?" she asked when she saw the security guard, and the

kid looked at her and started to answer, but then his eyes got fixed on

the birthmark and his voice failed him.

"I was about to move the car," Dan exph-fined. "Fire code. You

finished almdy?"

"No. Lady at the front desk says Jupiter usually wakes up around

five. I told her he'd want to see me, but she won't get him up any

earlier. That's about another hour."

Dan rubbed his eyes. An hour wasn't going to make much difference

one way or another, he figured. "Okay. I'll park the car and try to

get some sleep."

'Well, there's a waitin' area inside. Got a sofa you might

stretch out on, and it's sure a lot cooler in there." Arden

suddenly looked into the security guard's face. "You want to tell me

what you're starin' at?"

"Uh ... uh . . ." the kid stammered.

Arden stepped toward him, her chin uplifted in defiance.

"It's called a port-wine stain," she said. "I was born wearin' it.

go on and take a good long look, just satisfy the hell out of yourself

You want to touch it?"

"No ma'am," he answered, taking a quick backward step.

"I mean ... no thank you, ma'am."

Arden continued to lock his gaze with her own, but she'd decided

he meant no disrespect. Her voice was calmer when she spoke again. "I

guess I wouldn't want to touch it, either, if I didn't have to." She

returned her attention to Dan, who could see the anger fading from her

eyes like the last embers of a wind-whipped fire. "Probably be more

comfortable inside."

"Yeah, I guru so." He figured he could've slept in a cement

mixer, but the sofa would be kinder to his bones. He fired up the

engine, which sounded as rugged as he felt. "I'H pull around to the

side and come on in." The security guard moved away and Dan parked the

station wagon in a small lot next to the Twin Oaks. It was a

tribulation to walk the distance back to the front door. Inside,

though, the airconditioning was a breath from heaven. A thin,

middle-aged woman with a hairdo like a double-dip of vanilla ice cream

sat behind a reception desk, her lips pursed as she absorbed the

contents of a paperback romance. Arden was sitting nearby in a waiting

area that held a number of overstuffed chairs, brass reading lamps, and

a magazine rack, and there was the full-length sofa as pretty as a

vision of the Promised Land.

Dan eased himself down, took off his shoes, and stretched out.

Arden had a dog-eared National Geographic in her lap, but she looked

needful of some sleep, too. The place was quiet, the corridors only dimly

lit. From somewhere came the sound of a low, muffled coughing. Dan

had the thought that no policeman in Louisiana would think to look for

him

at a Lafayette nursing home. Then his mind and body relaxed, as

much as was possible, and he slept a dreamless sleep.

Voices brought him back to the land of the living.

"Ma'am? I believe Mr. Krenshaw's awake by now. Can I tell him

who you are?"

"Just tell him Arden. He'll know."

"Yes ma'am." There was the sound of rubber-soled shoes squeaking

on the linoleum.

Dan opened his eyes and looked out the nearest window.

Violet light was showing at the horizon. Nearing six o'clock, he

figured. His mouth was as dry as a dust bowl. He saw a water fountain

a few steps away, and he summoned his strength and sat up, his joints

as stiff as rusty hinges. The girl was still sitting in the chair, her

face turned toward a corridor that went off past the reception desk.

She'd opened her purse, Dan noted, and she had removed the small pink

drawstring bag from it. The bag was in her lap, both her hands clutched

together around it in an attitude that struck Dan as being either of

protection or prayer. As he stood up to walk to the water fountain, he

saw her pull the drawstring tight and push it into her purse again.

Then she rose to her feet as well, because someone was coming along the

corridor.

There were two people, one standing and one sitting. A

brown-haired woman in a white uniform was pushing a wheelchair, her

shoes squeaking with every step, and in the wheelchair sat a

frail-looking black man wearing a redchecked robe and slippers with

yellow-and@n argyle socks. Dan took a drink of water and watched Arden

walk forward to meet the man she'd come so far to see.

Jupiter was seventy-eight years old now, his face was a cracked

riverbed of wrinkles, and his white hair had dwindled to a few

remaining tufts. Arden was sure she'd changed just as much, but he

would have to be blind not to know her, and the stroke he'd suffered

two years before had not robbed him of his eyes. They were ashine, and

their excitement jumped into Arden like an electric'sparklEs nephew

had told Arden about the stroke, which had happened just five

months after the death of Jupiter's wife, and so Arden had been

prepared for the palsy of his head and hands and the severe downturn of

the right side of his mouth. Still, it was hard because she remembered

how he used to be, and ten years could do a lot of damage. She took

the few last @ to meet him, grasped one of his palsied hands as he

reached up tar her, and with an effort he opened his mouth to speak.

"Miz Arden," he said. His voice was @ a gill, almost painful to

he@. "Done growed up."

She Pve him the best smile she had. "Hello, Jupiter.

How're they treatin' you?"

"Like I'm worn out. Which I ain't. Gone be back to work again

soon as I get on my feet." He shook his head with wonder, his hand

still gripping Arden's. "My, my! you have surely become a young lady!

Doreen would be so proud to see you!"

"I heard what happened. I'm sorry."

"I was awful down at first. Awful down. But Doreen's the pride

of the angels now, and I'm happy for her. Gone get on my feet again.

Louis thinks I'm worn out can't do a thing for m'self." He snorted.

"I said you gimme the money they chargin' you, I'll show you how a man

can pull hiswif up. I ain't through, no ma'am." Jupiters rheumy eyes

slid toward Dan. "WhO is that there? I can't-" He caught his breath.

"Lord have mercy! Is that ... is that Mr. Richards?"

"That's the man who brought me-" "Mr. Richards!" The old man let

go of Arden and wheeled himself toward Dan before the nurse could stop

him. Dan stePPed back, but the wheelchair was suddenly right there in

front of him and the old man's crooked mouth was split by an ecstatic

grin. "You come to see me, too?"

"Uh ... I think you've got me mixed up with some-" "Don't you

worry, now I know I'm gone get up out this thing! My, my, this is a

happy day! Mr. Richards, you still got that horse eats oranges skin and

all? I was th *nkin"bout that horse th'other day. Name right on the

tip of my tongue, right there it was but I couldn't spit it out. What

was that horse's name?"

"Jupiter.9" Arden said quietly, coming up behind him.

She put a hand on one of his thin shoulders. "That's not Mr.

Richards.

"Well, sure it is! Right here he is, flesh and bone! I may be

down, but I ain't out! Mr. Richards, what was the name of that horse

eats oranges skin and all?"

Dan looked into Arden's face, seeking help. It was obvious the

old man had decided he was someone else, and to him the matter was

settled. Arden said, "I think the horse's name was Fortune."

"Fortune! That's it!" Jupiter nodded, his eyes fixed on Dan.

"You still got that al' wicked horse?"

"I'm not who you-" But Dan paused before he went any further.

There seemed to be no point in it. "Yeah," he said.

"I guess I do."

"I'll teach him some manners' God may make the horse, but I'm the

one takes off the rough edges, ain't that right, Miz Arden?"

"That's right," she said.

Jupiter grunted, satisfied with the answer. He turned his

attention away from Dan and stared out the window. "Sun's comin' up

directly. Be dry and hot. Horses need extra water today, can't work

'em too hard."

Arden motioned the nurse aside for a moment and spoke to her, and

the nurse nodded agreement and withdrew to give them privacy. Dan

started to move away, too, but the old man reached out with steely

fingers and caught his wrist.

"Louis don't think I'm worth a damn no more," he confided. "You

talk to Louis?"

"No, I didn't."

"MY nephew. Put me in here. I said Louis, you gimme the money

they're chargin' you, I'll show you how a man can pull himself up."

Arden drew up a chair beside the old man and sat down.

Through the window the sky was becoming streaked with pink. "You

always did like to watch the sun rise, didn't you?@, "Got to get an

early start, you want to make something' of you'self. Mr. Richards

kngws that's gospel. Water them horses good @, yessir."

"You want me to step outside?" Dan asked the girl . But Jupiter

didn't let go of him, and Arden shook her head. Dan frowned; he felt

as if he'd walked on stage in the middle of a play without knowing the

title or what the damn thing was about.

.41 gain SO P@" Jupiter said, "that you both come to see me.   I

think a lot 'bout them days. I dream 'bout em. I close my eyes and I

can see everythin', just like it was. It was a golden time, that's

what I believe. A golden time. He drew a long, ragged breath.

"Well, I ain't done yet. I may be down, but I ain't out!"

Arden took Jupitet's other hand. "I came to see you," she said,

"because I need your help-"

He didn't respond for a moment, and Arden thought he hadn't heard. But

then Jupiter's head turn d he

bin ea ed an quizzically at her. "My help?"

She nodded. "I'm goin' to find the Bright Girl."

Jupiter's mouth slowly opened, as if he were about to speak, but

nothing came out.

"I remember the stories you used to tell me," Arden went on. "I

never forgot'em, all this time. Instead of ladin, away, they kept

getting' more and more real. Especially what you

told me about the Bright Girl. Jupiter, I need to find her.

YOU remember, YOu told me what she could do for me? You used to

say she could touch my face and the mark would come off on her hands.

Then she'd wash her hands with water and it'd be gone forever and

ever."

The birthmark, Dan realized she was talking about. He

stared at Arden, but her whole being seemed to be focused on the

old roan.

"Where is sher, Arden urged.

"Where she always was," Jupiter answered.   Iwhere she always will

be.   Road runs Out, meets the swamp. Bfiot e

Girl's in ther,.')

"I remember YOU used to tell me about growin, up in LaPierre- Is

that where I need to start from? "LaPierre," he Minted, and he

nodded. "That's right.

Start from LaPierre- They know 'bout the Bright Girl there,

they'll tell you.

"Beg pardon," Dan said, "but can I ask who ya'll are talkin'

about?"

"The Bright Girl's a faith healer," Arden told him- "She lives in

the swamp south of where Jupiter grew up."

It came clear to Dan. Arden was searching for a faith healer to

take the birthmark off her face, and she'd come to see this old man to

help point the way. Dan was tired and cranky, his joints hurt, and his

head was throbbing; it it-ankly pissed him off that he'd taken a detour

and risked traveling on the interstate because of such no . 'What is

she, some kind of voodoo woman lights incense and throws bones around?"

"It's not voodoo," Arden said testily. "She's a holy woman."

"Holy, yes she is. Carries the lamp of God," Jupiter said to no

one in particular.

'I had you figwred for a sensible person. There's no such thing

as a faith healer." A thought struck Dan like an ax between the eyes.

"Is that why Joey left you? 'Cause he figured out you were chasin' a

fairy tale?"

"Oh, Mr. Richards sir!" Jupiters hand squeezed Dan's harder.

"Bright Girl ain't no fairy tale! She's as real as you and me! Been

livin'in that swamp long 'fore my daddy was a little boy, and she'll be

there long after my bones done Mowed away. I seen her when I was eight

year old. Here come the Bright Girl down the street!" He smiled at

the memory, the warm pink light of the early sun seaped into the lines of

his face. "Young white girl, pretty as you please. That's why she

called bright. But she carries a lamp, too. Carries a lamp from God

that burns inside her, and that's how she gets her healin' touch.

Yessir, here come the Bright Girl down the street and a crowd of people

followin'her. She on the way to Miz Wardell's house, Miz Warden so

sick with cancer she just lyin' in bed, waitin' to die. She see me

standin' there and she smile under her big purple hat and I know who

she is, 'cause my mama say Bright Girl was comin'. I sing out Bright

Girl! Bright Girl! and she touch my hand when I reach for her. I

feel that lamp she carryin' in her, that healin'

lamp from God."   He lifted his eyes to Dan's face.   I never

felt r-uch light before, Mr. Richards. Never felt it since.

said the Bright Girl laid her hands on Miz Warden and up come the

black bile, all that cancer flowin' out. Said it took twO days and two

nights, and when it was done the Bright Girl was so tired she had to be

carried back to her boat. But Miz Warden outlived two husbands and was

dancin, when she was ninety. And that ain't all the Bright Girl did

for people 'round LaPierre, neither. You ask 'em down there, they'll

tell you 'bout all the folks she healed of can@ tumors, and sicknesses.

So nosir, all due respect, but Bright Girl ain't nO fair' tale 'cause

I seen her with my own iivin, eyes."

"I believe you," Arden said.   "I always did."

"That's the first step," he answered. "You go to Lapie rre.

GO south, You'll find her. She'll touch your face and make things

right. You won't never see that mark no more.

"I want things made right. More than anythin' in this world, I

do."

"Miz Arden," Jupiter said , "I 'member how you used to fret 'bout

you'self, and how them others treated you. I

member them names they called you, them nanes that

made You cry. Then you'd wipe your eyes, stick your chin Out

again, and keep on goin'. But it seems to me you might still be

cryin'on the inside." He looked earnestly up at DalL "You gone take

care of Miz Arden?"

"No" Dan said. "I'm not who you think I am."

"I know who You are," Jupiter replied. "You the man God sent Miz

Arden."

"Come again?"

"That's right. You the man God provided to @ miz Arden to the

Bright Girl. You His hands, you gone have to steer her the right

direction."

Dan didn't know what to ray, but he'd had enough of this.

He pulled loose from the old man's spidery fingers. "I'n be

waitin'outside," he growled at Arden, and he turned toward the door.

"GOOd-bYe!" Jupiter called after him. "You heed what I say now,

hear?"

Outside, the eW= horizon was the color of burnished

copper. Akeady the air smelled of wet, agonizing heat. Dan

stalked to the station wagon, got behind the wheel, and sat there while

the sweat began to bloom from his pores. Apin the road, but the heat

chased such thoughts away; in his present condition he wouldn't get

more than a few miles before he fell asleep at the wheel. He was

nodding off when the girl opened the passenger door. "You look pretty

bad," she said. "Want me to drive?"

"No," he said. Don't be stupid, he told himself. Weaving all

over the road was a sure way to get stopped by a police car. "Wait,"

he said as she started to climb in. "Yeah, I think you'd better

drive."

They started off, Arden retracing the way they'd come. To Dan's

aching bones the pitch and sway of the station wagon's creaking frame

was pure torture. "Gonna have to pull over," he said when they were

back on Darcy Avenue.

He made out a small motel coming up on the right; its sign

proclaimed it the Rest Well Inn, which sounded mighty good to him.

"Turn in there."

She did as he said, and she drove up under a green awning in front

of the motel's office. A sign in the window said that all rooms were

ten dollars a night, there were phones in all of them, and the cable TV

was free. "You want me to check us in?"

Dan narrowed his eyes at her. "What do you mean, check us in? We

ain't a couple .

"I meant separate rooms. I could do with some sleep, too."

"Oh. Yeah, okay. Fine with me."

She cut the engine and got out. "What's your last name?"

'Huh?"

"Your last name. They'll want it on the register."

"Farrow," he said. "From Shreveport, if they need that, too."

"Back in a couple of minutes."

Dan leaned his head back and waited. Stopping here seemed the

only thing to do; he wouldn't have driven the rest of the way to

Vermilion in daylight even if he'd felt able.

tting he pondered ditching her suitcase and his

He was fading fast. That crazy old man, he thought. Here come

the Bright Girl down the street. Laid her hands on miz Wardell. All

that cancer flowin' out. I never felt such light before, Mr.

Rich"Here's your key."

Dan got his eyes open and took the key Arden offered. The sun had

gotten brighter. Arden drove them a short dice, and then somehow he

was fitting the key into a door and waking into'a small but clean room

with beige-painted cinder-block waus- He locked the door behind him, w@

right to the bed, and climbed onto it without removing his cap or

shoes. If the Police were to suddenly burst into the room, they

would've had to pour him into handcuffs.

Pain was throbbing through his body. He had pushed himself too

far. But there was still a distance to go, and he couldn't give up.

Get seven or eight hours of sleep, he'd feel better. Drive after dark,

down into the swampland. They know 'bout the Bright Girl there. Go

south, you,U find her.

You His hands, you gone have to steer her the right direction.

Crazy old man. I'm a killer, that's what I am.

Dan turned over onto his side and curled his knees up toward his

chest.

You His hands.

And with that thought he slipped away into merciful and silent

darkness.

Satan's Paradise

"You know, Elvis almost gave up singing , when he was a young boy.

Signed on as a truck driver, and that's what

he figured on being'. Did I tell you I used to be a truck driver?"

"Yes, Eisley," Flint said wearily. "TWo hours ago."

,-Well, what I was meanin' is that you never know where you,re

goin' in this Ufe- Elvis thought he was gonna be a truck driver, and

look where he went. Same with me. Only I guess I ain't got to where

I'm goin' yet."

Um," Flint said, and he let his eyes slide shut againThe sun was

hot enough to make a shadow melt. The ElDorado's windows were down but

the air was calm, not a whisper of a breeze. The car was parked on a

side road under the shade of weeping willow trees, otherwise they

couldn't have stayed in it as they had for almost twelve hours. Even

so, Flint had been forced to take off his coat and unbutton his shirt,

and Clint's arm dangled from its rOOt just below the conjunction of

Flint's rib cage, the hand clenching every so often as if in lethargic

Protest of the heat.

The reflexes of Clint's hand had kept Mama entertained fOr a

while, but now she lay asleep in the backseat, her pink tongue flopped

out and a little puddle of drool forming On the black vinyl.

There was one cracked and potholed highway from

Houma to Vermilion, no other road in or out.   It had brought Flint and

Pelvis along its winding spine south through the

s.t..'s P.'. dise

bayou country in the predawn darkness, and though hadn't been able

to see much but the occasional glimmer of an early morning fisherman's

lamp upon the water, they could smell the swamp itself, a heavy,

pungent odor of intermingled sweet blossoms and sickly wet decay. They

had crossed a long, concrete bridge and come through the town of

Vermilion, which was a shuttered cluster of ramshackle stores and

clapboard houses. Three miles past the bridge, on the left, was a dirt

road that led through a forest of stimted pines and needle-tipped

palmettos to a gray-painted cabin with a screened-in porch. The cabin

had been dark, Lambert's car nowhere around. While Pelvis and Mama had

peed in the woods, Flint had walked behind the cabin and

found a pier that went out over a lake, but of the

darkness he couldn't tell how large or small the @ was. A

boathouse stood nearby, its doors secured by a padlocl Lambert might or

might not be on his way here, Flint decided, but it was fairly certain

he hadn't shown up yet.

Which was for the best, because Pelvis let out a loud yelp when a

palmetto pricked him in a tender spot and then Mama started rapid-M

those ingh-pitched yips and yaps that made Flint's skin crawl.

They'd driven back to Vermilion and Flint had used the phone booth

in front of a bait-and-tackle shop. He'd called Smoates's answering

service and been told by the operator on duty that the light was still

green, which meant that so far as Smoates imew, Lambert hadn't been

caught. Flint had found a dirt side road about fifty yards south of

the tumor to the cabin that he could back the Cadillac onto and still

have a view through the woods. It was here that they'd been sitting

since four o'clock, alternately keeping watch, sleeping, or eating the

9WW doughnuts, Oreo cookies, Slim Jims, and other deadly snacks from

Eisley's grocery sacil They had shipped at a gas station just south of

Lafayette to fLU up and get something to drink, and there Flint had

bought a plastic jug of water while Pelvis had opened his wallet for a

six-pack of canned Yoo-Hoos.

"I swear," Pelvis said between sips from the can, Flint's an

Flint remained silent; he was wise to Eisley's methods of drawing

him into pointless talk.

"I swear it is," Pelvis tried again. "That little fella inside

you, I mean. You know, I went to a freak show one time and saw a

two-headed bull, but you take the cake."

Flint pressed his lips together tightly.

"Yessir." Slilurrrrp went the final swallow of the Yoo-Hoo.

"Peopled pay to see you, they surely would. I know I would.

I mean, if I couldn't see you for free. M@'YOU some money that

way. You ever want to give up bounty-huntin' and go into show

business, I'll tell you everythin' you need to-" "Shut-your-mouth."

Flint had whispered it, and instantly he regretted it because Eisley

had worn him down yet again.

Pelvis dug down into the bottom of the sack and came up with the

last three Oreos. Three bites and they were history.

He wiped his lips with the back of his hand. "Really, now.

You ever think about show business? All jokin' aside. You could

get to be famous.?'

Flint opened his eyes and stared into Pelvis's sweatbeaded face.

"For your information," he said coldly, "I grew up in the carnival

life. I had a stomach full of 'show I

business, so just drop it, understand?"

"You was with the carnival? You mean a freak show, is that

right?"

Flint lifted a hand to his face and pressed index finger and thumb

against his temples. "Oh, Jesus, what have I done to deserve this?"

"I'm interested. Really I am. I never met nobody was a real live

freak before."

"Don't use that word."

"What word?"

"Freak-I" Flint snapped, and Mama jumped up, growling.

"Don't use that word!"

"Why not? Nothin' to be 'shamed of, is it?" Pelvis looked

honestly puzzled. "I reckon there's worse words, don't you

"Eisley, you kill me, you know that?"   Flint summoned up

a tight smile, but his eyes were fierce. ',I've nevey anybody so

... so dense before in my entire life."

"Dense," Pelvis repeated. He nodded thoughtfully. "How do YOU

mean that, exactly?"

"Thick-skulled! Stupid! How do you think I mean it? Flint's

smile had vanished. "Hell, what's wrong With you?

Have you been in solitary confinement for the last five or six

Years? Can , t YOU just shut your mouth and keep it shut for two

minutes?"' "Course I can," Pelvis said petulantly. "Anybody can do

that if they want to.

"Do it, then! WO minutes of silence!"

Pelvis clamped his mouth shut and stared straight ahead.

Mama Yawned and sdtled down to sleep again. -,Whose watch we usin'

to time this by?" Pelvis asked.

"Mine! I'll time it on my watch! Startin' right now!"

Pelvis grunted and rummaged down in the sack, but there was

nothing left but wrappers. He upturned the I y ast ooHoo can to try to

catch a drop or two on his tongue, then he crumpled the can in a fist.

"Kinda silly, I think."

"There you go!" Flint said. "You couldn't last fifteen seconds!"

"I'm not talkin' to You! Can't a man speak what's on his mind? I

swear, Mr. Murtaugh, you're tryin' your very best to be hard to get

along with!

"I dont want You to get along with me, Eisley!" Flint said.

"I want YOu to sit there and zipper your mouth! You and

that damn mutt have already messed things up once, you're not

gonna get a chance to do it again! "Don't blame that on Mama and me,

now! We didn't have nothin' to do with it! Flint gripped the

steering wheel with both hands.% red splotches on his cheeks. Clint's

hand rose up and clutched at the air before it fell back down again.

"Just be quiet and leave me alone. Can you do that?

can "I "Sure I - Ain't like I'm dense or anythin .

"GOOd." Flint closed his eyes once more and leaned his head back.

Maybe ten seconds later Pelvis said, "Mr. Murtaugh?"

Flint's eyes were red-rimmed when he turned them on Eisley, his

teeth gritting behind his lips.

"Somebody's comin'," Pelvis told him.

Flint looked through the pines along the road. A vehicle -one of

only the dozen or so they'd seen on the road all day-was approaching

from the direction of Vermilion. In another few seconds Flint saw it

wasn't a station wagon but a truck about the size of a moving van. As

the truck grew nearer, Flint made out the blue lettering on its side:

BiuscoE PR G Co. Under that was BATON RouGE, LA. The truck rumbled

past them and kept going south, took a curve, and was gone from sight.

"I don't think Lambert's comin'," Pelvis said. "Should've been

here by now if he was."

"We're waitin' right here. I told you waitin' was a big part of

the job, didn't I?"

"Y@," Fleivis @ "but how do you know he ain't been caught already?

We could sit here tdl crows fly back'ards, and if he's done been

caught he ain't comin'."

Flint checked his wristwatch. It was eighteen minutes until four.

Eisley was right; it was time to make a call to Smoates again. But

Flint didn't want to drive into Vermilion to use the phone, because if

Lambert was coming, it would be across that bridge and Flint didn't

care to be spotted. It would be easier to take Lambert when he thought

he was safe in the cabin rather than chasing him north on the highway.

Flint looked in the on the truck had gone.

There had to be some men of ci@tion farther south. He unfolded his

Louisiana road map, one of a half-dozen state maps he always kqA in the

car, and found the dot of Vermilion. About four or five miles south of

that was another speck called Chandalac, and then Highway 57

ended three miles or so later at a place named LaPierre.

Beyond that was swampland all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

The track WO to be going somewhere, and thae Md to be at least one

pay phone down there, too. Flint started the

engine and eased the Eldorado out of its hiding place ignored

Pelvis's question of "Where we headed?" and turned right, the sun's

glare sitting like a fireball on the long black hood.

In the brutal afternoon light they could see the type of country

they'd driven through in darkness: on both sides of the road the flat,

marshy land was aitemateiy cut by winding channels Of gray water and

then stubbled with thick stands Of Palmettos and huge ancient oak

trees. Around the next curve a brown snake that had to be a yard long

was writhing on the hot pavement on Flint's side of the

roa and he figured the truck had just crushed it a couple of

minutes earlier. Fris spine crawled as the car passed over it, and

when he glanced in the rearview mu'ror he saw two hulking birds that

must've been vultures swoop down on the dying reptile and start tearing

it to pieces with their beaks.

Flint didn't believe in omens. NevertheleW he hoped this wasn't

one.

They'd gone maybe a couple of miles when the spiny

woods ell way th w f a On the right side of the road and e sun

glittered off a blue channel of water that meandered out of what

aPPeared to be primeval swamp. just ahead was a white clapboard

building with a tin roof and a AM that said V ON MAMA GRmmEs, and

jutting off from sho.

was a pier where several small boats were tied up. one WW

craft-a @P boat, Flint thought it was because of e

th nets and various hoists aboard-had just arrived and its

crew was tying ropes down to the pier.   And there sat the B

PrOcessing Company tr ck as well, n t t.

u @ e.

the clapboard building with its loading bay facing the pier.

Beside the marina, near a sun-bleached sign that adv

live bait chewing tobacco, and fresh onions, stood a phone booth.

Flint pulled the car to a stop on a surface of crushed OYster

shells. He buttoned up his shirt and into his

loose-fitting suit jacket. "Stay here," he instructed Pelvis as

he got out!! "I'll be right back." He'd taken three strides

toward the phone booth when he heard the El dorado's

passenger door creak open and Pelvis was climbing out with Mama

tucked under his arm. "Just go on 'bout your business," Pelvis said

when Flint fired a glare at him. "I'm goin' in there and get me some

vittles. You want anydiin'r' "No." Vittles, Flint thought. Wasn't

that what Granny fixed on "The Beverly Hillbillies"? "Wait. Yeah, I

do," he decided. "Get me a bottle of lemon juice, if they've got it.

And don't go in there and flap your lips about Lambert, hear me?

Anybody asks, you're here to do some fishin'. Understand?"

"You don't think I've got a lick of sense, do your' "Bingo," Flint

said, and he turned his back on Pelvis and went into the phone booth.

He placed a call through to Smoates's office. "It's Flint," he said

when Smoates answered. "What's the situation on Lambert?"

"Hold on a minute."

Flint waited, sweat trickling down his face. It had to be over

ninety degrees, even as the sun began to fall toward the west. The

heat had sinned Clint, who lay motionles The air smelled of the steamy,

sickly sweet reek of the swamp, and his own bodily aroma wasn't too

delicate, either. He wasn't used to being unclean; a gentleman knew

the value of cleanliness, of crisp white shirts and freshly laun@

underwear. These last twenty-four hours had been a little slice of

hell on earth, and this swampland Satan's paradise, too. From where he

was standing, Flint could see four men unloading cargo from the shrimp

boat.

The cargo was umnish-brown and scaly, with long snouts bound shut

by- copper wire, four stubby legs fastened together with wire as well.

Alligators, he with a start. The men were unloading alhptors, each

three or four feet long, from the deck of the boat and then carrying

them to the Briwm Processing Company truck and heaving them into the

back. The men's workclothes were wet and muddy, the boat's deck heaped

with maybe twenty or more live and squirming alhptors. But there was a

fifth man-slimmer than the others, with shoulder-length grayish-blond

hair and wearing blue jeans and a Harvard T-shirt-who stood apart

from the workers and seemed to be supervising. As Flint watched,

the man in the Harvard T-shirt glanced at him and the sun flared in the

round lenses of his dark glasses. The glance became a lingering stare.

"Flint?" Smoates had come back on the line. "Latest word's that

Lambert's still on the loose. iftere are your! "Down south. Little

hellhole called Vermilion. I want you to know I'm standin' here

watchin' a bunch of geeks unload honest-t@ live alligators off a boat."

"You ought to ask 'em if they need a hand," Smoates said with a

wet chuckle.

Flint chose to let the remark pass. "I came close to nailing

Lambert last night."

"You're shittin' me! He showed up at the ex-wife's house?"

"No, not there. But I found him. I think he's on his way here,

too. Probably holed up somewhere and gonna be on the move W" after

dark." Flint saw the man in the Harvard T-shirt still staring at him;

then the dude motioned One Of the workers-a shirtless, shaven-headed

wall of a black man who must've stood six-four and weighed close to

three hundred Pounds-over to him and they started talking, their backs

toward the phone booth, as the others continued to unload the

alligators and throw them into the truck. "Smoates," Flint said,

"Eisley's drivin' me crazy.

Even God couldn't get him to shut his mouth. I don't know what

you saw in him, but he's all wrong for the job."

"So he talks a lot, so what? That could be a plus. He's got the

ability to wear people down."

"Yeah, he's good at that, all right. But he's slow upstairs.

He can't think on his feet. I'd hate to be in a tight spot and

have to depend on him, I'll tell you that.

"Forget about Eisley for a minute. You ain't heard the news,

huhr, What news?"

"Lambert's a double murderer now. He killed a fella at a motel

outside Alexandria 'round midnight. Blasted him with a shotgun, and

when the fella didn't die fast enough,

Lambert beat him to death. Stole his station wagon. Cable TV's

picked up the story, it's on every hour."

"He was in the station wagon when I found him. I would've had

him, but his ex-wife helped him get away."

"Well, sounds to me like Lambert's turned into a mad dog. Man

who's killed twice won't think nothin"bout killin' a third time, so

watch your ass."

"He's in the grocery store right now," Flint said.

"Huh? Oh, yeah! Ha! See, Flint? Eisley's givin' you a sense of

humor," "It's his lack of sense I'm worried about. I've done all right

at stayin' alive so far, but that was before you shackled him on me."

"He's gotta learn the ropes somehow," Smoates said.

"Just like you did." He paused for a moment, then released a

heavy sigh. "Well, I reckon you're right. Lambert's an awful

dangerous skin to train Eisley on. Neither one of you are any good to

me in a grave, so you can call it quits and come on in if you want to."

Flint was knocked off his wheels. He thought the earth might

shake and the heavens crack open. Smoates was offering him a way out

of this nightmare.

"You still there, Flint?"

"lib ... yeah. Yeah, I'm here." His joy had been a short-lived

thing. He was thinking the unthinkable; he needed his share of the

reward money for his pmbffi% debts, and if Lambert was coming to the

cabin after dark, it would be foolish to give up and go back to

Shreveport now.

Then again, Lambert might not even be in Louisiana anymore. It was

Flint's call to make. He had the can of Mace and his brass knuckles in

the car's glove compartment, and Clint's derringer was in its small

holster against the sidn under his right arm. The derringer's bullets

didn't have much stopping power, but no man-not even a mad dog Vietnam

vet-was going to do a whole lot of running or fighting with a hole

through his kneecap. "If Lambert shows up here," Flint said, "I

believe I can take him. I'll hang in until tomorrow mornin'."

"You don't have to prove anythin'. I know what you can

do. But somebody as @ as Lambert could be awful unpredictable.vi

Flint grunted. "Smoates, if I didn't know you better, I'd think you

were concerned about me. "You've been a damn fine investment.

Eisley's gonna turn out to be a good investment, too, once he gets the

green worn off @."

"oh, 1 see- Well, just so I know where I stand.'$ He wiped sweat

from his eyebrows with his sleeve. The long-haired man in the Harvard

T-shirt was watching the others work again, and paying Flint no

attention. "I'll stay here awhile lonw- If Lambert doesn't show by six

in the mornin I,ll start back . 09

"Okay, play it how you want."

"I'll check in again around dark." Flint hung the phone back on

its cradle. He was drenched with sweat under his jacket and totally

miserable. Still, the game had to be played

out. He saw that EisleY hadn't returned to the car, and when he

looked through a window into the store he saw

Pelvis @(hng at the cash register eating an ice men sandwich as he

talked to a fat red-haired girl behind the counter. The girl wore an

expression of rapture on her PudgY-cheeked face, and Flint gu@ it wasnt

every day she had a customer like him. Flint spotted a sign that said

REST Rooms and there was an arrow pointing around the side Of the

building. He followed it and found two doors, one GE@ and the other

GAU. The Gem door had a hole where the knob should've been. As he

pushed through the door, he was aware of the sounds of distress the

tru@-up alligators were making as they were being thrown into the

truck, a combination Of guttural burps and higherPitched bleats. He

figured the thinp were going to Baton Rouge to wind up as shoes, belts,

and purses. Hell of a way to make a living, that was.

Flint @ in a small bathroom that smelled stroney of LYsol, but

there were other more disagreeable odors wafting about as well. One of

the two urinals seemed to have moss growing in it, and the other held a

dark yellow @ clogged with ciprette butts. He didn't care to take a

look into the

toilet stall. He chose the mossy urinal, which had a Tropical

Nights condoms machine mounted on the wall above it, and he unzipped

his pants and went about the task.

As he relieved himself, he thought about what Smoates had said:

Man who's killed twice won't think nothin' 'bout killin'a third time.

So why, Flint wondered, am I still alive?

Lambert had just come from his second murder, and he wouldn't have

had much to lose by a third, especially the execution of a bounty

hunter who'd tracked him from Shreveport. Why hadn't Lambert used the

gun when he'd had the chance? Maybe because he hadn't wanted his

ex-wife and son to be witnesses?

It was selfdefense, Flint remembered the woman saying.

He's not a cold-blooded killer.

Lambert's turned into a mad dog, was Smoates's opinion.

Which was the truth? I'll let the judge sort it out, Flint

thought as he stared at the aged photo of a smiling, heavily made-up

blond girl on the condom machine. He looked down to shake and zip.

The edge of a straight razor was laid against the crown of Flint's

penis, which suddenly and decisively dried up.

"Get the door."

The door bumped shut.

"Easy, Men. Be cool, now. Don't pee on my hand. I wouldn't like

it if you peed on my hand, I might get an bent ouua shape and this

razor nught twitch." The long-han-ed man wearing round-lensed

sunglasses and the Harvard T-shirt was standing beside Flint; he had a

soft, almost feminine voice with just a hint of a refined southern

accent, but he was jabbefin as if he might be running on speed.

"Wouldn't want that, man, no you wouldn't. Bummer to have all

that blood shootin' out your stump. Messy, messy, messy. Virgil, find

his wallet."

An ebony hand the size of a roast slid into Flint's jacket and

went to the inside pocket, almost grazing Clint.

"Just look straight ahead, man. Hold on to your joy stick, both

hands. That's right. Car 54, where are you?"

"No badge," Virgil said in a voice like a cement mixer

turning over. I'@u'zona license. Name's Flint Murtaugh.

Monroe address."

"Our man Flint!" The razor remained where it was, a threat to

three shriveled inches of Flint's flesh. "Do not adjust the

horizontal, do not adjust the vertical. We are in control. Talk to

me."

"What's this all about?" he managed to say though his throat had

seized up.

"Beeeep! Wrong answer! I'm askin' the questions, kemo sabe! Who

are you and what're you doin' here?"

"I'm here to do some fishin'."

"Oh, yeahhhhh! Fishin' he says, Virgil! What's your nose tell

us?"

Flint heard the black man sniffing the air next to his face.

"Don't smell like no fisherman," Virgil rumbled. "Got kinda like

a cop smell, but..." He kept sniffing.

"Somethin' real funny 'bout him."

Flint turned his head to the left and looked into the dark lenses.

The Harvard man, who stood about the S=e height as Flint, was in his

late forties or early fifties. He was lean and sun-browned, gray

grizzle covering the jaw of his deeply lined and weathered face. His

hair had once been sandcolored, but most of it was now nearing silver.

Part of his right ear looked as if it had been either chewed off or

shot off. His T-shirt with the name of that hallowed university was

mottled with sweat stains, and his blue jeans appeared to be held

together by crusty patches of grime. Flint concluded his brief

inspection by noting that the man wore TopSiders without sinks. "I'm

not a cop," he said, lifting his gaze again to the opaque lenses. "I

came down to fish for the weekend, that's all."

"Wore Your best suit to fish in, did you? Come all the way here

from Monroe just to hook a big mudcat? If you're a fisherman, I'm

Dobie Gillis."

"Ain't no fisherman." Virgil was standing on the other side of

Flint, his broad bare chest smeared with 'Ptor mud.

His nose had wide, flared nostrils and he wore purple paisley

shorts and Nikes on size thirteen feet. "Fish won't bite,

weather this hot. Ain't been no fishermen 'round here all week."

"This is true," the man with the razor said. "So, Flinty, what's

your story?"

"Look, I don't know who you fellas are or what this is about, but

all I did was come in here to use the bathroom. If you want to rob me,

go ahead and take my money, but I wish you'd put the razor away."

"Maybe it's you who wants to rob us."

'What?"

"I saw you on the phone, Flinty. You reached out and touched

somebody. Who was it? Couldn't have been Victor Medina, could it?

You one of his spies, FlintyT' "I don't know any Victor Medina. I had

to call my office."

"What line of work you in?"

"I sell insurance," Flint answered.

"Smellin' a lie," Virgil said, sniffing.

"The nose knows. Virgil's got a mystic snout, Flinty. So let's

try it again: what line of work you in?"

Flint couldn't tell these two swamp rats why he was really there,

they'd want the reward for themselves. Anger welled up inside him.

"I'm an astronaut," he said before he could think better of it. "What

business is it of yours?"

"Ohhhhhh, an astronaut, Virgil!" The man grinned, his greenish

celebrity here! What do you say about that?"

teeth in dire need of brushing.   "We've got us a

"Say he wants it done the hard way, Doc."

"This is true." Doc nodded, his grin evaporating. "The hard way

it shall be, then."

Virgil looked into the toilet stall. Now it was his turn to grin.

"Heh-heb! Somebody done forgot to flush!"

"Oh me oh me oh my!" Doc pulled the razor away from i Flint's

penis and closed the blade with a quick snap of his i i wrist, and

Flint took the opportunity to zip himself up out of harm's way. "I

believe this is a job for an astronaut, don't you?"

"Surely." Virgil took a step forward and gripped the nape of

Flint's neck with one huge hand while the other grasped Flint's right

wrist and wrenched his krm up behind his back

'Hey, hey! Wait a minute!" Flint yelled, true fear kicking his

heart and pain shooting through his arm. Clint had awakened and was

thrashing under his shirt, but Virgil was manhandling Flint like a sack

of straw into the toilet stall Though Flint grabbed the stall's door

with his left hand and tried to fight free, Virgil made short work of

at attempt by th

sweeping his legs out from under him and forcing him to his knees

on the gritty flOOr. The hair rose up on the back of Flint's neck when

he saw the brown mers in the slimy bowl and what might have been

fist-size crabs

down in the murk. scuttling around "Yum-yum!" Doc said.

"Candygram for Mongo!"

Virgil Pushed Flint'S face toward the toilet bowl. The man's

strength was awesome, and though Flint did his damnedest at resisting,

all he could do was slow the inevitable. He couldn't get to the

derringer and neither could he find the breath to command mt to get

it. His 0 y h C' I'll ape was that he would pass Out before his face

broke the scummY, clotted surface.

"sir?"

'Doc turned his head toward the husky voice behind him.

He gasped; Elvis Presley was standing there, framed by the hot w

te are through the open doorw . D pp g

hay ac stood in and stunned as Pelvis Eisley reached up with

his left hand g, and plucked off the sunglasses. Doc blinked, his p-le

een eyes overloaded with light.

" 'Scuse me," Pelvis sod, and he lifted his right hand

the hand that held the red can Of Mace he'd taken from the

Cadillac's glove compartment-and sprayed a burst of fine mist squarely

into Docis face.

The reswt was immediate. DOC let out a wmam that curled Pelvis's

ducktail, and he staggered back, raking at his inflamed eyeballs. In

the toilet stall, Flint's nose was two inches away from disaster when

the scream echoed off the t es and V 's hand left the back of his head.

Fling

il 'rg" ntiabbed an elbow backward into the man's chest, but

Virgil just grunted and turned away to help Doc.

"Lord have mercy," Pelvis said when he saw the size of the black

man who'd just emerged from the toilet swing.

Virgil took one look at Doc, who was down on the floor clutching

his face with both hands and writhing in agony, then he stared at

Pelvis as if seeing an alien from another planet. The shock didn't

last but three seconds, after which Virgil charged Pelvis like a mad

bull.

Pelvis stood his ground and got off another spray of Mace, but

Virgil saw it coming and he jerked his head to one side, throwing up a

thick forearm to protect his face. The spray wet his shoulder and

burned like the furies of Hell, but Virgil was still moving and he hit

his target with a body block that all but knocked Pelvis out of his

blue suede shoes.

Pelvis slammed against the wall, his jowls and belly quaking, and

Virgil chopped at his wrist and knocked the Mace out of his hand. The

stomp of a Nike crushed the can flat.

Virgil grabbed Pelvis by the throat and lifted him off his feet.

Pelvis's eyes bulged as he started choking, his fingers scrabbling to

loosen Virgil's massive hands.

Flint had staggered out of the stall. He saw Pelvis's face

swelling with blood and he knew he had to do somethinganything-fast.

He yanked his shirt open, pulled the derringer from its holster, and

cocked it. "Leave him alone!" Flint shouted, but Virgil paid no

attention. There was no time for a second try. Flint @ped forward, pushing

the derringers double barrels against the back of Virgil's left knee,

and squeezed the trigger. The little weapon made only a polite

firecracker pop, but the force of the slug couldn't help but shatter

the big man's kneecap. Virgil cried out and released Pelvis, and he

went down on the floor, gripping at the ruins

of his knee.

"Gone pass out!" Pelvis gasped. "Lordy, I can't stand up!"

"Yes you can!" Flint saw his wallet on the floor where Virgil had

dropped it, and he snatched it up and then took Pelvis's weight on his

shoulder. "Come on, move!" He kicked the door open and pulled Pelvis

out with him into the scorching light. The loading of the alligators

was still proceeding, which made Flint think that the other three

workmen had believed Doc's scream of pain to be his own.

The red-haired grocery girl hid probably been too scared to come

look; either that, or screams of pain were commonPlace around there.

But then one of two workers carrying a squirming alligator along the

pier saw them and let out a holler: "Hey, Mitch! Doc and Virgil are

down! The third an was on the boat, and he reached under his muddy

YellOw shirt and Pulled out a pistol before he came running across the

gangplank.

It was definitely time to vacate the premises.

Pelvis, who could hardly stand up one second, was in the next second

a fairly impressive sprinter. The man with the gun got off a shot that

knocked a chunk of cinder block from the wall eight inches above

Flint's head, and Flint fired the derringers other bullet without

aiming though he knew he was Out Of range. All the workmen threw

themselves flat on the pier, the'gator landing belly-up. Then Flint

was running for the car, too, where Mama was barking frantically in the

drivers seat. He almost crushed her as he flung himself

behind the wheel, and Pelvis did crush the sack of Twinkles,

POtato chips, and cookies that occupied his own seat. Flint jammed the

key in, started the engine, and drove away from the store in reverse. The

man with the gun hadn't come around the corner yet. Flint put the pedal

to the metal, the engine still shrieking in reverse.

And then there was the gunman, skidding around the building's

edge. He planted his feet in a firing stance and took aim at the

retreating car. Flint shouted, "Get down! and Pelvis ducked his

head, both arms clutching Mama. But before the man could pull the

trigger, the Eldorado got behind the cover of woods and Flint's heart

fell back into his chest from where it had lodged in his throat. He

kept racing backward another fifty yards before he found a clear place

on the weedy shoulder to turn the car around, then he gave it the gas

again.

Pelvis had hesitantly lifted his head. The first faint blue bruises

were coming up on his neck. "I come to the bathmom and heard'em in

there!" he croaked over the howl of wind and engine. --Looked through

the hole in the door

and seen 'em tryin' to rob you! I 'membered what you said 'bout

the Mace blindin' a man!"

"They were crazy, that's what they were!" Flint's face glistened

with sweat, his eyes darting back and forth from the rearview mirror to

the road. The truck wasn't following.

He cut his speed to keep from flying off the dangerous curves into

the marsh. Clint was still writhing, as if he shared his brother's

fury. "Goddamned swamp rats, tried to drown me!" Still the truck

wasn't following, and Flint eased up on the gas some more. Pelvis kept

looking back, too, his face mottled with crimson splotches. "I don't

see 'em yeti" In another moment Flint realized-or hoped-the truck

wasn't coming after them at all. The dirt road where they'd been

sitting watching for Lambert would soon be on the left.

It was time to take a gamble. What were the odds that the truck

was following as opposed to the odds that it was not?

Doc probably couldn't see yet, and Virgil was going to need a

stretcher. Flint put his foot on the brake as they approached the dirt

road.

"What're you doin'? You ain't stoppin', are you?" Pelvis

squawked.

"I'm here to get Lambert," Flint said as he backed off the highway

into the shade of the weeping willows once more.

"I'm not lettin' a bunch of swamp rats run me off." He got far

enough down the road so as not to be seen by anyone coming from either

direction, then he opened the glove compartment, brought out a box of

bullets for the derringer, and reloaded its chambers. He cut the

engine, and they sat there, all four of them breathing hard.

A minute passed. "That toy gun nught do fine in a pinch," Pelvis

said, "but I wouldn't stake my life on it." Flint didn't respond.

Five minutes went by, during which Pelvis kept mumbling to himself or

Mama. kiter fifteen minutes they heard a vehicle approaching from the

south. "Oh, Lord, here they come!" Pelvis said, scrunching down in

his seat.

The truck passed their hiding place at a lawful speed and kept

going. They listened to it moving away, and then its sound faded.

"I'll be." Pelvis sat up, wincing as pain lanced his lower back.

If he hadn't been carrying such a Pad of fat around his

midsection, he might be laid out on the bathroom floor right then.

"What do you make of that?

Flint shook his head. A lot Of strange things had happened to him

in his bounty-hunting career, but this might have been the strangest.

What had all that been about? Doc and Virgil hadn't been trying to rob

him; they'd wanted to know who he was, why he was there, and who he'd

been talking to on the phone. "Damned if I can figure it out." He

slid Clint's derringer back into its holster. "You all right?

"Hurtin' some, but I reckon I'ni okay."

Flint kept listening for a siren that would be an ambulance or

police car. If the cops showed up, they could wreck everything. But

he was starting to have the feeling that the swamp rats didn't care to

see the police around, either.

Law-abiding citizens didn't usually carry straight razors and

threaten the bodily arts and of strangers. And what

was all that about somebody named Victor Medina, and them thinking

he might be there to rob them?

ROb them of what? A truckload of live alligators?

It made no sense, but Flint hadn't come this distance to

worry about some crazy 'gatormen. He turned his attention back to

snaring Lambert. Stupid of Eisley to have lost the Mace; he should've

held on to it, no matter what. Without the Mace, the job was going to

be that much tough

"Mr.   Murtaugh, sirer

ed

FLnt 100k at Pelvis, and saw that his face had turned milky white.

"Never seen a fella get shot before," Pelvis said, in obvious

distress. "Never been shot at, neither. t to

thinkin' 'bout it, and.   Go

- - believe I'm gone have to heave. "Well, get out and do it!

Don't you mess up my car! "Yes sir." Pelvis Opened the door, pulled

himself out and

staggered into the woods, and Mama leapt from the car after him.

Flint grunted with disgust. Man who couldn't take a little

violence and blood sure wasn't suited to hunt skins for

bounty. His own nerves had stopped jangling several minutes

earlier, but he was going to see that toilet bowl in his nightmares.

Clint had settled down to rest again. Flint looked into the

crumpled sack of groceries, and he was gratified to find a small green

bottle. He uncapped the lemon juice and took a long, thirsty swallow.

Ever since he could remember, his system had craved acid. He decided

that in a few minutes he should walk up to the cabin and make sure

Lambert hadn't arrived while they'd been gone.

Still there was no siren. The police and ambulance weren't

coming.

Alligators, he thought. What made alligators worth protecting with

a pistol?

Well, it wasn't his business. His business was finding Lambert

and taking him back to Shreveport, which he was determined to do. He

could hear Eisley retching out all that junk food he'd packed himself

with. Flint took another drink from the green bottle, and he thought

that this was a hell of a life for a gentleman.

The small Skulls

Dan was one of the first to reach the village. The sky was

stained yellow by drifting smoke, the air thick with the reek of burned

slesh.

He heard the wailing, like the sound of muted trumpets.

He moved forward through the haze at a slow-motion pit, his M 16

clutched before him. Sweat had stiffened the folds of his uniform, his

heart thudding in his chest like 'distant artillery. Someone was

screaming up ahead: a woman's scream, hideous in its rising and

falling. The ugly smoke swirled around him, its smell stealing his

breath. He pushed past a couple of other grunts from his platoon, one

of whom turned away and vomited on the dirt.

At the center of the village was a smoldering pile of twisted gray

shapes. Dan walked nearer to it, feeling the heat tighten his face.

Some of the villagers were on their knees, shrieking. He saw four or

five children clinging to their mothers' legs, their faces blank with

shock. Small orange flames flickered in the burned pile; nearby was a

United States Marine-issue gasoline can, probably stolen from a supply

dump, that had been left as a taunt.

Dan knew what had been set afire. He knew even before he saw the

small skulls. Before he saw a crisped hand reaching up from the mass

of bodies. Before he saw that some of them had not burned to the bone,

but were swollen and malformed and pink as seared pork.

iss

Someone clutched his arm. He looked into the wrinkled,

tear-streaked face of an old Vietnamese man who was jabbering with what

must have been a mixture of rage and terror. The old msin thrust his

hand at Dan, and in the palm lay a tiny airplane formed out of tinfoil.

He understood, then. It was from the Hershey bar's wrapper. The

Cong had circled around behind them, and had found this tinfoil toy as

evidence of collusion with the enemy. How many children had been

executed was difficult to tell. Flesh had melted and run together in

glistening pools, bones had blackened and fused, facial features had

been erased. The old Vietnamese staggered away from Dan, still

jabbering, and thrust his palm in an accusatory gesture at another

marine. Then he went to the next and the next, his voice breaking and

giving out but his hand still going up to show them the reason for this

massacre of the innocents.

Dan backed away from the burned corpses, one hand over his mouth

and nose and sickness churning in his stomach.

Captain Aubrey was trying to take charge, ye@ for someone to

shovel dirt over the flames, but his face was pallid and his voice was

weak. Dan turned his eyes from the sight, and he saw the young

Bostonian with cornflower-blue eyes-Farrow-standing near him, staring

fixedly at the fire as the Vietnamese elder thrust the tinfoil airplane

into his face. Then Dan had to get away from the smoke before it

overcame him, had to get away from the smell of it, but it was

everywhere, in his khakis and his hair and in his sidn.

He had to get away from this war and this death, from the mindless

killing and the numbing horror, and as he ran into the rice paddies he

was sick all over himself but the odor was still in his nostrus and he

feared he would smell it for the rest of his life.

He fell down in the wet vegetation and pushed his face into the

muck. When he lifted his head, he could still smell the burned meat.

Smoke drifted above him, a dark pall against the sun. Something strained

to break loose inside and he was afraid of it. If this thing collapsed,

so, too, might the wall of willpower and bravado he'd been sheltering

behind every moment, every hour, every day of his tour of

The Small Skulls

duty. He was a good soldier, he did what he was told and he'd

never gone south, never. But With brown mud on his face and black

despair in his soul he fought the awful urge to get up and run toward

the jungle, toward where they must be watching from the lids of their

snake holes, and once there he would squeeze the trigger of his M 16

until his ammo was gone and then they would emerge silently from the

shadows and cut him to pieces.

'Never gone south- Never. But he could feel himself trembling on

the edge of the abyss, and he gripped handfuls of mud to keep from

falling.

The feeling slowly passed. He was all right again. No, not all

right, but he would make it. Death and Cruel waste were no strangers

in this land. He had seen sights enough to make him wish for

blindness, but he had to stand up and keep going her-ause he was a man

and a marine and he was there to get the job done. He turned over on

his back and watched the smoke drifting, a dark scrawl of senseless

inhumanity, a sickening cipher. The wailing in the village behind him

seemed to be growing more shrill and louder, a chorus of agony, though

Dan clasped his hands to his ears louder louder though he squeezed his

eyes shut and tried to neither think nor feel louder louder though he

prayed for God to deliver him from this place and there was no answer

but the wailing louder and louder and loud"Uk " he said.

He sat up, his face contorted.

"Jesus!" somebody said. A female voice. --you 'bout scared the

stew outta me!"

Wailing. He could still hear it. He didn't know where he was,

his mind was still hazed with the smoke of Vietnam. It came to him in

another few seconds that he was no longer hearing the wailing from the

village in his memory. A police Carl he thought as panic streaked

through him. He saw a wi and started to get up and hobble toward it,

but his joints had tightened and the pain in his skull was

excruciating- He sat on the edge of what he realized was a bed, his

hands pressed to his temples.

"I've been tryin' to wake you up for five minutes. You

were dead to the world. Then all of a sudden you sat up so fast I

thought you were goin' right through the wall."

He hardly heard her. He was listening to the siren.

Whatever it was-police car, fire truck, or ambulance-it was moving

rapidly away. He rubbed his temples and tried to figure out where he was.

His brain seemed to be locked up, and he was searching desperately for

the key.

.'You all right?"

Dan looked up at the girl who stood next to him. The right side

of her face was a deep violet-red. A birthmark, terrible in its

domination. Arden was her name, he remembered.

Arden Holiday. No. Halliday. He remembered the Cajun Country

Truck Stop, a young man in a Hanoi Jones T-shirt, and a baseball bat

studded with nails thunking down on the table.

"Brought you a barbecue," she said, and she offered him a

grease-stained white sack. "Restaurant's right across the road."

The smell of the charred pork made his stomach lurch. He lowered

his head, trying to think through the pain.

"Don't you want it? You must be hungry. Slept all day."

"lust get it away from me." His voice was a husky growl.

"Please."

"Okay, okay. I thought you'd want something' to eat."

She left the room. His memory was coming back to him in bits and

pieces, like a puzzle linking together. A pistol shot.

The dying face of Emory Blanchard. Reverend Gwinn and his wife's

crullers. The DeCaynes and a shotgun blast tearing the tire of his

truck apart. Fifteen thousand dollars reward. Susan and Chad at

Basile Park, and her telling him about the cabin in Vermilion. The

bounty hunter with the flashlight, and Elvis Presley hollering for Mr.

Murtaugh.

The girl, now. He'd given her a ride to Lafayette to see a man at

a nursing home. Mr. Richards, the man's name was.

No, no; it was Jupiter. Old man, talking about somebody called

the Bright Girl. Faith healer, down in the swamp.

Take that mark right off your face. You His hands, you gone have

to steer her the right direction.

A motel in Lafayette. That's where he was. Slept all day,

Arden had said. The sun was still high outside, though. He

struggled to focus on his wristwatch's dial, and read the time as eight

minutes after four. His cap. Where was his cap? He found it lying on

the bed beside him. His shirt was stiff with dried sweat, but there

wasn't much he could do about that.

He sat there gathering the strength to stand up. He'd pushed

himself yesterday to the limit of his endurance, and now he was going

to have to pay the price. His headache was easing somewhat, but his

bones throbbed in raw rhythm with his pulse. At last he stood up and

staggered into the bathroom, where he caught a glimpse in the mirror of

a white, sunken-eyed Halloween mask with a graying beard that couldn't

possibly be his face. There was a shower stall, this one thankfully

with nO frogs hopping about, and Dan reached in and turned on the cold

tap and then put his head under the stream.

"Hey!" Arden had returned. "You decent?"

He just stood there in the downpour, wishing he'd had the sense to

lock her out.

"Got something' to show you. Just take a minute."

The sooner he could get rid of her, the better. He turned off the

water, found a towel to dry his hair, and walked into the front room.

Arden was sitting in a chair at a round table next to the bed, a map

spread out on the tabletop. She still wore her blue jeans, but she'd

changed into a fresh beige short-sleeve blouse. "Wow," she said,

staring at him. "You really look beat."

He reached back and massaged the cramped muscles of his shoulders.

"I thought I locked that door before I went to sleep. How'd you get

mr' "I stood out there knockin'till my knuckles were raw. You

wouldn't answer your phone, either. So I got an extra key from the

lady at the front desk. I told her we were travelin' together. Look

here."

"We're not travelin' together," Dan said. He saw that what she'd

spread out was his own Louisiana roadmap, taken from the station wagon.

"Here's LaPierre. See?" She put her finger on a dot where

Highway 57 ended at the swamp. "It's about twenty-five

miles I south of Houma. Didn't you say you were headed that way?'

"I don't know. Did I?"

"Yes. You said you were goin' somewhere south of Houma. Not a

whole lot down there, from the looks of the map. Where're you headed?"

He examined the map a little closer. LaPierre was maybe three

miles past a town called Chandalac, which was four or five miles past

Vermilion. South of LaPierre the map showed nothing but Terrebonne

Parish swamp. "I'm not takin' you any farther. You can catch a bus

from here."

"Yeah, I guess I could, but I figured since you were goin' that

way you'd help me-" "No, " he interrupted. "It's not possible."

She frowned. "Not possible? Why not? You're goin' down there,

aren't you?"

"Listen, you don't know me. I could be ... somebody you wouldn't

want to be travelin' with."

"What's that mean? You a bank robber or something'?"

Dan eased himself down on the bed again. "I'll give you a ride to

the bus station. That's the best I can do."

Arden sat there chewing her bottom lip and studying the map. Then

she watched him for a moment as he wedged a pillow beneath his head and

closed his eyes. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Depends," he said.

"Somethin' wrong with you? I mean ... are you sick?

You sure don't look healthy, if you don't mind my sayin'."

Dan opened his eyes and peered up at the ceiling tiles.

There was no point in trying to hide it. He said, "Yeah, I'm

sick."

"I thought so. What is it? AIDS?"

"Leukemia. Brain tumor. Worn out and at the end of my rope. Take

your pick."

She didn't say anything for a while. He heard her folding the map

up, or trying to, but road maps once unfolded became stubborn beasts.

Arden cleared her throat. "The Bright Girl's a healer. You heard

Jupiter say that, didn't you?"

"I heard an old man callin' me Mr. Richards and talkin'

nonsense."

"It's not nonsense!" she answered. "And you bear a resemblance

to Mr. Richards. He had a beard and was about Your size. I can see

how Jupiter mistook you."

Dan sat up again, his neck painfully tight, and looked at her.

"Listen to me. The way I figure this, you,re tryin' to track down a

faith healer-who I don't think even existstO get that mark off your

face. If you're goin' on the tall tales Of SOME crazy Old Man, I think

you're gonna be real disappointed."

"Jupitees not crazy, and they're not tall tales. The Bright

Girl's down there Just because you don't believe it doesn't make it not

true."And just because YOu want to believe it doesn't make it true. I

don't know anything about you, or what you've been through, but seems

to me YOU Ought to be seem' a skin doctor instead of @' to find a

faith healer."

"I've seen dermatologists and pl@c sinc*len." Mden said

icilY.."They all told me I've 90t the darkest port-wine stain they ever

saw. They can't prounse me they can get it all off, or even half of it

off without scarrin' me up. I couldn't afford the cost of the

operations, anyway. And you're right about not knowing anything about me.

you sure as hell don't know what it's like to wear this thing on your

face every day of your life- people lookin' at You like you're a freak,

or some kind of monster not fit to be out in public. when somebody's

talkin' to you, they'll try to look everywhere but Your face, and you

can tell they're either repulsed or they're feelin'Pity for you. It's

a bad-luck sign, is what it is. My own father told me that when I was

six years old. Then he left the house for a pack of cigarettes and

kept on goin', and my picked up a bottle and didn't lay it down again

until it killed her. From then on I was in and out of foster homes and

I can tell you none of 'em were paradise. She stopped her mouth

tightening into a grim line.

"When I was fifteen, Arden went on after a long pause, "I

stole a car. got caught and put on a ranch for -troubled youth'

outside San Antonio. Mr. Richards ran it. jupiter

worked at the stable, and his wife was a cook. It was a hard

place, and if you stepped out of line you earned time in the sweat

box. But I got my high school diploma and made it out. If I hadn't

I'd probably be dead or in prison by now. I used to help Jupiter with

the horses, and he told me stories about the Bright Girl. How she

could touch my birthmark and take it away. He told me where he'd grown

up, and how everybody down there knew about the Bright Girl." She

paused again, her eyes narrowing as she viewed some distant scene

inside her head. "Those stories ... they were so real.

So full of light and hope. That's what I need right now. See,

things haven't been goin' so good in my life. Lost my job at the

Goodyear plant, they laid off almost a whole shift. Had to sell my

car. My credit cards were getting' me in trouble, so I put the scissors

to 'em. I went to apply for a job at a burger joint, and the fella

took one look at my face and said the job was already filled and there

wasn't anything comin' open anytime soon. Same thing happened with a

couple of other jobs I went lookin' for. I'm behind two months on my

rent, and the bill collectors are harkin' after me. See ... what I

need is a new start. I need to get rid of my bad luck once and for

all. If I can find the Bright Girl and get this thing off my face ...

I could start all over again. That's what I need, and that's why I

pulled every cent I've got out of the bank to make this trip. Do you

understand?"

"Yeah, I do," Dan said. "I know things are tough, but lookin' for

this Bright Girl person's not gonna help you. If there ever was such a

woman, she's dead by now." He met Arden's blank stare. "Jupiter said

the Bright Girl was livin' in the swamp long before his daddy was a

little boy. Right?

So Jupiter said she came to LaPierre when he was a kid. He said

she was a young and pretty white girl. Young, he said.

Tell me how that can be."

"I'll tell you." Arden finished refolding the map before she

continued. "It's because the Bright Girl never ages."

"Oh, I see." He nodded. "Not only is she a healer, she's found

the fountain of youth."

"I didn't say anything about the fountain of youth!"

Anger lightened Arden's eyes but turned the birthmark a

The Small Skulls shade darker. "I'm tellin' you what Jup r Th ite

told me e Bright Girl doesn't ever get old, she always stays young and

pretty!"

"And you believe this?"

"Yes! I do! I-I just do, that's all!

Dan couldn't help but feel sorry for her. "Arden," he said quietly,

"you ever heard of something' called folklore? Like stories about

Johnny Appleseed, or Paul Bunyan, or ... YOU know, people whore bigger

than life. Maybe a long, long time ago there was a faith healer who

lived down in that swamp, and after she died she got bigger than life,

too, because people didn't want to let her go. So they made up these

stories about her, and they passed 'em down to their children. That

way she'd never die, and she'd always be young and pretty. See what

I'm sayinl?"

"You don't know!" she snapped. "Next thing you,ii be sayin' Jesus

was a made-up story, too!"

"Well ' it's your business if you want to go sloggin' through

a swamp lookin' for a dead faith healer.   I'm not gonna stop

you.It

"Damn right you're not!" Arden stood up, taking    the map with her.

"If I w'as as sick as you are, I'd be hopin' I could   find the Bright

Girl, too, not sittin' there denyin' her!"

"One thing that'll kill you real quick," he said   as she neared the

door, "is false hope. You get a little older, you'll    understand that."

"I hope I never get that old."

"Hey," Dan said before she could leave. "You want a ride to the

bus station, I'll be ready to go after dark."

Arden hesitated with her hand on the doorknob. "How come you

don't want to go until dark?" She had to ask another question that had

bothered her as well. "And how come you're not even carryin' a change

of clothes?"

He thought fast. "Cooler after dark. I don't want my radiator

boilin' over. And I've got friends where I'm goin', I wasift't

plannin' on stoppin'."

"Uh-huh."

He avoided her eyes because he feared she was starting to see

through him. "I'm gonna take a shower and get some

food. Not barbecue. You ought to call the bus station and find

out where it is."

"Even if I take a bus to Houma, I still have to get down to

LaPierre somehow. Listen," she said, determined to try "I'll pay you

thirty dollars to take me there. How about it?"

"No."

"How much out of your way can it be?" Desperation had tightened

her voice. "I can do some of the drivin' for you.

Besides, I've never been down in there before and ... you know .

. . a girl travelin' alone could get into trouble. That's why I paid

Joey to drive me."

"Yeah, he sure took good care of you, all right. I hope you get

where you're goin', but I'm sorry. I can't take you."

She @ept staring at him. Something mighty strange was going on,

she thought. There was the broken glass in the back of the station

wagon, the fact that he was traveling without even a toothbrush, and

was it happenstance that he hadn't awakened until a shrieldng siren had

gone past the motel? I could be somebody you wouldn't want to be

travelin' with, he'd said. What did that mean?

She was making him nervous. He stood up and pulled off his

T-shirt. She could see the outline of every rib under his pale skin.

"You want to watch me get naked and take a shower, that's fine with

me," Dan said. He began unbuckling the belt of his jeans.

"Okay, I'm leavin'," she decided when he pushed down his zipper.

"My room's right next door, when you get ready." She retreated, and

Dan closed the door in her face and turned the latch.

He breathed a sigh of relief. She was starting to wonder about

him, that much was clear. He knew he should never have given her a

ride; she was a complication he didn't need.

But right now there was nothing to be done but take his shower and

try to relax, if he could. Get some food, that would make him feel

awhole lot better. He started for the bathroom, but before he got

there, curiosity snared him and he turned on the TV and clicked through

the channels in

search of a local newscast. He found CNN, but it was the

financial segment. He switched the set off. Then, after a few seconds

of internal debate, he turned it back on again.

Surely he wouldn't have made the national news, but a local

broadcast might come on at five and he'd find out if Lafayette had

picked up the story. He felt as grimy as a mudflap at a tractor pull,

and he went into the bathroom and cranked the shower taps to full

blast.

Arden had gone to the office to return the extra key. The

small-boned, grandmotherly woman behind the registration desk looked up

over her eyeglasses from working a crossword puzzle in the Lafayette

newspaper. "Your friend all right?"

"Yeah, he is. He was just extra tired, didn't hear me knockin'."

She laid the key down on the desk. "Could you tell me how to get to

the bus station from here?"

"Got a phone book, I'll look up the address." The woman reached a

vein-ridged hand into a drawer for the directory.

"Where you plannin' on goin'?"

"To Houma, first. Then on down south."

"Ain't much south of Houma but the bayou. You got relatives down

there?"

"No, I'm on my own" "On your own? What about your friend?"

"He's ... goin' somewhere else."

"Lord, I wouldn't go down in that swamp country by myself, that's

for gospel!" The woman had her finger on the bus station's address,

but first she felt bound to deliver a warning. "All kinda roughnecks

and heathens livin' down there, they don't answer to no law but their

own. Look right here." She picked up the newspaper's front page and

thrust it at Arden. "Headline up top, 'bout the ranger. see it?"

Arden did. It said Terrebonne Ranger Still Missing, and beneath

that was a smaller line of type that said Son of Lafayette Councilman

Giradoux. A photograph showed a husky, steely-eyed young man wearing a

police uniform and a broad-brimmed hat.

"Missin' since Tuesday," the woman told Arden. "@n

the big news here all week. He went down in that swamp one too

many times, is what he did. Swallowed him up, you can bet on it."

"I'm sorry about that," Arden said, "but it's not gonna stop me

from-" And then she did stop, because her gaze had gone to a story at

the bottom of the page and a headline that read Second MurderAttributed

to Shreveport Fugitive. A photograph was included with this story,

too, and the bearded face in it made Arden's heart freeze.

It wasn't the best quality picture, but he was recognizable.

It looked like a mug shot, or a poorly lit snapshot for a driver's

license. He was bare headed and unsmiling, and he'd lost twenty pounds

or more since the camera had caught him. Beneath the picture was his

name: Daniel Lewis Lambert.

"They found his boat," the woman said.

"Huh?" Arden looked up, her insides quaking.

'Jack Giradoux's boat. They found it, but there wasn't hide nor

hair of him. I know his folks. They eat breakfast every Saturday

mornin' at the Shoneys down the road. They thought that boy hung the

moon, and they're gonna take it awful hard."

Arden returned to reading the story. "I'd be mighty careful in

that swamp country," the woman urged. "It's bad people can make a

parish ranger disappear." She busied herself writing the bus station's

address down on a piece of notepad paper.

Arden reft close to passing out as she realized what kind of man

Dan Farrow-no, Dan Lambert-really was. Vietnam veteran, had the tattoo

of a snake on his right forearm. Shot and killed the loan manager at a

bank in Shreveport. Shot and beat to death a man at a motel outside

Alexandria and stole his station wagon. "Oh my God," she whispered.

"Pardon?" The woman lifted her silver eyebrows.

Arden said, "This man. He's- "

... the man God sent Miz Arden.

Jupiter had said it. You the man Godprovided to take Miz Arden to

the Bright Girl. You His hands, you gone have to steer her the right

direction.

No, Dan Lambert was a killer. This newspaper said so.

He'd killed two people, so what was to stop him from killing her

if he wanted to? But he was sick, anybody could look at him and tell

that. If he wanted to kill her, why hadn't he just pulled off the

highway before they'd reached Lafayette?

"You say something'?" the woman asked "I ... yeah. I mean ... I'm

not sure."

"Not sure? About what?"

Arden stared at the photograph. The man God sent. She'd wanted

to believe that very badly. That there was some cosmic order of

things, some undercurrent in motion that had brought her to this time

and place. But if Jupiter had been so wrong, then what did that say

about his belief in the Bright Girl?

She reft something crumbling inside her, and she feared that when

it fell away she would have nothing left to hold her together.

"You still want the address?"

"What?"

"The b@s station.   You want me to tell you how to get there?   It's

not far."

The walls were closing in on her. She had to get out of there,

had to find a place to think. 'ICon I take this?" She held the

newspaper's page so the woman couldn't see Dan's picture.

"Sure, I'm through with it. Don't you want the-I, Arden was

already going out the door.

"Guess not," the woman said when the door closed. She'd wanted to

ask the girl if that mark on her face hurt, but she'd decided that

wouldn't be proper. It was a shame-, that Rirl would've been so pretty

if she weren't disfigured ' - But that was life, wasn't it? You had

to take the bad with the good, and make the best of it. Still it was a

terrible shame.

She turned her attention again to the crossword puzzle.

The next word across was four letters, and its clue was

"destiny."

The Truth

Dan had stepped out of the shower and was toweling off when he

heard someone speak his name.

He looked at the television set. His face-his drivers license

picture-was looking back at him from the screen.

He thought he'd been prepared for the shock, but he was wrong; in

that instant he felt as if he'd simultaneously taken ,a gut punch and

had icy water poured on the back of his neck. The newscaster was

talking about the shooting of Emory Blanchard, and the camera showed

scenes of policemen at the First Commercial Bank. And then the vision

truly became nightmarish, because suddenly a distraught face framed

with kinky red curls was talking into a reporter's microphone.

"He went crazy when he found out we knew who he was," Hannah

DeCayne was saying. . "Harmon and me tried to stop him, but he was out

of his mind. Grabbed the shotgun away from Harmon and blasted him

right there in front of me, and then he-oh, dear Lord, it was

terrible-then he started beaten' my husband in the head with the gun.

I never saw anybody so wild in my life, there wasn't a thing I could

do!"

The camera showed the dismal Hideaway Motor Court in daylight,

then focused on the crippled pickup truck. There was a shot of blood

on the sandy ground. "DeCayne was pronounced dead early this morning at

an Alexandria hospital," the newscaster said.

Dan's knees gave way.   He sat down on the edge of the bed, his

mouth agape.

"Police believe Lambert may be on his way to Naples, Florida,

where his nearest family member lives . . ."

Christ! Dan thought. They'd brought his mother into this thing

now!

". - - but there've been reports that Lambert's been seen both in

New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Repeating what we understand from

Alexandria police, Lambert may be traveling under the name Farrow, and

he should be considered extremely dangerous. Again, the First

Commercial Bank of Shreveport has put a fifteen-thousand.

dollar reward on Lambert, and the number to call with information

is 555-9045." The photograph of Dan came up on the screen again.

"Lambert is fortytwo years old, has brown hair and brown eyes and

s@-"

Dan got up and snapped the TV off. Then he had to sit down once

more because his bones reft rubbery and his head was reeling. Anger

started boiling up inside him. What kind of damned shit was that woman

trying to shovel? No, not trying, she was doing a pretty good job of

it, fake tears and all. Dan saw what had happened. The bitch had

killed her husband, and who was going to call her a @? He sensed the

net starting to close around him. Who would believe he hadn't murdered

DeCayne? Pretty soon the newscasts were going to make him out to be a

bloodthirsty fiend who killed everybody in his path. With his picture

on TV, the reward, the police looking for the station wagon-what chance

did he have of getting to Vermilion, much less out of the country?

He clasped his hands to his face. His heart was beating hard, the

pulse pounding at his temples. How much farther could he get? Even

traveling with the shield of darkness he knew it was only a matter of

time now before the law found him. And his time, it seemed, was fast

ticking away. Should he try to keep going, or just give it up and call

the police?

What was the point of running anymore? There war, no

escaping prison; there was no escaping the disease that was

.chewing his life away. Gone south, gone south, he thought.

Where could you run to when all roads were blocked?

He didn't know how long he sat there, his eyes squeezed shut and

his head bowed, his thoughts scrambling like mice in mazes. There was

a tentative knock at the door. Dan didn't say anything. The knock

came again, a little louder this time.

"Go away!" he said. It had to be her. Or the police. He'd find

out soon enough.

A long silence followed. Then her voice: "I ... want to talk to

you for a minute."

"Just go away and leave me alone. Please."

She was silent, and Dan thought she'd gone. But then he heard a

rustling at the bottom of the door and something slid under it into the

room. It was a newspaper page.

Dan had the feeling that the bad news was about to get worse. He

put the towel around his waist, went to the door, and picked up the

page. There at the lower right was his picture, the same photo he'd

seen on television. Second Murder Attributed to Shreveport Fugitive,

the headline read. He reached out, unlatched the door, and pulled it

open.

Arden took a backward step, half of her face pale with fear, and

she lifted a tire iron she'd taken from the back of the station wagon

over her head. "Don't touch me," she said. "I'll knock your head in!"

They stared at each other for a few seconds, like two wary and

frightened animals. At last Dan said, "Well, you've got my attention.

What'd you want to talk about?"

"That's you, isn't it? You killed two people?

"It's me," he answered. "But I didn't kill two people. Just the

man in Shreveport."

-Oh, is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Right now I don't give a damn what you feel. You're not the one

goin' to prison. I guess you've already called the police?"

"Maybe I have," she said. "Maybe I haven't."

"You saw there's fifteen thousand dollars reward on me,

didn't you? That ought to be enough to get your birth mark off. See?

This must be your lucky day."

"Don't try to rush me," she warned. "I swear I'll hit you."

"I'm not rushin' anybody. Where am I gonna go wearin' a towel?

You mind if I get dressed before the police get here?"

"I haven't called 'em. Not yet, I mean."

"Well, do what you have to do. I figure I'm through runnin'." He

turned his back on her and went to his clothes, which were lying on a

chair near the bathroom door.

Arden didn't enter the room. She watched him as he 'dropped the

towel and put on his underwear and socks. His body was thin and

sinewy, the vertebrae visible down his spine. His muscles looked

shrunken and wasted. There was nothing physically threatening about

him at all. Arden 'lowered the tire iron, but she didn't cross the

threshold. Dan put on his T-shirt and then his jeans. He sat down in

the chair to slip his shoes on. "I didn't kill the man in Alexandria,"

he told her. "For what it's worth, his wife did it and she's blamin'

me. Yeah, I did steal their station wagon, only because the damn woman

shot my pickup truck's tire out. She blasted him with a shotgun,

aimin' at me, but when I left there he was still alive. She beat him

to death and she's tellin' the police I did it. That's the truth."

Arden swallowed thickly, the fear still fluttering around in her

throat. "The paper said you went crazy in a bank. Shot a man dead.

That you're supposed to be armed and dangerous. "

"They got the crazy part right. Bank was repossessin' my truck.

It was the last thing I had left. I got in a fight with a guard, the

loan manager pulled a pistol on me, and ... it @just happened. But I'm

not armed, and I never was carryin' a gun. I guess I ought to be

flattered that they think l' in so dangerous, but they're wrong." He

sat back in the chair and put his hands on the armrests. "I meant it

about the reward money. Ought to be you who gets it as much as anybody

else. You want to go call the law, I'll be right here."

Her common sense told her to go to her room and use the phone

there, but she hesitated. "How come you didn't give yourself up after

you shot that man?"

"I panicked. Couldn't think straight. But I was tellin' you the

truth about the leukemia. The doctors don't give me a whole lot of

time, and I don't care to pass it in prison."

"So how come you're just gonna sit there and let me, turn you in?"

"Somebody will, sooner or later. I thought I could get out of the

country, but ... there's no use in tryin' to run when your name and

face is plastered all over TV and the newspapers. It's just hurtful to

my family."

"Your family? You married?"

"Ex-wife. A son. I stopped to see'em in Alexandria, that's why I

was stayin' at that damn motel. I was headin' to a place called

Vermilion. Cabin down there I was gonna hide in for a while, until I

could decide what to do." He shook his head. "No use in it."

Arden didn't know exactly what she'd expected, but this wasn't it.

After she'd digested the newspaper story, she'd gone to the station

wagon to search it, looking for a gun.

She'd found the tire iron in the back and in the glove compartment

a couple of old receipts-for froglegs, of all things-made out to Hannah

DeCayne from the Blue Gulf Restaurant. The hell of this thing was that

the fifteen thousand dollars would bail her out of her financial

troubles and buy her a car, but after the bills were paid off there

still wouldn't be enough left for the plastic surgery. The doctors had

told her there would have to be two or more operations, and they

couldn't promise what the results would be. But here was fifteen

thousand dollars sitting in front of her if she wanted it.

"Go on," Dan said. "Call 'em, I don't care."

"I will. In a minute." She frowned. "If you're so sick, why

aren't you in a hospital?"

"Ever set foot in a V.A. hospital? I was in one for a while.

People waitin' to die, hollerin' and cryin' in their sleep. I

wasn't gonna lie there and fade away. Besides, most days I could still

work. I'm a carpenter. Was, I mean. Listen, are you gonna call the

police, or do you want to write my life story?"

-Arden didn't answer. She was thinking Of what it had felt like

when she was joy-riding in that car she'd stolen!speeding from nowhere

to nowhere, tYing to outrace reality -and the state troopers' car had

rDared up behind her with its siren wailing and the bubble light

awhirl- She remembered the snap of cuffs on her wrists, and the

sharp, dark terror that had pierced her tough fuck-you attitude. She'd

had a lot to learn in those days. If it hadn't been for a few people

like Mr. Richards and Jupiter and his wife, the lessons would've

fallen like seeds on stony ground. Stealing a car was a lot different

from committing murder, of course, and maybe Dan

Lambert belonged in prison, but Arden wasn't sure she was the one

to Put him there.

"One thing I'd like to do for myself," Dan said while she was

pondering the situation. He stood up, causing Arden's heart to start

thumping again, and he went to the telephone on the table beside his

bed. He dialed the operator and asked for directory assistance in

Alexandria.

"Whore you callin'?" Arden's knuckles were aching, she was

gripping the tire iron so hard.

"I'd like the Police department," he said to the Alexandria

operator when the call clicked through. "The main office at City

Hall."

"What're you doin'?"   Arden asked, incredulous.   "Givin' -Yourself

up?"

'tQuiet," he told her. He waited until a voice answered.

rg rr di spe @"Alexandria police, Se rant Gil Pa a ne akin'."

"Sergeant, my name is Dan Lambert. I think You people are lookin'

for me."

There was no reply, just stunned-or suspicious silence.       Then: "Is

this a joke?"

"NO joke- Just listen.    I didn't kill HarmOn DeCayne.   I saw wi

gu

his 'fe shoot him with that shot n, but when I left there, he was

still alive. She must've decided to beat him to death and blame it on

me. See what I'm sayinl?"

:"Uh ... I'm ... ho d on just a minuI'l nn t you

to-It 1 te I co ec

"No!"   Dan snapped.   "You pass the phone, I'm gone!   I'm

tellin' you, that woman killed her husband. You check the shotgun

for fingerprints, you won't find one of mine on it Will you do that for

me?"

"I-I'll have to let you talk to Captain-" "I'm through talkin'."

Dan hung up.

"I can't believe you just did that! Don't you know they'll trace

the call?"

"I just wanted to start 'em thinkin'. Maybe they'll check for

prints and ask that damn woman some more questions.

Anyway, they don't know it wasn't a local call. There's enough

time for you to turn me in."

"Do you want to go to prison? Is that it?"

"No, I don't want to go to prison," Dan said. "But I don't have a

whole hell of a lot of choice, do I?"

Arden had to do the next thing; she had to test both herself and

him. She took a deep breath, crossed the

threshold into his room, and closed the door behind her. She

stood with her back against it, the tire iron ready if he jumped at

her.

He raised his eyebrows. "Takin' a risk being' in a room alone with

me, aren't you?"

"I'm not sure yet. Am I?"

He showed her his palms and eased down on the edge of the bed.

"Whatever's on your mind," he told her, "now's the time to tell me

about it."

"All right." She took two steps toward him and stopped again,

still testing both her own nerves and his intentions. "I don't want to

turn you in. That's not gonna help me."

"Fifteen thousand dollars is a lot of money," he said.

"You could buy yourself-" "I want to find the Bright Girl," Arden

went on. "That's why I'm here. Findin'the Bright Girl and getting'this

thing off my face is all I'm interested in. Not the money, not why you

killed some man in Shreveport." Her intense blue gaze didn't waver.

"I've seen her in my dreams, only I never could tell what she looked

like. But I think I'm close to her now, closer than I've ever been. I

can't give it up. Not even for fifteen thousand dollars."

"It would pay for an operation, wouldn't it?"

"The doctors can't say for sure they can get it off. They say

tryin' to remove it could leave a scar just as bad as the birthmark.

Then where would I be? Maybe war off, if se that's even possible. No,

I'm not doin' it that way, not when I'm so close."

"You're not thinkin' straight," Dan said. "The doctors are your

best chance. The Bright Girl ... well, you know what I

think about that story.   "

"I do. it doesn't matter. I want you to drive me to LaPierre."

He grunted. "Now I know you,re Out Of Your mind! Look

I who you're talkin' to. I killed a man yesterday. I ve got a

stolen car sittin' out in the parkin' lot. You don't know I wouldn't

try to kill you if I could, and you're wantin' to travel with me

another ninety miles down into the swamp.

Wouldn't you say that might be Pushin' your luck?"

"If You were gonna hurt me, You would've done it 'between here and

the truck stop. I believe you about what happened at the motel.

There's not a gun in the car, and You'renotcarryin'one.I'vegota

reiron,andlstillthinki ti

could outrun you."

"Maybe, but you can't outrun the police.      Ever heard of aidin' and

abettin' a fugitive?"

"If the police stop us," Arden said, "I'll say I didn't know

who you were.   No skin off your teeth to tell 'em the same thing.

Dan looked at her long and hard.   He figured she

' d had a rough life, and this obsession with the Bright Girl had

grown

stronger as things had started falling apart- He saw only

disappointment ahead for her, but he was in no position to

argue. She was right; it was no skin off his teeth.      "You sure

about this?"

"Yes, I am." The truth was that she hadn't decided he was worth

trusting until he'd made the call to Alexandria. Still, she was going

to hang on to the tire iron awhile longer.

He stood up and walked toward her. It flashed through her mind to

retreat to the door, but she stayed where she

was. She knew from experience that once you showed fear to a

horse, the animal would never respect you again; she knew it was true

with people, too. He reached out for her, and she lifted the tire iron

to ward him off.

He stopped. "My cap," he said. "It's on the chair behind

YOU."

"Oh." She stepped aside to let him get it.

Dan put his cap on and checked his wristwatch. Five thirty-four.

Outside the window the shadows were lengthening, but it wouldn't be

full dark until after seven. "I'll want to travel the back roads," he

told her. "A little safer that way, but slower. Less likely to run

across a state trooper. I hope. And I'm not gonna jump you, so you

can put that thing down." He nodded toward the tool in her hand. When

she didn't lower it, he narrowed his eyes and said, "If you don't trust

me now, just think how you're gonna feel in a couple of hours when

we're out in the dark and there's nobody around for miles."

Arden slowly let her arm fall.

"Okay, good. I'd hate to sneeze and get my brains knocked out.

You got any deodorant?"

'Hub?"

"Deodorant," he repeated. "I need some. And toothpaste or

mouthwash, if you've got either of those. Aspirin would

help, too."

"In my suitcase. I'll bring it over."

"That's all right, I'll go with you," Dan said, and he saw her

stiffen up again. "My room, your room, or the car, what does it

matter?" he asked. "Better be certain you want to do this before we

get started."

She realized she was going to have to turn her back on him sooner

or later. She said, "Come on, then," and she went out the door first,

her stomach doing slow flip-flops.

In Arden's bathroom Dan applied ron-on deodorantand he'd never

thought the day would come when he'd be using Secret-and then he wet a

washcloth, put a glob of Crest on it, and scrubbed his teeth. Arden

brought him a small first aid kit that contained a bottle of Tylenol, a

tube of skin ointment, some adhesive bandages, and a bottle of

2m

IB

eYedrOPS- "You must've been a girl scout," Dan said as she shook

two aspirin onto his palm.

" Joey always said I missed MY callin', that I should've been a

nurse. That's because I took care of the band when they had hangovers

or were too strung out to play. Somebody had to be responsible."

Dan swallowed the Tylenol tablets with a glass of water

and gave her back the first aid kit. 'll need o get me f

t so ood and coffee somewhere. Weld better not stick around here

too much longer."

..I'm ready."

'it was six o'clock by the time the bill was paid and they were

Pulling away from the motel. Arden kept the tire iron on the seat near

her right hand, and Dan decided not to make an issue of it. Not far

from the motel Dan turned into a McDonald's and in the drive-through

bought three hamburgers, a large order of fries, and a cup of

coffee. They sat in

the parking lot while he ate, and Dan unfolded the ro-admap and

saw that Highway 182 was the route to follow through the towns Of New

Iberia, Jeanerette, Baldwin, and on to Morgan City, where Highway 90

would take them deeper into the bayou country to Houma.

"Where're you gonna go?",Arden asked when he'd finished the second

burger. "After you take me to LaPierre, I mean. You still gonna try

to get out of the country?,"I don't know. Maybe."

"Don't you have any relatives You could go to? Are your

-parents still alive?

"Fatliees dead. My mother's a ive, but she's old d I

I an don't want to get her messed up in this.   It'll be hard

enough on her as it is."

"DOES she know about the leukemia?"

"No. It's my problem." He speared her with a glance.

"What do you care, anyway? You hardly know me."

She rugged. "Just interested, I - You're e ri t sh guess th rs

killer lever met. .

Dan couldn't suppress a grim smile. "Well, I hope I'm the last

one you meet." He offered her his french fries. "Take some."

She accepted a few and crunched them down. "You don't really have

anywhere to go, do you?"

"I'll find a place."

Arden nodded vacantly and watched the sun sinking. The Bright

Girl-a dream without a face-was on her mind, and if she had to travel

with a wanted fugitive to reach that dream, then so be it. She wasn't

afraid. Well, maybe a little afraid. But her life had never been

easy, and no one had ever given her a free ticket. She had nowhere to

go now but toward the Bright Girl, toward what she felt was the hope of

healing and a new start.

I know who you are, she recalled Jupiter saying to the killer

beside her.

You the man God sent Miz Arden.

She hoped that was true. She wanted to believe with all her heart

it was.

Because if Jupiter could be so wrong about Dan Lambert, he could

be wrong about the Bright Girl, too.

Dan finished his food and they started off again. Four miles

south of Lafayette, they passed a state trooper who'd pulled a kid on a

motorcycle over to the roadside. The trooper was occupied writing a

ticket and they slid by unnoticed, but it was a few minutes before

Arden stopped looking nervously back.

The light was fading. Purple shadows streamed across the road,

and on either side there were woods broken by ponds of brackish water

from which tree stumps protruded like shattered teeth. The road

narrowed. Traffic thinned to an occasional car or pickup truck. A

sign on stilts said KEEP YOUR HEART IN ACADIANA OR GET YOUR-there was

the crude drawing of a mule's hind end here-out. Spanish moss

festooned the trees like antebellum lace, and the mingled odors of wild

honeysuckle and Gulf salt drifted on the humid air. As the first stars

emerged from the darkening sky, heat lightning began to ripple across

the southern horizon.

Dan switched on the headlights and kept an eye on the rearview

mirror. The heat lightning's flashes reminded him of the battle zone,

with artillery shells landing in the

2m

A

distance. He had the eerie sensation of traveling on a road that

led back into time, back into the wet wilderness of a foreign country

where the reptiles thrived and death was a silent shadow. He was

afraid of what he might find-or what might find him-there, but it was

the only road left for him to go. And like it or not, he had to follow

it to its end.

Black Against Yellow

It was just after nine o'clock when the station wagon's headlight

beams grazed a rust-streaked sign that said V ION 5 MI UAC 12 mi

@RRE i 5 mi. "Almost there," Dan said, relief blooming in him like a

sweet flower. Arden didn't answer. She'd opened her purse two miles

back and taken from it the pink drawstring bag, which she now held in

her lap. Her fingers kneaded the bag!s contents, but Arden stared

straight ahead along the cone of the lights.

"What's in that thing.?" Dan asked.

"Huh?"

"That bag. What's in it?"

"Nothin' special," she said.

"You're sure rubbin' it like it's something' special-" "It's . . .

just what I carry for good lucl" "Oh, I should've figured." He nodded.

"Anybody who believes in faith healers has to have a good-luck charm

or two lyin' around."

"If I were you, I wouldn't be laughin'. I'd think you'd want to

find the Bright Girl as much as I do."

"There's an idea. After she heals me, she can go back to

Shreveport with me and raise Emory Blanchard from the dead. Then I can

get right back to where I was, beggin' for work."

"@ if you want to. All I'm sayin'is, what would it hurt for you

to go with me?"

"It would hurt," he said. "I told you what I think about false

hope. If there really was a Bright Girl-which there's not-the only

way she could help me is to crank back time and bring the man I killed

back to life. Anyway, I said I'd take you to LaPierre, and that's what

I'll do but that's all. " "What're you gonna do, dump me out on the

street once we get there?"

"No, I'll help you find some@lace to spend the night." He hoped.

The last motel they'd passed was ten miles behind them in the small

town of Houma. Since the woods had closed in on either side of the

road, they'd seen the scattered lights of only a few houses. They had

left civilization behind, it seemed, and the bittersweet smell of the

swamp thickened the air. If worse came to worst and a motel or

boardinghouse couldn't be found anywhere near Lapierre, Dan had decided

to offer Arden lodging at the cabin and then he'd take her on into town

in the morning. But only if nothing else could be found; he didn't

like having somebody depending on him, and the sooner she went on her

way the better he'd feel about things.

They crossed a long, concrete bridge and suddenly they were

passing through the hamlet of Vermilion. It wasnt much, just a few

card houses and closed-up stores. The only Place that was lit up with

activity was a litae dump called Cootie's Bar, and Dan noted that the

four pickup trucks parked around the place all had shotguns or rifles

racked in the rear windows. This did not help Dan's hopes of finding a

decent motel room for Arden. He had the feeling that a woman alone in

this territory could find herself pinned to a pool table, and a man

with a fifteen-thousanddollar reward on his head would be torn clean

apart. He drove on through Vermilion, luckily attracting the attention

of only a couple of dogs who stopped scrapping over a bone to get out

of the road.

As they drew away from town, Dan watched the odometer. Susan had

said the turnoff to Gary's cabin was three miles past the bridge, on the

left. It ought to be coming up any minute now. He didn't plan on

stopping there yet, but

he wanted to make sure he found it. And then, yes, there it was,

a dirt road snaking off to the left into the woods. Good.

Now at least he knew where he'd be resting his head tonight.

He passed the tumor, and neither he nor Arden saw the black

Eldorado hidden close by.

!Pelvis was asleep and snoring with Mama sprawled out on his chest

when Flint saw headlights approaching. As darkness had fallen, Flint

had pulled the car closer up the dirt road to the highway's edge, and

he'd kept vigilant watch while Pelvis had drowsed, awakened to prattle

about Elvis's pink Cadillac and love of his mother's coconut cakes, and

then drowsed again. Flint could have counted on one hand how many cars

had passed, and none of them had even slowed at the turnoff to the

cabin. This one, though, did slow down, if almost imperceptibly. But

it didn't turn, and now here it came on the southbound road. Still,

Flint's heartbeat had quickened, and Clint felt the change and

responded with a questioning twitch under his brother's sweat-soaked

shirt. Flint turned the key in the ignition and switched on the single

headlight as the car began to glide past their hiding place.

The beam jabbed out and caught the rust-splotched station wagon.

Flint saw a blond-haired woman sitting in the passenger seat; she

glanced toward the light, her eyes squinted, and Flint made out that

the entire right side of her face seemed to be covered with an ugly

violet bruise. He couldn't see the driver's face, but he saw a head

wearing a dark blue baseball cap. Then the station wagon had gone out

of the light. Flint's breath hissed between his teeth; it was the same

car Lambert had driven out of Basile Park.

He started the engine. Pelvis sat up bleary-eyed and rasped,

"Whazhappenin?"

"He's here. Just passed us, goin' south." Flint's voice was calm

and quiet, his heart pumping hot blood but his nerves icy. "He didn't

turn, but that's him all right. Hold the mutt." He put the engine into

gear and eased the Eldorado onto the road, turning right to follow

Lambert. The station wagon's taillights were just going around a

curve. "There's a

woman with him," Flint said as they gained speed. "Could be a

hostage. Looks @ he might've beaten her up."

"A hostage? Pelvis said, horrified. His arms were clamped

tightly around Mama. "My Lord, what're we gonna do?"

"What we came for." They rounded the curve, and there was the

station wagon forty yards ahead. "Hang on," Flint said. His foot

pressed down on the accelerator, a cold smile of triumph twisting his

mouth. "I'm anna run the sonofabitch off the road."

The light suddenly hitting them had startled Arden as much as it

had Dan. "You think that was a trooper?" she asked, her voice shaky

as they started into the curve.

"Could've been. We'll find out in a minute."

"He's pullin' out!" She had her head outside the window.

"Comin' after us!"

Dan watched the rearview mirror. No siren yet, no flwhing light.

He kept his speed steady, the needle hanging at rift- There was no need

to panic yet. Might've been just somebody parked on a side road

getting stoned. No need to panic.

"Here he comes!" Arden yelled. "Pickin' up speed!"

Dan saw the car coming around the curve, closing the distance

between them. The car had only one headlight.

One headlight ' A knot the size of a lemon seemed to swell in

Dan's throat.

The bounty hunters' black Cadillac had one headlight.

But no, it couldn't be! How the hell would Flint Murtaugh and the

Elvis clone have known where he was going? No, it wasn't them. Of

course it wasn't.

He heard the roar of their engine.

Arden puned her head in, her eyes wide.   "I think he's gonna-"

Ram uv, she was about to say. But then the headlight was glaring

into the rearview mirror and the Cadillac was right on their bumper and

Dan tried to jerk the station wagon to one side but he was a

muscle-twitch too late. The Cadillac

banged into their rear with threatening authority, then abruptly

backed off again. The station wagon's frame was shivering, but Dan had

control of the wheel. Another curve was coming up, and he had to watch

where he was going.

The Cadillac leapt forward again with what sounded like an angry

snort, and once more banged their rear bumper and then drew back.

"He's tellin' me to pull over!" Dan said above the rush of the wind.

He glanced at the speedometer and saw the needle trembling at sixty.

"Who is it? The police?"

"Uh-uh! Couple of bounty hunters are after me! Damned if I know

how they found me, but-" "Comin' fast again!" Arden shouted, gripping

onto the seat back.

This time the Cadillac s driver meant business. The knock rattled

their bones and almost unhinged Dan's hands from the shuddering wheel.

The Cadillac didn't back away, but instead began shoving the station

wagon off the road. Dan put his foot on the brake pedal and the tires

shrieked in protest, but the Cadillac was too strong. The station

wagon was being inexorably pushed to the roadside, and now somedung

clattered and banged under the front axle and the smell of scorched

metal came up through the floorboard.

The brake pedal lost its tension and slid @ to the floor, and Dan

realized the brakes had just given up the ghost.

Whoever was driving, Murtaugh or the imitation Elvis, they wanted

to play rough. Dan was damned if he'd let those two have him without a

fight. He lifted his foot from the dead pedal and jammed it down on

the accelerator, at the same time twisting the wheel violently away

from the roadside. A gout of oil smoke boomed from the exhaust pipe,

and the station wagon jumped forward, putting six feet between its

crumpled rear bumper and the Cadillac's @.

Dan swerved back and forth across the road, trying to cut their

speed and also to keep the Cadillac from shoving them again. They

passed what looked like a marina on the right and then the woods closed

in once more on both sides of the pavement. A SPEED Limff 45 MPH sign

pocked with bullet

holes swept past. The Cadillac roared up on them, smack their

left rear fender before Dan could jerk the wagon aside. Now the road

began a series of tight twists and turns, and it was all Dan could do

to keep them from flying off. He dared to look at the speedometer and

saw that it too had gone haywire, the needle flipping wildly back and

forth across the dial.

"Slow down!" Arden shouted. "You'll wreck us!" He pulled up on

the emergency brake, but there was no tension in that either. Whatever

had fried underneath the car had burned out the brake system, which

probably had been hanging together with spit and chicken wire anyway.

"No brakes!" he answered and then he fought the car around the next

sharp curve with the cadillac on his tail, his teeth clenched and his

heart pounding. WmmmE To C @c a Wp announced, and they were through a

one-block ship of' ed stores in a blast of engine noise and whirlwind

of sandy grit. On the other side of Chandelac, the road @tened out and

overhead huge oak @ locked b The suddenly veered into the left lane and

cavae up beside Dan, and Dan looked into the puffy face of an aged Elvis

Presley, who was holding on to his bulldog with one arm and waving him

to pull over with the other.

Dan shook his head. The Elvis impersonator said some.

thing to M , probably relaying Dan's answer. Murtaugh then

delivered lug next response by slamming the Cadfflw bioadside against

the statwn wagon. Arden had been holding back a but the collision of

metal knocked it loose. Dan felt the right-side tires slide off the

pavement and into the weeds. He had no choice but to hit the

accelerator and try to jump ahead of Murtaugh, but the bounty hunter

stayed with him. Dan thought they must be going seventy miles an hour,

the woods blurting past and the station wagon's engine moaning with

fatigue. The road curved to the right, and suddenly there were

headlights Coming in the left lane. Murtaugh instantly cut his speed

and dnfw back behind Dan, who took the curve on

smoking tires. They rocketed past an old Ford crawling north, and

as soon as they were out of the curve the Cadillac was banging on Dan's

back door gainHe darted a glance at Arden, saw her hunched forward with

the pink drawstring bag clenched between her hands. "I told you not to

travel with me, didn't I?" he yelled, and then he saw in the rearview

mirror the Cadillac trying to pull alongside him. He veered to the

left, cutting the bounty hunter off. Murtaugh swung the Cadillac to

the right, and again Dan cut him off.

"He's not gonna let you get up there!" Pelvis shouted over the

windstorm. -His hair was a molded ebony still life. He saw the

swdometer and blanched. "Lord God, Mr. Murtaugh! We're goin'

seventy-" "I know how fast!" Flint yelled back. The station wagon's

beat-up rear fender was less than ten feet ahead. Lambert had stopped

using his brakes. Either the man was crazy, or demonically desperate.

Flint pressed his foot down on the accelerator and the Cadillac's

battered front fender again slammed into Lambert's car. This time some

serious damage was done: white sparks exploded from underneath the

station wagon, a piece of metal coming loose and draOng the concrete.

As Flint let the Eldorado drift back he saw Lambert's left rear tire

start shredding apart. "That got ium!" Flint crowed. "He'll have to

pull over!"

Within seconds the tire had disintegrated into flying fragments

and now the wheel rim was dragging a line of sparks. But Lambert made

no move to pull off, and the man's stupid stubbornness infuriated

Flint. He twisted the wheel, his knuckles white and Clint's hand

seizing at the air, and he veered into the left lane and powered the

Eldorado up alongside Lambert to deliver the coup de grace.

Dan saw Murtaugh coming. The big black car was going to knock

them into the next parish. His heart had been gripped by a cold fist

when he'd felt the rear tire going, but actually the drag was slowing

them down. Still, here came

Murtaugh up alongside, and what the Cadillac was going to do to

them wouldn't be pretty.

He swung the car to the left and bashed the Cadillac so hard he

heard the frames of both cars groan in discordant harmony. Murtaugh

returned the favor with a broadside blow, and suddenly Dan's door tore

off its rusted hinges and fell away. Both cars whammed together in the

center of the road, what remained of the station wagon's left side

buck;ling inward like a stomped beer can.

. Dan's speed was falling past sixty, the engine making a harsh

lug-lug-lugging. He smelled burned rubber and hot metal, and ahead on

the road a half-dozen ravens leapt up 'from the roadkill on which they

were feasting and scattered with enraged cries. He looked at the

dashboard and saw the needle on the water temperature gauge vibrating

at the far limit of the red line. Murtaugh hit him again, his own car

being reduced to rolling wreckage and steam swirling from the

Cadillac's hood, and the impact knocked the station wagon across the

right lane onto the shoulder.

Dan heard Arden's breath hitch.

'They hit a sign, black against yellow, that he had only an

instant to read before it was crushed down.

IPANGEROus BRIDGE, IOmpH.

With a boom and a burst of escaping steam from 'm the volcanic

radiator the hood flew up in front of the windshield. Dan twisted the

wheel to get on the pavement again, but the rear end fishtailed out of

control. Three seconds later they hit something else that cracked like

a pistol shot, and abruptly Dan felt his butt rise up off the seat and

he knew with sickening certainty that the station wagon had left the

road. Branches and vines whipped at the top of the car, he heard Arden

scream again, and his own mouth was opening to cry out when they came

down, the station wagon hitting water like a fatman doing a graceless

bellyflop. Dan had the sensation of his body being squeezed and then

stretched by the impact, his skull banging the roof and bright comets

of red light streaking behind his eyes. He heard what sounded

like a

wall of water crashing against the hood and wind

shield, and the engine sizzled and moaned before it began an

iron-throated gurgling. Dazed at the quickness of what had happened,

his head packed with pain and his consciousnessfiagging,Dan

satinthedarknessstillgrippingthesteering wheel.

His feet were submerged. Water had sloshed up through the

floorboard and was flooding over the crumpled still where the door had

been. He thought the car was sinking, and the terror that swept

through him cleared away some of the haze. He turned his head-his neck

muscles felt sprained-and made out the girl lying sprawled on the seat.

He couldn't leave her there, and though he thought he was moving

as fast as he could, it seemed like a slow-motion nigh ; he got his

arms around Arden and pulled her with him out of the car, stepping into

knee-deep water bottomed with mud. The girl was a dead weight. Dan

lost his footing and splashed down with her. Her face went under, and

he turned over on his back to support her so her head was above water.

She didn't struggle or sputter, but she was breathing. The taste of

blood was in Dan's mouth. The darkness was closing in again, but he

felt a slow current flowing around his body. It came to him that the

current, as weak as it might be, must be flowing south to the Gulf,

however far away that was. He knew for sure that if he passed out,

both of them would drown. The bounty hunters.

Where were they? Somewhere close, that was for sure. He couldn't

hesitate any longer. Dan began pushing himself and Arden through the

muddy water, giving them up to the current's southward drift.

Corridors and Walls

' "They went olp" Pelvis had yelled. "Smack off the bridge!"

Flint had fought the Eldorado to a stop fifty yards past the

wooden bridge. Steam was hissing around the hood, the radiator ready

to blow. Mama was barking her head off, Clint was whipping in a

frenzy, and Pelvis was yelhng in Flint's ear.

"Shut up! Just shut your mouth!" Flint shouted. He put the car

in reverse and started backing to the bridge. The structure, except

for the broken railing the station wagon had torn through, was festooned

with orange reflectors.

they were still twenty yards from the bridge when the engine

shuddered and died, and Flint had to gaide the car off into the weeds

on the right side of the road. "Get out!" he told Pelvis, and then he

popped open the glove compartment, removed his set of handcuffs and

their key, and put them into his suit jacket's inside pocket. He got

out, clint's arm still ftffing or(und outside his shirt, then he

shrugged into his jacket and unlocked the trunk.

"He never even slowed down, did he?" Pelvis was jabbering.

"Never slowed down, went right-off that bridge like he had wings!"

"Take one of these." Flint had pushed aside a pair of jumPer

cables and a toolbox and brought out two red cylinders that were each

about twelve inches long.

Pelvis recoiled. "What is that? Dynamite?"

Flint closed the trunk, set one of the cylinders on the hood, and

yanked a string attached to the end of the cylinder in his hand. There

was a sputter of sparks as the friction fuse ignite,d, and then the

cylinder grew a bright red glow that pushed back the night in a

fifteen-foot radius and made Pelvis squint. "Safety flare," Flint

said. "Don't look at the flame. Take the other one and pull the

fuse."

Pelvis did, holding Mama in the crook of his arm. His flare

cooked-up a bright green illumination.

"Let's see what we've got." Flint strode toward the snapped r@,

and Pelvis followed behind.

The bridge was only two feet above water. There was the station

wagon, mired to the tops of its wheels and glistening with mud. Flint

could see the driver's seat. Lambert wasn't in it. Flint reached into

his shirt with his left hand, slid the derringer from its holster, and

then switched the gun to his right hand and the flare to his left. He

lifted the flare higher, searching for movement. The bridge spanned a

channel that was maybe ten or twelve feet wide, with thickets of

sharptipped palmettos and other thorny swamp growth protruding from the

wateron either side. He saw no dry land out there; neither did he see

Lambert or the woman with the bruised face. Leaning over, he shone the

flare under the bridge, but Lambert wasn't there either. "Damn it to

hell," he said as he eased off the bridge into the morass. He started

slogging toward the car, the flare sizzling over his head, and then he

stopped and looked back when Pelvis didn't join him. "Are you waitin'

for a written invitation?"

"Well ... no sir, but ... my shoes. I mean, they're real blue

suede. I paid over a hundred dollars for 'em."

"Tough. Get in here and back me up!"

Pelvis hesitated, his face folded in a frown. He looked down at

his shoes and sighed, and then he got a good grip on Mama and stepped

into the swamp. He flinched as he felt the mud close over his hound

dogs.

His derringer ready, Flint shone the flare into the car.

Water was still filling up the floorboard. He saw something

floating in there: Lambert's baseball cap. In the backseat was a

suitcase, and the red glare revealed a purse on the

passenger side. He said, "Clint! Take!" and pushed the

derringer into his brother's hand. Then he leaned in, retrieved the

purse and opened it, finding a wallet and a Texas drivers license made

out to Arden Halliday with a Fort Worth address. The picture showed

the face of a young woman with wavy blond hair. Her face might have

been valuable on the freak-show circuit: the left side was pretty

enough, but the right side was covered with a dark deformity that

must've been a terrible birthmark. In the wallet were no credit cards,

but it held a little over a hundred dollars and some change.

"I swear, that's some trick!" Pelvis said, staring at Clint's

hand with the derringer in it. "Can he shoot that thing?"

"If I toll him to." Flint slid the license and the money into his

jacket, then he returned the wallet to the purse and the purse to the

car.

"He can understand you?"

"I've trained him with code words, same as trainin' a dogClint!

Release!" Flint took the derringer as Clint's fingers loosened(L He

scanned the swamp while he moved the light around, making the shadows

shift.

"Bet you wish he could talk sometimes."

"He'd say he's as sick of me as I am of him. Get your mind back

on your business. Lambert couldn't be far away, and he's got the woman

with him."

"You think we ought to-" "Hush!" Flint snapped. "Just listen!"

Pelvis, as much as he loved to hear the voice of his idol coming

from his own throat, forced himself to be quiet.

Mama began to growl, but Flint gave Pelvis a bel@-anddamnation look

and Pelvis gently scratched under her chin to silence her. They

listened. They could hear the swamp speaking; a drone of insects

pulsing like weeping guitars; something calling in the distance with a

voice like a handsaw; little muffled grunts, trills, and chatters

drifting in the oppressive beat.

And then, at last, a splash.

Flint whispered, "There he is." He moved past the car and stopped

again, the water up to his knees. He offered the

flare toward the darkness, shards of crimson light glinting off

the channel's ripply surface. He could feel a slight current around

his legs. Lambert was tired and probably hurt, and he was taking the

path of least resistance.

"Hey, Lambert!" Flint shouted. It could've been his imagination,

but the swamp seemed to go quiet. "Listen up!" He paused, his ears

straining, but Lambert had stopped moving. "It's over! All you're

doin' is diggin' yourself a deeper hole! Hear me?" There was no

answer, but Flint hadn't expected one yet. "Don't make us come in

there after you!"

Dan was crouched down in the water forty yards ahead of the two

bounty hunters' flares. He was supporting Arden's head against his

shoulder. She hadn't frilly come to, but she must have been waking up

because her body had involuntarily spasmed and her right hand, balled

into a fist, had jerked up and then splashed down again. Dan didn't

recall striking his face on the steering wheel, but his nose reft

mashed and blood was trickling from both nostrils. Probably broken,

he'd decided; it was all right, he'd survived worse punches.

Pain drummed between his temples and his vision was clouded, and

he'd almost blacked out a couple of minutes before but he thought he

was past it now. He had backed up as far as he could against the right

side of the channel, where gnarly vegetation grew out of the muck.

Something with thorns was stabbing into his shoulder. He waited,

breathing hard as he watched the two figures in their overlapping

circles of red and green light.

"Show yourself, Lambert!" the one named Murtaugh called. "You

don't want to hurt the woman, now, do you?"

He thought of leaving her, but her head might slip under and she'd

drown before they reached her. He thought of surrendering, but it had

occurred to him that at his back was a wilderness where a man could

disappear. It was in his mind @ a fixed star to head south with the

current and keep heading south, and sooner or later he would have to

reach the Gulf.

Murtaugh said, "Might as well give it up! You're not goin'

anywhere!"

The cold arrogance in the man's voice sealed Dan's decision. He

was damned if he'd give up to those two money-hungry bastards. He

began pushing himself and Arden away from them, the bottom's soft mud

suckingat his legs. Arden gave a soft moan, and then water must have

gotten in her mouth because her body twitched again and her arms

flailed, causing another splash, and then she started coughing and

retching.

Murtaugh sloshed two strides forward and threw the flare toward

the noise. Dan watched the red light spin up in a high arc,

illuminating twisted branches bearded with Spanish moss, and the flare

began coming down. There was no hiding from the light; as it bloomed

the water red around him, Dan stood up and with the strength of

desperation heaved Arden's body over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.

He heard the Elvis impersonator yell, "I see Him." Dan was

struggling through the mire when the flare hit the surface behind him.

It kept burning for four seconds more before the chemical fire winked

out. He managed only a few steps before his knees gave way and he fell

again, dowsing them both, and Arden came up choking and spitting.

In her mind she'd been sixteen again, when she'd lived on the

youth ranch. She'd been riding full-out on one of Jupiter's horses,

and suddenly the animal had stepped into a gopher hole and staggered

and she'd gone flying over his head, the treacherous earth coming up at

her as fast as a slap from God. But water, not Texas dust, was in her

eyes and mouth now-, she didn't know where she was, though the pain in

her head and body told her she'd just been thrown from horseback. A

flickering green light floated in the darkness.

She heard a man's voice whisper, "Easy, easy' I've got you!"

and an arm hooked under her chin. She was being pulled through

water. There was no strength in her to resist. She reached up to grasp

hold of the arm, and she there was something gripped in her right fist

and it was vitally important not to let go of it. Then she remembered

what it was, and as that came clear, so did the memory of a

black-and-yellow sign that said DANGEROUS BRIDGE, I @.

Flint took the flare from Pelvis and bolstered his d@

passenger. "He won't get far. Come on." He slogged after their

quarry, his shoes weighted with mud.

"Mr. Murtaugh ... we're not followin' him in there, are we.

Flint turned his face, his eyes deep-socketed and his skin a

sepulchural shade. "Yes, Eisley, we are. We're gonna rag his tail all

night.if we have to. That's the job. YOU wanted an audition, now, by

God, you're gonna get it."

"Yes sir, but . . . it's a swamp, Mr. Murtaup-h. I mean ...

you saw those 'Ra ors today, and that big who@per of a snake

Pt lyin' in the road.   What're we gonna do when the light burns

out?"

"It'll last half an hour. I give Lambert twenty minutes at most."

He'd considered rushing Lambert, but. decided it was safer to wear

him down. Anyway nobody was going to do much rushing in this mud. "I

don'@ think he's got a gun, but he must be carryin' some kind of

weapon. A knife, maybe. If we crowd him too close, he might get crazy

and hurt the girl."

Pelvis's sweat-shiny face was a study of Tupelo torment.

"I don't want to get anybody hurt. Maybe we ought to go find the

law and let 'em take it from here."

"Eisley," Flint said gravely, "no bounty hunter worth a shit goes

cryin' to the police for help. They hate us, and we don't need them.

We let Lambert get away from us, there goes the fifteen thousand

dollars and the girl's life, too, most likely. Now, come on." He

started off again, and again stopped when Pelvis didn't follow. Flint

nodded. "Well," he said, "I figured it. I knew you were nothin' but a

windbag.

You thought it'd be easy, didn't your, "I ... didn't know I was

gonna have to wade through a

swamp full of 'gators and snakes!   I've got Mama to look out

for

Flint's fuse had been sparking; now, like the flare's, it ignited

his charre. "God damn-it!" he shouted, and he sloshed back to @tand

face-to-jowls with Pelvis. "You got us in this mess! It was you who

couldn't keep your mutt quiet back in the park! It was you who lost

the Mace! It's been you who's messed up my rhythm-my life-ever since

Smoates

a

hung you around my   neck! You're an insult to me, understand? I'm

a professional, I'm not   a freak or a clown like you are! I don't give

up and quit! Hear me?"     His voice ended on a rising, stabbing note.

are was downcast.    A drop of Pelvis didn't answer. His f sweat

fell from his chin into   the quagmire that was almady leaching the blue

dye from his mail-order   shoes. In his arms, Mama's bulbous eyes stared

fixedly at Flint, a low   growl rippling in her throat.

Flint's anger turned incandescent. He reached out, if grabbed Mama

by the scruff of her neck, and jerked her

away from Pelvis. Mama's growling had increased, but her ferocity

was a bluff-, she began yelping as Flint reared his arm back to throw

her as hard and far as he could.

Pelvis seized Flint's wrist. "Please, Mr. Murtaugh!" he begged.

"Please don't hurt her!"

Flint was a heartbeat away from flinging Mama farther into the

swamp, but he looked into Pelvis's eyes and saw a termr there beyond

any he'd ever glimpsed. Something about Eisley's face had shattered.

It was like watching an Elvis mask crumble and lying behind it the face

of a frightened, simpleminded child.

"She don't mean no harm." The voice was even different now- th him

all wa , some of e Memp s huskiness had f en away.

"She's all I got. Please don't!" Flint hesitated, his arm still

flung back. Then, just that quickly, his anger began to dissolve and

he realized what a mean, petty thing he'd been on the verge of doing.

He thrust the shivering dog back at Pelvis and looked

away, the muscles working in his jaw. Pelvis enfolded Mama in his

arms. "It's all right, it's all right," he said, speaking to the dog.

"He won't hurt you, it's all right-" Flint turned away and began

following the Channel - He felt sick to his stomach, disgusted at

himself and at Eisley, too. There was no doubt about it now, the man

was making him crack up. Then he heard splmhing behind him, and he

glanced over his shoulder and saw Eisley following. It would've been

better, Flint thought, if Eisley had gone back to the car and waited.

It would've been better for Eisley to

pp

leave this ugly, miserable work to somebody who was more suited to

it.

Clint's hand rose up and the little fingers stroked at the stubble

of beard on his brother's usually c@4=ped chin.

Flint swatted Clint's hand away, but it came willfwly up again to

feel the hairs. He pinned the hand down against his chest with his

right arm, and Clint fought him. It was a silent and internal war,

sinewy muscles straining, and Flint felt Clint's head jerk as if trying

to tear itself and the malformed lump of tissue and ligaments it was

attached to finally and completely free. Flint staggered forward, his

mouth a tight line and his eyes set on the darkness yet to be traveled

through. A feeling of panic rose up, like Clint's c@y hand, and seized

his throat. He would never find the clean white mansion of his birth.

Never. He could pore through magazines of splendid estates and drive

through the immacWate streets of wealthy enclaves in town after town,

but he would never find his home. Never. He was lost, a gentle of

breeding cast out on the dirty current, fated to slog through the mud

with the Pelvis Eisleys of this world breathing buttermilk breath on

the back of his necil It seemed to Flint now, in the spell of this @c,

that he'd always been searclung for a way out of one swamp or another:

the dismal, humiliating grind of the freak shows, his overwhe@g

gambling debts, this soul-@ job, and the freak-obsessed lunatic who

jerked his strings. His life had been a series of swamps populated

with the dregs of the earth. Grinning illiterates had taunted him,

hard@ prostitutes had shrieked and fled when they'd discovered his

secret, chiklren had been reduced to fearful tears and later, probably,

he'd crept into their nightmares. For a few dirty do@ he'd used the

brass knuckles on some of Smoates's loan customers, and he couldn't say

that from time to time it hadn't been a pleasure using that festering

rage inside him to pummel promptness into unfortunate flesh. He had

kicked men when they were down. He had broken ribs and noses anded

inside at the sound of What was one more swamp to be slogged through,

with all that mud already stuck to his shoes?

He had taken a wrong turn somewhere. He had taken many wrong

turns. Wasn't there some way out of this filth, back toward the road

that led him to the clean white mansion? Dear God of deformities and

wretchedness, wasn't there some escape?

He knew the answer, and it made him afraid.

The cards have been dealt. Play or fold, your choice. It's late

in the game, very ve?y late, and it seems you're running out of chips.

Play or fold. Your choice.

Flint stopped. He felt the blood burning his face. His mouth

opened and out swelled a shout that was bitter anger and pain, w4Dunded

pride and feverish determination an bound up and twisted together. At

first it was a mangled, inhuman sound that scared Pelvis into believing

a wild animal was about to leap at them, and then words exploded out of

it: "Lambert! I'll follow you till you drop! Understand?

Until you drop!"

The swamp had hushed again. The sound of Flint's voice rolled away

across the wilderness like muffled thunder.

Pelvis stood a distance behind Flint in the green flare light, both

his arms clutching Mama close. Slowly, the insect hums and buzzes and

strange chattering birdcalls weaved together and grew in volume once

more, the dispassionate voice of the swamp telling Flint who was master

of this domain. When Flint drew a long, ragged breath and continued

wading southward with the sluggish current, Pelvis got his legs moving,

too.

Flint held the flare high, his eyes darting from side to side.

Sweat was trickling down his face, his clothes drenched with it.

He heard splashing ahead, but how far, it was hard to say.

The channel took a leftward curve, and suddenly Flint realized the

water level had risen three inches above his knees. "Gettin' deeper,"

Pelvis said at about the same time.

"Gettin' deeper for him, too," Flint answered.

The mud gripped their shoes. Pelvis watched the surface for

gliding shadows. The air was rank with the odors of wet, rotting

vegetation, and breathing it left the sensation of slime accumulating

at the back of the throat.

Behind them, the two edges of disturbed darkness the light had

passed through first linked tendrils, grew joints, and then silently

sealed together again.

Up ahead, barely twenty yards beyond the light's range, Dan was

down in the water with Arden. She was fully conscious now, though her

vision kept fading in and out, and she could remember everything up

until when they'd hit the seaming sign; her bell had been rung hard, a

bloody inch4ong gash just past her hairline where her head had glanced

off something on the dashboard, a cut inside her mouth, and a bruised

chin, courtesy of a flying knee.

Dan could see the blotch of dark wetness in her hair. He figured

she might have a concussion, and she was lucky she hadn't smashed her

skull. "I want you to stay right here," he whispered. "They'll take

you back with 'em."

"No!" She'd spoken too loudly, and he put his finger on her

mouth.

"Comin' for you, Lambert!" Murtaugh called. "Nowhere else to

run!"

"No!" Arden whispered. "I'm all right! I can keep goin'!"

ce righ .Listen to me!" He had his la t up against hers. "I'm

headin' into the swamp, just as deep as I can get! You've gone far

enough with me!" He saw the flare-lit figures wading slowly and

steadily nearer. In another minute the light would find them.

"I'm gain'with you," Arden said. "I'm too close to turn back."

She was out of her mind, he decided. Her eyes had taken on the

shine of religious fervency, like those of the walking wounded who

flocked, desperate for a healing miracle, to televi ion evangelists.

She had come to the end of her rope and found herself dangling, and now

all she could think to do was hold on to him. "Stay here," he told

her. "Just stay here, they'll get you out." He stood up and began

sloshing southward, the water up to the middle of his thighs.

Arden saw the circle of green light approaching, and the two

fipres at its center. Her distorted vision made, them out to be

monsters. She tried to stand up, slipped, and fell again.

Dan looked briefly back at her and then continued on.

22a

Arden got her feet planted in the mud and pushed herself up, and

then she started fighting to reach Dan with the light glinting on the

frothy water just behind her.

r @0?"

"He's tirin'out," Flint told Pelvis. "Hear him 't The splashing

was over on the right, and Flint angled toward it.

Pelvis suddenly jumped and bellowed, "Oh Jesus!"

Flint whipped the flare around. "What the hell is it?"

"Somethin' swam by me!" Pelvis had almost dropped Mama in his jig

of termr- "I think it was a snake!" Flint's gaze searched the water,

his own skin s@ to crawl. The light showed something dark and about

three feet long, sinuously moving with the current. He watched it

Until it slithered beyond the light. "Just keep goin'," he said, as

much to himself as to Pelvis, and he started wading ag 'nThe sound of

splashing had quieted, but Lambert couldn't go on much longer. .

Dan looked back. Arden was still straining to catch up with him,

but shed found her balance and her strides were careful and deliberate.

The water was almost at her waist.

to and go on, but like a flash of ock e

He stww turn sh th moment took him spinning back in time.

He remembered a night patrol, and a wide, muddy that cut through

the jungle. He remembered the crossing, and how almost all but the

grunts guarding the rear-of which he was one-had climbed up a slippery

bank when the first white flare had exploded over their heads. The

enemy had gotten around behind them, or had come up from hidden snake

holes. "Move it, move it, move it!"

somebody began yelling as the second white from Popped.

The rifles started up, Dan was standing in kn muck and tracers

were zipping past him out of the jungle. Other grunts were running and

falling, trying to scramble up the bank Within an instant the situation

became as all combat did in that jungle: a confused, surrealistic

montage of shadows fleeing from the flarelight, blurred motion, as

bullets thunked into flesh. He couldn't move; his legs were frozen.

Figures were falling, some up, some thrashing in the mud. It seemed

pointless to move

because the others were getting cut down as they tried to climb up

the bank, and if he stood still, if he stood very very still with the

tracers passing on either side of him, he might make himself disappear

from the face of this hellish earth.

Someone gripped his shirt and yanked him.

"Go, " a voice urged; it was not a shout, but it was more powerful

than a shout.

Dan looked at the man. He had the gaunt, sunken-eyed face of a

hard-core veteran, a man who had seen death and smelled it, who had

killed after hours of silent stalking and escaped being killed by

inches of miraculous grace. He had a blond beard and eyes of

cornflower blue, only the eyes seemed ancient now and lifeless. They

had been lifeless since that day months ago at the village.

"Go," Farrow said again. Farrow, who since that day had retreated

into himself like a stony sphim, who suffered in silence, who always

volunteered with a nod for the jobs no other grunt would dare take.

And now, in this little cell of time, Dan saw something glisten

and surface from Farrow's eyes that he hardly recognized.

It might have been joy.

Farrow pushed him hard toward the bank, and the push got Dan

moving. Dan reached the bank and started up it, clawing at vines and over

the bodies of dying men. He dared to look over his shoulder, and he

saw a sight that would stay with him all his days.

Farrow was walking to the other side, and he was sprayfiring his M

16 back and forth into the jungle. Dan saw the enemy's tracers start

homing in on Farrow. The young man did not pause or cringe. One

bullet hit him, then a second.

Farrow kept moving and firing. A third bullet knocked him to his

knees. He got up. Somebody was shouting at him to come back, for the

love of God come back. Farrow staggered on, his M 16 tearing down the

foliage and scattering blackclad figures. Either the weapon choked or

the clip was gone, because it ceased firing. There was a stretch of

silence, broken by the cries of the wounded. The Cong had stopped

shooting. Dan saw Farrow jerk the clip out and pop another

one in. He took two more steps and his M 16 blazed again, and

then maybe four or five tracers came out of the jungle and hit him at

once and he was knocked backward and splashed down into the muddy water

that rolled over him like a brown shroud.

All of it had taken only a span of seconds, but it had taken years

for Dan to digest whilt he'd seen. Even so, it still sometimes came up

to lodge in his throat.

He watched Arden pulling herself toward him, as resolute in her

decision as Farrow had been in his. Or as crazy, Dan thought. There

had been no doubt in his mind that Farrow had gone quietly insane after

that day at the vine, and had been-whether he was aware of it or

not-searching for a way to commit suicide. How the death of those

children had weighed on Farrow was impossible to say, but it must've

been a terrible burden that ultimately led him to choose a slow walk

into a dozen VietCong rifles. If Farrow hadn't taken that @ Dan and

at least three other men might have been cut to pieces. Dan's life had

been spared, and for what reason? for him to be tainted by the Agent

Orange and later pull the trigger that killed an innocent man? For him

now to be standing in this swamp, watching a girl with a birthmarked

face trying to reach him? Life made no sense to him; it was a maze

construded by the most haphazard of hands and he, Arden, the bounty

hunters, all humanity @, were blindly searching its corridors and

banging into walls.

She was almost to him. The green flarelight was chasing her.

"Give it up, LamberLI" Murtaugh shouted. "It's no use!"

Maybe it wasn't. But the girl believed it was, enough to trust a

killer. Enough to fight her way into the unknown.

Enough to make Dan think that if he had half of her desire, he

might find his way through this wilderness to freedom.

He waded to meet her and caught her left hand. She looked at him

with an expression of amazement and relief Then Dan started pulling her

with him, racing against the oncoming light.

The Most Dangerous Place

Though Flint still couldn't see Lambert or the girl, he knew they

must not be more than fifteen or twenty yards beyond the light's edge.

He was moving as fast as he could, but the channel was hard going. The

water had crept up toward his waist, and it had occurred to him that if

it deepened to his chest, Clint would drown. He was dripping sweat in

the hot and clammy air. In another moment he heard Pelvis's lungs

wheezing like the pipes of an old church organ.

"Mr. Murtaugh!" Pelvis gasped. "I'm gonna have to ...

have to stop for a minute. Get my breath."

"Keep movin'!" Flint told him, and he didn't pause.

The wheezing only worsened. "Please ... Mr.

Murtaugh ... I gotta stop."

"Do what you want! I'm not stoppin'!"

Pelvis fell behind, his chest heaving. Oily beads of sweat were

trickling down his blood-gorged face, his heart furiously pounding.

Flint glanced back and then continued on, step after careful step.

Pelvis tried to follow, but after a halfdozen more strides he had to

stop again. Mama had sensed his distress and was frantically licking

his chin. "Mr.

Murtaugh!" Pelvis called, but Flint was moving away and taking

the light with him. Terror of the dark and of the things that

slithered through it made Pelvis slog forward once more, the blood

pulsing at his temples. He couldn't get his breath, it was as if the

air itself were waterlogged. He

wrenched one foot free from the mud and put it down in front of

him, and he was pulling the other one up when his throat seemed to

close, rkness rippled amss Ms vision, and he fell down into the water.

Flint heard splashing and looked back. He saw the mutt, paddling

to keep her head up.

Pelvis was gone.

Flint's heart jumped. "Christ!" he said, and he struggled back

toward the swirling water where Pelvis had submerged.

The dog was trying to reach him, her eyes wide with panic.

Bubbles burst from the surface to Flint's left, followed by a

flailing arm, and then Pelvis's butt broached like a flabby whale.

Flint got hold of the arm, but it slipped away from him. "Stand up,

stand up!" he was shouting. A dark, dripping mass came up from the

water, and Flint realized it was Pelvis's hair. He grabbed it and

pulled, but suddenly he -found himself gripping a pompadour with no

head beneath

it.

A wig.   That's what it was.   A cheap, soaked and sopping

wigAnd then something white and vulnerable-looking with a few

strands of dark hair plastered across it broke the surface, and Flint'

dropped the wig and got his arm underneath the 'man's chin. Pelvis was

a weight to be reckoned with. He coughed out a mouthful of water and

let go a mournful groan that sounded like a freight train at midnight.

"Get your feet under you!" Flint told him. "Come on, stand up!"

Still sputtering, the baldheaded Pelvis got his muddy suedes

planted. "Mama!" he cried out. "Where is she?"

She wasn't far, yapping against the current. Pelvis staggered to

her and scooped her up, and then he almost fell down again and he had

to lean his bulk against Flint. "I'll be all right," Pelvis said

between coughs. "Just gotta rest. Few minutes. Lord, I thought ...

thought my ticker was givin' out." He lifted a hand to his head, and

when his fingers found nothing there but pasty flesh he looked to

Flint, his face contorted with abject horror, as if he indeed might be

about to suffer heart failure. "My hair.' Where's my hair.?"

He started thrashing around again,. searching for it in the

froth.

"It's gone, forget it!" Flint registered that Pelvis's naked head

was pointed like a bullet at the crown. On the sides and back was a

fringe of short, ratty hairs. Flint spotted the wig floating away like

a lump of Spanish moss, and he sloshed the few feet to it and plucked

it up. "Here," he said, offering Th( it to its master. Pelvis

snatched it away from him and, holding Mama in the crook of an arm,

began wringing the wig out. Flint might've laughed if he hadn't been

thinking of how far Lambert was getting ahead of them. "You okay?"

Pelvis snorted and spat He was trembling. He wiped his nose on

his forearm and then carefully, reverently, replaced the wet wig back

on his skull. it sat crooked and some of its wavy peaks had flattened,

but Flint saw relief flood into the@ the Pelvis like a soothing drug,

the man's tormented face relaxing. "Can you go on, or not?" Flint

asked.

chai "Gimme a minute. Heart's beatin' awful hard. See, I get wan

dizzy spells. That's why I had to quit my stage show. Is it on cher!

straight?"

and wht "Crooked to the right-" Pelvis made the adjustment. "I

passed out onstage last year. Oldie Goldie's Club in Little Rock.

They took me to hay the hospital, thought I was about to croak." He

paused to draw a few slow, deep breaths. "Wasn't the first time. Word

went 'round, and I couldn't get no more jobs. Gimme a Mu minute, I'll

be fine. Can you breathe? I can't hardly breathe this air."

"You weigh too much, that's your trouble. Ought to give wei ly I

up all that junk you eat." Flint was staring down the channel, gauging

the distance that Lambert must be putting aft do: his between them.

The going had to be hard on Lambert, too, but he'd probably push

himself and the girl until they both gave out. When he looked at Pelvis

again, Flint thought that mi tai the wig resembled a big, spongy Bnllo

pad stuck to the man's head. "I'll give you three minutes, then I'm

goin' on.

Then You can either stay here or go back to the car."

on Pelvis didn't care to lose the protection of Flint's light. "I

him! can make it if you just go a step or two slower."

"I told you it wasn't gonna be easy, didn't I? Don't fall down

and drown on me, now, you hear?"

"Yes sir." His misshapen wig was dripping water down his face.

"I reckon this washes me up, huh? I mean, with Mr.

Smoates and the job and all?"

"I'd say it does. You should've told him about this, it would've

saved everybody a hell of a lot of trouble." Flint narrowed his eyes

and glanced quickly at the flare. Maybe they had fifteen minutes more

light. Maybe. "You're not cut out for this work, Eisley. Just like

I'm not cut out to ... to dress up like Elvis Presley and try to

impersonate him."

"Not impersonate," Pelvis corrected him firmly. "I'm an

interpemtor, not an impersonator.l.

"Whatever. You ought to cut out the junk food and go back to it."

ll'that's what the doctor told me, too. I've tri@ but Lord lmows

it ain't easy to pass up the peanut butter cooldes when you can't sleep

at three in the mornin'."

"Yes, it is. You just don't buy the damn things in the first

place. Haven't you ever heard of self-discipline?"

"Yes sir. It's something' other folks have got" "Well, it's what

you need. A whole lot of it, too." He checked his watch, impatient to

get after Lambert. But Pelvis's face was still flushed, and maybe he

needed another minute. If Pelvis had a heart attack, it'd be hell

dragging that bulk of a body out of the swamp. Flint had become

acutely aware of the flare sizzling itself toward exhaustion.

He watched Mama licking Pelvis's chin her stubby tad wagging. A

pang of what might have been envy hit him.

"How come you carry that mutt around everywhere? It just gets in

the way."

Oh, I wouldn't leave Mama, no sir!" Pelvis paused, stroking

Mama's wet back before he went on in a quieter voice. "I had another

dog, kinda like Mama. Had Priss for goin' on six years. Left her at

the vet one weekend when I went on the road. When I got back ... the

place was gone.

Just bricks and ash and burned-up cages. Elwmcal fire, they said.

Started lhte at night, nobody was there to put it out.

They should've had sprinklers or something', but they

didn't." He was silent for a moment, his hand stroking back and

forth. "For a long time after that ... I had nightmares.

I could see Priss burnin' up in a cage, tryin' to get out but there

wasn't no way out. And maybe she was thinkin' she'd done something'

awful bad, that I didn't come to save her.

Seems to me that would be a terrible way to die, thinkin' there

was nobody who gave a damn about you." He said his gaze to Flint's, his

eyes sunken in the green glare. "That's why I wouldn't leave Mama. No

sir."

Flint turned his attention to his watch again. "You ready to move?"

"I believe I am."

Flint started off, this time at a slower pace. Pelvis drew

another deep breath, whooshed it out, and then began slogging after

Flint.

Ahead, Dan stiff gripped Arden's hand as they followed the channel

around a m"e. He glanced back; they'd outdislanced the light, and he

thought the bounty hunters must've stopped for some reason. His eyes

were getting used to the dark now. Up through the treetops he could

see pieces of sky full of sparkling stars. The water was still

deepening, the bottom's mud releasing bursts of gaseous bubbles beneath

their feet. Sweat clung to Dan's face, his breath rasping, and he

could hear Arden's lunp straining too in the steamy heat.

Something splashed in the water on their left-, it sounded heavy,

and Dan prayed it was simply a large catfish that had jumped instead of

a ptoes tail st@ a set ofjaws toward them. He braced for the unknown,

but whatever it had been it left them alone for the moment.

Looking back once again, he could see the @n light flickering

through the undergrowth. They were still coming.

Arden looked over her shoulder, too, then concentrated on getting

through the water ahead. Her vision had cleared, but where she'd

banged her skull against the dashboard was raw with pain. She was

wearing out with every step; she felt her strength draining away, and

soon she was going to have to stop to catch her breath. She wasn't on

the run; it was Dan the bounty hunters were after, but when they'd take

him away they'd take the man she had come to believe was her

best hope of finding the Bright Girl. From a deep pla within her

the voice of reason was speaking, trying tote her that it was

pointless to go any farther into this swamp, that a wanted killer had

her by the hand and was leading her away from civilization, that she

probably had a concussion and needed a doctor, that her brain was

scrambled and she wasn't thinking straight and she was in the most

dangerous place she'd ever been in her life. She heard it, but she

refused to - listen. In her right hand was clutched the small pink

drawstring bag containing what had become her talisman over the years,

and she fixed her mind on Jupiters voice saying that this was the man

God had provided to take her to the Bright Girl. She had to believe

it. She had to, or all hope would come crashing down around her, and

she feared that more than death.

"I see a light," Dan suddenly said.

She could see it, too. A faint glow, off to the right. Not

electricity. More like the light cast from a candle or oil lamp.

They kept going, the water at Dan's waist and above Arden's.

Shapes emerged from the darkness. On either side of the channel

were two or three tarpaper shacks built up on wooden platforms over the

water. The light was coming from a window covered with what looked

like waxed paper.

The other shacks were dark, either empty or their inhabitants

asleep. Dan had no desire to meet the kind of people who'd choose to

live in such primitive arrangements, figuring they'd shoot an intruder

on sight. But he made out something else in addition to the shacks: a

few of them, including the one that showed a light, had small

boatsfishing skiffs-tied up to their pilings.

They needed a boat in the worst way, he decided. He put his

finger to his lips to tell Arden to remain silent, and she nodded.

Then he guided her past the shack where the light burned and across the

channel to the next dwelling. The skiff there was secured by a chain

and padlock, but a single paddle with a broken handle was lying down

inside it. Dan eased the paddle out and went on to the third shack.

The boat that was tied there held about six inches of trash-filled

water in its hull. There were no other paddles in sight, but the

leaky craft was attached to a piling only by a plastic line.

In this case beggars couldn't be choosers. Dan spent a moment

untying the line's slimy knot, then he pulled himself as quietly as he

could over into the boat though his foot thumped against the side. He

waited, holding his breath, but no one came out of the shack. He

helped Arden in. She sat on the bench seat at the bow, while Dan sat

in the stem and shoved them away from the platform. They glided out

toward the channel's center, where the current flowed the strongest,

and when they were a safe distance away from the shack, Dan slid the

stubby paddle into the water and delivered the first stroke.

"Grave robbers!" a woman's voice shrilled, the sound of it

startling Dan and making goose bumps rise on Arden's wet arms. "Go on

and steal it, then, you donkey-dick suckers!"

Dan looked behind. A figure stood back at the first shack, where

the light burned.

"Go on, then!" the woman said. "Lord's gonna fix your asses,

you'll find out! I'll dance on your corms, you maggoteaters!" She

began spitting curses that Dan hadn't heard since his days in boot

camp, and some that would've curled a drill sergeant's ear hairs.

Another voice growled, "Shut up, Rona!" It belonged to a man who

sounded very drunk "Shut your hole, I'm sleepen' over here!"

"I wouldn't piss on your face if it was on fire!" Rona hollered

across the channel. "I'm gonna cook up a spell on you. Your balls

gonna dry up like little bitty black raisins!" "Awwwww, shut up 'fore I

come over there and knock your head out your ass!" A door whacked

shut.

Dan's paddling had quickened. The woman continued to curse and

rave, her voice rising and falling with lunatic cadence. Then she

retreated into her hovel and slammed her own door so hard Dan was

surprised the place hadn't collapsed. He saw the light move away from

the window, and he could imagine a wizened, muttering crone in there

stooped over a smoking stewpot with a goat's head in it.

Well, at least they had a boat though they were sitting in

nasty water. The phrase up Shil Creek came to him, but they did

have a paddle. When he glanced back again, he no longer saw the green

flare's glow. Maybe the bounty hunters had given up and turned away.

If so, good riddance to them.

Now all he could do was guide this boat down the center of the

bayou and hope it would lead them eventually out to the Gulf. From

there he could find somewhere safe to leave the girl and strike out on

his own again.

He didn't like being responsible for her, and worrying about that

knock she'd suffered, and feeling her hand clutch his so hard his

knucides cracked. He was a lone wolf by nature, that's how thinp were,

so just as soon as he could, he was @ rid of her. Anyway, she was

crazy. Her obsession with the Bright Girl made Dan think of something

he'd seen on the news once: hundreds of people had converged from

across the country to camp out day after day in an Oklahoma oomfield

where a farmer's wife swore the Virgin Mary had materialized. He

remembered thmiang how desperately those people had wanted to believe

in the wisdom of a higher power, and how they'd believed that the Virgin

Mary would appear again at that same place with a message for mankind.

Only she'd never showed up, and the really amazing thing was that none

of those hundreds of people had regretted coming there, or felt

betrayed or bitter. They'd simply felt that the time wasn't right for

the Virgin Mary to appear again, but they were certain that sometime and

somewhere she would. Dan couldn't understand that kind of blind faith; it

flew in the face of the wanton death and destruction he'd witnessed in

'Nam. He wondered if any of that multitude had ever put a bullet

between the eyes of a sixteen-year-old boy and felt a rush of

exultation that the boy's AK-47 had jammed. He wondered if any of them

had ever smelled the odor of burning flesh, or seen flames chewing on

the small skulls. If any of them had in his boots, had stood in the

duty silver ram and seen the sights that were seared in his mind, he

doubted they would put much faith in waiting for the return of Mary,

Jesus, or the Holy GhosL Dan paddled a few strokes and then let the

boat drift.

Arden faced southward, the warm breeze of motion blowing past her.

The water made a soft, chuckling sound at the bow, and the bittersweet

swamp was alive with the hums and clicks and clacks of insects, the

occasional sharp keening of a night bird, the bass thumping of frogs

and other fainter noises that were not so identifiable. The only light

now came from the stars that shone through spaces in the thick canopy

of branches overhead.

Dan started to look back, but he decided not to. He knew where

he'd been; it was where he was going that concerned him now. The

moment of Emory Blanchard's death was still a bleeding wound in his

mind, and maybe for the rest of his days it would torture him, but the

swamp's silken darkness gave him comfort. He felt a long way from the

law and prison walls. If he could find food, fresh water, and a

shelter over his head-even the sagging roof of a tarpaper shackhe

thought he could live and die here, under these stars. It was a big

swamp, and maybe it would accept a man who wanted to disappear. An

ember of hope reawakened and began to burn inside him. Maybe it was an

illusion, he thought, but it was something to nurture and cling to,

just as Arden clung to her Bright Girl. His first task, though, was

getting her out, then he could decide on his own tion.

The boat drifted slowly onward, embraced by the current flowing to

the sea.

Pelvis held Mama with one arm and his other hand gripped the back

of Flint's soggy suit jacket. The gin flarelight had burned out several

minutes before, and the night had closed in on them. Pelvis had been

asidngbegging was the more correct term-Flint to turn back when they'd

heard a woman's voice hollering and cursing ahead. As they'd slogged

on through the stomach-deep water, Flint's left hand slid under his

shirt and supported Clint's head; their eyes had started acclimating to

the dark.

In another moment they could make out the shapes of the tarpaper

shacks, a Uot moving around inside the nearest one on the right. Flint

saw a boat tied up to the platform the shack stood on, and as they got

closer he made out that it

had a scabrous-looking outboard motor. It occurred to him that

Lambert might be hiding in one of the darkened shacks, waiting for them

to move past. He guided Pelvis toward the flickering light they could

see through a waxed-paper window, and at the platform's edge Flint

said, "Stay here" and pulled himself up on the splintery boards. He

paused to remove the derringer, then he pushed Clint's arm under his

shirt and buttoned up his dripping jacket. He held the derringer

behind his back and knocked at the shack's flimsy door.

He heard somebody scuttling around inside, but the knock wasn't

answered. "Hey, in there!" he called. "Would you open up?" He

reached out, his fist balled, to knock a second time.

A latch slammed back. The door swung open on creaking hinges, and

@from it thrust the business end of a sawed-off shotgun that pressed

hard against Flint's forehead.

"I'll open you up, you dog-ass lickin' sonofabitch!" the woman

behind the gun snarled, and her finger clicked back the trigger.

Flint didn't move; it swept through his mind that at this range

the shotgun would blast his brains into the trees on the other side of

the bayou. By the smoky light from within the shack, Flint saw that

the woman was at least six feet tall and built as solidly as a truck.

She wore a pair of dirty overalls, a gray and sweat-stained T-shirt,

and on her head was a battered dark green football helmet. Behind the

helmet's protective face bar was a forbidding visage with burning,

red-rimmed eyes and skin like saddle leather.

"Easy," Flint managed to say. "Take it easy, all I want to do is

ask-" "I know what you want, you scum-sucker!" she yelled.

"You ain't takin' me back to that damn shithole! Ain't getting' me

in a rubber room again and stickin' my head full of pins and needles!"

Crazy as a three-legged grasshopper, he thought. His heart was

galloping, and the inside of his mouth would've made the Sahara feel

tropical. He stared at the woman's ' grimynailed finger on the trigger

in front of his face. "Listen," he

croaked. "I didn't come to take you anywhere. I just want to-I,

"Satan's got a silver tongue!" she thundered. "Now I'm gonna send you

back to hell, where you belong!"

Flint saw her finger twitch on the trigger. His breath froze.

"Ma'am?" There was the sound of muddy shoes squeaking on the

timbers. "Can I talk to you a minute, ma'am?"

The woman's insane eyes blinked. "Who is that?" she hissed.

"Who said that?"

"I did, ma'am." Pelvis walked into the range of the light, Mama

cradled in his arms. "Can I have a word with you, please?"

Flint saw the woman stare past him at Eisley. Her finger was

still on the trigger, the barrel pressing a ring into his forehead. He

was terrified to move even an inch.

Pelvis offered up the best smile he could find. "Ain't nobody

wants to hurt you, ma'am. Honest we don't."

Flint heard the woman draw a long, stunned gasp. Her eyes had

widened, her thin-lipped mouth starting to tremble.

"You can put that gun down if you like," Pelvis said.

"Might better, 'fore somebody gets hurt."

"Oh, " the woman whispered. "Oh my Jesus!" Flint saw tears shine

in her eyes. "They ... they told me ... you died."

"Huh?" Pelvis frowned.

"They told her you died!" Flint spoke up, understanding what the

madwoman meant. "Tell her you didn't die, Elvis!"

"Shut your mouth, you Satan's asshole!" the woman ranted at him.

"I'm not talkin' to you!" Her finger twitched on the trigger again.

"I do wish you'd at least uncock that gun, ma'am," Pelvis said.

"It'd make an awful mess if it was to go off."

She stared at him, her tongue flicking out to wet her lips.

"They told me you died!" Her voice was softer now, and there was

something terribly wounded in it. "I was up there in Baton Rouge, when

I was livin' with Billy and that bitch wife he had. They said you

died, that you took drugs and

2a

slid off the toilet and died right there, wasn't a thing nobody

could do to save you but I prayed for you I cried and I lit the candles

in my room and that bitch said I wanted to burn down the house but

Billy, Billy he's been a good brother he said I'm all right I ain't

gonna hurt nobody."

"Oh." Pelvis caught her drift. "Oh ... ma'am, I ain't really-I,

"Yes you are!" Flint yelped. "Help me out here, Elvis!"

"You dirty sonofabitch, you!" the woman hollered into his face.

"You call him Mr. Prestey!"

Flint gritted his teeth, the sweat standing out in bright oily

beads on his face. "Mr. Presley, tell this lady how I'm a friend of

yours, and how hurtin' me would be the same as burtin' you. Would you

tell her that, please?"

"Well ... that'd be a lie, wouldn't it? I mean, you made it loud

and clear you think I stand about gut-high to an ant."

"That was then. This is now. I think you're the finest man I've

ever met. Would you please tell her?"

Pelvis scratched Mama's chin and cocked his head to one side. A

few seconds ticked past, during which a bead of sweat trickled down to

the end of Flint's nose and hung there. Then Pelvis said, "Yes'm, Mr.

Murtaugh's a friend of mine. " The woman removed her shotgun from

Flint's forehead.

Flint let his breath rattle out and staggered back a couple of

steps. "That's different, then," she said, uncocking the gun.

"Different, if he's your friend. My name's Rona, you remember

me?"

"Uh . . ." Pelvis glanced quickly at Flint, then back to the

madwoman. "I ... believe I . . ."

"I seen you in Biloxi." Her voice trembled with excitement.

"That was in-" She paused. "I can't think when that was, my mind gets

funny sometimes. I was sittin' in the third row. I wrote you a letter.

You remember me?"

"Uh . . ." He saw Flint nod. "Yes'm, I believe so."

"I sent my name in to that magazine, you know that Tiger Beat

magazine was havin' that contest for a date with you? I sent my name

in, and my daddy said I was the biggest fool ever lived but I did

anyway and I went to church and prayed

I was gonna win. My mama went to live in heaven,

that's what I wrote in my letter." She looked down at her dirty

overalls. "Oh, I-I must look a fright!"

"No ma'am," Pelvis said quietly. "Rona, I mean. You look fine."

"You sure have got fat," Rona told him. "They cut your balls off

in the army, didn't they? Then they made you stop singin' them good

songs. They're the ones fucked up the world. Put up them satellites

in outer space so they could read people's minds. Them monkey-cock

suckers! Well, they ain't getting' to me no more!" She tapped her

helmet. "Best protect yourself while you can!" She let her hand drop,

and she looked dazedly back and forth between Flint and Pelvis.

"Am I dreamin'?" she asked.

"Rona?" Flint said. "You mind if I call you Rona?" She just

stared blankly at him. "We're lookin' for somebody. A man and a

woman. Did you see anybody pass by here?"

Rona turned her attention to Pelvis again. "How come they tell

such lies about you? That you was takin' drugs and all? How come they

said you died?"

"I ... just got tired, I reckon," Pelvis said. Flint noted that

he was standing a little taller, he'd sucked his gut in as much as

possible, and he was making his voice sound more like Elvis than ever,

with that rockabilly Memphis sneer in it. "I wanted to go hide

someplace."

"Uh-huh, me, too." She nodded. "I didn't mean to burn that house

down, but the light was so pretty. You know how pretty a light can be

when it's dark all the time? Then they put me in that white car, that

white car with the straps, and they took me to that place and stuck

pins and needles in my head. But they let me go, and I wanted to hide,

too. You want some gumbo? I got some gumbo inside. I made it

yesterday."

"Rona?" Flint persisted. "A man and a woman. Have you seen

them?"

"I seen them grave robbers, stearin' his boat." She motioned

across the channel. "John LeDuc lived there, but he died, Stepped in a

cottonmouth nest, that's what the ranger said.

Them grave robbers over there, stearin' his boat. I hollered at 'em,

but they didn't pay no mind."

"Uh-huh. What do you get to if you keep followin' this bayou?"

"Swamp," she said as if he were the biggest fool who ever lived.

"Swamp and more swamp. 'Cept for Saint Nasty."

"Saint Nasty? What's that?"

"Where they work on them oil rigs." Rona's gaze was tied on

Pelvis. "I'm dreamin', ain't I? My mama comes and visits me

sometimes, I know I'm dreamin' awake. That's what I'm doin' now, ain't

that right?"

"How far is saint Nasty from here?" Flint asked.

"Four, five miles."

"Is there a road out from there?"

"No road.   Just the bayou, goes on to the Gulf."

"We need a boat," he said. "How much for yours?"

"What?"

"How much money?" He took the opportunity to slip the derringer

into his pocket and withdraw the wet bills he'd taken from the girl's

wallet. "Fifty dollars, will that cover the boat and motor."

"Ain't no gas in that motor," she told him. "That ranger comes

'round and visits me, he brings me gas. His name's Jack, he's a nice

young fella. Only he didn't come this week. "

"How about paddles, then? Have you got any?"

"Yeah, I got a paddle." She narrowed her eyes at Flint. "I don't

like your looks. I don't care-if you are his friend and he's a dream

I'm havin'. You got something' mean in you. "Sixty dollars," Flint

said. "Here's the cash, right here."

Rona gave a harsh laugh. "You're crazier'n hell. You better

watch out, they'll be stickin' pins and needles in your head 'fore

long."

"Sooner than you think, lady." He shot a scowl at Pelvis.

"Mr. Presley, how about openin' those golden lips and helpin' me

out a little bit?"

Pelvis was still thinking about two words the madwoman had uttered:

Cottonmouth nest. "We sure do need your boat,

Rona," he said with genuine conviction. "It'd be doin' us a big

favor if you'd sell it to us. You can even keep the motor, we'll just

take the boat and paddle."

Rona didn't reply for a moment, but Flint could see her chewing on

her lower lip as she thought about the proposal.

"Hell," she said at last, "you two ain't real anyhow, are you?"

She shrugged. "You can buy the boat, I don't care."

"Good. Here." Flint offered sixty dollars to her, and the woman

accepted the cash with an age-spotted hand and then sniffed the wet

bills. "We'll need the paddle, too," he told her, and she laughed

again as if this were a grand illusion and walked into her shack, the

interior of which Flint could see was plastered with newspaper pages

and held a cast-iron stove. Flint told Pelvis to help him get the

motor unclamped from the boat's stem, and they were laying it on the

platform when Rona returned-without her shotgunbringing a paddle.

"Thank you, ma'am," Pelvis said. "We sure do 'predate it."

"I got a question for you," Rona said as they were getting into

the boat. "Who sent you here? Was it Satan, to make me think I'm

losin' my mind, or God, to give me a thrill?"

Pelvis stared into her leathery face. Behind the football

helmet's protective bar her deep-socketed eyes glinted with what was

surely insanity but might also have been-at least for a passing

moment-the memory of a teenaged girl in her finest dress, sitting in

the third row of a Biloxi auditorium.

He worked one of the gaudy fake diamond rings from a finger and

pushed it into her palm. "Darlin'," he said, " you decide."

Sitting in the stem, Flint untied the rope that @red the boat to

the platform and then pushed them off with the paddle. Pelvis took the

bow seat, Mama warm and drowsy against his chest. Flint began to

stroke steadily toward the center of the channel, where he got them

turned southward.

He felt the current grasp their hull, and in another moment they

were moving at about the pace of a fast walk. When Pelvis looked back

at the woman standing in front of her

decrepit shack, Flint said acidly, "Made yourself another fan

there, didn't you, Mr. Presley?"

Pelvis stared straight ahead into the darkness. He pulled in a

long breath and slowly released it, and he answered with some grit in

his voice. "You can pucker up and kiss my butt."

Home Sweet Hellhole

In the starfire dark Dan and Arden drifted past other narrower

bayous that branched off from the main channel.

They saw no other lights or shacks, and it was clear that their

detour off the bridge had left LaPierre miles behind.

When the mosquitoes found them, there was nothing they could do

but take the bites. Something bumped hard against the boat before it

swam away, and after his heart had descended from his throat, Dan

figured it had been an amorous alligator looking for some scaly tush.

He got into a pattern of paddling for three or four minutes and then

resting, and he and Arden both cupped their hands and bailed out the

water that was seeping up through the hull.

He said nothing about this to Arden, but he guessed the boat was a

rusty nail or two from coming apart.

Most of the pain had cleared from Arden's head. Her vision had

stopped tunneling in and out, but her bones still ached and her fingers

found a crusty patch of dried blood in her hair and a lump so sore the

lightest pressure on it almost made her sick. Her purse and suitcase

were gone, her money, her belongings, her identification, everything

lost.

Except her life, and the drawstring bag in her right hand. But

that was okay, she thought. Maybe it was how things were supposed to

be. She was shedding her old skin in preparation for the Bright Girl's

touch. She was casting off the past, and getting ready for the new

Arden Halliday to be born.

How she would find the Bright Girl in this wilderness she didn't

exactly know, but she had to believe she was close now, very close.

When she'd seen the light in the shack's window back there, she'd

thought for a moment they might have found the Bright Girl, but she

didn't think-or she didn't want to think-that the Bright Girl would

choose to live in a tarpaper hovel. Arden hadn't considered what kind

of dwelung the Bright Girl might occupy, but now she envisioned

something like a green mansion hidden amid the cyp@ trees, where

sunlight streamed through the high branches like liquid gold. Or a

houseboat anchored in a clear, still pool somewhere up one of these

bayous. But not a dirty tarpaper shack. No, that didn't suit her

image of the Bright Girl, and she refused to believe it.

She strained to see through the darkness, thinking-or wishing-that

just ahead would be the glow of another lantern and a cluster of

squatters' shacks, somebody to help her find her way. She glanced back

at Dan as he slid the paddle into the water again. The man

Godprovided, Jupiter had said. She'd never have left the motel with

Dan if she hadn't been clinging to Jupiters instincts about him.

Jupiter had always been a mystic; he had the sixth sense about horses,

he knew their temperaments and their secret no-es.

If he said a docile-looking animal was getting ready to snort and

kick, it was wise to move away from the hindquarters And he knew other

things, too; if he smelled rain in the midst of a Texas drought, it was

time to get out the buckets.

He read the sky and the wind and the pain in Arden's soul; she had

come to realize during her years at the youth ranch that Jupiter

Krenshaw was connected to the flowing currents of life ira a way she

couldn't fathom. She had trusted and believed him, and now she had to

trust and believe he'd been telling her the truth about the Bright

Girl, and that he'd seen something in Dan Lambert that no one else

could recognize.

Sho had to, because there was no turning back.

'They drifted on, the skiff being drawn along with the slow but

steady current. They passed evidence that others had

come this way: a few abandoned and crumbling shacks, a

wharf jutting out over the water on rotten pilings, a wrecked and vine 4mped

shrimp boat whose prow was jammed between the trunks of two huge moss

trees.

Dan felt meanness overtalang him, and he caught himself dozing off

between stretches of paddling. Arden likewise had begun to close her

eyes and rest, fighting thurst but not yet ready to drink any of the

water they were gliding through.

Dan let himself sleep for only a few minutes at a time, then his

internal alarm went off and roused him to lmep the boat from drifting

into the half-submerged trees on either side. The water was probably

eight or ten feet deep, he figured. Their boat was still in the slow

process of sinking, but he went to work bailing with his hands and

Arden helped him until their craft had lightened up - ' .

Dan noted that the branches overhead were g to unlock and draw

apart. In another M=ty minutes or go-a little over an hour since

they'd set off in the boat-the bayou merged into a wider channel that

took a long curve toward the southwest. Heat hotnmg shin2mered in the

@, and an oomional fish jumped from the channel's ebony surface and

sped down again. Dan looked at the water in the boat and decided it

wasn't wise to think too much about what might be the depths, =Mng

those fish want to grow wings. He paddled a few strokes and then

rested again, the muscles of his back starting to cramp.

"You want me to paddle awhile?" Arden asked "No, I'm all right."

R@ the paddle across his knees, he let the current do the work. He

scratched the welts on his forehead where a couple of mosquitoes had

been feasting, and he sorely missed his baseball cap. "How about you?

You hangin' in?"

"Yeah."

"Good." He listened to the quiet sound of the hull moving through

the water. "I sure could use a cold six-pack! I wouldn't kick a pizza

out of bed, either."

"I'H take a pitcher of iced tea with some lime in it," she said

after a moment of defibemtion. "And a bowl of strawberry ice cream."

-A

Dan nodded, looking from side to side at the dense walls of

foliage that lined the bayou. Yes, he decided; a man could get lost in

here and never be found. "This ought to take us out to the Gulf,

sooner or later," he said. "Could be daylight before we get there,

though." He made out ten forty-four by the luminous hands of his

watch. "Once we clear the swamp, maybe we can find a fishin'camp or

something'along the coast. Could be we can find a road and flag a car

down, get you a ride out of here."

"Get me a ride out? What about you?"

,Never mind about me. You took a pretty hard knock on the head, you

need to see a doctor."

"I don't need a doctor. You know who I need to find."

"Don't start that again!" he warned. "Hear me? Wherever

Lapierre is, were long past it. I'm getting' you out of here, then you

can do what you please. You ought to get back to Fort Worth and count

yourself lucky to be alive."

"And how am I gonna do that? I lost my purse and all my money.

Even if I could find a bus station, I couldn't buy a

ticket."

,I've got some money," he said. I-Enough to buy you a bus ticket,

if you can hitch a ride back to Houma."

l,yeah, I've sure got a lot to go back to," she answered tersely.

'"No job, no money, ncythin'. @ Soon I'll be Out on the street. How

do you think I'll do at a shelter for the

homeless?"

"Youll find a job, get back on your feet."

,Uh-huh. I wish it was that easy. Don't you know what

it's like out there?"

-yeah," he drawled, "I believe I do."

She grunted and allowed herself a faint, bitter smile. "I pess

so. Sorry. I must sound like a whinin' fool."

--Times are hard for everybody. Except the rich people who got us

into this mess." He listened to the distant call of a night bird off

to the left, a lonely sound that tugged at his heart. "I never wanted

to be rich," he said. "Seems to me, that's just askin' for more

problems. But I always wanted to pull my own weight. Pay my bills and

take pride in my workThat's what was important to me. After I got back

from

come this way: a few abandoned and crumbling shwks, a wharfjutting

out over the water on rotten pilings, a wrecked and vine@Ped shrimp

boat whose prow was i between the of two huge moss trees. Dan felt

weariness over@ him, and he caught himself dozing off between hours of

padftn. Arden likewise had begun to close her eyes and rest, fighting

@ but not yet ready to drink any of the water they were gliding

throug)L Dan let himself sleep for only a few minutes at a time, then

his mtemal alarm went off and roused turn to keep the boat from dnftmg

into the half-submerged trm on either side. The water was probably

eight or ten feet deep, he figured. Their boat was still in the slow

process of but he went to work bailing with his hands and Arden helped

him until their craft had lightened up Dan noted that the branches

overhead were to unlock and draw apart. In another twenty minutes or

so-a little over an hour since they'd set off in the boat-the bayou

merged into a vnder channel that took a long curve toward the southwest.

Heat lightning shimmered in the sky, and an occasional fish jumped

from the channel's ebony surface and sped down apm. Dan loolmd at the

water in the boat and decided it wasn't wise to think too much about

what might be the depths, making those fish waM to grow winp. He

paddled a few strokes and then again, the muscles of his back starting

to cramp.

"You want me to paddle awhiier' Arden @ "No, I'm all right."

Resting the paddle across his lmem heletthe nt do the wort He scratched

the welts on his forehead where a couple of mosquitoes had been feasUM

and he sorely missed his baseball cap. "How about. you? you hangin'

in?"

4ty ."

eah to

"@." He lilftened the quiet sound of the hull moving through the

water. "I sure could use a cold sixpack! I wouldn't kick a pizza out of

bed, either."

"I'll take a pitcher of iced tea with some lime in it," she said

after a moment of deliberation. "And a bowl of strawberry ice cmm."

Dan nodded, looking from side to side at the dense w of foliage

that lined the bayou. Yes, he decided; a man could get lost in here

and never be found. "This ought to take us out to the Gulf, sooner or

later," he said. "Could be daylight before we get there, though." He

made out ten forty-four by the luminous hands of his watch. "Once we

clear the swamp, maybe we can find a fishin' camp or something'along the

coast. Could be we can find a road and flag a car down, get you a ride

out of here."

"Get me a ride out? What about you? "Never @ about me. You

took a pretty hard knock on the head, you need to see a doctor."

"I don't need a doctor. You know who I need to find."

"Don't @ that again!', he warned. "Hear me? Wherever LaPierre

is, we're long past it. I'm getting' you out of here, then yet' can do

what you please. You ought to get back to Fort Worth and count

yourself lucky to be alive.

"And how am I gonna do that? I lost my purse and an my money.

Even if I could find a bus station, I couldn't buy a tic@*

"I've got some money," he said. "Enough to buy you a bus ticket

if you can hitch a ride back to Houma."Yeah, I've sure got a lot to go

back to," she answered tersely. "No job, no money, nothin'. Pretty

soon I'll be out on the sftd. How do you think I'll do at a shelter for

the homeless?"

"You'll find a job, get back on your feet."

"Uh-huh. I wish it was that easy. Don't you know what it's like

out there?"

"Yeah," he drawled, "I believe I do."

She grunted and allowed herself a faint, bitter smile. 1-1

guess so. Sorry. I must sound like a whinin' fool."

"Times are hard for everybody. Except the rich people who got us

into this mess." He listened to the distant call of a night bird off

to the left, a lonely sound that tugged at his heart. "I never wanted

to be rich," he said. "Seems to me, that's just askin' for more

problems. But I always wanted to Pull my own weight. Pay my bills and

take pride in my work.

That's what was imporunt to me. After I got back from

'Nam, I had some tough tim@s, but things were workin' out.

Then ... I don't know." He caught himself from going any further.

"Well, you've got your own road to travel; you don't need to walk down

mine."

"I think we're both headin' in the same direction."

"No, we're not," he corrected her. "How old are your,

"Twenty-seven."

"The difference between us is that you've got your whole life

ahead of you, and I'm windin' it down. Nobody said livin' was gonna be

easy or. fair, that's for damn sure. I'm here to tell you it's not.

But you don't give up. You're gonna get knocked down and beat up and

stomped, but you don't quit. You can't."

"Maybe you can," Arden said quietly. "I'm @ of being' knocimd

down, beaten up, and stomped. I keep getting' up, and something' comes

along to knock me down again. I'm tired of it. I wish to God there was

a way to ... just find some peace- "

"Go back to Fort Worth." He slid the paddle into the water and

began pushing them forward again. "Somethin's bound to open up for

you. But you sure don't belong in the middle of a swamp, tryin' to

find a faith healer."

"Right now I don't know where I belong, I don't think I ever have

known." She was silent for a moment, her hands woriang around the pink

drawstring bag. "What was your best timer, she asked. "I mean, the

time when yoi; thought everything was right, and you were where you wein

supposed to be. Do you know?"

He thought about it, and the longer he thought the @er the

question became to answer. "I guess. . . maybe when I'd firstjoined

the marines. In boot camp, on @ Island. I had a job to do-a

mission-and I was getting' ready for it.

Things were black and white. I thought my country needed me, and

I thought I could make a difference."

"You sound like you were eager to fight."

"Yeah, I was." Dan paddled another stroke and then paused. "I @

being' over there the first couple of months.

At first it seemed @ I was doin' something' important. I didn't

like to idll-no man in his right mind does-but I

did it because I was fightin' for my country. I thought. Then,

later on, it all changed. I saw so many boys get killed, I couldn't

figure out what they were dyin' for. I mean, what were we tryin' to

do? The VietCong didn't want my country. They weren't gonna invade

us. They didn't have anything we needed. What was that all about?"

He shook his head. "Here it's been over twenty years, and I still

don't know. It was a hell of a lot of wasted lives is what it was.

Lives just thrown away.

"It must've been bad," Arden said. "I've seen a couple of movies

about Vietnam, and it sure wasn't like Desert Storm, was itr' "Nope, it

sure wasn't." Movies about Vietnam, he thought, and he lowered his

head to hide his half-smile.

He'd been forgetting that Arden was all of four years old when

he'd shipped to 'Nam. "

"My best time was when I was livin' on the youth ranch, she said.

"It was a hard place, and you did your chores and toed the line, but it

was all right. The others there were like I was. All of us had been

through a half-dozen foster homes, and we'd screwed up and gotten in

trouble with the law. It was our last chance to get straight, I guess.

I hated it at first.

Tried to run away a couple of times, but I didn't get very far.

Mr. Richards put me to work cleanin' out the barn. There were

five horses, all of 'em old and swaybacked, but they still earned their

keep. Jupiter was in charge of the stable, that's where I met him."

"You think a lot of him, don't you?"

"He was always kind to me. Some of those foster homes I was in

... well, I think solitary confinement in prison would've been better.

I had trouble, too, because of ... you know ... my mark. Somebody

looked at me too long, I was liable to lose my temper and start

throwin' plates and glasses. Which didn't make me too popular with

foster parents. I wasn't used to being' treated like I had sense." She

shrugged. "I guess I had a lot to prove. But Jupiter took an interest

in me. He trusted mo with the horses, started lattin' me feed and

groom 'em. After a while, when I'd wake up early mornin's I could

hear'em callin'for me, wantin'me to

hurry up. You know, all horses have got different personalities

and different voices, not a one of 'em alike. Some of 'em come right

out of the stall to meet you, others are shy and hang back. And when

they look at you they don't care if you're ugly or deformed. They

don't judge you by a mark on your face, like people do."

"Not all people," Dan said.

"Enough to hurt," she answered. She looked up at the stars for a

moment, and Dan went to work with the paddle once more. "It was a good

feelin', to wake up and hear the horses caRin'.you," she went on. "It

was the first time I ever felt needed, or that I was worth a damn.

After the work was done, Jupiter and I started havin' long talks.

About life, and God, and stuff I'd never cared to think much about. He

never mentioned my mark; he let me get to it in my own time. It took

me a while to talk about it, and how I wished more than anything in the

world I could be rid of it. Then he told me about the Bright Girl."

Dan said nothing; he was listening, but on this subject it was

hard not to turn a deaf ear.

"I never really expected I'd ever be lookin' for her," Arden said.

"But the way Jupiter talked about her ... she seemed like somebody I'd

know, if I ever found her. She seemed so real, and so alive. I mean,

I know it sounds crazy for somebody to live so long and never get old.

I know the faith healers on TV are frauds tryin' to squeeze out the

bucks. But Jupiter would never have lied to me." She caught Dan's

gaze and held it. "if he said there's a Bright Girl, there is. And if

he said she can touch my mark and take it away, she can. He would

never have lied. And he was right about you, too. If he said you're

the man God sent to help me find her, then I be-" "Stop it!" Dan

interrupted sharply. "I told you I didn't want to hear that"-bullshit,

he almost said, but he settled on-"junk."

She started to fire back a heated reply, but she closed her mouth.

She just stared at him, her eyes fixed on his.

Dan said, "You're chasin' a fairy tale. Where it's gotten you?

Do you think you're better off than before you left Fort

Worth? No, you're worse off. At least you had some money in the

bank. I don't want to hear any more about the Bright Girl, or what

Jupiter told you, or any of that. Understand?"

"I wish you understood." Her voice was calm and controlled.

"If-when-we find her, she can heal you, too."

"Oh, Christ!" He.closed his eyes in exasperation for a few

seconds. When he opened them,.Arden was still glowering at him. "You

could argue the horns off a billy goat, you know that? There is no

Bright Girl, and there never wa.V. It's a made-up story!"

"That's what you say."

He saw no point in going around in circles with her.

"Right, that's what I say," he muttered, and then he concentrated

on putting some elbow grease into the paddling. The current seemed to

have gotten a little faster, which he thought must be a good sign. He

was hungry and thirsty and his headache had returned, pounding with his

heartbeat. Dried blood was in his nostrils, he'd lost his much-p@

baseball cap and his muscles-what remained of them, that is-were

rapidly wearing out. The water was rising in the bottom of the boat

again, and Dan put aside the paddle for a few minutes while he and

Arden cupped their hands and bailed. Then he shook off the sleep that

was closing in on him and-paddled them down the center of the bayou

with slow, smooth strokes. He watched Arden's head droop as she fell

asleep sitting up, and then he was alone with the noises of the swamp.

After a while his eyelids became leaden and he couldn't keep them open.

The heat pressed on him, lulling him to sleep. He fought it as hard

as he could, but at last his weariness won the battle and his chin

slumped.

He jerked his head up, his eyes openingThey had drifted toward the

left of the channel and were almost in the branches. Dan steered them

toward the center again, and then he heard the sound that had awakened

him: a muffled thudding like the heartbeats of a giant. Ahead and to

the right, electric lights glinted through the thick woods.

Dan looked at his wristwatch and saw that another hour had elapsed

since they'd entered the wider channel.

"What's that noise?" Arden asked, waking up almost as quickly as

he had.

"Machinery," he said. "I think we're comin' to something'."

Around the next curve the trees had been chopped away on the right

to make room for a hodgepodge of weatherbeaten clapboard structures

built on platforms over the water. Electric lights cast their glary

circles on a dock where an assortment of motor skiffs and two

houseboats were tied up. On the dock were gas pumps and an attendant's

shack, also lit up with electricity supplied from a rumbling generator.

Plank walkways connected the buildings, and Dan and Arden saw two men

standing in conversation next to the gas pumps and a couple of other

men on the walkways. A rusty barge loaded with sections of metal pipe,

coils of wire, and other industrial items was anchored past the dock at

a concrete pier where a long building with corrupted aluminum walls

stood, the legend WAREHOUSE # I painted in red across the building's

doorway. Beyond the warehouse loomed oil storage tanks and twelve or

more spidery derricks rising up from the swamp. The giant

heartbeat-the sound of pumps at work-was coming from that direction.

The entire scene-a large, mechanized oil-pumping station, Dan had

realized-was almost surrealistic, emerging as it had from the dark

wilderness. As he steered them toward the dock, he saw a pole that

held a tired-looking American flag and next to it was a sign on stilts

that announced sr. NAsTAsE, LA. HOME swEET HELLHOLE. On the

supporting stilts were a number of other directional arrows with such

things as NEW 0 NS 52 MI BATON RouGE 76 mi and GAL@ON 2o8 mi.

painted on them. One of the men on the dock picked up a line and

tossed it to Arden as they approached, then he hauled them in. "Hey

there, how you doin'?" theinan asked in a thick Cajun patois. He was

a husky, florid-faced gent with a red beard and a sweatstained bandanna

wrapped around his skull.

"Tired and hungry," Dan told him as he carefully stood up and

helped Arden onto the dock. "Where are we?"

2%

"Fella wanna know where he am," the Cajun said to other man, and

both of them laughed. "Friend, you must in some sad shape!"

Dan stepped onto the timbers, his spine unkinking. "I mean how

far from here to the Gulf?"

"Oh, blue water'bout tree mile." He motioned south with a crusty

thumb. His gaze lingered on Arden's birthmark for a few seconds, then

he diverted his attention to the waterlogged skiff. "I seen some

crackass boats before, but that'un done win the prize! Where ya'll

come from?"

"North," Dan said. "Anyplace to get some food herer "Yeah, cafe's

over there." The second man, who spoke with a flat midwestern accent,

nodded in the direction of the clapboard buildings. He was slimmer

than his companion, wore a'grease-stained brown cap with a red GSP on

the front-a company logo, Dan figured-and had tattoos intertwining all

over his arms. "They got gumbo Emd hamburgers tonight. Ain't too bad

if you wash 'em down with enough beer."

A door on one of the houseboats opened, and another man emerged,

buckling the belt of his blue jeans. He wore a company cap turned

backward. Behind him, tape-recorded rock music rumbled through the

doorway and then a woman with bleached-blond hair and a hard, sunburned

face peered out. "Okay!" she said with forced cheerfulness.

-All-night party, boys! Who's next?"

"I believe I am." The man with tattooed arms sauntered toward the

houseboat.

"Non, mon ami. " The Cajun stepped forward, seized his companion

by shirt back and pants seat, and, pivo@ lifted him off his feet and

flung him from the dock. With a curse and squall the unfortunate flyer

hit the water and slummed its surface like a powerboat before he went

under.

"I believe you was!" the Cajun hollered as his friend came up

spitting. "Hey, Lorraine!" he greeted the bleached blonde. "You got

sweets for me?"

"You know I do Tully. Get your big al' ass in here." She

narrowed her eyes'at Arden. "New chickie, huh?" She gave a throaty

laugh. "You gonna need a little makeup, darrin'.

Well, good luck to you." TulIy lumbered into the houseboat, and

Lorraine closed the door behind them.

It was time to move on. Dan ventured along one of the walkways,

heading toward the buildings, and Arden followed close behind. The

place made Dan think of a Wild West frontier town, except it had been

built up from the muck instead of being carved from the desert. It was

a carpenter's nightmare, the structures cobbled together with

pressure-treated pineboards and capped by rusted tin roofs.

Electrical cables snaked from building to building, carrying the

juice from generator The walkways were so close to the water that in

some places reeds stuck up between the planks.

There was a store whose sign announced it as R.J'S GROCERY and next

to it was a little narrow structure marked sr. NAnAsE posr oFRcE. A

Laundromat with three washers and dryers and two pool tables was lit up

and doing business. Dan noted that the men they saw gazed hungrily at

Arden's body, but when they looked at her face they averted their eyes

as quickly as Tully had.

St. Nastase, Dan had realized, most likely never closed down, to

accommodate the crews who were off shift. Dan figured that the men

here had siped on with the company for three or four months at a

stretch, which meant prostitutes in houseboau could make some money

plying their trade. It occurred to him that Lorraine had thought Arden

was a "new chickie" because the only women who dared to go there were

selling sex, and he was unaware of it but Arden had come to the same

conclusions about ten seconds ahead of him.

In another moment they heard the mingled music of a fiddle and an

accordion. The smell of food caught their nostrils. Ahead was a

building with a sign that said simply cAn. The place had a pair of

batwing doors, like a western saloon. The music was coming from within,

accompanied now by whoops and hollers. Dan figured this could be a

hell of a rowdy joint, and again he wished Arden wasn't around because

he was going to have to be responsible for her safety.

He said, "Stick close to me," and then Arden followed him

a.

through the batwings, her right hand clenching the pink drawstring

bag.

The cafe was dimly lit, blue-hazed with cigarette smoke, and at

the ceiling a fan chugpd around in a futile attempt to circulate the

humid, sweat-smelling air. Hanging from the ceiling as well were maybe

three hundred old, dirty brown caps with red GSP logos. At rough plank

tabla sat twenty or more men, a few of them clapping their hands in

time with the jerky, mucous music, while four of their fellows danced

with ladies of the evening. The fiddler and accordionist both wore

company caps, and a thick-shouldered black men got up from his table,

sat down at a battered old piano, and began to beat out a rhythm that

added to the merry clamor.

Some of the men glanced eagerly at Arden, but they looked away

when Dan put'his arm around her shoulders.

He guided her toward a bar where metal beer @, canned soft drinks,

and bottles of water were on display. Behind it, a horned-looking man

with glasses, a beard, and slicked-back dark hair was drawing beer into

mugs, sweat stains on ins red-chocked shirt and a cigar stub gripped

between his teeth.

"Can we get sam@' to eat?" Dan asked over the noise, and the

bartender said, "Burgers a buck apiece, gumbo two bucks a bowl. Take

the gumbo, the burgers taste @ dog meat."

They both decided on the gumbo, wtuch the bartender ladled from a

grease-filmed pot into plastic bowls. Arden asked for a bottle of water

and Dan requested a beer, and as the bartender shoved trays and plastic

spoons wrapped in cellophane at them, Dan said, "I'm @, to get this

girl out of here. Is there a road anywhere nearbyr, "A road?" He

snorted, and the tip of his cigar glowed red.

"Ain't no roads outta St. Nasty. Just water and mud. She a

workin' girl?"

"No. We're passin' through."

The bartender stared at Dan, his eyes slightly magnified by the @

and he removed the cigar from his mouth.

"Passin' through," he @ted incrediflously. "Now I've heard it

all. Ain't no man comes here unless he's drawin'pay

from Gulf States Petro, and no woman unless she's tryin' to get a

man to spend it on her. Which insane asylum did ya'll get loose from?"

"We had an accident. Went off a bridge north of UPierre.

We got a boat, and-" Dan stopped, because the bartender's eyes had

gotten larger. "Look, we're just tryin' to get out. Can you helpr

us?"

"Supply boat from Grand Isle oughta be here tomorrow afternoon.

I'd say you could hitch a ride with one of these ladies, but they'll be

stayin' the weekend. Today was payday, see. Fridays and Saturdays,

all these sumbitches wanna do is get drunk and screw wheu their shifts

are over." He pushed the cigar stub back into his mouth. "You come

all the way from LaPierre? Jesus, that's a hell of a hike!"

"Hey, Burt!" a man yelled. "Let's have our beers over here!"

"Your legs ain't broke!" Burt hollered back. "Get off your ass

and come get 'em, I ain't no slave!" He returned his attention to Dan.

"An accident, huh? You want to call somebody? I got a radio-telephone

in the back."

"I'm lookin' for a woman,". Arden said suddenly. "The Bright

Girl. Have you ever heard of her.9" "Nope," Burt replied. A man with

a prostitute in tow came up to get his beers. "Should I have?"

"The Bright Girl's a healer. She lives in the swamp somewhere,

and I'm tryin' to-" "Arden?" Dan caught hold of her elbow. "I told

you to stop that, didn't I?"

She pulled loose. "I've come a long way to find her," she said to

Burt, and she heard the sharp, rising edge of desperation in her voice.

Burt's eyes were blank, no idea of what she was talking about at all.

Arden felt panic building inside her like a dark wave. "The Bright

Girl is here, somewhere," she said. "I'm gonna find her. I'm not

leavin' here until I find her."

Burt took in the birthmark and looked at Dan. "Like I asked

before, what asylum did ya'll bust out of?"

"I'm not crazy," Arden went on. "The Bright Girl's real. I know

she is. Somebody here has to have heard of her."

"Sorry," Burt said. "I don't know who you're talkin'a-" "I know

that name. Is Arden turned her head to the left. The prostitute who

stood with the beer-swiller had spoken in a nasal drawl. She was a

slight, rawboned girl wearing denim shorts and a faded orange blouse.

Maybe she was in her early twenties, but her high-cheekboned,

buck-toothed face had been @ maturely aged by scorching sun and harsh

salt wind. Lines were starting to deepen around her mouth and at the

corners of her dull, chocolate-brown eyes, and her peroxided hair cut in

bangs across her forehead hung lifelessly around her bony shoulders.

She stared with genuine interest at Arden's birthmark as her escort

paid for two beers. "Jeez," she said.

"You got fucked up awful bad, didn't ya?"

"Yes." Arden's heart was pounding, and for a few seconds she felt

on the verge of fainting. She said the edge of the bar with her free

hand. "You've heard of the Bright Girlr' "Uh-huh." The prostitute

began to dig at a molar with a toothpick. "Woman who healed people.

Used to hear 'bout her when I was a little girl."

.'Do you know where she is?"

"Yeah," came the answer, "I do."

As Dan and Arcten had been- walking into the cafe, the man who'd

just gone for an unwilling swim sat on the dock in a puddle of water,

watching another boat approach.

There were two men in the boat. He couldn't quite trust his eyes.

The man who was paddling wore a dark suit and a white shirt, which was

not quite the normal attire out here at St. Nasty. The second

man-well, maybe it was time to swear off the beers, because that

sonofabitch Burt must be mixing the brew with toxic waste.

When the boat bumped broadside against the dock, Flint stood up

and stepped out. His mud-grimed suit jacket was buttoned up over his

dirty shirt, the pale flesh of his face mottled with red mosquito

bites, his eyes sunken in weary purple hollows. He stared at the

battered and water-filled skiff tied upjust beside them, a single

broken paddle lying in it. Nobody would've traveled in that damn thing

unless

they'd been forced to, he reasoned. "How long have you been

sittin' here?" he asked the drenched man, who was watching Pelvis

clamber out of the boat with Mama.

"You gotta be kiddin!" the man said, unable to take his eyes off

Pelvis. "What is this, Candid Camera?"

"Hey, listen up!" Flint demanded, his patience at its bitter end.

Clint-who was equally as tired and crankyjerked under his shirt, and

Flint put an arm across his chest to hold his brother down. "I'm

looking for a man and a woman. Shouldn't have been too long since they

got here."

He nodded at the sinking boat. "Did you see who that belongs to?"

"Yeah, they're here. Sent 'em over to the cafe." -He couldn't

help but stare at Pelvis. "I know we're hurtin' for entertainment

'round here, but please don't tell me you're on the payroll."

"Where's the cafe? Which direction?"

"Only one direction, unless you can walk on water.

Scratch that," he decided, and he motioned at Pelvis with his

thumb. "Maybe he can walk on water."

Flint started off toward the clapboard buildings, and Pelvis

followed, leaving the man on the dock wondering what the next boat

might bring. Others they passed stopped to gawk at Pelvis as well, and

he started drawing catcalls and laughter. "Hey!" Flint called to two

men @ding in the shadows next to the Laundromat/poolroom. "The cafe

around here?"

One of them pointed the way, and Flint and Pelvis went on. Flint

reached into his pocket and put his hand on the derringers grip.

"Who the hell are they?" the man who'd pointed asked his friend.

The second man, who had a long, vulpine face and close-cropped

brown hair, ran his tongue across his lower lip. He wore faded jeans

and a dirty yellow shirt with the tail hanging out, and the sweat on his

flesh stitl smelled of swamp mud and alhptors. "Friends of Doc's,' he

said quietly. "I believe he'd like to see 'em again. Here." He slid

a small packet of white powder into the other man's hand.

"Keep your money. Just do me a favor and watch those two.

All right?"

"Sure, Mitch. Whatever."

"Good boy." Mitch, who still had the pistol he'd fired at Flint

in his waistband, turned away and hurried to his motorboat, his mouth

split by a savage grin.

The King Bled Crimson

"Yeah," came the prostitute's answer. "I do." She continued to

probe with the toothpick as Arden's nerves stretched.

"Dead. Must be dead by now. She was old, lived in a church on

Goat Island."

"That's bull!" Burt said. "Ain't nobody ever lived on Goat

Island!"

"Was a church there!" the prostitute insisted. "Blew down in a

hurricane, back fifteen or twenty years! The Bright Girl was a nun

fell in love with a priest, so they threw her out of her convent and

she come down here and built a church to repent! That's what my mama

said!"

"Angle, you didn't have no mama!" Burt winked at the girl's

customer. "She was hatched, wasn't she, Cal?"

"Right out of a buzzard's egg," Cal agreed, his voice slurred by

one too many brews.

Angle jabbed an elbow into Cal's ribs. "You don't know nothin',

fool!"

Arden tried to speak, but her throat had seized up. The word dead

was still ringing in her head like a funeral bell.

"Goat Island," she managed. "Where is it?"

"Don't do this," Dan warned, but he knew there was no stopping

her.

"Way the hell out in Terrebonne Bay," Burt said. "Good ten miles

from here. Got wild goats runnin' all over it, but there sure ain't

never been no church out there."

"My mama wasn't no liar!" Angle snapped. "Youw even born 'round

here, how do you know?"

"I been huntin' on Goat Island before! Walked the length and

width of it! if there'd ever been a church there, I think I would've

seen some ruins!"

"Miss?" Dan said to the prostitute. "You say the Bright Girl was

an old woman?"

"Yeah. My mama said she seen her when she was a little girl.

Came to Port Fourchon to see my mama's cousin. His name was Pearly, he

was seven years old when he got burned up in a fire. Mama said the

Bright Girl was crippled and walked with a white cane. I reckon that

was"-she paused to calculate-"near thirty years ago."

"Uh-huh." Dan felt Arden's body tensing beside him.

But he decided he had to go the next step, too. "What about

Pearly'.? Did your mama say the Bright Girl healed him?"

"No, I recollect she said the Bright Girl took him with her in a

boat."

I.To where?"

"Goat Island, I reckon. She never saw Pearly no more, though.

Mama said she figured he was too bad off for even the Bright Girl to

heal. But that was all right, 'cause the Bright Girl made sure he

wasn't scairt when he went to heaven."

"Come on, baby!" Cal grabbed Angie's thin arm and tugged at her.

"Let's dance!"

"Wait! Please!" Arden's anguished voice cut to Dan's heart. "Is

she buried out there? Have you seen her grave?'; "No, I ain't seen her

grave. But she's dead. Got to be dead after all this time."

"But you don't know for sure, do you? You're not certain she's

dead?"

The prostitute stared at Arden for a few seconds and then pulled

free of Cal's hand. "I'm certain as I need to be," she said.

"Ohhhhh." She nodded as things came clear to her.

"Ohhhhh, I see. You was lookin' for the Bright Girl to heal your

face. Is that right?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry, then. Far as I know, she's dead. I don't know where

she's buried. I can ask some of the other girls. Most of lem were born

'round here, maybe they'd know."

"Let's dance!" Cal yawped. "Forget this shit!" Both women

ignored him. "I'd like to see the church," Arden said. "Can you take

me?"

"No, I can't. See, I would, but I don't have my own boat.

It's Lorraine's boat, and she don't take it nowhere but between

here and Grand Isle."

"Hey, listen up, scarface!" Cal slurred at Arden, his voice

turning nasty. "I'm rentin' this bitch by the fuckin' hour, understand?

I don't have no time to waste-" "Come over here a minute." Dan

reached out, grasped Cal's wrist, and drew him closer, beer slopping to

the floor from the mug in the man's hand. Dan's face was strained with

anger, his eyes hard and shiny. "The ladies are talkin'."

"Mister, you let go of me or I'm gonna have to knock the shit

outta your ears!"

.'No fightin' in here!" Burt warned. "You wanna fight, get out

back!"

"You're drunk, friend." Dan kept his face close to Cal's, his arm

low across the man's body so the beer mug wouldn't come up and smash

him in the teeth. "Don't let your mouth get you in trouble."

"It's all right," Arden said. The remark wasn't anything she

hadn't heard before. "Really it is."

She suddenly caught a strong whiff of body odor and swamp mud.

Someone wearing a dark suit stepped between her and Dan. She thought

of vulture wings sweeping onto a dying jackrabbit.

"Lambert?" A quiet voice spoke in Dan's ear. At the same time,

Dan felt the little barrel of a gun press against his ribs.

"The game's over."

Dan jerked his head around and looked into the pallid face he'd

seen by the flashlight's glare in Basile Park, only now it was blotched

with mosquito bites. His heart jumped and fluttered like a trapped

bird.

Flint said, "Take it very, very easy. Nobody needs to get hurt.

Okay?"

2N

ik

Beyond Murtaugh, Dan saw, s@ the Elvis Presley impersonator

holding his squirming bulldog. The music had faltered and ended on a

soawked note from the squeezebox. 'The Presley clone *as suddenly the

center of attention, and he started drawing whistles and laughter.

Flint glanced quickly at the girl and saw that what he'd thought

was a massive bruise was in fact a deep violet birthmark. "You all

right, Miss Halliday?"

"I'm fine. Who are-" $he realized then who it must be, and that

he'd looked through her purse back where they'd gone off the bridge. /

"My name is Flint Murtaugh. Fella," he said to Cal, "why don't you take

your beer and move along?"

"I was fixin' @ whip this bastard's ass," Cal answered, unsteady

on his feet.

"I'll take care of him from here on out."

"Anytime, anywhere, anyplace!" Cal sneered in Dan's face, and

then he grabbed Angie's arm again and jerked her onto the dance floor

with him- "Well, shit a brick!" he hollerrd at the musicians. "How

'bout some goddamn playin'?"

The fiddler started up again, then the accordionist and the piano

pounder joined in. Men were still laughing and gawking at Pelvis, who

was trying his best to stand there and appear oblivious to the @ty.

His wig had started to slip, its glue weakened by the swamp water, and

he reached up with a quick hand and straightened it.

"What the hell is that?" Burt grinned around his cigar stub. He

hadn't seen the derringer Flint pressed against Dan's side, which was

how Flint wanted it. "Is it animal, veg'table or mineral?" He spouted

smoke and looked at Flint. "I swear to God, this is turnin' out to be a

circus!

Where'd ya'll come from?"

"We're with this fella hero," Flint answered. "Just got left

behind a little ways."

"Your friend's dressed up for Halloween early, ain't her' .'He's a

big Elvis fan. Don't worry about him, he's harmless."

"Maybe so, but these sumbitches in here sure smell blood.

Listen to 'em howlin'!" He moved away down the bar to draw a beer

for another customer.

"Hey, Elvis!" somebody yelled. "Get up there and shake that fat

ass, man!"

"Give us a song, Elvis!" another one called.

Flint didn't have time to concern himself with Eisley's situation.

He knew something like this was bound to happen sooner or later. But

the important thing was that Daniel Lewis Lambert was standing right in

front of him, and the derringer was loaded and cocked. "Did he hurt

you, Miss Halliday?"

"No."

"You were lucky, then. You know he's murdered two people, don't

you?"

"I know he killed a man at a bank in Shreveport. He told me about

that. But he said he didn't kill the man in Alexandria, and I believe

him."

"You believe him?" He darted another glance at her. "I thought

he took you as a hostage."

'No," Arden said, "that's not how it was at all. I came, with him

of my own ri-re will."

Either she was crazy, Flint fipred, or somehow Lambert had

brainwashed her. But she wasn't his concern, either. He kept the

gun's barrel jammed into Lambert's ribs. "Well, you ran me a good

chase, I'll give you that."

Dan didn't answer. His heart had stopped pounding, and now there

was ice in his blood. He was looking at a closed door about ten feet

away. Maybe beyond it was a bathroom with a window, and if he could get

in there and lock the door to buy himself a few seconds, he might still

get away.

"Face the bar and put your hands flat on top of it."

Dan obeyed, but his attention was still fixed on the door.

If he could get out a window into the swamp, then he could ...

Could what?he asked himself He was dead tired, hungry, and

thirsty. His strength was gone. He doubted if he'd had the energy to

trade a punch or two with Cal, much less swim through 'ptor-infested

water. As Flint quickly frisked him, wanting to attract as little

notice as possible and helped in

this regard by the loud and raucous attention being thrown at

Pelvis, Dan realized that cold reality had just slapped him across the

face. He had come to his senses as if awakening from a fever dream.

There was nowhere else to go. His run was over.

"YOu @ your pink Cadillac, Elvis?"

"Hell, get up there and sing something'!"

"Yeah, and it better be damn good, too! Pelvis had P@ rough

rooms before, where the drunks with burning eyes would boll up out of

their seats, wanting to either grab the microphone away from him or

show their girlfriends that the King bled crimson. This room right

down there with the worst of them, and Pelvis tried to pay no mind to

the jeering, but the shouts began s@ his pride.

"You ain't no Elvis, you fat shit!"

"What'cha got in your arms there, Elvis? Your girlfriend?" TIW

was followed by a barrage of barking and laughter that *owned out the

struggling musicians.

Flint saw the situation going out of control, but any man

who wanted to look and talk like a dead hillbilly had to take his

licks. He @ kept his focus on Lambert, who-he was

surprised to find@Od no weapons, not even a

"Empty your pockets.

.'What're you go* do?" Arden asked. "Rob him?"

"No. Lambert, *u must have a way with the women.

First Your ex-wife stands up for you, now her. She doesn't know the

real you, Om shet' Dan Put his wa* On top of the bar, then a few will

doffu bills and son* change. He found the y k picture Chad had given

@, wrmued up by the swamp water.

"Howd you find Oler, Font fhPPed tOe wallet open and felt for

judden men blader.. "I heard @our ex-wife tell you about the cabin.

I've been waitin' for you all day." Flint picked up the damp picture and

looked at it. "Your son?

SIY if re.

"See, that's where you up. you should never have gone to that

pari If you'd steered clear of Alexandria, you

G01rE SO(ITH

wouldn't be lookin'at a double murder conviction.' He slid Dan's

wallet and the money into his coat, which was still buttoned to hide

Clint's occasional muscle twitches under his shirt. "You can keep the

picture."

Dan returned it to his pocket. "That man was alive when I left the

motel. His wife killed him, and she's blamin' it on

me.

"Nice try. Tell it to the police and see what they think."

"He already has," Arden spoke up. "He called the Alexandria

police while we were in Lafayette. He told 'em to check the shotgun for

his fingerprints."

"Uh-huh.   He tell you he did that?"

saw him do it."

"And he was probably talkin' to a dial tone, or a recorded

message, or he had his finger on the cutoff switch. Lambert, put your

hands down in front of you and grip.'em together."

"You don't need to cuff me," Dan said flatly. "I'm not goin'

anywhere."

"Just shut up and do it."

"I'd like to eat my gumbo and drink a beer. You want to feed me?"

He turned around and stared into the bounty huntet's chilly blue eyes.

Murtaugh looked as worn-out as Dan felt, his face gaunt, his dark hair

with its lightningwhite streak oily and uncombed. A dozen mosquito

bites splotched his @ed cheeks and chin, and he had to scratch two of

them even as he kept the derringer pressed into Dan's side. "I won't

run," Dan said. "I'm too tired, and there's no use in it." He read the

distrust in the tight crimp of Murtaugh's thin-lipped mouth. "I give

you my word. All I want to do is eat some dinner and rest."

"Yeah, I know what your word is worth." Flint started to reach

into his pocket for the handcuffs, but he hesitated.

Lambert had no weapon, and he did look exhausted(L This time, at

least, there was no woman between them who knew

taste kwan do. Flint said, "I swear to God, if yo@to get away, I'll

put a bullet through your kn let the lawyers sort it out. Understand?"

Dan nodded, convinced that Mur he promised.

then. t."

A skinny man in a OSP cap and overalls

Pelvis's arm. "Hey, You!" he said. Pelvis saw the man was missing

most of his front teeth. His eyer, were red and heavy-lidded, and

the'reek of beer and gumbo on his breath was enough to make Mama

whimper. "I knew Elvis," the man wh@ "Elvis was a ri-en' a mine. And

you big or turd, you sure as hell ain't no Elvist" Pelvis felt the hot

blood twe@ his jowls. Hoots and @ter were flying at him like jagged

spears. He waumd to the blond woman with the birthmark on her face and

said in an anger-tensed voice, "Excuse me, would you hold my dog,"

he said. "Would you hold her for just two or three

minutes?" He pushed Mama into her arms.

"Eisle@' Flint snapped. "What're you doinr' "I've got my pride.

They want a song, I'm gonna give'em a "No, you're'qot!" But Pelvis was

already walking toward the music@ @mving the intoxicated jeers and

"Eisleyl" Flint shouted. "come back here!"

The music@ played their Cajun stomp as

Pelvis aped,*nd then the whoops and honers ncocheted off the tm

*E Burt had come back down the bar, and he yelled at Fhn@"Your friend

ain't gonna need a burial plott Ain't gonna be nothin' left to bury!"

"He's a fool is what he is!" Flint seethed, still holding the gun low in

@ Dan's ribs, but in the dim and

smoky light Burt didn't see it. Wink Arden held on to the bulldog,

the though* of what Angle had told her battering around in her men4 Dan

took his first bite of gumbo and in it almost set his tongue on

Dog,r, Pelvis asked the band.

He got three heads to smvel. "How 'bout'I Got a Woman'?

'H@break Hotel'? 'A Big Hunk o' L4Dye"?" There were negative

reactions to all those. Pelvis felt sweat ooll@ around his coria. "Do

you know any Elvis songsr'

the hot

fire.

$GYOU

"All we play is zydeco," the accordionist said. "You know. Like

'My Toot-Toot' and 'Diggy Liggy Lo.' "Oh, Lord," Pelvis breathed.

"Don't just stand there, Elvis!" a shout swelled up from the

others. "You ain't dead, are you?"

Pelvis turned to face his audience. Sweat was running down under

his arms, his heart starting to pound. He lifted his hands to quiet

the jeering, and about half of it stopped.

"I have to tell you fellas I usually accomp'ny myself on the

git-tar. Anybody got agit-tar I can use?"

"This ain't fuckin' Nashville, you asshole!" came a reply.

"Either start singin' or you're gonna go swimmin'!"

Pelvis looked over at Flint, who just shook his head with pity and

averted his gaze. Then Pelvis stared out at the roughnecks, the

butterflies of fear swarming in his stomach.

"Start croakin', you big fat frog!" somebody else hollered. A

drop of sweat rolled into Pelvis's left eye and burned it shut for a

couple of seconds. Suddenly a bowl of gumbo came flying up from one of

the tables and it splashed all over the front of his muddy trousers. A

wave of laughter followed, then somebody began to bray like a donkey.

Pelvis stared down at his mud ted brown sueo'shoes, and he thought of

how those men in there didn't k@aw the many hours he'd spent watching

Elvis movies, lear*ing the King's walk and talk and sneer-, they didn't

kno* how many nights he'd listened to Elvis records in ah little room,

catching

every phrase and nuance of that voice, that voice of the American

soul. They didn't know how much he loved Elvis, how he worshipped at

the shrine of Gmceland and how his wife had called him a stupid fat

loser and run off with all his money and a truck driver named Boomer.

They didn't know how he had suffered for his art.

His public was calling for him. Ranting at him, to tell the

truth. Pelvis squared his shoulders, tucked his chins, and turned away

from the audience. He said to the piano pounder, "Yc)u miad if I sit

there?" and he slid onto the chair when it was gladly vacated. Pelvis

cracked his knuckles, looked at the dirty keyboard with its sad and

broken ivories, and then he put his fingers down and began to play.

k

A strain of classical music came from the rickey-tick piano. The

room was shocked silent, and no one was shocked more than Flint. But

only Flint recognized the music: it was the stately opening chords of

Chopin's Prelude Number Nine in E major, one of the soul-soothing

pieces he Hstened to daily on his car's cassette player.

They let him play about ten seconds of it before they regained

their senses. Then a second bowl of gumbo hit the piano and a half of a

hamburger flew past Pelvis's head and a roar of dissatisfaction went up

like a nuclear bwa. "We don't want that damn shit!" yelled a man with

a face as mean as a scarred fist. "Play us something' with a tune!"

"Hold your horses!" Pelvis shouted back "I'm just limberin' up my

fingers!" He was as ready as he would ever be. "All right, this

here's called 'A Big Hunk o' L4Dye'." And then his hands slammed down

on the keyboard and the piano made a noise like a locomotive howling

through a tunnel in red-hot, demon-infested, sex@pping, and godforsaken

Hades. His fingers suttered up and down the keys in a blur of motion,

the sound's power kicking all the jeers and hollers right out the

swinging doors. Pelvis threw his head back, sweat shinii4on his face,

his mouth opened, and he started bellowing a@ut asidng his baby for a

bigga bigga

jaw had dropped in mimic Elvis, but different; though rockabflly

Memphis in a rusty chain saw that and unearthly more akin to the ison-

Watching Eisley beat that Jerry Lee Lewis and beaning and then rumble

the floorboards onstage Eisley was a lousy ruby was a lousy diamond.

Though Flint hated that kind of redneck thunder, though it made

the skin crawl on the back of his neck and made him long for a good set

of earplugs, it was clear that Pelvis Eisley

bigga hunka love.

Flint's mouth was amazement. Eisley's: his singing voice was

there were husky ton it, there was also the suddenly broke mt(

high-bigga hunka operatic wail of Roy piano to pieces like a his voice

mttle the ceiling again, Flint realized Elvis, but that was In

was no imitator of a dead star. The man, whether he knew it or

not, was an honest-to-God original fireball.

Dan followed a spoonful of the spicy gumbo with a drink of beer,

and he regarded the Presley clone flailing at the piano. Hunka, hunka

big ouill'love, the man was growling.

Mwmugh's gun had pulled a few inches away from Dan's ribs. The

bounty hunter's focus was riveted on his companion. It flashed through

Dan's mind that if he was quick enough, he could bring the beer mug

down across the side of Murtaugh's head and run for the back door.

Do it, he told himself. Hit the bastard and run while there's

still time.

He took another swallow of the bitter brew and held the mug ready

to strike. On his foreum the ropy muscles tensed, making the tattooed

snake undulate.

Silent Shadow

Asecond passed.

Do it! he thai Murtaugh's skull t A third and fou No.

It was a strong N No, Dan deci misery. There'U be Murtaugh's head

suddenly swiveled, and the pale blue eyes fixed on him.

Dan lifted the mug to his lips and drank the rest of his beer.

"Your friend's not half bad."

Flint looked at the glass mug and then his gaze returned to Dan's

eyes. He had the fearing that danger had just slid past like a silent

shadow. "You're not thinkin'of doin'something' stupid, are you?"

"Nope."

"If you don't want to wear the bracelets, you'd better not be. I

want to keep this as quiet and clean as I can."

Dan had wondered why Murtaugh was doing his best to hold the gun

out of sight, and why he hadn't told the bartender who he was. "You

afraid somebody else'll snatch me away from you if they find out about

the money?" "People hear what I do for a livin', they don't usually

welcome me with hearts and flowers."

stared at the place on the blow.

by.

of reason.

and I've caused enough

Al

"Listen, I didn't mean to kill Blanchard," Dan said.    "He drew a

gun on me. I had the guard's pistol in my hand, and

"Do us both a favor," Flint interrupted.   "Save it for the

judge."

Pelvis finished the song with a wail and a series of chords that

threatened to demolish the piano. As the last notes were dying,

another thunderous noise rose up: the whooping and applause of his

audience. Pelvis blinked out at them, stunned by the response. Though

he used to play piano in a blues band when he was a lanky boy with a

heedful of wavy hair and big ideas, he was accustomed to standing

behind an electric guitar, which he couldn't play very well but after

all it was the King's instrument. He was used to hearing club managers

telling him he needed to rein his voice in and keep it snarly because

those high tenor notes didn't sound like Elvis at all, that's what the

customers were paying for, and if he wanted to be a decent Elvis

impersonator, he was way off the mark.

Here, though, it was obvious they were starved for entertainment

and they didn't care that he wasn't twanging an electric guitar or that

his voice wasn't as earthy as the King's. They started shouting for

another song, some of them beating on their tables with their fists and

beer mugs.

",M ank you, thank you kindly!" Pelvis said. "Well, I'll d . o

you another one, then. This here's'it's Your Baby, You Rock It'." He

launched off on another display of honky-tonkin' fireworks, and though

his hands were stiff and he knew he was hitting a lot of chims, all his

training was coming back to him. The fiddler picked up the chords and

began sewing them together, and then the accordion player added ajumpy

squeal and squawk.

"Hey!"   Burt shouted at Flint over the music.   "He done any

rt=r?"

"Not that I know of."

"Well, he ought to! He don't sound much like Elvis, but a fella

plays a piano and sing like that, he oughta- doings

. be some records! Make himself a lotta money that *.W!"

"Tell me," Flint said, "how do we get out of here? Back to a

road, I mean?"

"Like I told him"-Burt nodded at Dan-"supply boat from Grand

Isle'll be here tomorrow afternoon. That's the only way out."

"Tomorrow eternoon? I've got to get this man to-" He paused and

tri@@ it again. "We need to get to Shreveport as soon as we can." @

"You'll have to@wait for the supply boat. They'll take you to Grand

Isle, b4t that's still a hell of a long way from Shreveport. See, @re

ain't no roads 'round here for miles."

"I can't stay here\all night! Christ almighty! We've got to get

back to-"Civili@ation, he almost said, but he decided it wouldn't be

wise. "Shreveport," he finished.

"Sorry. I've got a radio-telephone in the back, if you need to let

anybody know where you are."

Smoates needed to know, Flint thought. Smoates needed to hear.

that the skin was caught and on his way back.

Smoates would be asleep right now, but he wouldn't mind being

awakened to hear-

Hold it, he told himself. Just one damn minute. y should he be

in such a rush to call that freak-lovin' bastard?

Right now he, Flint, was in control. He didn't have to run and

call Smoates like some teenager afraid of his father's paddle. Anyway,

if Smoates hadn't weighed him down with Eisley, he would have finished

this thing yesterday. So to hell with him.

Flint said, "No, I don't need to call anybody. But what are we

supposed to do? Stay here until the boat comes?" He didn't know if he

could stand smelling his own body odor that long, and Lambert wasn't a

sweet peach either. "Isn't there someplace I can get a shower and some

sleep?"

"Well, this ain't exactly a tropical resort." Burt's cigar stub

had gone cold, but he still kept it gripped between his teeth. Now he

took it out and looked at the ashy tip, trying to decide if it was

worth another match. "You talkin' about one place for all of you? Or

you want something' separate for the lady?"

"I'm not sleepin' in a room with them!" Arden was still dazed and

heartsick by what she'd heard about the Bright Girl. In her arms the

little bulldog longingly watched Pelvis.

"I'd rather sit in here all night!"

. "How much money you got?" Burt asked Flint, and raised his

eyebrows.

"Not much."

"You got a hundred dollars?"

"Maybe."

"Okay, here's the deal," Burt said. "The big boys-the execs-keep

a couple of cabins to stay in when they come visit down here. They

don't want to get dirty stayin' in the barracks with the workin' crews,

see. I know who can pick the locks. Fifty dollars apiece, you can

have 'em for the night. They ain't much, but they've got clean cots

and they're private."

"There's fifty dollars in my wallet," Dan offered. Sleep on a

cot-clean or dirty, he didn't care-sounded fine to him.

It occurred to him that this was the last night he'd sleep without

bars next to his mattress. "I'll pay for her cabin."

"Yeah, it's a deal." Flint brought out Dan's wallet and his own

and paid the money.

"Fine. Wait a minute, lemme listen to this here song," Pelvis had

started a slow country-western teaderker called "Anything That's Part of

You." His audience sat in rapt, respectful silence as the broody piano

chords thumped and, Pelvis's voice soared up in a lament that was

painful enough to wet the eyes of hardcase roughnecks and bayou trash

prostitutes. "I swear," Burt said, "that fella don't need to try to be

Elvis. You his manager?" He looked at Flint.

.'No. "

"HelL I'll be his mqnager, then. Get out of this damn swamp and

get rich, I won't never look back."

"Arden?" Dan had seen the corners of her mouth quivering, her eyes

glassy with shock. It was going to be tough on her, he knew. She'd

put so much blind faith into finding the Bright Girl, she'd sacrificed

everything, and now it was over.

"You all right?"

She didn't answer. She couldn't.

Shadow "You mind ?" he asked Flint, and the bounty hunter obvious

distress and moved from between Dan stood close to her. His heart

ached for her, and he to put his arm around her shoulders but he didn't

what comfort he could give. "I'm sorry," he said. "I wish could've

found what you wanted."

"I-I can't belie she's dead. I just can't." Her eyes suddenly

glistened just as quickly she blinked them away. The hi her chin. "I

can't believe it.

Jupiter wouldn't h wrong. "

"Listen to me," Dan said firmly. "Startin' from this minute, here

and now, you're gonna have to go back to

reality. That means back to Fort Worth and getting' on with your

life. However bad things look, they've got to get better." "I don't

think so' "You don't know what tomorro's gonna bring. Or next week, or

next month. You've gotta go day by day, and that's how you get through

the rough spots. Beheve me, I've been 'there."

Arden nodded, but the Bright Girl was a candle she could not bear

to extinguish. It struck her how selfish she'd been, consumed by her own

wishes. From the moment the man in the dark suit had set foot into

this cafe, Dan had been on his way to prison. "Are you all right?"

she asked.

"I beheve I am." He offered her a faint, brave smile when inside

he felt as if he'd been hit by a tractor-trailer truck "Yeah, I'm all

right. This was gonna happen sooner or later." His smile faded. "I

saw my son, I said what I needed to say without bars between us.

That's the important thing."

He shrugged. "At least where I'm goin' I'll have a roof over my

head and hot food.' Won't be much worse than the V.A.

hospital, I guess. Anyhow-" His voice cracked, and he had to

pause to summon the strength to continue. "Like I said,

you go day by day.   That's how you get through the rough spots."

"Miss?" Burt put his elbows on the bar and leaned toward her.

Pelvis had finished the slow, sad number and was getting up from the

piano to take his bows, sweat dripping

from schins."Iknowwhocouldtellyouiftherewasever anybody livin' on

Goat Island or not. Cajun fella they call Little Tmin. He was born

'round here. Sometimes he takes the execs huntin' and fishin'. Sells

us fish and game for the cafe, too, so he gets all 'round the swamp.

If anybody would know, it'd be him."

"Arden?" Dan's voice was quiet. "Give it up. Please."

She wanted to. She really did. But she was desperate and afraid.

This would be her @ chance, and she would never come this way again.

Even finding the Bright Girl's grave would be an answer, though not the

one she wished for. She said, "Where is he?"

"Lives on a houseboat, anchored 'bout a mile south of here. Keeps

to himself, mostly." He stared at her birthmark, his gaze following

its ragged edges. "I've got a motorboat, and I'm off shift at six A.M.

I need to run down there to see him anyhow, put in an order for some

catfish and turtle meat. If you want to go, you're welcome. And I can

carry two people, if you want to go along." He was speaking to Dan.

Dan saw the need in Arden's eyes; it was a painful thing to

witness, because he knew she stood at the very edge of sanity. He had

to turn away from her, and when he heard her say "I'll go alone," it was

clear to him that she'd placed one foot over the precipice.

"Okay, then. Whatever suits you. Hey, fella!" He grinned at

Pelvis, who was making his way to the bar through a knot of

backslappers. "You 'bout knocked hell outta that piano, didn't you?"

Pelvis said, "Thank you, ma'am" as he took Mama back into his

arms, and Mama trembled with love and attacked his face with her

tongue. He was breathing hard, and he felt a little dizzy, but

otherwise he was okay. Sweat was pouring off him in rivers. "Can I

have some water, please?"

"Comin' right up!"

"Mr. Murtaugh?" Pelvis smiled broadly. "I think they like me."

"You were all right. If you care for that kind of music.

Here, wipe your face." He pulled a handftd of paper napkins

out 0

were hoflerin'?"

"Uh-huh. Well, step down offyour pedestal and listen: we can't

get out of here till tomorrow afternoon. We have to wait for a supply

boat from Grand -Isle. How the hell we're supposed to get back to the

car I don't know, but that's how things are. ti

"At least we got him@ didn't we?"   Pelvis nodded toward Dan, who'd

gone back to eating his gumbo.

We, my ass, Flint was about to say, but Burt stuck his bearded

face over the bar again. "You play betteen you look,

if you don't mind me sayin'."

I.Sir?ll

"You know. The Elvis thing, with the judo moves and all.

That's what I expected."

"Well, all them songs I sang were ones Elvis done," Pelvis

explained. "And I do them moves in my show, but I couldn't cause I was

sittin'at the piano. Like I said, I usually play the git-tar."

"You want my advice? I'm gonna give it to you anyway.

Don't hide behind Elvis. You don't need it, a fella can pound

them @ and sing like, you do. Hell, you oughta go to Nashville and

show 'em what you can do."

"I been there. They told me I didn't sound enough like Elvis.

Told me I couldn't play git-tar as good as him, neither."

"Well, hell! Don't try to sound like him! Don't try to look like

him, or talk like him, or nothin'! Seems to me there was just one

Elvis, and he's dead. Can't be another one. If I was you, I wouldn't

touch a guitar again so long as I lived. I wouldn't wear my hair like

that, either, and you oughta lose fik or sixty pounds.Get yourself lean

and mean, then go see them Nashville cats. You play for them like you

did here, you're gonna be makin' yourself some money! Hey, do me a

favort" Burt reached for a napkin and pulled a pen out from

it to him.   "You're not gonna pass

Pelvis took the bottle of it, then he poured some in "Didja hear

the way they

beside the cash register. "Here. Sign me an autograph, just so I

can say I spot@ed you first. Sign it To My Friend Burt Dunbro."

"You ... want my autograph?" Pelvis asked, his cheeks reddening

with embarrassment.

"Yep. Right there. To My Friend Burt Dunbro."

He put the pen to napkin and wrote what the man asked.

Then he started PelvHe stopped.

"What's wrong? Pen jammed up?"

There was just one Elv@ he was thinking, and he's dead.

Can't be another one.

Maybe there shouldn't be.

It had been fifteen years since he'd played piano in front of an

audience. And that was before he'd dressed himself up as the Kin

studied the records and movies and hip thrusts, bought the wig, the

blue suede shoes, the regalia. It was before he'd let himself get fat

on the Twinkles and peanut butter cookies and cornbread sopped in

buttermill It was before he'd decided that who he was wasut good

enough, and that he needed something much larger to cling to and hide

inside.

But what if ... what if ...

What if he'd given up on his own talent too early? What if he'd

let it go in favor of the Elvis disguise because he wasn't sure he was

worth a damn? What if... what if... ?

Oh, Lord, it would be so hard to give it up now and try to go back

It would be impossible to strike out on his own, without the King to

help him. Wouldn't it?

But Elvis was dead. There couldn't be another one.

"Hold on, I'll find a pen that writes," Burt offered.

"No," Pelvis said. "This ones fine."

He was terrified.

But he got the pen moving, and with a hammering heart and a dry

throat he scratched out Pelv and beneath it wrote Cecil Eisley.

It was one of the hardest things he'd ever done in his life, but

when he was finished he felt something inside him start

to unlc bit. Maybe in an hour he would regret name. Maybe

tomorrow he would deny right now-this strange and wonderfill -he felt

ten feet tall.

come over here!" Burt called. The mean-faced who didn't care for

the classics came to the bar. Burt gave him twenty dollars and quietly

told him what he wanted done. "Ya'll go on with GriW, he'll take care

of you," Burt said to Flint, and to Arden he added, "Six o'clock. I'll

see you here."

"Let's go, Lambert." Flint pushed the gun into Dan's side again.

"Take it nice and easy."

The two cab' Grill led them to were about a hundred Ins

yards from the other structures of St. Nasty, up on a platform

facing a cove of smooth black water. Grill produced a kMe penknife and

pulled up its thin blade to slide into the first cabin's door lock. It

took four seconds to open the door. "I better check for snakes," he

said before he disappeared into the darkness within. Two minutes later

a generator rumbled to life around back and then elmfic lights

flickered on. "No snakes," he announced when he returned to the door.

"Just a skin." He held the long gossamer thing up to show them.

"Who's sleepin' in this one?"

When neither of the bounty hunters responded, Arden up her courage

and said, "I guess I am." She c the threshold. The pine-paneled

interior was hot, humid, and smelled of mold. There was a broken-down

plaid sofa, a couple of standing lamps that appeared to have been

purchased from a garage sale sometime in 1967, and a latchen area with

a rusty stove and sink. A hallway went back to what must be the

sleeping area and-hopefully-an indoor bathroom. It would do for a few

hours, until six o'clock.

"Shower and toilet's between the cabins," Grill said.

"Pipes are hooked to a ci@, but I wouldn't drink the water. And

you'd best keep the front and back doors locked.

Lots of feras 'round here can't be trusted."

Arden closed the door and locked it, then she pulled the sofa over

in front of it. She found a switch that operated a ceiling fan, and

turning it on helped cool the room some.

When the lights were on I in the second cabin, Grill came out

grinning. "Looky here!' He raised his right arm to show Dan, Flint,

and Pelvis the thick brown snake his hand had seized, the head squeezed

between his fingers and the coils twined around his wrist. "Big

al'sumbitch moccasin. Found him sleepin'under a oat. Ya'll step

aside." He reared his arm back and flung the reptile past them into

the water. It made a heavy splash. "Okay, you can go on in."

Flint guided Dan through the door first. The place was basically

the same as the first cabin, a moldy-smelling assemblage of cheap

furniture, pine-paneled walls, and a floor of rough planks. Pelvis

entered @, his eyes peeled for creepy-aawlies. "Thing 'bout

moccasins," Grill said, "is that for every one you see, there're three

or four you don't.

They'll keep to themselves if you don't step on 'em, but I

wouldn't let that dog go nosin' 'round, hear?"

"I hear," Pelvis answered.

"Tough luck for that girl, huh? I mean, the way her face is.

Awful hard to look at, but hard not to look at, too."

"Thanks for lattin' us in," Flint told him. "Good night."

"Alhighty. Don't let the bedbugs bite. Nor nothin' else."

Grill chuckled a little to himself, slid his hands into the

pockets of his blue jmm, and started walking back in the direction

they'd come.

Flint closed the door and latched it. "Here, keep this on him."

He gave Pelvis the derringer, then he took the cuffs and their key from

his pocket and unlocked them. "Hands behind you."

"I'm gonna have to go pee in a minute," Dan said.

"Hands in front of you," Flint corrected him. "Grip 'em

together."

"I gave you my word I wasn't gonna run.   You don't have to-I,

"Your word's not worth fifteen thousand dollars, so shut up."

Flint snapped the cuffs around Dan's wrists and put the key inside his

suit jacket. Dan saw a peculiar thing happen:

the front of the man's shirt suddenly twitched, as if Murtaugh had

just hiccupped. He recalled that he'd seen the same thing when

Murtaugh was on the ground in Basile Pgrk, just before the Elvis clone

had started hollering. He had the bizarre sensation that there was

more to Murtaugh than met the eye.

"Watch him for a minute," Flint told Pelvis, and he walked back

through the hallway to find out what the rest of the cabin held.

"Don't try nothin', now," Pelvis said nervously, holding a sleepy

Mama and aiming the derringer at Dan's belly. "I'll shoot if I have.

to."

"Just take it easy." Dan could tell that the man was

uncomfortable holding the gun, and though it looked like a peashooter, it

could still

do a lot of damage at such close -range. He decided silence would only

increase the man's tension before Murtaugh returned. "What's your

name?"

"Ce-" No, maybe he'd be ready to let go of it someday, but not

yet. "Pelvis Eisley."

"Pelvis, huh?" Dan nodded; it figured. "Excuse me for sayin'

this, but you and Murtaugh don't fit. You been partners long?"

"TWO days. He's @bin' me the ropes."

An amateur, Dan thought. "This is your first bountyhuntin'job?"

.'That's right. My very first."

"Seems to me you'd do better playin' piano in Nashville than doin'

this kind of work."

"Eisley, don't talk to him." Flint came back in. What he'd found

had been two grim rooms, each with two iron-framed, bare-mattreswd

00ts. He hadn't failed to notice that the legs Of the Cots Were

standing in water-filled coffee cans to keep insects from climbing up

them. If this was the executive quarters, he would have hated to see

the work crew's barracks; then again, the cabin didn't look like anyone

had been there in quite some time. But all he wanted was a few hours

Of sleep, and he didn't need a Hilton hotel pillow.

Flint took the derringer back from Eisley. "Come on, Lambert.

You want to do your business, let's get it done."

Through a rear window he'd seen a tin-roofed shed that he figured

must be where the shower and toilet were. The generator was sending

juice to an electric bulb burning over the shed's door, but stepping in

was going to be an act of either raw courage or sheer desperation.

Arden had @y forced herself-out of despemtionto walk into the

shed. Fortunately, there was a light bulb inside as well as outside,

but Arden approached the toilet with trepidation. There were no water

moccasins coiled up inside, as she'd feared, but it wasn't the cleanest

in the world. She did what she had to do, used a roll of tissue that

could have sniped paint off metal, and got out as fast as she could.

In the room in which she'd chosen to sleep, she had put the pink

drawstring bag atop a battered old pine chest of drawers. Now, under

the single dirty light bulb that burned at the ceiling, she opened the

bag and removed what was held within.

One after the other, she lined up five little horses side by side.

They had been bought at a (hine store in Fort Worth. They wemn't

much, but they were everything. Five horses: two brown, one black, one

gray. The paint was chipping off them, revealing the red plastic they

were molded from. She knew their secret names, and they watched over

her. They reminded her of a time when she'd been happy, when she could

believe the future was vnde-open spaces, even through the Texas dust

and gnt and the hard work that had to be done. They reminded her that

once upon a time she had been needed.

She sat on the edge of a cot and stared at the small pwfic

figures, her eyes @ and tired. She was wrecked, and she knew it. But

her thoughts were still cuchng that flame, circling, circling. The Bright

Girl. A touch from the Bright Girl, and she would be healed. Jupiter

said so. Jupiter wouldn't have lied to her. No. A touch from the

Bright Girl, and the mark-the ugly bad-luck mark that had tormented her

all her life and caused her father to walk out the door and never come

back and her mother to fall under the

weight of the bottle-would be taken away. The Bright wasn't dead.

The Bright Girl was forever young and pretty, and she carried the lamp

of God. Jupiter hadn't lied. He hadn't.

But what about Dan? He couldn't go any farther. If he was the

man God had provided to take her to the Bright Girl, then why was he

being wrenched away from her.9 She'd thought about trying somehow to

get him away from the bounty hunters, but what could she do? And she'd

seen it in his face, them in the cafe- he was sick and weary of

running, and he could not go on. You His hands, she remembered Jupiter

saying.

But what if Jupiter had been wrong?

Six o'clock, she thought. Six o'clock. She had to press that

number into her mind so she could sleep for three or four hours and

then get up in time. She had to forget about Dan, had to let him go.

As much as she wanted, she couldn't help him. Now she had to help

herself, and it seemed to her that the morning would be her last chance.

Where she would go and what she would do if she found the Bright

Girl's grave, she didn't know. She couldn't think about it, because

that way led to black despair, She lay down and stared at the ceiling.

The five ho@, her @man, would watch over her during the night. She

Might dream of waking up, and hearing them pawing and snorting for her

in the barn, saying hurry come to uy huny we will neyer hurt you we

will never hurt.

At last, mercifully, her eyes closed. She listened to the rumble

of the generator, the @p of frogs, and the chitterings of insects and

night birds, the heavy thudding heartbeat of the Oil-Pumping machinery

in the distance. She was afraid of what daylight might bring; she was

equally afraid of knowing and of not knowing. A single tear trickled

down the cheek on the deep-violet-birthmarked side of her face- S@ came

for her, and took her away.

Pelvis had gone outside to let Mama answer nature's call.

While he was out there, he unzipped and added some water to the

cove. After Mama was finished, he picked her up anded back inside,

and that was when he saw a match flare

on the plank walkway that led back over the swamp grass and rushes

to the center of St. Nasty. He saw the orangedaubed face of a man as

the match touched the tip of a cigarette, and then the match was

flicked out into the water like a little comet.

He watched the cigarette's tip glow as the man inhaled.

Then the glow vanished.-Either the man was cupping the cigarette

in his hand or he'd walked away, it was hard to ten in the dart Pelvis

stood there, stroking Mama for a moment, but when she let out a few

exhausted yaps at something that rustled in the watery weeds under the

platform, he decided it was time to get back inside. He wondered how

many snakes must be watching him, and the thought made him shudder as

if someone had just stepped on his grave.

The sound of Scales

"I'm goin' to take a shower,', Flint told pelvis

when he walked through the door.   "I want you to sit.in there

and

watch him, hear.9 Take the gun and just sit there. I'll be back

in a few minutes." He'd taken Dan to the shed and found a gnmy cake of

soap in the cramped little shower stall.

Though he had no towel, he couldn't bear his own body C)dor any

longer. He started to turn away, but he had to ask a burning question.

"Eisley, where'd you learn the Chopin piece?"

I.Sir?

"The Chopin piece. The classical music you played.

Where'd you learn itT,

"Oh, that was something' my piano teacher taught me.

Mrs. Fitch was her name. Said it was a good quick finger workout

and 'cause you had to think about what you were doin' it calmed you

down. I reckon it did the trick for my n@es."

"I never would've thought you could play classical music."

Pelvis @gged. "No big thing. Them fellas pooted in their pants

like everybody else. You go on and take your shower, don't worry 'bout

Lambert."

Flint left the cabin, not quite sure he would ever again listen to

his tape of Chopin preludes with quite the same reverence.

Pelvis went into the bedroom Flint had chosen for himself and

found the killer lying on one of the cots, his right hand cuffed to the

iron bed frame. Pelvis sat down on the other cot, laid Mama aside, and

held the derringer aimed at Dan.

"I wish you wouldn't do that," Dan said twenty seconds later, when

it was clear Eisley meant to point the gun at him until Murtaugh

returned. "I'd hate for that to go off."

"Mr. Murtaugh told me to. watch you."

"Can't you watch me and aim that gun somewhere else?"

"I could. I don'tWant to."

Dan granted and allowed a slight smile. "You must think I'm a big

bad sonofabitch, huh?"

"You killed two men. That don't make you an angel in my book."

Dan started to sit up, but he thought better of making any quick

moves. "I didn't.kill the man at that damn motel. His wife did it."

"His wife? Ha, that's a good one!"

"He was alive when I left there. His wife had already shot him in

the gut with a shotgun, aimin'at me. She beat him to death after I was

gone. Maybe she was mad at him because I got away. "

"Uh-huh. I reckon somebody else popped up and killed that fella

at the bank, too. And you just happened to be standin' there."

"No," Dan said, "That one I'll bear the blame for."

Surprised to hear it."

Dan cupped his left hand under his head and stared up at the

ceiling. A moth was going around and around up there, searching for a

way out. "Blanchard had a family. It wasn't his fault things are how

they are. There's no way on earth I can live with what I did, so I

might as well die in prison."

Pelvis was silent for a moment. The derringer had wandered. He'd

never met anybody who'd committed murder before, and he found his

nervousness being replaced by curiosity. "What'd that fella do to you

was so bad you had to kill him?" he asked quietly.

Dan was watching the trapped moth beating itself against the

stark, bare light bulb. He was too tense to sleep yet, and

the room was too hot. "I didn't go to that bank meanin' to do

it," he answered. "Blanchard was takin' my pickup truck away from me.

It was the last thing I had. I lost my temper, a guard came in, and we

fought. Blanchard pulled a pistol on me. I had the guard's gun, and

... I squeezed the trigger first. Didn't even aim. I knew Blanchard

was finished when I saw all that blood. Then I got in my truck and

ran."

Pelvis frowned. "You should've stayed there. Maybe pleaded

self-defense or something'."

"I guess so. But all I could think about right then was getting'

away- t9

"How 'bout the girl? We thought you took her hostage. Is she ...

kinda off in the head?"

"No, she's just scared." Dan explained how he'd met Arden, and

about her belief in the Bright Girl. "In the mornin' she wants to go

find some Cajun fisherman called Little Train. He's supposed to live

in a houseboat a mile or so south of here. That fella who runs the

cafe's takin' her. I don't have the right to tell her not to go, and I

don't think she'd listen to me, anyway." An idea struck him, and he

angled his face toward Eisley. "You could go with her."

"Me?"

"Yeah. They're leavin' at six." He managed to twist his cuffed

wrist around so he could see his watch. "Going' on two-thirty. You

could go with her, make sure she's all right.

If the supply boat doesn't come till afternoon, you'll be back in

plenty of time."

"Back from where?" Flint peered through the doorway, his hair

still wet. He had carefully and methodically scrubbed the grime from

his and his brother's flesh. It had been torment to buckle the

sweat-stiff miniature shoulder holster against his skin and then put on

his swamp-tainted clothes again. Under his once-white shirt Clint was

sleeping, but Flint could feel the soft bones shift every so often deep

in his constricted guts.

"He was askin' me to go with the girl," Pelvis said.

"Burt-y'know, from the cafe-is gonna take her at six O'clock to

see a Cajun fella lives a mile south. She's tryin' to find a-"

"Forget it." Flint took the derringer from him. "We're not

nursemaids. I don't know what her story is, but we're leaven' here on

that supply boat and she can go with us or not, it's up to her."

"Yes sir, but if it's just a mile off, I'll be back before-"

"Eisley?" Flint cut him off. "The girl's crazy. She'd have to be

crazy to come down here knowin'who Lambert is. Get up off there, I've

gotta lie down before I fall down."

Pelvis cradled Mama in his arms and stood up. Mama awakened and

gave a cranky growl, then her bulbous eyes closed and she went limp

again. Flint lay down on the cot.

Springs jabbed his back through the thin mattress, but he was so

tired, he could have slept on a bed of nails.

"Arden shouldn't go off in the swamp with somebody she doesn't

know," Dan pressed on. "It doesn't matter what you think of her. She

could still get in a lot of trouble."

"She's not our business. You are."

"Maybe that's so, but she needs help."

"Not from us."

"Not from you, I guess." Dan looked up at Pelvis. "How about it?

Would you-" "Hey!" Flint sat up again, his deep-sunken eyes redrimmed

and angry. "He doesn't have any say-so about this!

I'm callin' the shots! Now, why don't you shut your mouth and get

some sleep? Eisley, you go on, too!"

Pelvis hesitated. The electric lights, and theirpools ofshadow,

gave him little comfort. Severaltimes already he had imagined he'd

caught a slow uncoiling from the corner of his eye.

"How come Mama and me have to sleep in a room by ourselves?"

"Because there're only two cots in here, that's why. Now, 90 on!"

"That was an awful big snake that fella found. I wonder which cot

it was under."

"Well, I'll tell you what," Flint said. "You and the mutt can

sleep in here. Just curl up on the floor between us, maybe that'll

make you feel safer."

"No, I don't think it would."

"The lights are on. All right? Nothin's gonna crawl out and get

you with the lights on."

Pelvis started to retreat to the other room. It seemed a vast

distance away from the protection of Flint's derringer.

He paused again, his face furrowed in thought. "Mr. Murtaugh,

don't you think it'd be wrong if we knew something' might happen to that

girl and we didn't try to help her?"

"She can take care of herself."

"We don't know that for sure. Lambert says she's from Fort Worth,

and she don't have any way to get home."

"It's not our problem, Eisley."

"Yeah, I know that and all, but ... seems to me we oughta have a

little feelin' for her situation."

Flint glared at Pelvis with a force that seemed to scorch the air

between them. "You haven't learned a thing from me, have you?"

"Sir?"

"Bounty hunters don'tfeel- You start feelin', and you start Gettin'

interested. When you start getting' interested, you start letting your

guard down. Then you wind up with a knife in your back. If the girl

wants to go see some Cajun swamp rat, it's her business. She knows the

supply boat's leavin' in the afternoon. If she wants to be on it, she

will be." He held Pelvis's gaze a few seconds longer, then he lay back

down, the derringer in his right hand. "I've met all the swamp rats I

care to, in case you've forgotten the marina."

"No, I ain't forgotten."

"I'd say we were lucky to get out of that alive. while you're

with me, I'm responsible for you-much as I hate it-to you're not

gain'off in the swamp with some crazy girl and end up getting' your

throat cut. Now go to sleep."

Pelvis chewed on Flint's logic, his brow still creased under his

lopsided wig. Dan said, "She's not crazy. She's a decent person. I

wish you'd help her."

"Lambert? One more word from you, and you're gonna spend the

night with both arms between your legs and a sock stuffed in your damn

mouth!"

"Sorry," Pelvis told Dan. "I can't." He summoned up his courage

and went into the other room, where he laid Mama down on the cot and

then settled himself beside her. He lay very still, listening for and

dreading the sound of scales slithering across the planked floor.

Dan's head had been aching, a slow, insistent throb, for the past

two hours. The pain kicked in again, getting between him and sleep.

He would have given his left nut-whatever it was worth these days-for a

bottle of Tylenol. Strangely, though, it was a relief his running was

over. He didn't have to be afraid anymore of what might be coming up

behind him. The idea of getting out of the country, he realized now,

had always been an illusion.

Sooner or later he would have wound up in handcuffs. He would

learn to deal with prison in the time he had left. He was just sorry

Arden had gotten mixed up in this.

Dan thought Murtaugh was asleep, but suddenly the bounty hunter

shifted on his cot and said, "What the hell made that girl come down

here with you, anyway?"

"She believes there's a faith healer livin' in here somewhere.

Called the Bright Girl. She thinks that if she finds the Bright Girl,

she can get that birthmark off her.face."

"A faith healer? Like Oral Roberts?"

"A little quieter, I reckon. And poorer, too. I don't believe in

such things, myself."

"I don't either. It's a shakedown for the rubes." Carnival talk,

he realized as soon as he'd spoken.

"Arden's desperate," Dan said. "She found out who I was, but she

still wanted me to bring her down here. She doesn't have any money, no

car, nothin'. Lost her job. She's convinced herself that if she finds

the Bright Girl and gets that mark off, her bad luck'll be gone, too,

and her whole life'll change."

"To you, desperate," Flint said. "To me, that's crazy."

"I guess people have believed stranger things."

Flint was silent. He and Dan suddenly heard a noise like a buzz

saw starting up, followed by a swarm of enraged bees trapped in a tin

bucket. Pelvis was snoring.

"Yeah, I knew that was comin'," Flint sighed. He shifted

again, trying to get comfortable. The heat was squeezing sweat

from his pores, and his body was exhausted, but his mind wasn't ready

to shut down and let him sleep. "Lambert, where'd you think you were

gonna run to?"

"I don't know. anywhere but prison."

"I'm surprised you got as far as you did. You've been all over

the TV and newspapers. Is that why you killed the fella at the motel?

Was he about to turn you in?"

"I told you I didn't do that. His wife did."

"Come on, now. You can level with me."

"I didn't kill him, I swear to God."

"Uh-hub," Flint said with a knowing half-smile. ,I've heard that

from a lot of guilty bastards." He recalled what Lambert's taste kwon

do-loving ex-wife had said in the park: It was self-defense, he's not a

cold-blooded killer. Another question came to him that he had to ask.

"Why didn't you shoot me? When you had my gun, and I was on the

ground.

Why didn't you just blow my brains out? You didn't want to kill

me in front of your family, rightt' "Wrong. I didn't want to kill you,

period."

"You should have. If I'd had the gun and you'd been the bounty

hunter after my ass, I would've shot you. At least blown away your

knees. Didn't you think of that?"

"No."

Flint turned his head to look at Dan, who had his eyes closed. Of

the twenty or so felons-mostly bail @rs and small-time criminals, with

a couple of real bad @ in the bunch-Flint had tracked over his seven

years in the employ of Eddie Smoates, this one was different. There

was some@g about Lambert he couldn't decipher, and this fact greatly

agitated him. If Lambert had just finished killing the man at the

motel before he'd come to Basile Pgxk-if he was a "mad dog," as Smoates

had said-then he would have had nothing to lose by putting a couple of

bullets through Flint's knees, which was the fastest way to keep

anybody from chasing after you. And why hadn't Lambert kept the gun?

Why had he been carrying no weapons at all? Why had he brought the

girl with him and not planned to use her as a hostage? It just didn't

make sense.

It was self-defense, he's not a cold-blooded killer.

Cold-blooded or not, Flint thought, Lambert was a killer.

Maybe Lambert had just snapped or something. Maybe he hadn't gone

into that bank wanting to kill anybody, but the fact was that Lambert

was worth fifteen thousand dollars and Flint wanted his share of it.

Bottom line.

He listened to Lambert's deep and steady breathing. He thought

the man was asleep, but he was going to keep the gun in his hand all

night. Though Lambert couldn't get out of that cuff, he might go

crazy, try to drag the cot across the space between them and attack

Flint. It had happened before. You never knew what set killers off,

and the quiet ones were the most dangerous.

Flint closed his eyes. In the other room, Pelvis's snoring had

taken on the sonic charm of a cement mixer, and now Mama gave a little

yip yip yip in her sleep.

It was going to be pure pleasure to say good riddance to those

two. He needed a fat hillbilly and a flea-bitten mutt hanging around

him like he needed a fourth arm.

He thought of Pelvis's performance, which had been okay if you liked

that kind of low-down caterwauling. He thought of the bartender saying

Hell, I'll be his manager, then! Get out of this damn swamp and get

rich, I won't never look back.

And then he knew he must be asleep, because he was looking at the

clean white mansion of his dreams.

There it was: the beautiful rolling green lawn, the huge

stai@-eass window, the multiple chimneys. The sight of it thrilled his

soul with majestic wonder. It was the mansion of his birth, the clean

white mansion that existed somewhere in this land far from the dismal

grime of his life. Hebegan to walk across the lawn toward it, but as

always he couldn't get any nearer. It always drew away from him no

matter how fast or how long he walked. He could hear his shoes-his

shining, polished black wingtips-pressing down the velvet blades of

grass. He could feel the summer breeze on his face, and see his shadow

walking ahead of him. He would have to walk faster. But again the

white mansion receded, a beautiful taunt. Inside that mansion lived

his mother and father, and if he could only get there, he could ask

them to take him

in, he could tell them he forgave them for giving him up when he

was a three-armed . baby with a fleshy knot on his side that had an

extra mouth and set of nostrils in it. He could show them he'd grown

up to be a man of taste, of manners and good breeding, and he could

tell them he loved them and if they took him in he would promise-he

would swear to God-that he would never cause them reason to be

ashameBAM!

The explosion blasted Flint out of his dream. As the mansion was

swept away in a heartbeat, he sat up with a jolt, his eyes bleary and

the derringer held in a white-knuckled grip. His first thought was

that Lambert had gone crazy and was trying to ding the cot over to W at

him with his free hand.

Dan was sitting up, too, his mind still shocked by the noise that

had shattered his deep and dreamless sleep. The handcuff was cutting

into his right wrist. He and Flint looked at each other, both of them

dazed. Mama had started barking, and Pelvis was making-a sputtering

noise as he struggled back to the land of the living.

Suddenly someone came into the room.

"They're in here! Got a gun!" a man shoutecl A figure lunged at

Flint. He had no time to think to fire; his arm was seized, a hard

blow hit him on the shoulder, and he cried out as pain streaked down to

the tips of his fingers.

The derringer was ripped from his hand, and a wiry arm went around

his throat. He started thrashing, but the arm squeezed his larynx and

took the fight out of him. Another man entered the room-a man in a

dirty yellow shirt and blue jeans-and he said, "That's the bastard shot

Virgil.

Hey, Doc! In here he i:o."

Al the mention of those names Flint felt panic clutch his heart.

Doc walked in. Sauntered, actually. He was still wearing his

Harvard T-shirt, but he had on chinos with patched knees. His

round-lensed sunglasses had been exchanged for glasses with clear

lenses. Doc grinned, showing his greenish teeth. His long gray-blond

hair was pulled back into a

pan@il and with a rubber band. "Gomer says hey," he

said. "You men motherfucker, you." He reached out and clamped a hand

onto Flint's chin. "Now, you didn't think we were gonna let you hit and

run, did you?"

Flint didn't answer, he couldn't, because his lips were crushed

together.

Doc's head swiveled. still grinning widely, he looked at Dan and

his gaze found the handcuff. '-Well, what's this all about now, huh?

Who're you, friend?"

"Dan Lambert." The haze of weariness hadn't quite cleared yet;

everything was still weirdly dreamlike.

"I'm Doc- Pleased to meet ya. Monty, bring ol' Elvis in here with

us!" In another few seconds Pelvis was hurled through the doorway and he

slammed down to the floor on his hands and knees. Behind him entered a

heavyset man with narrowly slit eyes, crew-cut hair, and a bristly

brown beard and mustache. The man was holding a snarling and kicking@

Mama by the scruff of her neck. "Look what i got me! he announced.

"Please..." Pelvis's face was stricken with terror, his eyes swollen.

"Please, that's my dog," "No it ain't," Monty said. "It's

mine.

"He ain't had a dog since @ week, when he got hungry after

midnight." Doc put a combat-booted foot on one of Pelvis's shoulders.

"Down, boy!" he said, and he shoved Pelvis flat to the floor.

"MY ... throat," Flint gasped at the man who had an arm pressed

into his larynx. "You're ... crushin, my

throat."

"Awwwwww, Our man Flint can't hardly talid Ain't that a bitch?"

Doc shook his head with mock pity. "Best ease up on @."

The arm loosened.

"We wouldn't want to hurt either one of you fine fdw," Doc went

on. "Not till we ga a chance to @oo on your balls, I mean. Then we'll

get down to some hurtin'."

"What's goin' on?" Dan said. "Who are your, "I'm me. Who are you?"

"I told you. My name's-" "No." Doc put a forefinger against

Dan's mouth. "Who are you, as in why are you wearin' a handcuff?"

"Listen," Flint said, and he heard his voice tremble.

"Listen, all right?"

Doc bent toward him and cupped his hands behind his ears.

"There's been a mistake," Flint said.

"Mistake, he says," Doc relayed to the others.

"Fuckin' big mistake" the man in the yellow shirt said.

"You shot a friend of ours. Crippled him. Ain't no good for

nothin' now."

"Shhhhhh," Doc whispered. "Let the man weave his noose, Mitch."

If there was ever a time for the truth, this was it. Pinpricks of

sweat glistened on Flint's face. He said, "I'm a bounty hunter.

Workin' out of Shreveport. Both of us are." He nodded toward Pelvis.

"The man in handcuff is a wanted killer. Fifteen-thousand-dollar

bounty on his head. We followed him down here, and we're takin' him

back."

"Oh, first you're an astronaut, now you're Mr.

WantedDead-or-Alive." Doc looked at Dan. "That the truth?"

Dan nodded.

"I can't hearrrrrr youuuuuu!"

"It's true." Dan realized this man was two bricks shy of a load,

but what had really set off his alarms was the fact that he'd seen a

.45 automatic pushed down into the waistband of the man's chinos at the

small of his back The big bearded bastard named Monty had a holster on

his hip with a pearl-handled .38 in it, and the man who gripped Flint's

throat wore an honest-to-God Ingrain submachine gun on a strap around

his left shoulder, the derringer he'd wrenched away from Flint now held

in his right hand.

"You killed somebody?" Doc's eyebrows went up.

"Two men," Flint answered. "When we were at the marina ... I was

callin' the man I work for. In Shreveport.

to let him know where we were."

"Where you were," Doc said quietly, "was on our territory."

Pelvis had gotten up on his hands and knees once more,

his eyes turned tearfully toward the man who held Mama.

"Get down, I said!" Doc's punt cheeks burned red, and he jammed

Pelvis to the floor with a boot again. "You stay down until I say you

can move! Where's that fuckin' spray you shot me with, now, huh? I'll

ram my fist up your fat ass and jerk your pts out, hear me? Hear me?"

"Ye-yes sir." Pelvis's body was starting to shake.

"Where you were," Doc repeated, speaking to Flint in a voice that

was eerily calm after his outburst, "Was in the wrong place at the

wrong time. Okay, I admit it! I m@ up! Okay? I thought you might've

been somebody else. But when this bastard down here hurt me, and you

crippled one of my friends, you crossed the line with me. I can't let

that pass." He shagged. "It's a hormone thing."

"I thought you were tryin' to kill me!" Flint said. "What was I

supposed to do?"

"You were supposed to take what we gave you, @tYAnyhow, if you'd

told us who you really were instead of pullin' that smart-ass bullshit,

you wouldn't be hip-deep in hell, now, would you?" He held his palm

out and wriggled his fingers. "The key."

"What key?"

"To the cuffs. Come on, give it up."

Flint hesitated. Doc smoothly pulled the automatic from Ins

waistband, clicked the safety off, and pressed the barrel against Flint's

forehead. On the floor Pelvis gave a muffled groan. "Give it up

easy," Doc said, his eyes icy behind the glasses, "or I'll take it the

hard way. Your choice."

Flint reached into his pocket-"Slowwwwwwly," Doc warned-and he put

the key in the man's palm. Doc took two backward MM, turned toward Dan,

and slid the key into the cuffs lock. He twisted it and Dan heard the

mechanism click open. "Fly free, brother," Doc said.

Dan unlatched the cuff from his wrist. Flint's face had become a

blooded study in anguish. "Listen ...

please ... he's worth fifteen thousand dollars."

"Not to me, he's not. Not to any of us." Doc opened the other

cuff and gave them and the key to hitch. "See, man, we've all been

there. There and back, on the long and twisty

road. We don't give a shit for policemen, or jails. Least of all

for bounty hunters. On your feet."

The man behind Flint hauled him off the cot. Again Doc placed the

automatic's. barrel to his forehead. "Mitch, shake him down."

"Wearin' an empty holster under his right arm," Mitch said as he

frisked Flint. "And he's got something' - . . holy Jesse!" Mitch

jumped aside as if his hands had been scorched, his eyes wide with

shock. "It moved!" He fumbled under his shirt and pulled out a

blue-steel revolver.

"It moved? What moved?" Doc tore the front of Flint's suit

jacket open.

And they all saw it: a serpentine shape twisting and writhin

beneath Flint's shirt.

Doc reached toward him, meaning to rip the shirt open, but before

he could do it, Clint pushed free: first the small fingers and hand,

followed by the slim, milky-white and hairless arm.

Doc stood very, very still. Everyone in the room was very, very

still. Dan was starting to wonder what might've been in that gumbo

he'd eaten.

Clint's hand clenched at the air. Flint knew what would happen

next; his shirt would be torn right off his back. To prevent that

indignity, he undid the rest of the buttons and opened his shirt for

them all to have a good look, his face tightening with rage because

their eyes had taken on that old familiar glint of ravening fascination

he'd suffered so many times before.

"Goddamn!" Doc whispered. "He's a fuckin' freak!"

"My brother Clint." Flint's voice was toneless, dead.

"Born this way. Here's his head. See?" He drew his shirt wider to

show them the ' fist-size lump of Clint's eyeless face at his side. "I

used to work the carnival circuit. Alive, alive, alive," Flint said,

and a dark and terrible grin split his mouth.

"Ain't never seen nothin' like that before," Monty observed. He

still held Mama-who'd given up on her snarling but was still kicking to

get loose-by the scruff of the neck.

'@n a girl with three tits before, but nothin' like that."

ain't real!" The man who'd gripped Flint's throat and taken away

the derringer had backed halfway across the room. "It's a trick!"

"You touch it and find out!" Mitch snapped.

Doc pushed Clint's hand with the automatic's barrel as Flint's

insides trembled. Suddenly Clint's fingers closed around the barrel,

and Doc gave a quiet laugh. "Farrrr out!"

He carefully worked the pistol's barrel free. "He'd like to see

this, wouldn't he? He'd get a rush out of it."

"Damn straight, he would," Monty agreed. "He'd laugh his ass

off."

Doc finished the job of frisking Flint, then-satisfied the bounty

hunter had no other weapons-he spun the .45

around a finger and pushed it back into his waistband. "Get up,

Elvis. We're goin' for a boat ride. Mitch, cuff 'em together."

"Not me! I ain't touchin' that bastard!"

"You pussy." Doc took the handcuffs and snapped Pelvis's left

wrist to Flint's right. The key went into a pocket of his chinos.

"Where are you takin' 'em?" Dan asked, standing up from the cot.

"Brother Dan, you really don't want to know. Just call this a

gift and let it go at that. Now, if I were in your shoes- He glanced

down at them. "I'd steal some new ones. Those are about shot, kemo

sabe. But if I were you, I wouldn't stick too long 'round here.

Wouldn't be prudent."

"Can I have my dog, please?" Pelvis sounded close to sobbing.

"Please, can I have her back?"

"I told you, it's my dog now!" Monty rumbled. He held Mama up

and shook her. "Have it with some bacon and eggs come daylight."

One second Pelvis was a begging sack of sad flesh; the next second

he was a juggernaut, leaping forward, his teeth gritted in a snarl, his

unchained hand straining for Monty's throat.

Monty jerked Mama out of Pelvis's reach and hit him, hard and

fast, with a scarred fist right in the mouth. Pelvis's head snapped

back, his knees giving way, and as he fell he

almost dragged Flint down with him. Mitch was laughing a

high-pitched giggle, Mama was snarling again, and Doc said, "Get up,

Elvis!" He grabbed a handful of pompadour, pulled, and wound up with a

wig daioing from his fingers.

"Shit!" he laughed. "This fucker's comin' apart!"

Pelvis was down on his knees, his head bent forward, and drops of

blood were dripping on the planks. His back heaved, and now it was

Dan's turn to be speared with anguish. He didn't know what to do; he

didn't know if there was anything he could do. Flint shot a glare at

Dan that said Look what you got us into and then he bent beside Pelvis

and said, "Hang on. Just halag on.

"Stand him up, bounty hunter." Doc planted the wig backward on

Pelvis's naked pate. "Let's go!"

"Why don't you leave him alone? He's not right in the head, can't

you see that7" "Ain't right in the teeth, ya mean," Monty said, and he

grunted a laugh.

It was all Flint could do not to go for the bastard's throat

himself, but he knew it would do no good. "Come on, stand up," he

said. "I'll help you." He had to struggle with Pelvis's weight, but

then Pelvis was standing on his own. Flint didn't want to look at the

man's face. Some of the blood had dripped onto Clint's fingers and

Flint's shirt.

"Out," Doc told them, and Monty gave them a shove toward the back

door he'd kicked down. Dan stood, watching them go, the wheels

spinning and smoking in his brain.

Doc lingered behind the others. "Either of those men you killed a

cop?" he asked.

It made no sense at this precarious point to tell Doc he'd killed

only one man, and that by sheer bad luck. "No."

"Next time try for a cop." Doc walked out of the cabin into the

dark, whistling a happy tune.

And Dan stood alone.

Crossbones

A pounding noise brought Arden up from the slow current of sleep.

She looked out the window. Still dark. What was that noise? Louder,

more insistent than the machinery. It took her another few seconds,

her head still cloudy, to realize somebody was at the front door.

"Arden! Open up! It's me!"

Dan's voice. She stood up-slowly, a struggle against stiff

muscles. When she was on her feet, she had to pause as dizziness made

the room spin around her. "Wait!" she called. She limped to the

door, then she had to use those same stiff muscles to push the sofa

aside. Finally the latch was undone and Dan came in.

His face glistened with sweat, his eyes wild. "What is it?"

she asked. "I thought the bounty hunters had you-" "They're gone.

Somebody came and took 'em away."

"Took 'em away? Where to?"

"I don't know. Takin"em by boat somewhere. Four men.

I haven't seen so much firepower since 'Nam."

"What?"

"The four men. I thought they were gonna shoot 'em right there,

but then they saw Murtaugh's arm ... I mean, his brother's arm."

"What are you talkin' about?"

He knew he was sounding as crazy as a broken shutter in a

windstorm. He had to calm down, take some deep breaths.

He pressed his fingertips against his temples. "Four men

broke into our cabin and took 'em away. To where, I don't know,

but the one who was the boss said something' about a boat ride. They

were all packin' guns." He started to tell her about Murtaugh's little

secret, but he decided she wasn't ready for that yet. "They didn't

want me, but they sure as hell marched Murtaugh and Eisley out of

there." He looked at his watch. Five-thirteen. "Come on, we've

gotta tell somebody about this!"

"Wait a minute," she said. "Just a minute." She squeezed her

eyes shut and then opened them again, trying to clear some of the

cobwebs. Dan saw that sleep had lightened her eyes and that the

birthmark had changed color @ like the rough skin of a chameleon, to a

deep blue-tinged purple.

"The bounty hunters are gone, rightt' 4-Right."

"Then . . . that means you're free, doesn't it?" She ran a hand

through the unruly waves of her hair. Her fingers found the painful,

blood-crusted knot where her head hill been banged in the car. "They

tried to break your neck, and mine, too. Why should you care about

'em?"

It was a good question. Maybe he shouldn't give a damn.

Maybe he should go on as if Murtaugh and Eisley had never existed.

He didn't know what he could do. Nothing, most likely. But at the

very least he could tell somebody. Burt

at th ' car ce e e had a radio-telephone.   That was the plato

Dan said, "They were just doin' their job, the best they could.

I've already caused two murders, I can't be quiet when I know there're

gonna be two more." He tined toward the door. "I'm goin' to the

cafe."

"Hold on," she said. He was right, and she was ashamed Of her

pettiness. The bounty hunters might have wanted to take Dan away from

her before she found the Bright GirL but the time had come to think

clearly. "Give me a minute."

She Went into the room where she'd slept and put the five little

plastic horses back into the pink drawstring bag. When she'd finished,

she turned around and there Dan was, standing in the doorway. He'd

seen what she kept in that bag, and he remembered her telling him about

the horses

she'd been responsible for at the ranch. It struck him what she'd

said at the Rest Well Inn about her job with that band Joey the punk

had been in, the Hanoi Jones. Somebody had to be responsible.

He thought he understood something more about her in that moment.

It was at her core to be responsible, to feed and care for the old

swaybacked and broken horses, to watch over a band of drunk

hell-raisers, to offer a first-aid kit io a man she knew was a wanted

killer. Joey always said I missed my callin, that I should've been a

nurse.

The horses, he realized, must have reminded her of that time in

her life when she had cared about something, and been cared for. His

heart hurt, because it came clear to him how alone she must feel, and

how desperate to find a place of belonging. He turned his face away.

"Don't laugh," Arden said as she drew the bag tight.

"I'm not laughin'. You ready?"

She said she was, and they left the cabin. Outside, in the

stifling wet heat, the night's last stars glittered overhead, but to

the east there was the faintest smudge of violet.

It took Dan and Arden six or seven minutes to wend their path back

across the walkways and through the spmwl of clapboard buildings to the

cafe. Except for the noise of genemtors and the incessant pumping of

machinery from the direction of the derricks, St. Nasty had quieted

considerably. A few men were still in the poolroom, but the walkways

were deserted. The cafe's dim lights remained lit, though, and when

Dan pushed through the batwing doors, there was Burt, smoking another

cigar stub as he swept the planked floor, the tables pushed back

against the walls. Behind the bar a second man was scrubbing beer mugs

in a metal sink full of soapy, steaming water.

"Mornin'," Burt said, but he kept to his task. "Ya'll want some

breakfast, you'll need to go to the chow hall over by Barracks Number

Two. Start servin' at five-thirty."

"Yeah, if you like them fake eggs and turkey-shit sausage," the

man behind the bar said.

"These folks are with CociL" Burt told his com@on. "1

swear, you should've heard him beatin' that-" "Four men broke into

our cabin," Dan interrupted.

"Maybe twenty minutes ago. They all had guns, and they took

Murtaugh and Eisley with 'em."

Burt stopped sweeping, and the other man stared at them through

the steam "The one in charge called himself Doc. Wore his hair in a

ponytail. I don't know what it was all about, but I think somebody

needs to know."

Burt chewed thoughtfully on his cigar. "Can I ask you a question,

mister? What the hell are ya'll mixed up in?" He held up his hand as

if to ward off the answer. "Wait, forget it.

Maybe I don't want to hear it."

"I thought You could NH somebody on the radio-telephone. The law,

I mean."

"Ha!" Burt glanced over at the other man. "The law he says,

Jess! He ain't from around here, is he?"

"Must be from New York City," Jess said, and he returned to his

scrubbing.

"Parish ranger used to check in on us every now and . ." Burt

leaned on his broom. "They found his boat over on Lake Tambour. Not a

sign of him, though. They won't never find him."

"Yeah, he's gone south," Jess said.

Dan looked sharply at him. "What?"

"Gone south. That's Cajun talk for being' dead."

"See-" Burt pulled the cigar from his mouth. "What'd you say your

name was?"

"Dan."

"See, Dan, it's like this: you look on a map of the country, you

see this swamp down here and it stall looks @ it's part of the United

States, right? WelL the map hen. ThS down here is a world all to its

ownself. It's got its own , its own industries, its own ... welt I

wouldn't call em @ exactly. Codes would be more like it. Yeah, codes.

The first one is: you don't mess with me, I don't mess with you.

Livin, and woridn' down here ain't easy-I,

"Tell me about it," Jess groused.

-and so you do what you have to do to slide by. You don't stir up

the water and get it all muddy. You don't throw over anybody else's

boat, or spit your tabacca in their gumbo. You just live and let live.

Get my drift, Dan?"

"I " think so. You're sayin' you don't want to call the law.

"That's half of it. The other half is that by the time the law

gets here-by boat from Grand Isle-those two fellas are gonna be dead.

And that's a damn shame, too, 'cause Cecil had some talent" He pushed

the cigar back into his mouth, drew on it, and returned to his

sweeping.

"Isn't there somebody here who could help? Don't you have any

police around here?"

"We've got what we call peacekeepers," Jess told him.

"Company pays 'em extra. Five mean sonsofbitches who'll take you

out behind a warehouse and whip your ass till there's nothin' left but

a grease stain."

"Yeah." Burt nodded. "The peacekeepers make sure nobody robs

anybody, or stuff like that. But I'll tell you, Dan, not even the

peacekeepers would want to tangle with those fellas you just seen."

"You know who they were?"

"Uh-huh." He aimed a glance at Arden, who was standing behind

Dan. "Still want to see Little Train?"

"Yes, I do."

"I'll be ready in a few minutes, then." He swept cigarette butts

and other trash into a dustpan and dumped the debris into a prbage bag.

"You decide to go along, too?" The question was directed to Dan.

He felt Arden staring at him. "Yeah," he answered. "I'll 90,

t(v."

"Ya'll don't want to eat breakfast first?"

"I'd like to go ahead as soon as we can," Arden said.

"Okay, then. Lemme see what I've got over here." Burt went

behind the bar. "Some coffee left in the percolator, but I reckon it

would strip the taste buds off your tongues. Oh, here you go. How

about these?" He came up with two Moon Pies in their wrappers and two

small bags of potato chips.

"Want something' to drink? You paid for the cabins, I'll throw

this in free."

"I'll try the coffee," Dan said, and Arden asked for a can of

7-Up. Burt brought them the Moon Pies and chips, then he went back to

get th' drinks. Dan still felt dazed by what e

he'd experienced, and he couldn't let it go. "Those men. Do you

know who they are?"

"I know of 'em. Never seen 'em before, myself. Don't want to,

either." Burt pushed a spigot and drew black, oily-looking coffee from

a cold percolator into a brown clay cup.

"Who are they, then?"

"They're fellas you don't want to be talkin' about." Burt brought

the coffee and the can of 7-Up.

"Damn straight." Jess had begun drying the beer mugs.

"Plenty of ears in the walls 'round here."

Dan drank some of the coffee and wondered if a layer of swamp mud

might not be at the bottom of the percolator, this stuff was even

tougher than Donna Lee's high octane, b%t it gave him a needed kick in

the brain pan. He remembered the smack of the big man's fist hitting

Eisley in the mouth, a sickening sound. He remembered the drops of

blOOd on the planks. Nothin's gonna crawl out and get you with the

lights on, Murtaugh had told Eisley.

But Murtaugh had been wrong.

Dan found himself wondering what having an extra arm hanging from

your chest and a baby-size head growing from your side would do to a

man. It sure would twist you. Maybe make you mean and bitter. What

kind of a life had Murtaugh led? That sight alone had been enough to

knock Dan's eyes out. He'd like to see this, wouldnt he? Doc had said

to Monty. He'd get a rush out of it.

Who had Doc been talking about?

He drank the coffee and ate the potato chips first, then he

devoured the Moon Pie. His guts felt all knotted up. Eisley had

seemed all right. A little strange, yes, but all right.

Murtaugh was a professional doing a job. It was nothing Personal.

Fifteen thousand dollars was a lot of money. Hell, if he was a bounty

hunter, he would've gone after it, too.

Dan had already caused the death of two innocent people.

Now two more were going to die because of him. The torment of

watching Emory Blanchard bleed to death, and knowing he was the one

who'd pulled that trigger, came back to him full force. He couldn't

stand the thought of Murtaugh and Eisley somewhere in the dark,

destined to be either beaten or shot.

And what could he do about it?

Forget about them? Just let it go?

If he did, how in the name of God could he ever call himself a man

again?

"I'm ready," Burt said. "My boat's at the dock."

The aluminum motor skiff had room for three people, a fourth would

have had to straddle the Evinrude. "Throw the lines off!" Burt

directed Dan as he got the engine cranked.

Then Burt steered them away from the dock They picked up speed and

followed the bayou south past another warehouse and an area where

several dredgers and floating cranes were tied up. The air smelled of

petroleum and rust, the light turmng lavender-gray as the sun began to

rise.

Arden sat at the front of the boat, her body bent s4htly forward

as if in anticipation, the warm wind blowing through her hair. Dan

watched her hand kneading the drawstring bag. After a few minutes he

looked back and saw the derricks of St. Nasty receding against the

violetsky. Then he looked forward again, toward whatever lay ahead.

The boat growled on through the dark-brown foamy water. On either

side of the bayou, half-submerged trees and vegetation boiled up in a

wild variety of green fronds, @ moss, spindly m, gold-veined fans, and

razor-edged saw grass. Here and there flowers of startling red,

yellow, or purple had opened their petals amid the tangle of thorns or

rigid palmetto spikes. Burt tapped Dan's shoulder and pointed to the

right, and Dan saw a four-foot-long alligator sitting on the decaying

length of a fallen tree, a crumpled white heron in its jaws.

As they followed the bayou farther away from St. Nasty, the smell

of crude oil and machinery was left behind as well.

The sun had started throwing golden light across the water and

through the thick boughs, and the cloudless sky was changing from gray

to pale blue. Dan could feel the humid heat building, fresh sweat

blotching his dirty T-shirt. Occasionally they passed th'e entrances

to other, narrower channels, most of them choked up with swamp grass

and duck weeds. Dan smelled sweet wild honeysuckle mingled with the

earthier aroma of rotting vegetation. They rounded a bend in time to

see a dozen white herons flying low across the water, then the birds

disappeared amid the trees. The sunlight was strengthening, sparkling

off the tea-wlored surface, and the early beat promised misery by nine

o'clock.

Burt turned them into a bayou that wound off to the left from the

main channel. They'd gone maybe fifty yards when Arden saw a piece of

board with a skull and crossbones crudely painted on it in white nailed

to a treetrunk. She got Burt's attention and motioned to the sign, but

he only nodded. A second skull-and-crossbones sign was nailed to a

tree farther up the bayou, this one in red.

"'Little Train don't care much for people!" Burt told Dan over

the motor's snarl. "It's okay, though! He trusts me, we get along all

right!"

The bayou's green walls closed in. Thirty feet overhead the tree

branches merged, breaking the light into yellow shards. Burt reduced

their speed by half and steered the curve of another bend where the

mossy tree trunks were as big around as tractor tires. And there,

ahead of them in a still and silent cove, was Little Train's house.

Technically it was a houseboat, but from the looks of the vines

and moss that had grown over its dark green sides, like fingers

enfolding it into the wilderness, it hadn't been moved for many years.

it had a screened-in porch that jutted out over the water, and up top

was the hooded lid of a stovepipe chimney. Next to the houseboat was a

short tin-roofed pier on which stood a half-dozen rusty oil drums, an

old bathtub, a clothes wringer, and various other bits and pieces of

unidentifiable machinery. On the other side of the pier was an

enclosed floating structure fifty feet in length and fifteen feet high,

also green-painted and its sides and

roof overgrown with vines. Dan could see the crack between a pair

of doors at the end of the structure and he figured another boat must

be stored within.

"I'll drift up against the pier, if you'll jump out and tie us,"

Burt said as he switched the motor off, and Dan nodded. When they were

close enough, Dan stood up, found his b@ce, and stepped to the pier.

Burt threw him a rope secured to the skiffs stem and Dan tied it up to

one of the wooden posts that supported the roof. When he grasped

Arden's wrist in helping her out, Dan could feel her pulse racing. Her

eyes had taken on that fervent shine again, and her birthmark had

become alihost bloodred.

"Hey, Little T@n!" Burt shouted at the houseboat. "You got some

visitors!"

There was no response. Up in the trees, birds were chirping and a

fish suddenly jumped from the cove's water-a flash of silver-and

splashed back again.

"Hey, Train!" Burt tried again. He stood on the pier, not daring

to set foot without invitation on the Astroturfed walkway that

connected it to Little Train's home. "It's Burt Dunbro! Come to talk

to you!" "Who you are I be seem', fou, " rumbled a surly, heavily

accented voice from a screened window. "Who they are?"

"Tell him," Burt urged quietly.

"My name's Dan Lambert." Dan could see a figure beyond the

screen-the blur of a face-but nothing more.

"This is Arden Halliday."

Silence. Dan had the reefing the man was studying Arden's

birthmark.

Arden shared the same sensation. Her right hand had squeezed

tightly around the drawstring bag, her heart slamming. "I need your

help," she said.

"He'p," the man repeated. "What kinda he'p?"

"I'm ... tryin' to find someone." Her mouth was so dry she could

hardly speak. "A woman called the Bright girl."

There was another stretch of silence for Dan and Burt, but Arden

was almost deafened by her heartbeat.

Burt cleared his throat. "Ol' gal at the cafe told her this

Bright Girl used to live in a church on Goat Island. Said

she'@ in a grave out there. I said I been huntin' on Goat Island,

and far as I know nobody ever lived on it."

Little Train did not speak.

"What do you say?" Burt asked. "Anybody ever lived on Goat

Island?"

"Non, " came the answer.

Arden winced.

"I told her that. Told her you'd know if anybody would.

Hey, listen: I need to put in an order for a hundred pounds of cat

and fifty pounds of turtle. What can you deliver by next Tuesday?"

"The Bright Girl," the man said, and hearing him say it sent a

chill up Arden's spine. "For her you're lookin', ay?"

"That's right. I'm tryin' to find her, because-" "My own two

eyeballs broke, they ain't. Come from where?"

.'Huh?"

"He wants to know where you're from," Burt interpreted.

"Texas. Fort Worth, I'm from," she said in unconscious eliulation

of Little Train's Cajun patois.

"Huuuuwheee!" he said. "That distance, you gotta believe mighty

hard. Ay?"

"I do believe."

"This what you believin'," he said, "is wrong."

Arden flinched again. Her hand was white-knuckled around the bag.

"Bright Girl on Goat Island, non, "Little Train continued.

"Was a church out there, never. Who you think she may be, she

ain't."

"Wait," Dan said. "Are you sayin' . . . there really is a Bright

Girl?"

"Sayin' oui. Sayin' non,. too. Not who this girl come from

rex-ay-ass to find."

"Where is she?" Arden's throat clutched. "Please. Can you take

me to her.?"

There was no answer. Both she and Dan realized the blurred face

was gone from the window.

A door on the screened porch skreeked open, and Little Train stood

before them.

@A

Elephants and Tigers

His gravelly voice through the window screen had made him sound as

if he might be a seven-foot-tall Goliath.

Instead, Little Train stood barely five-six, only four inches

taller than Arden. But maybe he had the strength of a giant, because

Dan figured he carried at least a hundred and sixty pounds on his

stocky, muscular frame. Little Train wore a faded khaki T-shirt over a

barrel chest, and brown trousers whose cuffs had been scissored off

above a well-worn pair of dark-blue laceless sneakers. His forearms

appeared solid enough to pound nails. The bayou sun had burned Little

Train's skin to the color of old brick, and it looked as rough.

His jaw and cheeks were silvered with a three-day growth of beard,

his hair a pale sandpaper dust across the brown skull.

Beneath his deeply creased forehead his clear gray eyes were aimed

at Arden with a power that almost knocked her back a step.

"Ya'll come on in," he offered.

Dan crossed the Astroturfed plank first, then Arden and Burt.

Little Train went ahead into the houseboat, and they followed him

across the porch into a room with oak-planked walls and oak beams that

ran the length of the ceiling. On the floor was a threadbare red rug

that instantly charged Dan's memory: it had a motif of fighting

elephants and tigers, and it looked like one of a thousand the

street-corner businessmen had hawked from rolling racks in Saigon.

The

furnishings also had an Oriental-Vietnamese? Dan

wondered-influence: two intricately carved ashwood chairs; a bamboo

table with a black meW tray atop it; an one lamp with a rice-paper

shade; and a woven tatami neatly rolled up in a corner. A shortwave

radio and microphone stood on a second bamboo table next to a shelf of

hardback and paperback books- Through another doorway was a small

galley, pots and pans hanging from overhead hooks.

"MY Place," Little Train said. "Welcome to it."

Dan was struck by the cleanliness and order. There was the

ever-present smell of the swamp, yes, but no moldy stench. In the

black metal tray on the first bamboo table were three smooth white

stones, some pieces of dried reecl-, and a few fragile-looking bones

that might have been fish, fowl, or reptile. Mounted on one wall was a

variety of other objects: a huge round hornet's nest, wind-sculpted

pieces of bleached driftwood, an amber-colored snakeskin, and the

complete skeleton of a bird with its wings outspread. Then #he knew

for sure what held suspected, because he saw a group Of framed

Photographs on the wall above the shortwave set. He walked across the

Saigon-special rug for a closer inspection. They were snapshots of a

boat's crew, bare-chested young men wearing steel helmets and grinning

or ruing upraised middle fingers from their stations behind .5@iber

machine guns and what looked to be an 81millimeter mortar. There were

pictures of a muddy brown river, of the garish nightlights of Saigon,

of a cute Vietnamese girl who might have been sixteen or seventeen

smiling and displaying the two-fingered V of a peace sign to the

camera.

Dan said, "I was a leat emeck.   Third Marine.   Where'd you catch

it?"

"Brown water Navy," Little Train replied without hesitation.

"Radarman first class, Swift PCF."

"These pictures of your boat?" The Swift PCF patrol craft crews,

Dan knew, had taken hell along the constricted waterways of 'Nam and

Cambodia.

"The verra one."

"Your crew make it out?"

Jus, me and the fella sittin' at the mortar. Night of May

sixteen, 1970, we run into a chain stretched 'cross the river.

Them black pajamas waitin' on the bank, ay? Hit us with rockets.

I went swimmin', back fulla shrap."

"You never told me you were over there in Vet'nam, Little Train!"

Burt said.

He burned his gaze at the other man. "Never you ask. And bon ami,

I tell you plenty time: call me Train. " "Oh. Okay. Sure. Train it

is." Burt shrugged and cast a nervous grin at Arden.

"Please," Arden said anxiously. "The Bright Girl. Do you know

where she is?"

He nodded. "I do."

"Don't tell me you know where her grave is. Please tell me she's

alive."

"For you, then: oui, alive she is."

"Oh, God." Tears sprang to her eyes._- "Oh, God. You don't know

how ... you don't know how much I wanted to hear that."

"Whore you talkin' about, Train?" Burt frowned. "I never heard

of any Bright Girl."

"Never you needed her," Train said.

"Can you take me to her?" Arden asked. "I've come such a long

way. I don't have any money, but ... I'll sign an IOU.

I'll get the money. However much you want to take me, I swear

I'll pay you. All right?"

"Your money, I don't want. Got everting I need, I'm a rich man."

"You mean ... you won't-" "Won't take no money, non. Who tell you

'bout the Bright Girl way up there in Fort Worth rex-ay-ass?"

"A friend who was born in LaPierre. He saw her when he was a

little boy, and he told me all about her."

"Oh, them stories. That she's a young beautimous girl and she

don't never get old or die. That she can touch you and heal any

sickness, or cancer ... or scar. Your friend tell you all that?"

"Yes."

"So you believe mighty hard, and you come all the way down here to

ask her touch. 'cause that mark, it hurt you inside?"

"Yes."

Train reached toward her face. Arden's first impulse was to Pull

away, but his gaze was powerful enough to hold her.

His rough brown fingers gently @ the birthmark d

th,e,n, drew back- "YOU strong-hearted?" he asked.

... think I am. "Either am or not.tt "I am," she said.

Train nodded. "Then I take you, no sweat."

Dan couldnt re ai il an ll to re

m n sent any longer. "Don't e h .

e 's nO such Person! There can't be! I don't care if she's

supPosed to be some great miracle worker, no woman can hve a hundred

Years and still look like a young girl! ." say I take her to see the

Bright Girl. Train's voice was calm. "I say, too, the Bright Girl

ain't who she come to find."

f-l

'What?" Arden shook her head. "I'm not followin, you.

"When we get there, you see tings clear. Then we find out how

strong you heart.

Dan didn't know what to say, or what kind of tricks this man was

trying to Pull. None of it made any sense to him.

What had to gnaw at him again was the fate of

Murlaugh and Eisley. He couldn't stand the thought that his

Pulling the trigger in Shreveport had resulted in the death of Harmon

DeCayne and now, most likely, the two bounty

hunters. There would be four murders on his head, and how could

he live with that and not go insane? He remembered what Burt had said

about Train, back in the cafe: He ets " ,

9 a round the swamp. If anybody would know, itd be

him. ."men

Dan had to asil were two other men with us. We

were at St- Nasty. Around five o'clock, four men with gain broke

in Our cabin and took 'em away. The one in charge was called Doc. Do

you know-

"Oh, shit!" Burt put his hands to his ears. "I dont wanna hear

this! I don't wanna know nothin' about it!"

"Hush up!" Train's voice rattled the screens. "Let 'im talk!"

"I'm not stayin' around for this! No way! Ya'll have fun, I'm

getting' back up the bayou!" Burt started out but paused at the door.

"Train, don't do nothin' stupid! Hear me? I'll be expectin' the cat and

turtle by Tbesday. Hear?"

"Go home, bon ami, " Train said. "And to you safe passage."

"Good luck," Burt told Dan, and he went out and crossed the

gangplank. Train walked past Arden to a window and watched Burt untie

his boat, climb in, and start the engine.

"He's okay," Train said as Burt steered the motor skiff back up

the narrow bayou the way they'd come. "Hard-workin' fella."

"He knows who Doc is, doesn't he?"

"Oh, oui. And so do I." He turned away from the window; his face

seemed to have drawn tighter across the bones, his eyes cold. "Tell me

the tale, ay?"

Dan told him, omitting the fact that he was wanted for murder and

that Murtaugh and Eisley were bounty hunters.

He omitted, as well, the fact of Murtaugh's freak-show background.

"Doc said he was takin' 'em somewhere by boat. He had some kinda

score to settle with 'em, but I'm not sure what it was."

Train leveled that hard, penetrating stare at Dan.

"Friends of you, they is?"

"Not friends, exactly."

"Then who they is to you?"

"More like. . . fellow travelers."

"Where was they travelin' to?"

Dan looked at the elephants and tigers in the rug. He could feel

Train watching him, and he knew there was no use in lying. Train was

no fool. He sighed heavily; the only path to take was the straight

one. "Flint Murtaugh and Pelvis Eisley are their names. They're

bounty hunters. They tracked me down here. I met Arden in a truck

stop north of Lafayette and brought her with me."

"I came because I wanted to," Arden said. "He didn't force me."

"Bounty hunterr" Tn" repeated. "What crime you did?"

"I killed a man. Train didn't move or "He worked at a bank in

Shreveport. There was a fight. I lost my head and shot him. The

bank's put fifteen thousand dollars reward on me.@ Murtaugh and Eisley

wanted it." "Huuuuwheeee," Tn" said sol'dy.

"You can have the reward, I won't give you any trouble.

Can You call the law or somebody on that shortwave @, "I ready

tell you, I don't need no money. I,m rich, liviie as I do. I love

this swamp, I grew up in it. I @ to fish and hunt. What I don't eat,

I sell. I boss myself. I go like thousan' doba in my Pocket-pooj.7

There go my riches Then I want an(ything fifteen thousan' dalu, but no

more there is. No, I don't need but what I got. He frowned, the @es

deepening around his eyes, and he mbbed hir, silvered chin. "If them

bounty hunters after you, how come for you wanna heP 'em? HOw come you

even tellm' me this?"

"They dont deserve to be murdered, that's why! They haven't done

anything wrong! "Hey, W Calm down. Flyin' you head off ain't heP

nobody." He motioned toward the porch. --Yaii go out there, set, and

take the breeze.. I'll be there direct."

"What about the shortwave? "Yeah, I could call the law way over

to Gran, ile. Only @ is, they ain't gonna find you ... fella

travelers," he decided to say. "Likely they dead a'ready. Now go on

out and so ytsefflt

There wasn't much of a breeze on the porch, but it was a little

cooler there thin made the boat. Dan was too jumpy to sit, though Arden

settled in a wicker chair that faced the cove. "You're goin' with me,

aren't your' she asW him "We're so close, you've got to go with me."

"I'll go. I UM don't believe it, but I'll go." He stood at the

=M, looking out at the water'sUM surface. "@- he said. "There's

gotta besom@, somebody can do!" "Oui, YOU can take a smaller of this

here." Train came OntO the POrch- He had uncWW a small metal @ and

he

offered it to Dan. "Ain't 'shine," he said when Dan hesitated.

"It's French brandy. Buy it in Grand Isle. Go ahead, ay?"

Dan accepted the flask and took a drink. The brandy burned its

flaming trail down his throat. Train offered the flask to Arden, and

when she shook her head he took a sip and sloshed it around in his

mouth before swallowin "Now I gonna tell you 'bout them men, so listen

good. They got a placebout five mile southwest from here. Hid real

fine.

I ain't got an eye set for it, but I come up on it when I'm

huntin'boar near Lake Calliou. They been there maybe tree month. Set

up camp, brung in a prefab house, build a dock, swimmin' pool, and all

whatcha like. Got a shrimp boat and two of them expenseeve cigarettes.

You know, them fast speederboats. Then they put bob wire 'round

eveeting." He swigged from the flask and held it out to Dan again. "I

hear from an al' Cajun boy live on Calliou Bay them men be

poachin"ptor. Season don't start till September, see. Ain't no big

ting, it happen. But I start to windin'in my head, how come they to

poach 'ptor.? Somebody owns hisse'f two of them cigarettes, he got to

poach 'ptor? Why's that so, ayT' He took the flask back after Dan had

had a drink. "Ol' boy says he seen lights at night, boats comin' and

goin' all hours.

So I go over there, hide my boat, and watch through my dark vision

binocs 'cause I eat up with curious. Took me two night, then I see

what they up to."

"What was it?" Arden asked, pulling her thoughts away from the

Bright Girl for the moment.

"Freighter in the bay, unloadin' what look like grain sacks to the

shrimp boat. All the time the two cigarettes they circlin' and

circlin' 'round, throwin' spotlights. Andhuuuuwheee!-the men in them

boats with the like of guns you never did saw! Shrimp boat brung the @

sacks back in, freighter up anchor and went." He had another swig of

Napoleon's finest. "Now what kinda cargo unloaded by night and be that

worth protection?"

"Drugs," Dan said.

"That's what I'm figurin'. Either the heroin or the cockaine.

Maybe both. All them miles and miles of swamp

coast, the law cain't hardly patrol a smidgen of it, and they

boats in sorry shape. So these fellas bringin' in the dope and

shippin' it north, likely takin' it up by Bayou du Large or Bayou Grand

Calliou and unloadin' at a marina. Sellin' some of it at St. Nasty,

too. Burt's the one found out fella named Doc Nyland was hangin"round

the poolhall, givin' men free samples to get lem interested.

Peacekeeper tried to do r-omethin' about it, he went missin'. Only

ting is, I cain't figure why they poachin' the lptors. Then-boom!-it

hit me like a brick upside my head." Train capped the flask.

"They worry somebody gonna steal them drugs away from lem. Worry

so much they gonna be hijack they gotta figure a waY to move 'em safe.

So what they gonna do, ay? They gonna put them drugs somewhere they

cain't be easy stole."

His mouth crooked in a wicked smile. "Like inside live ptors."

"Inside 'em?"

"Sans doute! You wrap that cockaine up in metal foil good and

tight, then you jam it down in them bellies with a stick!

How you gonna get it out unless you got a big knife and a lotta

time to be cuttin'? That'd be the goddangest mess you never did saw!"

"I'll bet," Dan agreed. "So what are they doin? Shippin' the

'ptors north to be cut open?"

"Oui, puttin"em on a truck and takin"em to a safe place.

Even if them 'ptors die of bad digestion 'fore they get where they

goin', the cockaine still protected in there."

Iylm so, but I can't understand how Murtaugh and Eisley got

mixed up with a gang of drug runners. Is Doc Nyland their leader?"

Train shook his head. "I sinn somebody else over there, look like

he was bossin'. Fella don't wear no shirt, showin' hisse'f off.

Standin' by the pool, them irons and weight bars layin' eveewhere. His

girlfrien', all she do is lay there sunburnin'. I'm figurin' he's the

honch."

Dan looked out through the screen at the water. The sun was up

strong and hot now, golden light streaming through the trees. A

movement caught his attention, and he saw a moccasin undulating

smoothly across the surface. He

watched it until it disappeared into the shadows. It seemed to

Dan that in this swamp the human reptiles were the ones to be feared

most of all. He lifted his forearm and stared at his snake tattoo.

Once, a long time ago, he had been a brave man. He had done without

hesitation what he'd thought was the right thing. He had walked the

world like a giant himself, before time and fate had beaten him down.

Now he was dying and he was a killer, sick at heart.

He felt as if he were peering into a snake hole, and if he reached

into it to drag the tinng out, he could be bitten to death. But if he

turned his back on it like a coward, he was already dead.

An image came to him, unbidden: Farrow's face and voice, there on

that terrible night the snipers' bullets had hissed out of the jungle.

Go, held said. It had not been a shout, but it was more powerful

than a shout.

Go.

Dan remembered the glint of what might have been joy in Farrow's

eyes as the man-a citizen of Hell, one of the walking damned-had turned

and slogging back through the mud toward the jungle, firing his M 16

to give Dan and the others precious seconds in which to save their own

lives.

Farrow could not live with himself because he'd gone south. There

in the v@e of Cho Yat, his simple mistake with the rod-wrapped

chocolate bar had resulted in the death of innocents, and Farrow had

decided-in the muddy stream, at that crisis of time-that he had found

an escape.

Dan had once been a Snake handler, a good soldier, a decent man.

But he'd gone south, there in that Shreveport bank, and now he was a

citizen of hell, one of the wa* damned.

But he knew the right thing to do.

It was time to go.

"You brai getting' hot," Train said in a quiet voice.

"You have guns." It was a statement, not a question.

"lWo rifles. Pistol."

"HHow many men? "

Train knew what he meant. "I count eight last time.

Maybe more I don't see."

Dan turned to face him. "Will you take me?"

"No!" Arden stood up, her eyes wide. "Dan, no! You don't owe

them anything!"

"I owe myself," he said.

"listen to me!" She stepped close to him and grasped his arm.

"You can still get away! You can find-" "No," be interrupted gently,

"I can't. Train, how about it?"

"They'll kill you!" Arden said, stricken with terror for him.

"Oui, " Train added. "That they'll try."

"Maybe Murtaugh and Eisley are already dead." Dan stared deeply

into Arden's eyes. It was a strange thing, but now he could look at her

face and not see the birthmark.

"Maybo they're still alive, but they won't be for very long. If I

don't go after 'em-if I don't at least try to get 'em out of there-what

good am I? I don't want to die in prison. But I can't live in a

prison, either. And if I don't do something, I'll carry my own prison

around with me every hour of every day I've got left. I have to do

this. Train?" He directed his gaze to the Cajun. "I'm not askin' you

to help me, just to get me close enough. I'll need to take one of the

rifles, the pistol, and some ammo. You got a holster for the pistol?"

"I do."

"Then you'll take me?"

Train paused for a moment, thinking it over. He opened the flask

again and took a long swig. "You a mighty strange killer, wantin' to

get killed for somebody tryin' to slam you in prison." He licked his

lips. "Huuuuwheeee! I didn't know I was gonna get dead today."

"I can go in alone."

"Well," Train said, "it's like this here: I knew a fella, name of

Jack Giradoux. Parish ranger, he was. He come by, we'd have a talk

and eat some cat. I don't tell him about them men 'cause I know what

he'll have to do. I figure not to rock the boat, ay?" He smiled; it

was a painful sight. The smile quickly faded. "If he don't,find 'em,

I figure, he don't get

killed. He was a good fella. Few days ago fisherman find Jack's

boat on Lake Tambour. That's a long way from where them men are, but I

know they must've got hold of him and then towed his boat up there.

Find his body, nobody ever will. Now I gotta ask myself, did I done

wrong? When they gonna find out I know about 'em and come for me, some

night?" He closed the flask and held it down at his side.

"Lived forty-five good year. To die in bed, non. Could be we get

it done and get out. Could be you my death angel, and maybe I know

sooner or later you was gonna swoop down on me. It's gonna be like

puttin' you hand in a cottonmouth nest. You ready to get bit?"

"I'm ready to do some bitin'," Dan said.

"Okay, leatherneck Okay. With you, I reckon. Got Baby to carry

us, maybe we get real lucky."

"Baby?"

"She my girl. You meet her, direct."

"One more thing," Dan added. "I want to take Arden where she

needs to go first."

"Non, impossible. Them men five miles southwest, the Bright Girl

nine, ten mile southeast, down in the Casse-Tete Islands. We take her

first, we gonna be losin' too much time."

Dan looked at Arden, who was staring fixedly at the floor.

"I'll leave it up to you. I know how much this means. I never

believed it ... but maybe I should have. Maybe I was wrong, I don't

know." Her chin came up, and her eyes found his. "What do you say?"

"I say-" She stopped, and took a deep breath to clear her head.

So many things were tangled up inside her: fear and jubilation, pain

and hope. She had come so far, with so much at stake. But now she

knew what the important thing was. She said, "Help them."

He gave her a faint smile; he'd known what she was going

to decide.   "You need to stay here.   We'll be back as soon as-@9

"No."   It was said with finality.   "If you're goin', I am, twit

"Arden, it might be rougher'n hell out there. You could get

yourself killed."

"I'm goin'. Don't try to talk me out of it, because you can't."

"Clock's tickin'," Tiain said.

"All right, then." Dan felt the urgency pulling at him.

"I'm ready."

Train went into a back room and got the weapons: a Browning

automatic rifle with a four-bullet magazine, a Ruger rifle with a

hunters scope and a five-shell magazine, and in a waist holster a Smith

Wesson 9men automatic that held an eight-bullet clip. He found extra

magazines for the rifles and clips for the automatic and put them in a

faded old backpack, which Arden was given charge of. Dan took the

Browning and the pistol. Train got a plastic jug of filtered water

from the galley, slung the Rugees strap around his shoulder, and said,

"We go."

They left the houseboat and Train led them to the vine-covered

floating structure next to the pier. He slid open a door. "Here she

sets."

"Jesus," Dan said, stunned by what he saw.

Sitting inside was Train's second boat. It was painted navy gray,

the paint job relatively fresh except for patches of rust at the

waterline. It resembled a smaller version of a commercial tug, but it

was leaner and meaner, its squat pilothouse set closer to the prow.

The craft was about fifty feet long, and thirteen feet high at its

tallest point, a tight squeeze in the oil-smelling, musty boathouse.

It had not the gentle charm of an infant, but the armor-plated threat

of a brute.

Though the machine-gun mounts and the mortar had been removed and

other'civilian modifications made to the radar mast, Dan recognized it

as a Swift-type river patrol boat, the same kind of vessel Train had

crewed aboard on the deadly waterways of Vietnam.

"My baby," Train said with a sly grin. "Let the good times

Reptilian

The sun had risen on a small aluminum rowboat in the middle of a

muddy pond. In that rowboat Flint and Pelvis sat facing each other,

linked by the short chain between their cuffed wrists.

At seven o'clock the temperature was approaching eightyfour

degrees and the air steamed with humidity. Flint's shirt and suit

jacket had been stripped off him, Clint's arm drooping lethargically

from the pale, sweat-sparkling chest.

Beads of moisture glistened on Flint's hollow-eyed face, his head

bowed. Across from him, Pelvis still wore his wig backward, his

clothes sweat-drenched, his eyes swollen and forlorn. Dried blood

covered the split sausage of his bottom lip, one of his lower teeth

gone and another knocked crooked, tendrils of crusty blood stuck to his

chin. His breathing was slow and harsh, sweat dripping from the end of

his nose into a puddle between his mud-bleached suedes.

Something brushed against the boat's hull and made the craft

lazily turn around its anchor chain. Flint lifted his head to watch a

five-foot-long alligator drift past, its snout pushing through the foul

brown water. A second alligator, this one maybe three feet in length,

cruised past the first.

The cat-green eyes and ridged skull of a third had surfaced less

than six feet from the rowboat. Two more, each fourtooters, lay

motionless side by side just beyond the silent watcher. Flint had

counted nine alligators at any one time,

but there might be others asleep on the bottom. He couldn't tell

one from the- other, except for their obvious size differences, so he

really didn't know how many lurked in the sludgy pond. Still, they

were quiet monsters. Occasionally two or three would bump together in

their back-and-forth l@ driftings and there might be an instant's

outburst of thrashing anger, but then everything would calm down again

but for the rocking of the boat and the thudding hearts of the men in

it. Flint figured the ariptors were prisoners here just as he and

Pelvis were.

The pond looked to be sixty-five feet across, from one side of a

half-submerged, rusty barbed-wire fence to the other.

Beyond the alligator corral's heavily bohed gate was a pier where

two cigarette speedboats-both of them painted dark, nonreflective

green-were Wed, along with the larger workboat Flint had seen

unloading the reptiles at the Vermilion marina. Eight feet of the pier

was built out over the corral, and at its end stood a bolted-down

electric winch Flint figured was used to hoist the alligators up onto

the workboat's deck. During the thirty-minute journey to this place in

one of the speedboats, Monty had gleefully ripped the jacket and shirt

off Flint's back and taken the derringer's holster. Then, when they'd

reached their destination, Doc and the others had debated for a few

minutes, what to do with them until "he"-whoever "hell waswoke up.

Their current situation had been dreamed up by Doc, who got Mitch to

row them in the aluminum skiff through the corral's gate while Monty

had followed in a second rowboat. There had been much hilarity from a

group of men watching on the pier as Mitch had thrown a concrete brick

anchor over the side and then got into the boat with Monty, leaving

Flint and Pelvis at the end of their chain.

The party had gone on for a while-"Hey, freak! Why don't you and

Elvis get out of that boat and cool yourselves off?"-but the men had

drifted away as the sun had come up. Flint understood why; the novelty

had faded, and they'd known how hot it was going to get out here.

Every so often Mitch, Monty, or some other'bastard would stroll out to

the

pier's end to take a look and throw a remark at them that included

the words "freak" or "motherfuckers," then they would go away again.

Since Pelvis had been smashed in the mouth, he'd not spoken a single

word. Flint realized he must be in shock. Monty had taken Mama with

him, and the last time the bearded sonofabitch had come out to check on

them, the little bulldog wasn't in his arms.

Flint could smell meat cooking.

Being burned was more like it.

The pier continued on past the boats to a bizarre sight: a large

suburban ranch house with cream-colored walls, perched on wooden

pilings over the water. The place looked as if it had been lifted up

off the'mowed green lawn of the perfect American town, helicoptered in,

and set down to be the envy of the neighborhood. There was a circular

swimming pool with its own redwood deck, one of those "aboveground"

pools sold in kits; here the pool was not above ground, but on a

platform above swamp. On the pool's deck was a rack of barbells, a

weight bench, and a stationary cycle. Next to it was another large

deck shaded by a blue-and-white-striped canvas awning, and on the far

side of the house the platform supported a television satellite dish.

Other walkways went off from the main platform, connecting the

house to three other smaller wooden structures.

Cables snaked from one of them to the house and the satellite

dish, so Flint reasoned it stored the power generator. Though the

alligator corral, the pier, and the swimming pool were out under the

full sun, most of the house was shaded by moss-draped trees. Around

the house and the corral and everything else the swamp still held green

dominion. Flint could see a bayou winding into the swamp beyond the

farthermost of the three outbuildings, and there were red buoys

floating in it to mark deeper passage for the workboat's hull.

His survey of the area had also found a wooden watchtower, about

forty feet high, all but hidden amid the trees at the bayou's entrance.

Up top, under a green-painted cupola, a man sat in a lawn chair

reading a magazine, a rifle propped against the railing beside him.

Every few minutes he would

stand up and scan all directions through a pair of binoculars,

then he would sit down again and return to his reading.

"We," Flint said hoarsely, "are in deep shit."

Pelvis didn't speak; he just sat there and kept sweating, hir,

eyes unfocused.

"Eisley? Snap out of it, hear me?"

There was no answer; A little thread of saliva had spooled down

over his wounded lip.

"How about sayin' something'?" Flint asked.

Pelvis lowered his head and stared at the boat's bottonl Flint

sniffed the air, catching the smell of burned meat. it struck him that

that bastard Monty might be hungry again, and he Pelvis was probably

thinking the same thing he was: Mama was on the breakfast grill.

"Hey, we're gonna get out of this," Flint tried again. He thought

it was the most idiotic thing he'd ever said in his life. "You can't

go off and leave me now, hear.7" Pelvis shook his head, and he

swallowed with a little dry, clicking noise.

Flint watched another alligator gliding past, so close he could

have reached out and poked it in the eye if he cared to lose a hand

Well, that'd be an right; held still have two.

Hold on, he told himself Hold on, now. Control yourself.

It's not over yet, they haven't shoveled the dirt over you.

Hold on. "I'll bet this is all a big mistake," he said. "I'll

bet when that fella wakes up, he'll come see us and we'll tell him the

story and he'll shoot us on out of here." His throat clenched up. "I

mean, scoot us out of here." Eisley's silence was scaring the bejesus

out of him, making him start to lose his own grip. He'd gotten so used

to the man's pro@ the silence was driving him crazy. "Eisley, listen.

We're not givin' up. Pelvis? come on, talk to me."

No response.

Flint leaned forward, the sun beginning to scorch his back and sweat

to his eyebrows. "Cecil," he said, I'm gonna slap the crap out of

you if you don't look me in the face and say somethin'." ' But it was

no use. Flint closed his eyes and put his uncuffed hand against his

forehead. At his chest Clint's arm

suddenly twitched and the hand fluttered, then it fell motionless

again.

"What'd you call me?"

Flint opened his eyes and looked into the other man's face.

"Did you call me Cecil?" Pelvis had lifted his head. His split

lip had broken open again, a little bloody fluid oozing.

"Yeah, I guess I did." A rush of relief surged through him.

"Well, thank God you're back! Now's not the time to crack up,

lemme tell you! We've got to hang tough! Like I said, when that fella

wakes up and we tell him what a big mistake all this is-" "Cecil, "

Pelvis whispered, and a wan smile played across his crusty mouth. Then

it passed. His eyes were very dark.

I think ... they're cookin' Mama," he said.

"No, they're not!" Hold on to him! Flint thought in desperation.

Don't let him slide away again! "That fella was just pullin' your

chain! Listen now, get your mind off that.

We've got other things to think about."

"Like what? Which one of us they're gonna kill first?" He

squinted up at the sun. "I don't care. We ain't getting' out of

this."

"See? That's why you never would've made a good bounty hunter.

Never. Because you're a quitter. By God, I'm not a quitter!" Flint

felt the blood pounding in his face. He had to calm down before he had

a heatstroke. "I said I was gonna get Lambert, and I got him, didn't

I?"

"Yes sir, you did. I don't think neither one of us is gonna be

spendin' much of that reward money, though."

"You just watch," Flint said. "You'll find out." He was aware of

his own wheels starting to slip. Control! he thought.

Control was the most important thing. He had to settle himself

down before the pressure of this situation broke him. He enfolded

Clint's clammy hand in his own, and he could feel their common pulse.

"Self@scipline is what a bounty hunter needs. I've always had it.

Ever since I was a little boy. I had to have it to keep Clint from

jumpin'around when I didn't want him to. Jumpin' around and makin'

everybody look at me like I was a frea]L Self@pline is what You

need, and a whole lot of it."

"Mr. Murtaugh?" Pelvis said in a soft and agonized voice that had

very little of Elvis in it ' "We're gonna die today.

Would you please shut up? Flint's brain was smoking. He was burned

up. His pail skin cringed from the raw sunlight, and there was water,

water everywhere, but not enough to cool himself in. He licked his lips

and tasted sweat. An alligator nudged ala@ side the boat, a long,

scraping noise that made the flesh of Flint's spine ripple. He needed to

get his mind fixed on something else-anything else. "You'd be worth a

damn," he said, "if you had a manager."

Pelvis stared at him, and slowly blinked. "What?"

"A manager. Like that fella said. You need a manager.

Somebody to teach you selfdiscipline, get you off that damn junk

food. Get you to stop tryin' to play Elvis and be Cecil. I heard what

he said, I was standin' right there.-"Are you ... Sayin' what I think

you're sayin'T, "Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not." Flint reached up, his

fingers trembling and wiped the beads of sweat from his eyebrows- "I'm

just sayin' you've got a little talent to beat the piano, and a good manager

could help you. A good businessman Somebody to make sure you got paid

when you were supposed to. You wouldn't have to be a singer, You could

be in somebody else's band, or play backup on records or whatever.

There's money to be made in that line of work, isn't there?"

"Are YOU crazy, Mr. Murtaugh?" Pelvis asked. "Or am I?"

"Hell, we both are!" Flint had almost shouted it. Control,

he thought- COntrOl- @ the sun was @ fierce. A Pungent, acidic

reek-the smell of swamp mud and Ptor droppings-was up off the water.

"When we get out of here-winch we will, after we talk to whoevees in

charge around here-there's gonna be tomorrow to think about- You're not

cut out to be a bounty hunter ... and i,ve been lookin' for a way to

quit i ' t for a long time. I'm sick of the ugliness of it, and I was

never getting' anywhere. I was

just goin' around and around, like ... like a three-armed monkey

in a cage," he said. "Now, it might not work.

Probably won't. But it would be a new start, wouldn't-" "Gettin'

awful hot out here, ain't it?"

The voice caused both of them to jump. Monty was walking along

the pier, splotches of sweat on his shirt He was holding a plate of

food, and he was chewing on some stringy meat attached to a small bone.

"Ya'll ain't gone @mmin'yet?"

Neither Flint nor Pelvis spoke. They watched the big,

brown-bearded man chewing on the bone in his greasy fingers.

"Don't feel much like talkin', do you?" Monty glanced quickly up

at the sun. Then he threw the bone into the water beside their boat.

The splash drew the attention of the alfiptors, and three or four of

them quickly converged on the spot like scaly torpedoes. Water

swirled, a tail rose up and smacked the surface, and suddenly an

underwater disagreement boiled up, two reptilian bodies thrashing and

the rowboat rocking back and forth on the muddy foam of combat.

"Them boys are hungry this mornin'." Monty started sucking the

meat from another bone. "They'll eat anydamnthing, yknow. Got

cast-iron stomachs. Bet they'd like to get their teeth in you, freak.

Bet you'd be a real taste sensation."

The alligators, finding no food on their table, had stopped

squabbling. Still, they crisscrossed the pond on all sides of the

boat.  "Don't you men think this has gone far enough?"

Flint asked. "We've learned our lesson, we're not comin' back in

here anymore."

Monty chewed and laughed. "Well, that's right. 'Course, you

ain't leavin', either." He flung the second bone in, and again the

reptiles darted for it. "Hey, Elvis! You want some breakfast?"

Pelvis didn't answer, and Flint saw his eyes glazing over . n.

"It's realllll good. Lotta meat on them bones, I was surprised.

Want to try a bite or two?" He held up a hunk of

white meat, and he grinned through his beard. "Woof!     Woof!"

he said.

Pelvis shivered. A pulse had started beating hard at his temple.

"Hang on." Flint grasped Pelvis's arm. "Steady, now."

"I think he wants the rest of it, Mr. Freak. Here you go, Elvis!

Arrrruuuuuu!" And as he howled like a dog, Monty tossed the rest of

the plate's meat and bones up into the air over the corral.

Before the first piece of meat or bone splashed the surface,

Pelvis went crazy.

He lunged over the rowboat's side. The chain of the handcuffs

connecting their wrists jerked tight, and with a shout of terror Flint

was pulled into the water with him.

For the last mile and a half Train had cut the Swift's husky

double@esels to one-fourth speed-about seven knots-to keep the noise

down. Now he switched off the engines and let the Swift coast along

the narrow bayou. "@in' close," he said behind the spoked wheel in the

pilothouse. Dan stood at his side, and Arden had found a benchseat to

park herself on toward the stern. "She gonna run minute or two, then

we doin' some wadin'."

Dan nodded. The rifles, Pistol, and the ammunition backpack had

been stowed away in a locker at the rear of the pilothouse. After

leaving the cove Train had brought them along a whes of channels at

speeds approaching twentyeight knots, the Swift's upper limit. Before

them, birds had flown and alligators had dived for @. Train had told

Dan his real name was Aloin Chappelle, that he'd been born on a train

between Mobile and New Orleans, but that he was raised in Grand Isle,

where his father had been a charter fisherman. During his tour of duty

in Vietnam his parents had moved to New Orleans, and his father had

accepted a consultingjob with a company that built fishing boats.

Train had the swamp in his blood, he'd said. He had to live there, in

all that beautiful wilderness, or he would perish. Held known that the

Swift boats-based on the desip of tough little utility craft used to

ferry supplies out to oil derricks in

the Gulf of Mexico-were built by a contractor in the town of

Berwick, which Dan and Arden had put through forty miles north of Houma.

In 1976 he'd bought the armorplated bulk of a @lus Swift and started

the three-year labor of restoring it to a worthy condition. Baby could

be sweet as @ one day and a raging foul-term@ bitch the next, he'd told

Dw but she was fast and mmble and her shallow draft was ideal for the

bayous. Anyway, he loved her.

"Takin' us in there," Train said, motioning with a lift of his

chin toward another channel that wound off to the left "Gonna get Flint,

so tell the lady if she hear some thumps, we ain't gonna wind us up

ass-deep and sinkin'."

Dan went back to relay the message. Train steered Baby into the

channel with a steady hand and a sharp eye. Tree branches scraped

along the sides and half-submerged M and swamp @ parted before the

prow. @rad the ma tiucken4 cutting the light to a dark green muril The

Swift was slowing down now to the speed of a man's walk and Train came

out of the pilothouse and picked up a rope with one end secured to the

forward deck and at the @wing, end an iron grappULng-hooL The boat

shuddered, something bumping along the lmel. Train threw the hook into

the underbrush, pulled hard on the rope, and it went taut. In another

few seconds Baby eased to a stop.

They got ready. Dan was sweating in the fierce wet heat, but he

wasn't afraid. Maybe just a little. In any case, the job had to be

done.

"L=ve the pistol here," Train said as Dan took it from the locker.

"She might be gonna need it."

"Me?" Arden stood up. "I've never fired a gun in my Iffel"

"Ever'fin got a number-one time." Train popped a clip into the

automatic. "I'm gonna tell you 'bout this safety

et can hil catch here, so you pay a mind. You g you'self a erw e

we gone, only two fellas to save you neck be Mr Smith and Mr. Wesson.

Ay?"

Arden decided it would be very vnse to pay close attention.

"Take tree relm. We need more'n that, we gonna be

haulm'butt," Train told Dan after Arden's quick lesson was done.

Dan took three of the Browning's box magazines from the backpack, put

one in each front pocket and the third in a back pocket. Train did the

same with the Ruger's ammo, then he put on a gray-and-green

camouflage-print cap.

" "3out quarter-mile -from here, them fellas be," he said as he

slung the Ruger barrel-down to his right shoulder so water wouldn't

foul the firing mechanism. "They got guns enough to blow the horns off

Satan: rifle, shotgun, machine gun, ever' damn kinda gun. So from here

on we mighty careful or we mighty dead."

While Dan strapped on the Browning rifle, also barreldown, Train

opened a jar of what looked like black grease and streaked some under

his eyes. "Don't want no glare blindin' you when it come time to take

a shot. You misspoofl. That's all she wrote." He handed the grease

to Dan, who applied it in the same fashion. Then Train got his face

right up in Dan's, his eyes piercing. "We get in a knock-ass

firelight, am I gonna can count on you? You gonna stick it to t em, no

second thought? By the time you got second thought, you be twice dead.

Ay?"

"I'll do what I have to," Dan said.

"They got a man spyin' for 'em in a tower, up where he can see the

Gulf and the bayou one turn 'round. They got a big metal pte blockin'

the bayou, and a bob wire fence I round the whole place." He nodded

toward the forbidding wilderness, thick with spiky palmettos, hanging

vines, and cypress trees. "We gonna go through there. Ain't got no

serpent-bite kit, so keep both them eyeballs lookin'."

"I viiii.ll "If we see us two dead bodies layin' out, we comin'

straight back quiet as sinners, on Sunday. Then I make a radio call to

Gran' Isle. Okay?"

"yeah

@n eased over the transom and lowered himself into the water.

The swamp consumed him to the middle of his chest.

"Dan?" Arden said as he started to go over. Again her tangled

emotions got in the way of her voice. "Please be careful," she managed

to say.

"I was wrong to let you come. You should've stayed at Train's

place."

She shook her head. "I'm where I need to be. You just worry

about getting' in and back" Dan went into the water, his shoes sinking

through three inches of mud.

"Listen up," Train told Arden. "You might gonna hear some

shootin'. We don't come back half-hour after them shots, we ain't

comin'. Radio's up on a shelf over the wheel.

Got a fresh battery, you'll see the turn-on switch. We don't come

back, you need to start callin' for he'p on the mike.

Tam through them frequencies and keep cauin'. That don't bring

nobody, you got the water jug, the pistol, and you two legs. Ay?"

"Just so you know." Train turned away and started

moving.

Dan paused, looking up at Arden's face. The deep-purple birthmark

was no longer ugly, he thought. It was @ the unique pattern of a

butterfly's wings, or the color and markings of a seashell never to be

exactly duplicated in a thousand years.

"I'll be back," he @ and he followed Train through the morass.

When they'd gotten out of Arden's earshot, Train said quietly,

"Them febas kill us, they gonna find her, too, eventual. What they'll

do I ain't gonna think on."

Dan didn't answer. He'd already thought of that.

"Just so you know," Train said.

They waded on, and in another moment the wilderness had closed

between them and Baby.

Nasty brown water had flooded Flint's eyes and mouth, choking off

his shout of terror. Pelvis was @ beside him, insanely @ to get across

the'ptor corral at the man who'd chewed Mama's flesh. Flint felt

Clint's arm thmsh, his brother's bones squirming violently inside his

body. The thought of Clint's infant-size lungs in water and

drowning

opened a nightmarish door on gruesorae possibili

ties. He started fighting to get his balance as he'd never fought

in his life. He got his legs under him, and his shoes found a bottom

of mud and mess that could be described only as gooshy.

He stood up. His head and shoulders were out of the water.

Still, Clint was -trapped below. Pelvis was standing up, too, his

muddy wig hanging on by its last piece of flesh-colored tape, a

strangled, enraged scream shredding his throat. With a surge of pa r

that Flint had never

we dreamed the man possessed, Pelvis starting dragging him through

the water to reach the pier.

Monty was laughing fit to bust a gut. "It's show time, boys!" he

hollered toward the house.

Flint stepped on something that exploded to life under his feet

and scared the pee out of him. A scaly form whipped past them, its

tail thrashing. The tail of a second alligator slapped Pelvis's

shoulder, and he grunted with pain but kept on going. All around them

the pond was a maelstrom of reptiles fighting for the meat and bones

Monty had just thrown in. Flint saw one of them coming from the left,

its snout plowing through the foam and its catslit eyes fixed on him.

Even as Pelvis kept hauling him, Flint struck out with his unhindered

left arm at the thin which looked large enough to make two suitcases

and a handbag. He struck the surface in front of its snout, but the

splash was enough to make it wheel away, its tail whacking muddy water

into the air. Then Pelvis was hit at the knees by an underwater beast

and he was knocked off his feet, the alhptor's barklike flesh coming up

from the depths for an instant, which was long enough for the crazed

Pelvis to give a bellow and pound at it with his free fist. The

startled reptile skittered away with a snort, pushing a small wave

before it. With his feet under him again, Pelvis dragg@ Flint onward.

Two of the beasts were going at it fang to fang over a chunk of

meat, their noisy combat drawing the attention of four or five others.

A battle royal erupted, the monsters fighting on all sides of Pelvis

and Flint. But more alligators were rising up from the bottom, and

others were speeding in to graze past them as if to test how dangerous

this particular

00fiE sooTH

food might be before they committed their jaws to a bite.

Pelvis was single-mindedly pulling Flint toward the pier, while

Flint was doing everything he could to keep the alligators away:

kicking, slapping the water with the flat of his hand, and shouting

gibberish.

But now the alligators were getting bolder. Flint managed to jerk

the shoe from his right foot, and he used that to hammer the surface.

And suddenly a horrible, thick body with gray mollusks clinging to its

hide erupted from the water beside him, a pair ofjaws wide open and

hissing. Flint slammed his shoe down across the alligators skWL going

for an eye, and the jaws snapped shut. The head whipped to one side

and its rough scales flayed the skin off his left arm from wrist to

elbow. A mollusk's shell or some growth with a sharp edge did its work

as well, and suddenly there was blood in the water.

"Get 'em out! Get 'em out, goddamn it!" somebody shouted.

They had reached the piers end, which was three feet above the

pond. Pelvis, his wig gone and his contorted face brown with mud, was

trying to grip the timbers and pWI himself up, but not even his

maddened strength could do it with Flint on the other cuff. Blood

floated on the surface around Flint's arm, and he saw at least four

alligators coming across the corral after them, their tails sweeping

back and forth with eager delight.

To the Edge

There was the racket of an electric motor and a chain rattling.

"Grab it! Both of you, grab it!"

The winch's hook and chain had been lowered. Pelvis and Flint

clung to its oversize links as a beggar might grasp hundred-dollar

bills. The motor growled, and the chain began to hoist them up.

Hands caught them, pulling them onto the pier. Below Flint's

muddy shoe and sock, three alligators slammed their snouts together.

they started fighting in the blood-pink foam, and as their bodies hit

the pilings the entire pier trembled and groaned.

But now Flint and Pelvis had solid wood under their feet.

Flint could smell his blood; it was coming from a blue-edged gash

across his left forearm and dripping from his hand to the planks. He

staggered, about to pass out, and he found himself clutching Pelvis for

support. Through a haze he looked at the choppy pond and saw two

alligators battling for something between their jaws that appeared to

be a mud@d, scruffy bird. It took him a few seconds to realize it was

Pelvis's wig. He watched with a kind of strange fascination as the two

monsters ripped it apart and then each of them submerged with a

souvenier of Memphis.

His chest heaving, Pelvis stared slack-jawed at the faces of Doc,

Monty, Mitch, and two other men he didn't recognize.

Doc was wearing his sunglasses again.

"

"Crazy as hell, man!" Doc was blasting Monty. "I don't want 'em

dead till he sees 'em!"

"Well, shit!" Monty fired back. "How was I supposed to know they

were fool enough to jump outta the-" Flint had felt Pelvis's body

tense. He thought of a hurricane about to wreak death and destruction.

Pelvis pulled back his right fist and then drove it forward like a

fleshy piston into Monty's nose. With a gunshot pop of breaking bones

the blood spewed from Monty's nostrils all over Doc's Harvard T-shirt.

Monty staggered back, his eyes wide and amazed and the blood

running into his beard as if from a faucet. One step.

Two steps.

And into the corral, right on top of the reptiles fighting below

the end of the pier.

"Oh, Jesus!" Doc shouted, blood on the lenses of his sunglasses

and spotting his cheeks.

"Monty!" Mitch hollered, and he ran to operate the hook and

chain.

But the sense had been knocked out of Monty, and maybe that was

for the best because he might have been unaware exactly of his

position. One of the other men Pelvis hadn't recognized drew a pistol

and started shooting at the alliptors, but they had already taken hold

of Monty, one with jaws crunched into his left shoulder and another

gripping his right leg. The winch's chain came down, but Monty didn't

reach for it. The alligators started shaidng him the way Pelvis had

seen Mama shake one of her teddy bears. He recalled, in his dim cell

of thinking at the moment, that the stuffing had come out everywhere.

So, too, it was with Monty.

Now Mitch had pulled his pistol and was firing, too, but the taste

of blood and living meat had driven the creatures to a frenzy. More of

them were racing over for a share.

During the shooting, amid the thrashing bodies and the gory

splashing, at least two bullets went into Monty. Maybe he was dead

before his bones started to rip from their sockets.

Maybe.

Doc didn't want to see any more. He'd known Monty was

finished when he went in there, bleeding like that and with the 'gators

already so riled up. He'd seen them go after the ranger, so he'd

known. He turned away, removed his dark glasses, and slowly and

methodically began to wipe the blood off the lenses with a clean part

of his T-shirt. His fingers were trembling. Behind him Mitch threw up

into the corral.

"Bummer," Doc said, mostly to himself.

He took the handcuff key from his pocket. He unlocked the cuffs

and let them fall. Pelvis blinked at him, still dazed but his fury

spent. Flint grasped his injured arm and then pitched to his knees,

his head hanging, Doc reached back, drew the .45 from his waistband,

cocked it, and laid the barrel between Pelvis's eyes. "You're next,"

he said. "Walk to the edge."

Pelvis was already brain-blasted; seeing that man eat Mama for

breakfast had done him in. He knew what was waiting for him, but

without Mama-without his adored companion-life wasn't worth living. He

walked to the edge.

Below him was something the alligators were still tearing at. It

was getting smaller and smaller. It had a beard.

Doc stood behind him and put the automatic's barrel against the

back of his naked head.

"Do it!" Mitch urged. "Put him down!"

Flint tried to stand, but he could not. He was near fainting, the

smell of blood and mud and 'ptor filth was making him sick, the harsh,

hot sun had drained him. He said, "Eisley?" but that was all he could

say. He hadn't reft Clint move since they'd come out of the water, but

now the arm gave a feeble jerk and Clint's little lungs heaved like a

hiccup deep in the folcrs and Oassages of Flint's intestines.

Doc put his other hand up to shield his face from flying bits of

bone and brain matter. Ms finger tightened on the triggerHe heard a

gurgling noise.

He looked around, and saw brown water trickling from the mouth on

the bizarre baby head that grew from the freak's side.

Flint heard boots clumping on the pier. There was the sound of

bare feet on the planks as well.

Doc saw who was coming. He said, "Takin' care of business, Gault.

Shondra don't need to see this."

"What's goin' on?" Flint heard a woman's irritated voice ask. A

young woman, she sounded to be. "Noise woke us the fuck up. Who was

hollerin' so much?"

"Shondra, you best stay put. Monty went in."

The slide of bare feet stopped, but the boots kept walking.

"Bastard here killed him!" Mitch said. "Doc was fixin'to blow

his brains out!"

"These are the two from the marina." Doc was talking to whoever

wore the boots. "This one got me in the eyes with the spray. One over

there shot Virgil."

The boots approached Flint. They stopped beside him, and Flint

lifted his head and saw they were made of bleached beige snakeskin.

"Dig that third arm, man. Got a little baby head growin' out his

ribs, too. Gen-yoo-me it-eak from freak city. I ain't seen nothin'

like him since I ate a bag of magic mushrooms in Yuma, spring of

'sixty-eight. Damn, those were the days!"

Shondra gave an ugly snorting sound. "I wasn't even born then."

Doc might have laughed through clenched teeth.

With an effort Flint looked up at the man in the snakeskin boots.

The individual was an exercise junkie. Or a steroid freak.

Or maybe he just loved himself a whole lot. Because the muscles

of his exposed chest, shoulders, and arms were massive swollen lumps

that strained against the tanned flesh, the connecting veins standing

out in blood-pumped relief, the visible ligaments as tight as bundles

of piano wire.

The man wore blue jeans with ripped-out knees, a piece of rope for

a belt cinching his narrow witist, and he had a red neckerchief tied

loosely around his throat. His face was a hard, chiseled slab of brown

rock with a dagger-sharp chin and sunken cheeks, the facial flesh

cracked with a hundred deep lines caused by what must have been years

of serious sun-worship. The pure ebony of his commanding eyes, his

U2

thick black brows, and his curly black hair, the sides swirled

with gray, gave him a distinctive Latin appearance. Flint guessed his

age at late thirties or early forties, but it was difficult to tell

since his body was young but his face was sun-wrinkled.

Standing several yards behind him was a blond girl who couldn't

have been older than twenty. She was barefoot, wearing denim cutoffs

and a black bra. She, too, appeared to be a slave to the sun, because

she was burned a darker brown than the man. Her golden hair cascaded

over her shoulders and she had icy blue eyes. Flint thought she was

almost beautiful, as beautiful as any Hollywood starlet, but there was

an ugly, twisted set'to her collagen-plumped lips, and those eyes could

burn a hole through metal.

And right now he felt like a little crumpled piece of tin.

The muscle man stared down at Flint with just a hint of interest,

as if he might be viewing a particularly creepy insect, but no more

than that. Shondra spoke first. "Damn, Gault! Look how white he is!"

Gault motioned at Doc with a twirling forefinger. Doc understood

the command and lowered the automatic, then said, "Thin around!" to

Pelvis.

Pelvis did, his eyes deep-socketed and his face and bald head

still painted with ghastly mud.

"This is the fucker thought he was Elvis Presley," Doc said.

Gault's face remained impassive.

"You know who they are? Bounty hunters. Can you believe it?

From Shreveport. They had a guy in cuffs back there at St. Nasty.

Said at the marina they were calhn, the man they work for. Anyway,

they were taidn' their prisoner in to get a reward. I set the guy

loose, figured it was my good deed for the month."

Gault's eyes went to Flint and M=ed to Pelvis.

"I thought you'd want to see 'em, 'specially the freak. Do You

want me to kill 'em now, or what?"

Gault's jaws tensed; muscles that seemed as big as lemons popped

up on his face and then receded again. At UM his mouth opened. His

teeth were unnaturatiy white. ',How

much," he said in a voice that had no discernible accent but

perfect diction, "were they planning on earning as their reward?"

"Fifteen'thousand."

Gault's face settled into stone again. Then, very suddenly, he

laughed without smiling. When he did smile, it was a scary thing. He

laughed a little louder. "Fifteen thousand!"

he said, obviously finding the figure an object of humor.

"Fifteen thousand dollars, is that all?" He kept laughing, only

it became a low and dangerous sound, like a knife being sharpened. He

looked at Shondra and laughed, and she started laughing, then he looked

at Doc and laughed and Doc started laughing. Pretty soon it was a real

laff riot.

Flint, grasping his wounded forearm and blood still oozing through

his fingers, said, "Mind tellin' us what the hell's so funny?"

Gault laughed on for a moment longer, then his smile was abruptly

eclipsed. He said, "The pitiful amount of cash that a human being will

throw his life away in pursuit of" He reached into a pocket of his

jeans with his right hand. Flint heard something click like a trigger

being cocked, and he steeled himself for the worst. Then Gault's hand

emerged holding one of those spring-loaded wrist exercisers, which he

began to squeeze over and over again. "If a man should die, he should

die for riches, not petty change. Or for forbidden knowledge. That

might be worth dying for. But fifteen thousand dollars? Ha." The

laugh was very quiet. "I don't think so." Click ... click ... click

went the springs.

"I don't know what's goin' on here. I don't care, " Flint said.

"Nobody would've gotten hurt if that goon hadn't tried to drown me in a

toilet bowl."

Gault nodded thoughtfully. "Tell me," he said. "You were born

the way you are, yes? You had no control over the way your chromosomes

came together, or how the cells grew.

You had no control over your genetics, or what quirk back in your

family line caused your situation." He paused for emphasis. "No

control," he repeated, as if seeing to the heart of Flint's pain. "You

must know, better than anyone

could, that God set up tides and winds, and sometimes they take

you one way and then blow you the other, and you have no control. I

think a tide took you to that marina, and a wind blew you here. What's

your name again?"

"His name's Murtaugh," Doc said. "The other one's Eisley."

"I didn't ask you."   Gault stared fixedly at the Harvard man.   "I

asked him. Didn't I?"

Doc sod nothing, but he looked stun He pushed the .45

back into his waistband with the air of a petulant child. "My

shows are on. You want me, I'll be watchin' my shows." He trudged

back along the pier toward the area that was shaded by the

blue-and-white-striped awning. As Doc @ her, Shondra wrinkled her nose

as if she smelled something bad.

Gault walked to the pier's edge, where Pelvis still stood.

He locked down at what the alligators were whittling to the size

of a wallet. His hand worked: click ... click ... click Sinews were

standing out in the wrist. "All the my@es, spilled out," he said. His

other hand pressed against Pelvis's chest. Pelvis flinched; the man's

fingers seemed cold.

"Monty always was a glutton. Now look how thin he is. You know,

You could stand to lose some weight yourself "All right, that's

enough." Flint clenched his teeth and tried to stand up. He couldn't

make it the first time. He saw Gault grinning at him. Mitch stepped

forward and aimed his pistol at Flint's head, but Gault said, "No, no!

Let him alone!"

Flint stood up. Staggered, almost fell again. Then he had his

balance. It was time to face ugly reality. "If you're gonna kill

us-which I guess you are-then how about doin' it humanely?"

The clicking of the springs had ceased.   "Are you begging, Mr.

Murtaugh?"

"No. I'm askin'." He glanced distastefully at the corral.

"A bullet in the head for both Of us, how about that?"

YOU mean you're not going to stall for time? Try to hold out

false hope? Or tell me if I let you go you'll never, never, never

Speak of this to any soul on earth?"

"It's hot," Flint said. "I'm tired, and I'm about to fall down.

I'm not gonna play games with you."

"Don't care to gamble that I might be in a lenient mood today.?"

Gault lifted his eyebrows.

Flint didn't answer. Don't bite! he told himself. He wants you

to bite so he can kick you in the teeth.

"Maybe you're a New Ager?" Gault asked. "You believe in

reincarnation, so your death today would be just another rung on the

cosmic ladder?"

"I believe in re'carnation," Shondra said. "Gault and me were

lovers in ... you know, that old city that got swallowed up in the

sea?"

"Atlantis," Gault supplied. He winked quickly at Flint.

g,worics every time.vt

Flint licked his parched lips. "How about some water for us?"

"Oh, I'm forgetting my manners. I was raised better than that.

Come on, then. rime for my workout anyway.

Shondra, go to the kitchen and get them a pitcher of ice water.

Bring me a protein shake. Chop chop." She hurried off obediently, and

then Gault motioned for them to follow and started walking toward the

awning-shaded area. Flint was weak from his wound and the heat, but he

took hold of Pelvis's elbow. "Hang on, all right?" Pelvis, in a state

of shock, allowed Flint to guide him after the clumping snakeskin

boots, and the other men, their pistols drawn, followed behind.

"Non, " Train whispered as he lowered the Ruger, "can't get no

clean shot off. Wouldn't he'p'em none if I could. We gonna have to

move in closer."

Dan's heart was slamming, but his mind was calm. He and Train

were standing in the chest-deep water seventy yards from the fenced-in

alligator corral, at the edge of where the swamp's vegetation had been

hacked away. They had gotten over a barbed-wire fence in the water

thirty yards behind them, and their hands were cut up some but they

would heal. It had been a difficult slog from the Swift boat;

Dan felt his strength ebbing fast, but he had to keep pushing

himself onward. His father, the quitter, had not raised a quitter.

They'd come out of the underbrush in time to see Flint and Eisley

standing on the pier with men holding guns and the muscular, shirtless

"boss" Train had spotted on his last visit there. Dan had seen that

both the bounty hunters were covered with mud, Eisley had lost his wig,

and an aluminum rowboat floated at the center of the 'gator corral. No

telling what they'd been through, but at least they were alive. How

long that would be was uncertain. Flint and Eisley had just followed

the muscle man toward the house, with the other men-the pistol-bearing

"soldiers"-behind them.

"Fella up in that watchtower, leanin' back in his chair readin' a

. . . ohhhhh, that naughty fella, him!" Train had aimed the Ruger and

was looking through the'scope. "Got a nfle to his side.

Walk'em-talk'em on the floor. Flair of binocs." He took his eye away

from the lens. "We gonna have to cross the open, get us around that

'gator pen."

'dRiglit."

"Might try to circle 'round the house. Get up on the platform in

back. You with me?"

"Ye@."

"Okay. We go, slow and quiet."

"Hey, Gault!" Doc called from his lounge chair in front of a

large color television set on metal casters. "Look what's on Oprah

today! Talkin' 'bout crack in the grade schools!"

"Chicago?" Gault didn't look at the screen. He was busy pumping

iron: a thirty-pound barbell in each hand, his biceps swelling up,

veins, moving under the skin. A light sheen of sweat glistened on his

chest and face.

"No, she's in Atlanta this week."

"The Samchuk brothers'll have that market cornered in three

years." Gault kept lifting the barbells up and down with the precision

of a machine. "If the Jamaicans don't kill them first."

Sitting a few feet away at a wrought-iron table with a blue

glass top, a bloody towel pressed to his forearm wound, Flint had

a flash of understanding. "Is that what this is about? Drugs?"

"My business," Gault said. "I supply a demand. It's no big

thing."

They wein on the platform under the striped awnmgPelvis was sitting

across the table from Flint, his hands held to his face. In more

chairs arranged around Flint and Pelvis sat Mitch and the two other men

with pistols. A waudetalkie and an Ingrain machine gun sat on a white

coffee table in front of a sand-mlored sofa, along with copies of House

BeautiAl, Vogue, and Soldier of Fortune nes. Flint had seen on closer

inspection Gault's own house was not so beautiful; it was a prefabjob,

and the swamp's humidity had warped the walls @ damp cardboard. Some

of the joints were splitting apart and had been reinforced with strips

of duct tape. Click ... click ... click- the sound wasn't coming from

Gault's squeezevip, but from the remote control in Doc's hand. In the

five minutes they'd been sitting here, Flint had watched Doc almost

incessantly going through what must be hundreds of channels brought in

by the satellite dish. Doc would pause to watch quick fragments of

things like Mexican game shows, "F Troop," "The Outer Limits,"

professional wrestling, infomercials with a manic little Englishman

running around a studio selling cleaning products, "The Flintstones,"

NM videos, ranting, wildeyed preachers, soap operas, and then the

remote control would click rapidly again like the noise of a feeding

IOCUSL At the most, Doc had a seven-second attention span.

Flint eased the towel away from his wound and winced at the sight.

The gash was four inches long, its ragged blue edges in need of fifty

or sixty stitches. An inch and a half lower and an artery would have

been nicked. Thick blood was still oozing, and he pressed the

towel-which Gault had given him from a hamper beside a rack of free

weightsback against the wound.

Doc said, "Hey! It's your man, Flinty! Gault, that's the killer

I let go!"

Flint looked at the television set. Doc had paused at CNN

to watch gas bombs dispelling a prison riot, and on the screen was

either a mug shot or driver's license photo of Dan Lambert. "That's

him, right?" He turned the volume up with the remote.

bizarre turn i n the case of Daniel Lewis Lambert, who is being

sought in the slaying of a Shreveport, Louisiana, bank loan manager and

had also been wanted in connection with the death of an Alexandria

motel owner.

Under questioning by Alexandria police last night, the slain man's

wife admitted it was actually she who had beaten her husband to death."

A mug shot of a sullen4ooking woman with wild red hair came up on the

screen. "Hannah DeCayne told police-" "Boring!" Doc changed the

channel.

"Wait!" Flint said. "Turn it back!"

"SLTew you." "Star Trek" was on now, Kirk and Spock speaking in

dubbed Spanish. "Beam me up, Sccecottie!"

Doc said excitedly, talking to the television set.

Flint figured the remote control in Doc's head never stopped

clicking. He stared at the blue glass of the tabletop, this news

another little ice pick from God in the back of his neck. If Lambert

had been telling the truth about the motel owner, then was the murder

at the bank an accident or an act of self-defense? If Lambert was such

a mad-dog killer, why hadn't he picked up the pistol and used it at

Basile Park? In spite of the situation, in spite of the fact that he

knew he and Pelvis were going to die in some excruciating way after

Gault finished his workout, Flint had to laugh. He was going to die

because he'd gone south hunting a skin who was basically a decent man.

"Something's funny?" Gault asked, his labor ceasing for the

moment. . I "Yeah, it is." Flint'laughed again; he reft on the verge

of tears, but he laughed anyway. "I think the joke's on me, too.@,

"Who thefuck messed up the kitchen?" Shondra, looking both angry

and more than a bit queasy, came through an open sliding glass door,

carrying a tray with a plastic pitcher, two paper cups, and frothy

brown liquid in a

milk-shake glass. She set the tray down between Flint and Pelvis.

"There's all kinda guts and hair in the garbage can, 'bout made me

puke! Blood smeared all over the countertop, and somebody left the

fryin'pan dirty! Who the hell did it?"

"Monty," Mitch said. Evidently Shondra's wrath was a thing to be

feared.

"Well, what'd he fry? A fuckin' polecat?"

"Fellas dog there." Mitch pointed at Pelvis.

"Another one?" Shondra made a disgusted face. "What's wrong with

that fool, he's gotta be ratin' dogs and 'coons and polecats?"

"Go ask him, why don't you?" Doc had torn his eyes away from the

television. "I'm tryin' to watch 'Dragnet,' if you'll keep it down!"

"You're not watchin' anything, you're just burnin' out that

clicker! Gault, why don't you get rid of him? He makes me so nervous,

I'm like to jump outta my skin every time he opens that dumb mouth!"

"Yeah?" Doc sneered. "Well, I know the only thing that has to

get stuck in your dumb mouth to shut you up! I was with Gault long

before you came along, girlie pearlie, and when he throws you out, I'm

gonna kick your little ass back to your white-trash trailer!"

"You ... you ... you old man!" Shondra hollered, and she picked

up the milk-shake glass and reared her arm back, froth flying.

"No," Gault said quietly, pumping iron again. "Not that."

She slammed the glass down on the tray, her face a pure image of

hell, picked up the plastic pitcher, and flung it at Doc, water

splashing everywhere.

"Look what she did!" Doc squalled. "She's tryin' to blow the TV

out, Gault!"

'And I'm not cleanin' up that damn mess, neither!" she roared at

all of them. "I'm not cortin' that damn stinkin' garbage out and

getting' that mess on me!" Tears of rage and frustration burst from her

eyes. "You hear? I'm not doin' it!" She turned and, sobbing, fled

back into the house.

'Your Academy Award's in the mail, baby!" Doc shouted after her.

Gault stopped lifting the barbells and put them on the floor. He

looked at Flint, smiled wanly, and said with a shrug of his thick

shoulders, "Trouble in paradise." Then he drank half of the protein

shake, blotted the sweat from his face with the red neckerchief, and

said, "Brian, go take the garbage out and clean the kitchen."

"Why do I have to do it?" Brian had neatly cut light brown hair,

wore steel-rimmed glasses, and a chrome-plated revolver sat in a

holster at his waist. He looked about as old as a college senior,

wearing a sun-faded madras shirt and khaki shorts, black Nikes on his

feet.

"Because you're the new boy, and because I say so."

"Heh-heh-heh," giggled the Latino man sitting next to him; he wore

a Yosemite Sam T-shirt and dirty jeans, his blue-steel Colt automatic

in a black shoulder holster.

"You want to laugh, Carlos, you go laugh while you're moppin' the

kitchen floor," Gault said. Carlos started to protest, but Gault gave

him a deadly stare. "Move now. " The two men went into the house

without another word.

"I wouldn't let that bitch snow me," Doc said.

"Shut up about her." Gault finished his shake. "I wish you two

would bury the hatchet."

"Yeah, she'll bury a hatchet in me if I dowt bury one in her

first."

"Children, children." Gault shook his head, then he crossed his

swollen arms and stared at the two bounty hunters. "Well," he said, "I

guess we need to take care of business. What would you think if I'd

offer to cut your tongues out and chop your hands off.? Would you

rather be dead, or not?" He looked at Clint's arm. "In your case, it

would be a triple amputation. How does that sound?"

"I think I might faint with excitement," Flint said. Pelvis was

mute, his eyes shiny and unfocused.

"It's the best offer I can make. See, I told you I was in a

lenient mood. Doc's the one who screwed things up."

"I'll be glad to cut his tongue out and chop off his hands," Flint

said.

Gault didn't smile.   "Forbidden-knowledge time: we've

been having trouble from a competitor. His name is Victor f

Medina. We were trucking some merchandise in crates when we first

moved our base here. He found out the route and took it away from us.

So we had to come up with alternative packaging. The stomachs of live

alligators do very well."

"I came up with that idea!" Doc announced.

"When Doc saw you making your phone call," Gault went on,

"he-unfortunately-lost his composure. He thought you might've been

working with Medina, setting up another hijack. Doc doesn't always

reason things out. He was stupid, he was wrong, and I apologize. But

you put a valuable man out of action. A knee injury like that ...

well, there's no health insurance in this business. A doctor would get

very suspicious, and we would have a money leak. So Virgil, like a

good horse, was laid to rest and you are to blame. Now Monty is gone.

I have to hire new people, run them through security, train them ...

it's a pain. So." He walked to the coffee table and picked up the

Ingrain machine gun. i will make it quick. Stand up."

"Stand us up yourself," Flint told him.

"No problem. Doc? Mitch?"

"Shit!" Doc whined. "'The Flying Nun's just started!"

But he got out of his chair, pulled his gun, and Mitch likewise

stood up with a pistol in his hand. Doc hauled Flint to his feet but

Mitch struggled with Pelvis and Gault had to help him.

There was fresh sweat on Gault's face. "End of the pier," he

said.

Too Damn Hot

("There, we get up," Train said as he waded chest-deep toward a

walkway at the rear of the prefabricated ranch house. Dan followed,

not mired quite so deeply as Train because of their difference in

heights, but he was giving out and he envied Train's rugged strength.

Train slid his rifle up on the walkway, then grabbed the timbers and

heaved himself out of the water. He took Dan's Browning and gave him a

hand up.

"YOU all right?" Train had seen the dark circles under Dan's

eyes, and he knew it had been a rough trek but the other man was fading

fast.

"I'll make it."

"You sick, ain't you." Train wasn't asking a question.

"Leukemia," Dan said. "I can't do it like I used to. gh t

"Hell, who can?" They were standing about el t fee from the rear

entrance, which was a solid wooden door behind a screen door. The rear

of the house was featureless except for a few small window. Back here

the platform was narrow, but it widened as it continued around the

house.

Train looked along the walkway they stood on. Behind them was

more swamp and a large green metal incinerator on a Platform fifty feet

from the house. "Okay," Train said.

"Look like this the way we go-I, He stopped abruptly. They heard

voices from beyond the doors, getting closer.   Someone was coming out.

Train

pressed his body against the wall ten feet away on the right of

the door and Dan stood an equal distance away on the left, their rifles

ready. Dan's heart pounded, all the saliva dried up in his mouth.

The inner door opened. "Yeah, but I'm not stayin' in the business

that Ion" A young man wearing wire-rimmed glasses, a madras shirt, and

khaki shorts emerged, both arms around a Rubbermaid garbage can. On

the side of it were streaks of what looked like blood. "I'm gonna make

my cash and get out while I can." He let the outer screen door slam

shut at his back and he started walking toward the incinerator, a

pistol in a holster at his waist.

Train was thinking whether to rush him and club at him with the

rifle's butt or push through the screen door when the young man

suddenly stopped.

He was looking down at the walkway. At the water and mud on the

planks where they'd pulled themselves up. Then he saw the footprints.

And that, as Dan knew Train would've said, was all she wrote.

He spun around. Sunlight flared on his glasses for an instant.

His mouth was opening, and then he was dropping the garbage can to go

for his gun. "Carlos!" he yelled.

"There's somebody out he- "

Train shot him before the pistol could clear leather. The bullet

hit him in the center of his chest and he jerked like a marionette and

was propelled off the walkway into the water.

A startled Latino face appeared at the screen. The inner door

slammed shut. Then: pop pop pop went a pistol from inside, and three

bullets punched holes through wood and screen. Train started shooting

through the door, burning off four more shells. As Train wrenched the

magazine out and pushed another one in, Dan ftred twice more through

the punctured doors, and then Train rushed in and with a kick knocked

them both off their hinges.

"Gault! Gault!" the man named Carlos shouted. He had overthrown

a kitchen table and was crouched behind it, his pistol aimed at the

intruders. Train saw the table, and then a bullet knocked

wood from the door jamb beside his head and he twisted his body and threw

himself against the outside wall again. A second shot cracked, the

bullet tearing through the air where Train had stood an instant before.

" @ult! " @as wa I s screaming it now. "They're breakin' in!"

At the sound of the first shot Gault stopped in his snakeskin

boots.

He knew what it had been. No doubt.

"Rifle!" Doc said. They were all standing about midway between

the awning-shaded area and the alligator corral.

Pop pop pop went a pistol.

"It's Medina!" Mitch shouted. "The bastard's found us! "Shut

up!" Gault heard more rifle shots. Carlos was shouting his name from

the house. His face like a dark and wrinkled skull, Gault turned around

and put the Inp= gun's barrel to Flint's throat.

"Gault!" Carlos cried. "They're breakin' in!"

Two seconds passed. Gault blinked, and Flint saw him deciding to

save his ammo for the big boys. "Mitch, stay here with them! Doc,

let's go!" They turned and ran along the pier for the house. Mitch

leveled his pistol at Flint's chest, just above Clint's arm.

Another pistol bullet thunked into the doorjamb.

had sweat on his face.   Dan shoved his rifle in and fired without

aiming, the slug smashing glass.   Carlos got Off two

more mpid-fire shots and then his nerve broke. He ftW up and,

howling in fear, left the relative sat@ of his makeshift shield to run

for the kitchen door. He was almost there when he slipped on a smear

of dog's blood on the linoleum tiles and at the same time Train shot at

him. The bullet snaked into the waff as Carlos fell. Carlos twisted

around, his gun coming up. Dan Pulled the Browning's trigger, blood

burst from Carlos's side, and he doubled up and writhed on the floor.

As Train ran into the kitchen and kicked Carlos's Pistol away, Dan

pulled the empty magazine from his rifle and popped in another one.

The next room held a dining table and chairs, a jaguar's skin up

as a wall decoration, and a small chandelier hanging from the ceiling

over the table's center. A hallway went off to the left, and another

room with a pool table and three pinball machines was on the right.

Train and Dan started across the dining room, and suddenly Dan caught a

movement and a dark-tanned blond girl wearing cutoffs and a black bra

emerged from the hallway. Her icy blue eyes were puffy and furious.

She lifted her right hand, and in it was gripped an automatic pistol.

She let go an unintelligible, hair-raising screech and Train was

swinging his rifle at her when the automatic fired twice, booming

between the walls.

The first bullet shattered glass in one of the pinball machines,

but the second brought a cry from Train.

Train's rifle went off, the bullet breaking a window beside the

blond girl. Dan had his finger on the trigger and the gun leveled at

her, but the idea of killing a woman crippled him for the fastest of

seconds. Then the girl scurried back into the hallway again, her hair

streaming behind her.

Everything was moving in a blur, time jerking and stretching, the

smell of burnt rounds and fear like bitter almonds in the smoky air.

Train's cap had fallen off, and he staggered against the wall with his

left hand clutched to his right side and blood between his fingers.

There was a shout: "Jesus, it's that damn guy!"

Dan saw that two men had come into the game room through another

doorway. One he recognized as the longhaired man named Doc, the other

was a tanned bodybuilder who had a walkie-talkie in one hand and an

Ingrain machine gun in the other. Before the muscle man could aim and

fire, Dan sent two bullets at them but Doc had already flung himself

flat to the floor and at the sight of the rifle the @nd man-the "boss,"

Dan remembered Train sayinghurtled behind the pool table.

It was getting too damn hot.

"Go back!" Dan shouted to Train, but Train had seen the Ingrain

gun and he was already retreating. They both scrambled through the

kitchen's entryway two heartbeats

before the Ingrain gun chattered and the woodwork around the door

exploded into flying shards and splinters.

Mitch jumped when he heard the distinctive noise of Gault's gun.

He had moved Flint and Pelvis so they were between him and the house,

his back to the swamp and the bounty hunters facing him. Flint had

seen @ult snatch the walkie-talkie off the coffee table and yell

something into it, and then the man in the watchtower-the same one,

Flint realized, who'd half strangled him at St. Nasty and had taken

the derringer away-had strapped his rifle around his shoulder and

started descending a ladder. Now the man was just reaching the walkway

between the tower and the house.

Mitch was scared to death. Beads of sweat trickled down his face,

his hand with the revolver in it shaking. He kept glancing back and

forth from the bounty hunters to the house, wincing at the sounds of

shots.

Pelvis suddenly psped harshly and put a hand to his chest.

Mitch's pistol trained on him.

Oh my God! Flint thought. He's havin' another attack!

But Pelvis was looking at something past Mitch's shoulder, his

eyes widening. He let out a bawling holler "Don't shoot us!"

Even as Flint realized that was the oldest trick in the book and

it could never work in a million years, the terrified Mitch swung

around and fired a shot at brown water and moss-covered trees.

Pelvis slammed his fist into the side of Mitch's head and was

suddenly all over the man like black on tar. Stunned, Flint just stood

there, watching Pelvis beat on him with one @ling fist while the ottrer

hand trapped Mitch's gun. Then the revolver went off again, its barrel

aimed downward, and Flint got his legs moving and his fists, too. He

attacked Mitch with grim fury. Mitch went down on his knees, his

facial features somewhat rearranged. Pelvis kept hammering at the man

like someone chopping firewood. Mitch's fingers opened, and Flint took

the pistol.

Footsteps on the planks. Someone running toward them.

Flint looked, his pulse racing, and there was the man from the

watchtower unslinging his rifle. The man, a wiry little bastard in

overalls, stopped thirty feet away and @ his rifle from the hip. Flint

heard the sound of an angry hornet zip past him. Then it was Flint's

turn.

The first bullet missed. The second struck the man in the left

shoulder, and the third got him a few inches below the heart. The

man's rifle had gotten crooked in his arms, and now his finger spasmed

on the trigger and a slug smashed the windshield of one of the

cigarette speedboats. Then the man went down on his back on the pIm"

his legs still moving as if trying to outdistance d@. Flint didn't fire

the last bullet in the gun. In his mouth was the sharp, acidic taste

of corruption; he'd never killed a man before, and it was an awful

thing.

Now, however, was not the time to fall on his knees and beg

forgiveness. He saw that Pelvis's fists had made raw hamburger out of

Mitch's mouth, and Flint seized his arm and said, "That's enough!"

Pelvis looked at him with a sneer curling his upper lip, but he

stepped back from Mitch and the half-dead man fell forward to the pier.

They had to get out, and fast. But going through the swamp meant

that Clint would surely drown. Flint wanted the derringer back. He

ran to the dead man's side, knelt down, and started going through his

pockets. His fingers found the derringer, and something else.

A small ring with two keys on it.

Keys? Flint thought. To what?

Flint remembered this man had been driving the cigarette boat that

had brought them here. Which of the two boats had it been? The one on

the right, not the one with the broken windshield. He didn't know a

damn thing about driving a boat, but he was going to have to learn in a

hurry.

He pushed the derringer into his pocket and stood up.

"Cecil!" he yelled. "Come on!"

**

in the kitchen, the doorway splintered to pieces and blood

staining the side of Train's shirt, Dan knew what had to be done.

"Go!" he said. "I'll hold 'em off."

"The hell with that! Runnin', I ain't!"

"You're dead if you don't. I'm dead anyway. Get out before they

come around back."

An automatic fired, the bullet chewing away more of the door

frame. The girl was at work again.

"Don't let them get to Arden," Dan said

.

Train looked down at his bleeding side. Rib was busted, but he

thought his guts were holding tight. It could've been a whole lot

worse.

The Ingrain gun chattered once more, slugs perforating the walls,

forcing Dan and Train to crouch down. Dan leaned out, burned the other

two shots in that magazine, and then popped his last four bullets into

the Browning.

"Okay," Train said. He put his bloody hand on Dan's shoulder and

squeezed. "Us two dinosaur, we fight the good fight, ay?"

"Yeah. Now get out."

"I'm getting'. Bonne chance!" Train ran for the back door, and

Dan heard him splash into the swamp.

He was in it for the long haul now. When the automatic fired

again, the bullet shattered dishes stacked in a cul)board. Dan heard

shots from out front, but surely Train hadn't had time yet to get

around the house. Where the hell were Murtaugh and Eisley?

"Come outta there, man!" Doc shouted. "We'll tear down the wall

to get you!"

Dan figured his voice was meant to hide the noise of someone-the

muscle man, probably-either reloading or crawling across the floor.

Dan gave Train six or seven more seconds, then he fired a wild shot

through the doorway and took off for the rear. He jumped from the

platform into water already chopped up by Train's departure. They'd

hear the splash and be after him with a vengeance. He headed directly

back into the swamp, through a tangle of vines and floating garbage

spilled from the can the young man had

3N

dropped. Three steps, and on the fourth his shoe came down on the

edge of a root or stump and his ankle twisted, pain knifing up his

calf.

Gault had heard the second splash and had gotten up from the floor

beside the pool table, ready to storm the kitchen, when there came

another noise from out front. The flurry of gunshots had been enough

to worry about, but now he heard the rumbling bass notes of one of the

cigarette boat's engines trying to fire up. "Get back there after

them!"

he yelled to Doc. "Try to take one alive!" Then he sprinted for

the living room and the sliding glass door that opened onto the

platform.

I

'Can't you get it goin'?" Pelvis was sitting in the white vinyl

seat beside Flint, who felt he could have used two more arms to operate

the complicated instrument panel.

"Just hang on and be quiet!" The key was turned in the ignition

switch, red lights were blinking on some of the gauges, and the engine

growled as if it were about to catch, but then it would rattle and die.

They had untied the boat's lines, and were drifting from the pier.

Pelvis held the revolver they'd taken from Mitch. He'd seen one

bullet remaining in the cylinder. His knuckles were scraped and

bleeding; he'd been coming out of his stupor for several minutes before

he'd attacked Mitch, the immediacy of their situation having cleared

his head of despair for Mama, at least for right now. As Flint

struggled to decipher the correct sequence of switches and throttles,

Pelvis looked back over his shoulder and his stomach lurched with

terror.

Gault was roming.

The muscle man had just emerged from the house. He stopped, some

of the tan draining from his face at the sight of his two downed

associates and the bounty hunters trying to escape in a speedboat.

"The Flying Nun" was still playing on the television screen. Gault

staggered, as if he were beginning to realize his swamp empire was

crumbling; then he came running along the pier, a rictus of rage

distorting his face and his finger on the Ingrain's trigger.

"Trouble!" Pelvis shouted, and he fired the revolver's last

bullet, but it was a wild shot and Gault didn't slow down.

Then Gault squeezed off a short burst as he ran, the slugs

marching across the pier and chewing holes across the speedboat's stem.

"Down!" Flint yelled, frantically trying to start the engine. "Get

down!"

Crack, crack-I another weapon spoke, and suddenly Gault was

gripping his right leg and he stumbled and fell to the planks.

A man neither Flint nor Pelvis had ever seen before had come out

from under the pier at the speedboat's bow, and he was standing in the

chest-deep water, holding a rifle with a telescopic sight. He fired a

third time, but Gault had already crawled over to the far side of the

pier and the bullet penetrated wood but not flesh. Then the man

shouted to Flint, "I'm drivin'!" and he threw the rifle in and pulled

himself over the boat's side, his eyes squeezed shut with pain and

effort.

Flint didn't know who the hell he was, but if he could operate

this damn boat, he was welcome. He scrambled into the back and picked

up the rifle as the man got behind the wheel. "Cover us, you better!"

the man yelled; he pulled a chrome lever, hit a toggle switch, and

twisted the key. The boat barked oily blue smoke from its exhausts,

its engine damaged by the Ingrain's bullets. Flint saw Gault getting up

on one knee, lifting his weapon to shoot. There was no time to aim

through the scope; he started firing and kept firing, and Gault

flattened himself again.

The engine boomed, making the boat shake. The rifle in Flint's

hands was empty. Gault raised his head. The man behind the wheel

grabbed a throttle and wrenched it upward, and suddenly the boat's

engine howled and the craft leapt forward with such power Flint was

throvm across the stem and almost out ottlie boat before he could grab

hold of a seat back. The man twisted the wheel, a mare's tail of foamy

brown water kicking up in their wake. A burst of Ingrain bullets pocked

the churning surface behind them.

The boat tore away toward the bayou, passing the vacant

watchtower, as both Flint and Pelvis held on for dear life.

Around a bend ahead, blocking the channel, stood a puuy

submerged pair of gates made of metal guardrails and topped with

vicious coils of concertina wire.

Train chopped the throttle back. "Somebody get on the

bow!"

Pelvis went, stepping over the windshield as the boat slowed.

"You see a way to get that gate open?" Train asked.

"Bolt on this side, oughta be!"

"I see it!" The boat's engine was muttering and coughing as Train

worked the throttle and gear lever, cutting and giving power until the

bow bumped the gate. The bolt, protected by a coating of black grease,

was almost down at the waterline. Pelvis lay at the prow and leaned

way over; he had to struggle with the bolt for a moment, but then it

slid

from its latch.

Train gave the engine power, and as Pelvis crawled back over the

windshield, the bow shoved the gates apart through bottom mud. He

smelled leaking gasoline. The oil gauges showed critical overheating,

red caution lights flashing on the instrument panel. "Hang you on!"

Train shouted, and he kicked the throttle up to its limit.

Dan heard a pistol shot. Water splashed three feet from his right

shoulder.

"Put the rifle down! Drop it or you get dropped!"

Dan hesitated. The next shot almost kissed his ear.

He let the rifle fall into the water.

"Hands up and behind your head! Do it! Turn around!"

Dan obeyed. Standing on the walkway that led between the house's

rear entrance and the incinerator were Doc and the girl, both of them

aiming their guns at him.

"I saw you on television!" Doc said. His face glistened with

sweat, his hair damp with it. His sunglasses had a cracked lens.

"Man, how come you want to fuck us up like this? Huh? After I turned

you loose?" He was whining. "Is that how you reward a fuckin' good

deed?"

"Get up here!" the girl snapped, motioning with her automatic.

"Come on, you sonofabitch!"

Dan eased back through the vines, the pain of his injured

3Q

ankle making him inch. From the other side of the house there

were more shots and the growl of a speedboat's engine.

"Where're Murtaugh and Eisley?"

"Get your ass up here, I said!" The girl glanced at Doc.

"You turned him loose?"

"Those two bounty hunters had him in handcuffs, back at St.

Nasty. Takin' him to Shreveport. I let him go."

"You mean ... it's 'Cause of you all this happened?"

"Hey, don't gimme me any shit now, you hear? Come on, Lambert!

Climb up!"

Dan tried. He was exhausted, and he couldn't make it.

"I'm not gonna tell you again," the girl warned. "You get up here

or you're dead meat."

"I'm dead meat anyway," Dan answered.

"This is true," Doc said, "but you can sure lose a lot of body

Parts before you pass on from this vale of tears. I'd try to make it

easy on myself if I were you."

Playing for time, Dan grasped the planks and tried once more. With

an effort of will over muscle, he got his upper body out of the water

and lay there, gasping, on the walkway.

"Shiti" the girl said angrily. "You're the damnedest fool in this

world! How come you didn't kill him and forget about it? Your mind's

getting' senile, ain't it?'$ "You'd better shut your mouth." Doc's

voice was very quiet.

"Wait till this sinks in on Gault. You wait till he figures Out

it's your fault all this happened. Then we'll see whose ass gets

kicked."

Doc sighed and looked up through the trees at the sun. '41

knew this minute would come," he said. "Ever since you homed in,

I did. Kinda ilad it's here, really." He turned his pistol toward

Shondrals head and with a twitch of his trigger finger put a bullet

through the side of her skull. She gave a soft gasp, her golden hair

streaked with red, and as her knees buckled she fell off the walkway

into the swamp.

"I just took out the garbage," he told Dan. "Stand up."

Dan got his knees under him. Then he was able to stand,

-7

pain.

"Move," Doc said, motioning with the gun toward the house.

"Gault!" he hollered. "I got one of'em alive!"

They went through the destroyed kitchen, the shot-up dining room,

and the bullet-pocked game room. Dan limped at gunpoint through a

hallway and then entered a living room where there were a few pieces of

wicker furniture, a zebra skin on the floor, and a ceiling fan turning.

A sliding glass door opened onto the awning-covered platform, where the

screen of a large television on wheels was showing a Pizza Hut

commercial.

"Oh, Lord!" Doc said.

Gault was on the platform. He was lying propped up by an elbow on

his side, a trail ofblood between him and the place on the pier from

where he'd crawled. The right leg of his jeans was soaked with gore,

his hand pressed to a wound just above the knee. Next to him lay his

Ingrain gun. Sweat had pooled on the planks around his body, his face

strained, his ebony eyes sunken with pain and shock.

"Don't touch me," he said when Doc started to reach down for him.

"Where's Shondra?"

"He had a pistol hid! Pulled it out and shot her clean through

the head! I knew you wanted him alive, that's why I didn't kill him!

Gault, lemme help you up!"

"Stay away from me!" Gault shouted. "I don't need you or

anybody!"

"Okay," Doc said. "Okay, that's all right. I'm here."

Gault gritted his teeth and pulled himself closer to Dan.

The snakeskin boot on his right foot was smeared with crimson.

"Yes," he said, his eyes aimed up at Dan with scorching hatred.

"You're the man."

"How was I supposed t ' o know he was gonna come here?"

Doc squawked. "He's supposed to be a killer, killed two fuckin'

men! I thought he'd be grateful!" He ran a trembling hand across his

mouth. "We can start over, Gauh. You know we can. It'll be like the

old days, just us two against the world. We can build it all again.

You know we can."

Gault was silent, staring at Dan.

Dan had seen the bodies lying on the pier. The one farther

away was still twitching, the nearer one looked to be stone-cold.

He saw that one of the speedboats was gone.

"What happened to Murtaugh and Eisley?"

"You came here"-Gault was speaking slowly, as iftrying to

understand something that was beyond his comprehension-"to get two men

who were. taking you to prison?"

"He must be crazy!" Doc said. "They must've been takin, him to a

loony prison!"

"You destroyed ... no, no." Gault stopped. His tongue flicked

out and wet his lips. "You damaged my business for that reason, and

that reason alone?"

"I guess that's it," Dan said.

"Ohhhhh, are you going to suffer. Gault grinned, his eyes dead.

"Ohhhhh, there will be trials and tribulations for you.

Who brought you here?"

Dan said nothing.

"Doc," Gault said, and Doc doubled his fist and hit Dan in the

stomach, knocking him to his kneer,.

Dan gasped and coughed, his consciousness fading in and out. The

next thing he knew, a bloody hand had gripped his jaw and he was

f@to-face with Gault. "Who brought you herer' Dan said nothing.

"Doc," Gault said, and Doc slammed his booted foot down across

Dan's back. "I want you to hold him down,-Gault ordered. Doc sat on

Dan's shoulders, pinning him.

Gault pressed his thumbs into Dan's eye sockets, the muscles of

his forearms bunching and twisting under the flesh. "I will ask you

once more. Then I'll tear your eyes from your head, and I'H make you

swallow them. Who brought you here?" . , Dan was too exhausted and

in too much pain to even manufacture a lie. maybe it was Train who'd

gotten away in the speedboat, he hoped. Maybe Train had had time by

now to Put the fire to the Swift's furnace and get Arden far

from this hell.   He said nothing.   away

"You poor, blind fool," Gault said almost gently.   And then his

thumbs began to push brutally into Dan's eye

sockets, and Dan screamed and thrashed as Doc held him down.

Suddenly the pressure relaxed. Dan still had his eyes.

"Listen!" Gault said. "What's that?"

There came the sound of rolling thunder.

Dan got his eyes open, tears running from them, and tried to blink

away some of the haze. Doc stood up. The noise was getting steadily

louder. "Engine," Doc said, his pistol at his side. "Comin' up the

bayou, fast!"

I "Get me another clip!" There was desperation in Gault's voice.

"Doc, help me stand up!"

But Doc was backing away toward the television set, his face

blanched as he watched the bayou's entrance. Behind him, the Flying

Nun was airborne.

Gauh struggled to stand, but his wounded leg-the thighbone

broken-would not allow it.

With a full-throated snarl, all pistons pumping, Train's

armor-plated Baby came tearing past the watchtower, veered, and headed

directly at the platform.

Doc starting firing. Gault made a amgling, cursing noise. Dan

grinned, and heaved himself up to his kneees.

The Swift boat did not slow a single knot, even as bullets pinged

off the bow's armor. It hurtled toward the platform, a muddy wake

shooting up behind its stem.

Dan saw what was going to happen, and he flung himself as hard and

far as he could to one side, out of the Swift's path.

In the next instant Baby rammed the platform and the piling cracked

with the noise of a hundred pistols going off.

The pilings trembled and broke loose, the entire house shuddering

from the blow. But Train kept his fist to the throttle and Baby kept

surging forward, ripping through the platform, shattering that sliding

glass doors, through the living room, through the prefab walls of

Gault's dream house, and bursting out through the other side. Train

jammed the engine into reverse and backed the Swift out between the two

halves of the house, and as he cleared the broken walls the insides

began to fall out: ahemorrhage of animal-skin-covered furniture, brass

lamps, faux marble

tables, pinball machines, exercise equipment, chairs, and even the

kitchen sink.

Dan clung to one half of the platform as it groaned and shivered,

the walls of the house starting to collapse into the water. On the

other half Doc saw the television set ro@ away from WM its plug still

connected and. the =mn so showing the images to which he was addicted.

He dropped his Pistol, his s@ses gone and his face stricken with

crazed terror. He flung both arms around the television in a desperate

embrace, but then the pl@ beneath his feet slanted as the foundation

pilings gave way. The set rolled DOC right into the water, and there was

a quick snap, crackle and pop and his body stiffened, smoke tinging his

head like a dark halo before he went under.

"Dan! Dan! Grab my hand!"

It was Arden's voice. She was @ding at the bows railing, reaching

for him as the boat began to back away from the splintered wreckage.

Dan clenched his @, drawing up his Im reserves of strength. He jumped

off the Platform, missing Arden's hand but grabbing hold of the

railing, his legs dangling in the water.

"Pull him upt Purl him up!" Train shouted behind the pilothouse's

bullet- glass.

Some@ seized Dan's legs and wrenched at him.

The fingers of one hand were puned from the @ He was hanging on

with five digits, his shoulder about to come out of its socket. He

looked back, and there was Gault beneath him, Patches of the man's skin

and face scorched in a gray, scaly pattern by the electrical shock,

frozen nerves drawing his iPs into a @'s-head rictus, one eye rolled

back and showing chalky yellow.

Gault made a hissing,noise, the muscles twitching in his arms.

Another arm slid down past Dan's face.

In its hand was a derringer.

The little gun went off A hole opened in Gault's throat. Bright

red blood fountamed up from a severed artery.

Other arms caught Dan and held him. Gault's head rose,

his mouth open. His hands loosened and slid down Dan's legs. The

muddy, churning water flooded into his mouth and filled up his eyes,

then his head disappeared beneath its weight.

Dan was pulled up over the railing. He saw the faces of Murtaugh

and Eisley, and then Arden was beside him and there were tears in her

beautiful eyes, her birthmark the color of summer twilight. Her arms

went around him, and he could feel her heartbeat pounding against his

chest.

He put his arms around her, too, and hung on.

Then the darkness swelled up around him. He felt himself falling,

but it was all right because he knew someone was there to catch him.

A@e@'s Island

Dan opened his eyes. He was lying on the deck in the shadow of

the pilothouse, the engine vibrating smoothly and powerfully beneath

him, the blue sky above, the sound of the hull pushing deep water

aside.

A wet rag was pressed to his forehead. Arden looked down at him.

"Where are we?" he whispered, hearing his own voice as if from a

great distance.

"Train says we're in Timbalier Bay. We're gain'to a place called

Avrietta's Island. Here." She'd poured some of the filtered water

into the cup of her hand, and she supported his head while he drank.

Someone else-a man without a shirt-knelt beside him.

Hey, al' dinosaur you. How you doin'?"

"All right. You?"

Train's face had paled, purplish hollows under his eye "Been

better. Hurtin' a little bit. See, I knew being' ugly as ten miles of

bad road's gonna pay off for me someday. That al' bullet, he say I

getting' in afnd out mighty quick, this fella so ugly. "You need to

get to a hospital."

"That's where we bound." Train leaned a little closer to him.

"Listen, you gonna have to start associatin' with some more regular

fellas, you know what I be sayin'? I take one look at that little bitty

hand and arm movin' 'round on that

fellas chest, my mouth did the open wide. Then I look at that

little bitty head hangin' down, and I like to bust my teeth when I step

on my jaw. And that other fella-the quiet one-he look in the face like

somebody I seen, but no way can I figure where."

"It'll probably come to you," Dan said. He felt his

consciousness-a fragile thing-fading away again.

"How'd you get 'em out? The speedboat?"

"Oui. Skedaddled outta there, fired up Baby and huuuuuwheeee!

she done some low-level flyin'."

"You didn't have to come back."

"For sure I did. You rest now, we gonna get where we goin' in

twenty, thirty minute." He patted Dan's shoulder and then went away.

Arden stayed beside Dan and took one of his hands in hers. His eyes

closed again, his senses lulled by the throbbing of the engine, the

langaid heat, the aroma ana caress of the saltwater breeze sweeping

across the deck.

They passed through clouds of glistening mist. Sea guns wheeled

lazily above the boat and then flew onward.

"There she is!" Train called, and Arden looked along the line of

the bow.

They had gone by several other small islands, sandy and flat and

stubbled with prickly brush. This one was different.

It was green and rolling, shaded by tall stands of water oaks.

There were structures of some kind on it.

As the boat got nearer, Flint stood at the starboard siderail

watching the island grow. He was wearing Train's T-shirt because he

felt more comfortable with Clint undercover and because the sun had

blistered his back and shoulders. Train had come up with a first-aid

kit from a storage compartment and Flint's arm wound was bound up with

gauze bandages. He had taken off his remaining shoe and his muddied

socks and tossed those items overboard like a sacrifice to the swamp.

Next to him stood Pelvis, his bald pate and face pink with sunburn.

Pelvis hadn't spoken more than a few words since they'd gotten aboard;

it was clear to Flint that there was a whole lotta thinkin'gain'on in

Pelvis's head.

Tiuin turned the wheel and gwded them around to the

Avrietta'3 Island

island's eastern side. They passed spacious green meadows.

A herd of goats was running free, doing duty as living lawn

mowers. There was an orchard with fruit trees, and a few small

whitewashed clapboard buildings that looked like utility sheds. And

then they came around into a natural harbor with a pier, and there it

was.

Flint heard himself gasp.

It stood on the green and rolling lawn, there on a rise that must

have been the island's commanding point. It was a large, clean white

mansion with multiple chimneys, a fieldstone path meandering between

water oaks, and weeping willow trees from the harbor to the house.

Flint's heart was racing. He gripped the rail, and tears burned his

eyes.

It was. It was. Oh God, oh Jesus it was ...

not.

He realized it in another moment, as they approached the pier.

There was no stained-glass window in front. The house of his birth had

four chimneys; this one had only three. And it wasn't made of white

stone, either. It was clapboard, and the paint was peeling. It was an

old antebellum mansion, a huge two-storied thing with columns and wide

porches. The rolling emerald-green lawn was the same as in his dreams,

yes. A few goats were munching the blades down. But the house ... no.

He still had a star to follow.

"Mr. Murtaugh?" Pelvis said in a voice that was more Cecil's

than Elvis's. "How come you're cryin'?"

"I'm not cryin'. My eyes are sunburned, that's all. Aren't

yours?"

"No."

"Well," Flint said, and he rubbed the tears away. "Mine are$ .

I Train had cut their speed back. The engine was rumbling quietly as

they drew closer. So far they'd seen no one. Arden had left Dan to

stand at the bow, the breeze blowing through her hair, her eyes ashine

with hope. In her right hand was gripped the pink drawstring bag with

her little plastic horses in it.

"I been wonderin'," Pelvis said. "'Bout what you offered."

"And what was that? Flint knew, but he'd been shrinking from the

memory.

"You know. 'Bout you being' my manager and all. I sure could use

somebody to help me. I mean, I don't know how successful I could be,

but-I, "Chopin you're not," Flint said.

"He's dead, ain't he? Both him and Elvis. Dead as doornails."

He sighed heavily. "And Mama's dead, too. It's gonna take me awhile

to get over that one. Maybe I never will, but ... I figure maybe it's

time for Pelvis to be put to rest, too."

Flint looked into the other man's face. It was amazing how much

more intelligent he looked without that ridiculous wig. Dress him up

in a nice suit, teach him how to talk without mangling English, teach

him some refinements and anners, and maybe a human being of worth would

come out of there. But then, it would be an almost impossible task,

and he already had a job as a bounty hunter. "I don't know, CeciL"

Flint said. "I really don't."

"Well, I was just askin'." Cecil watched the pier approach.

"You gonna take Lambert back to Shreveport?"

"He's still a killer. Still worth fifteen thousand dollars."

"Yes sir, that might be true. 'Course, if you decided here pretty

soon you wanted to like ... give it a try at being' my manager, helpin'

me get on a diet and get some work and such, then you wouldn't be a

bounty hunter anymore, would you?"

"No," Flint said softly. "I guess I wouldn't." A thought came to

him, something the man at the cafe in St. Nasty had said, speaking

about Cecil: Hell, I'll be his manager, then.

Get out of this damn swamp and get rich, I won't never look back

Maybe he could walk away, he thought. Just walk away.

From Smoates, from the ugliness, from the degradation. He still

had his gambling debts and his taste for gambling that had gotten him

so deep in trouble over the years. He couldn't exactly walk away from

those things-those faults

Avrletta's island

th -but if he had a purpose and a plan, he could work em out

eventually, couldn't he?

Maybe. It would be the biggest gamble of his life.

He found himself stroking his brother's arm through the T-shirt.

Clint was as famished as he was. As tired, too. He was going to sleep

for a week.

Get out of this damn swamp andget rich, I won't never look back.

He had never been able to get out before, he realized, because

he'd never had anything to go to. what if ... ? he wondered.

What if.7

Maybe those two words were the first steps out of any swamp.

"Comin' close!" Train called. "Jump over and tie us up, fellas!"

As Flint and Cecil secured the lines to cleats, Train stepped onto

the pier and walked to an old bronze bell supported on a post ten feet

high. He grasped the bell's rope and began to ring it, the notes

rolling up over the green lawn and through the trees toward the white

house on the hill.

In just a few seconds three figures came out of the house and

began to hurry down the path.

They were nuns, wearing white habits.

"Sister Caroline, I sure'null got some hurt people here!"

Train said to the one in the lead as they reached the pier.

"Got a fella with a hurt leg, one with an arm needs lookin' at.

And I do mean lookin' at. Believe I could use a Band-Aid or two

myself, ay?"

"Oh, Train!" She was a sturdy woman with light brown eyes.

"What's happened to you?"

"Gonna tell you all 'bout it later. Can you put us upo"We always

have room. gaster Brenda, will you help Train to the house?"

"No, no, my legs ain't broke!" Train said. "Tend to that man

lyin' there!"

Two of the nuns helped Arden get Dan up on his feet.

Sister Caroline rang the bell a few more times, and two more nuns

emerged to answer the call.

"What is this place?" Arden asked Sister Caroline as Dan was

taken off the boat.

The other woman paused, staring at the birthmark. Arden moved so

their eyes met. "This island is the convent of the Order of the

Shining Light," Sister Caroline answered.

"And that"-and she nodded at the white mansion-"is the Avrietta

Colbert Hospital. May I ask your name?"

"It's Arden Halliday."

"From?"

"Fort Worth, Texas." Arden turned to Train. "I thought you told

me the Bright Girl lived here!"

"The Bright ... oh, I see." Sister Caroline nodded, glancing from

Arden to Train and back again. "Well, I prefer to think we are all

bright ... uh ... women." She gave Train a hard stare. "Does she

know?"

"Non.

"Know what?" Arden asked. "What's goin' on?"

"We shall see," Sister Caroline said flatly, and she turned away to

direct the others.

Dan was being walked up the path supported between two nuns, one a

young girl maybe twenty-three, the other a woman in her fifties. The

shadows of the oak and willow trees were deliciously cool, and a

quartet of goats stood watching the group of pilgrims pass.

"Just a minute," someone said, beside Dan.

The nuns stopped. Dan turned his head and found himself

face-to-face with Flint Murtaugh.

Flint cleared his throat. He had his arms crossed over his

chest, in case Clint made a spectacle of himself. These fine ladies

would get a shock soon enough. "I want to thank you," Flint said.

"You saved our lives."

"You did the same for me."

"I did what I had to."

"So did l," Dan said.

They stared at each other, and Flint narrowed his eyes and looked

away, then returned his cool blue gaze to Dan.

"You know what I ought to do."

"Yeah." Dan nodded. Everything was still blurry around

the

edges; all of this-the morning's events, Gault's strong

Avrietta's Island

hold, the gun battle, the Swift severing of the house in two, this

green and beautiful island-seemed like bits and pieces of a strange

dream. "Tell me what you're gonna do."

"I think-" Flint paused. He had careful considerations to make.

He held a man's future in the balance: his own. '41

think ... I'm gonna get out of this damn swam " he saicl p "Pardon

me, Sisters." He looked up the path at the man walking alone. "Cecil,

can I talk to you, please?" He left Dan's side, and Dan saw Murtaugh

put his hand on Eisley's shoulder as they began to walk together.

The closer they got to the house, the more in need of repair Dan

saw it was. He counted a half-dozen places where rainwater must be

leaking through loose boards. A section of porch railing on the first

floor was rotten and sagging, and several of the columns were cracked.

The place needed repainting, too, otherwise the salt breeze and the

damp heat would combine to break down the wood in a very short time.

He bet the old house had termites, too, chewing at the foundation.

They needed a carpenter around here, is what they needed.

Dan tried to put weight on his injured ankle, but the pain made

him sick to his stomach. He was getting dizzy again, and his head was

pounding. The blurred edges of tuw got still more blurry. He was

about to give out, and though he fought it, he knew the sickness

eventually had to win.

"Sisters?" he said. "I'm sorry ... but I'm real near passin'

out."

"Train!" the older one shouted. "Help us!"

As Dan's knees buckled and the darkness rushed up at him once

more, he heard Train say, "Got him, ladies." Dan felt himself being

lifted over Train's shoulder in a fireman's carry before he passe@ @ut

completely, and Train-weak himself but unwilling to let Dan hit the

ground-took him the last thirty yards to the house.

Late afternoon had come.

Arden was freshly showered and had slept for five solid hours in a

four-poster bed in the room Sister Caroline had

brought her to, on the antebellum mansion's first floor.

Before her shower another nun about Arden's age had brought her a

lunch of celery soup, a ham salad sandwich, and iced tea. When Arden

had asked the young woman if the Bright Girl lived here, the nun had

given her a tentative smile and left without a word.

On the way to this room they'd passed through a long ward of beds.

Most of the beds were in use. Under ceiling fans and crisp white

sheets lay some of the patients of the Avrietta Colbert Hospital: a

mixture of men, women, and children, white, black, and Latino. Arden

had heard the rattling coughs of tuberculosis, the gasping of cancerous

lungs, the slow, labored breathing of people who were dying.

The nuns moved around, giving what comfort they could.

Some patients were getting better, sitting up and talking-, for

others, though, it seemed the days were numbered. Arden heard a few

Cajun accents, though certainly not all the patients were of that

lineage. She was left with the impression that this might be a charity

hospital for the poor, probably from the Gulf Delta area, and that the

patients were there because no mainland hospital would accept them

or-in the case of the elderly ones who lay dying-waste time on them.

The same young nun brought Arden a change of clothes: a green

hospital gown and cotton slippers. Not long after she'd awakened

there'd been a knock at the door, and when she'd opened it there stood

a tall, slim man who was maybe in his mid-sixties, wearing a pair of

seersucker trousers, a rumpled white short-sleeve shirt, and a dark

blue tie. He'd introduced himself in a gentle Cajun accent as Dr.

Felicien, and he'd sat down in an armchair and asked her how she was

feeling, was she comfortable, did she have any aches or pains, things

like that. Arden had said she was still tired but otherwise fine;

she'd said she had come here to find the Bright Girl, and did he know

who she meant?

"I most think I do," Dr. Felicien had said. "But I gonna have to

beg off and leave that for later. You try to get yourself some more

sleep now, heah?" He'd gone without answering any ftu-ther questions.

Avrietta's island

A fan turned above her bed. Her window looked out toward the Gulf,

and she could see waves rolling in.

Shadows laY across the lawn. She had figured this room belonged

to a doctor or someone else on the staff. When she went in the small

but spotless bathroom to draw water from the faucet into a Dixie cup,

she looked at her face in the mirror, studying her birthmark as she had

a thousand times before.

She was very, very d.

What if it had been a lie? All along, a lie? Maybe Jupiter

hadn't been lying, but he'd just been plain wrong. Maybe he'd seen a

young and pretty blond woman in Lapierre when he was a little boy, and

maybe later on he'd heard the myths about a Bright Girl-a faith healer

who could cheat time itself-and he'd mixed up one with the other? But

if there was a Bright GirL then who was she, really? Why had Train

brought her here, and what was going on?

She lifted her hand and ran her fingers along the edges of her

birthmarl What would she do, she asked herself, if this muk-this

bad-luck stain that had ruined her life-had to remain on her face for

the rest of her days? What if there was no magic healing touch? No

ageless Bright Girl who carried a lamp from God inside her?

Closing her eyes, Arden leaned her face against the mirror. She'd

reft she was so close. So very close. It was a cruel trick, this was.

Nothing but a cruel, cruel trick.

Someone knocked at the door. Arden vmnt to open it, thinking that

it was probably Dr. Felicien with more questions or the young nun.

She opened the door and the face that looked at her both startled

and horrified her.

It belonged to a man.. He,had neatly combed sandy-brown hair on

the right side of his head, but on the left side there were just tufts

of it. A terrible burn and the subsequent healing Process had drawn the

skin up into shiny parchment on that left side, his mouth twisted, the

left eye sunken in folds of scar tissue. The left ear was a melted nub

and the man's throat was mottled with burn scar. His nose, though

scarred, had escaped the worst of the damage, and the right

side of his face was almost untouched. Arden stepped back, her

own face mirroring the shock she felt, but at once that feeling changed

to shame. If anybody understood what it meant to look at someone

shrink away from you in a display of ill manners and idiocy, it was

she.

But if the man was bothered by her reaction, he didn't show it.

He smiled. He was wearing dark blue pants, a blue-striped shirt, and a

bow tie. "Miss Halliday?"

Arden remembered she'd told Dr. Felicien she was unmarried.

"She wants to see you," the burn-scarred man said.

"She? Who?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forget that everybody 'round here doesn't know

her name. Miz Kathleen McKay. I believe she's who you've come to

find."

"She's-" Arden's heart slammed. "She's the Bright Girl?"

"Some would call her that, Imagine. If you'd like to come with

me?"

"Yes! I would! Just a minute!" She crossed the room and got the

little pink bag from atop a dresser.

On the way out they went through another ward toward the rear of

the hospital, and in passing the man spoke to the patients, calling

their names, giving some encouragemcul, throwing a joking remark here

and there. Arden couldn't help but see how the patients-even the very,

very sick ones-perked up at this man's presence. She saw their faces,

and she saw that not one of them flinched or showed any degree of

distaste. It dawned on her that they didn't see his scars.

Arden followed him away from the house and along another

fieldstone path that led toward a grove of pecan trees. "I hear you

had a time findin' us," the man said as they walked.

"Yes, I did." She figured Dr. Felicien or somebody had gotten

the whole story from either Dan or Train.

"That's a good sign, I think."

"It is?"

"Surely," he said, and he smiled again. "It's not far, right

Avrletta's Island

through here." He led her under a canopy of interlocking tree

branches, and just on the other side was a small but immaculately kept

white clapboard house with a screenedin front porch. Off to one side

was a flower garden, and a Plot Of vegetables as well. Arden felt

faint as the man walked up the front steps and opened the door to the

screened porch.

He must have noticed her condition, because he said, "Are you all

right?"

"I'm fine. Just a little light-headed."

"Breathe deep a few times, that oughta help."

She did, standing at the threshold. And suddenly she realized who

this fire-scarred man must be. "What's ...

what's your name?" she asked.

"Pearly Reese."

She had known it, but still it almost knocked her knees out from

under her. She remembered the prostitute at the cafe in St. Nasty

saying that the Bright Girl was an old wovnan who came to Port Fourchon

to see my mama's cousin. His name was Pearly, he was seven years old

when he got burned up in afire. Near thirty years ago, she'd said.

The Bright Girl took him with her in a boat.

"Do you know meT' Pearly asked.

"Yes I do," she said. "Your second cousin helped me get here.

"Oh." He nodded, even if he didn't quite understand. I-I @ that

must be a good sign, too. You ready to meet her.?"

"I am," Arden said.

He took her inside.

The Bfl!ght Girl

(:)nce inside the door, Pearly called, "Miz McKay7 I brought her!"

"Come on back, then! I know I look a fright, but come on back

anyway!"

It had been the raspy voice of an old woman, yes. Dan had been

right, Arden realized as the first hard punch of reality hit her.

There was no such thing as a woman who could stay young forever. But

even if Jupiter had been mistaken about that part of it, the Bright

Girl could still have the healing touch in her hands. She was

terrified as she followed Pearly through a sitting room, a short

hallway, and then into a bedroom.

And there was the Bright Girl, propped up on peachcolored pillows

in bed. Sunlight spined through lacecurtained windows across the

golden pine-plank floor, anct above the bed a ceiling fan politely

murmured.

"Oh, " Arden whispered, and as tears came to her eyes her hand

flew up to cover her mouth so she wouldn't say something stupid.

The Bright Girl was, indeed, an elderly woman. Maybe she was

eighty-five, possibly older. If her hair had ever been blond, it was

all snow now. Her face was heavily lined and age-spotted, but even so,

Arden could tell that in her long-ago youth this woman had been lovely.

She was wearing a white gown, and now she reached to a bedside

tale for a pair of wire-rimmed eyeglasses. The movement was

slow, and her mouth tightened with pain. The fingers of her hand were

all twisted and malformed, and she had difficulty picking the glasses

up. At once Pearly was at her side, but he didn't put the glasses on

her face for her. He steadied her hand so her gnarled fingers could do

the work.

Then she got the glasses on, and Arden saw that behind the lenses

there was still fire in the Bright Girl's pale amber eyes.

Like lamps, Arden thought. Like shining lamps.

"Sit." The Bright Girl lifted her other hand, the fingers just as

twisted, and motioned toward a flower-print armchair that had been

turned to face the bed. The elderly woman's voice trembled; either from

palsy or being nervous, Arden didn't know. Arden sat down, her hands

clutching the pink bag in her lap, her heart galloping.

"lzmonade," the Bright Girl said. Her breathing, too, looked

painful. "Want a glass?"

"I ... think I would."

"I can put a shot of vodka in it for you." The Bright Girl,

surprisingly, had a midwestern accent.

"Uh ... no. Just lemonade."

"Pearly, would you? And I will take a shot of vodka in mine."

The two women were silent. The Bright Girl stared at Arden, but

Arden wasn't sure where to park her eyes. She was so glad to have

found this person, so glad to finally be there, but she was feeling a

crush of disappointment, too.

The Bright Girl wasn't who Jupiter had said she was. The as ai

Bright Girl could not cheat time, and she wasn't a f th healer. If she

had a healing touch, then why hadn't she been able to smooth the scars

on Pearly's face? Tears burned Arden's eyes again; they weir the bitter

tears of knowing she had been wrong.

The Bright Girl-at least the time-cheating, never-aging, faith-healing

part of her-was a myth. The truth was that the Bright Girl was a

rather small, frail, white-haired eighty-five-year-old woman who had

gnarled fingers and labored breathing.

T

"Don't cry," the Bright Girl said.

"I'm all right. Really." Arden wiped her eyes with the back of

her hand. "I'm-" She stopped. The floodgates were about to burst. It

had all been wrong. It had been a cruel, cruel trick.

"Go ahead if you want to cry. I cried my eyes out, too, that

first day."

The tears had begun trickling down Arden's cheeks. She sniffled.

"What do you mean ... you cried, too?"

"When I came here and found out." She paused, her breathing

stntined. "Found out the Bright Girl couldn't just put her hands on me

and take it all away."

Arden shook, her head. "I'm not ... I don't understand.

Take what away?"

The old woman smiled slightly. "The pain. The Bright Girl

couldn't heal me of the pain. That I had to do for myself."

"But ... you're the Bright Girl, aren't you?"

"I'm a Bright Girl."

"Are you ... are you a nun?"

"Me, a nun? Unh-unh! I raised too much hell when I was a young

girl to be a nun now! The thing is, I enjoyed raising hell. Seeing my

father"-again, she had to pause to regulate her breathing-"squirm when

the police brought me home.

We didn't get along so very well."

Pearly came in, bringing a plain plastic tray with two jelly-jar

glasses of lemonade. "Take this one," he said, giving Arden a glass,

"unless you want your head lmocked off. Miz McKay @s the occasional

libation."

"I wish you would quit that! Over thirty damn years," she said,

speaking to Arden, "and he still calls me Miz McKay!

= idmim .

Like I'm some weak little old flower that j m

the"-a breath, a breath-"slumps in the noonday sun! My name is

Kathleen!"

"You know I was raised to respect my elders. Don't drink that

down too fast, now."

"I'll gulp it in a second if I want to!" she snapped, but she

didn't. "Let us be alone now, Pearly. We have to talk."

"Yes ma'am."

I.There he goes with that southern-fried crap again! Go out and

pee on the flowers or something!"

Pearly left the room. The Bright Girl gripped her glass with both

hands, drew it to her wrinkled mouth, and sipped.

"Ahhhh," she said. "That's better." She glanced up at the

ceiling fan that turned above them. "I never could get used to this

heat down here. For a time I thought I couldn't stand it, that I was

going to have to get back"-a breath, then another-"to Indiana. That's

where I'm from. Evansville, Indiana. You said you're from Fort

Worth?"

"Yes.

"Well, that's good, then. Hot in Texas, too." She sipped her

vodka-laced lemonade again. "That's some birthmark you've got there."

Arden nodded, not knowing how to respond.

"You came here to be healed, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"And now you're sitting there thinking you're the biggest.

Biggest fool who ever put on panties. You came down here to be

healed by a young, pretty girl who never ages. Who people say lives

forever. You didn't come here to"breathing again, her lungs making a

soft hitching noise"listen to an old woman spit and snort, did you?"

"No," Arden had to admit. "I didn't."

"I came to be healed, too. My 'condition,' as my father put

it"-she nodded toward a walker by the bed-"used to be able to get

around on a cane, but ... I can hardly stand up on the walker now.

I've had severe arthritis since I was a young girl. About your age,

maybe younger. My father was from old money. The family's in banking.

Very social dogs, they are. So when the lovely daughter can't dance

on her crippled"-a pause-"crippled legs at the social events, and when

the white gloves won't slip over her twisted fingers, then. Then the

specialists are called. But when the specialists can't do very much,

then lovely daughter becomes a pariah. Lovely daughter spends more

and more time alone, growing bitter. Drinking. Screwing any boy who.

Boy who'll have her. Lovely daughter has several ugly public

scenes. Then one day lovely daughter is told she will have a

T

companion, to watch her and keep her out of trouble. Being

enlightened bastards, we have hired a sturdy, nonthreatening woman of

color who doesn't. Doesn't know what she ought to be being paid."

Kathleen McKay drank from the glass once more, her gnarled fingers

locked together. "That woman of color ... was born in Thibodoux.

That's about fifty miles up Highway One from Grand Isle. We used to

share a bottle of Canadian Club, and she told me wonderful stories."

Arden said, "I still don't under-" "Oh, yes, you do!" Kathleen

interrupted. "You understand it all! You just don't want to let. Let

go of the Hiusion.

I've been sitting right where you are, talking to an old, used-up,

and dying woman. In this very bed. Her name was Juliet Garrick, and

she was from Mobile, Alabama. She had one leg three inches shorter than

the other. The one before her ... well, I don't remember. Some wicked

deformity or another, I'm sure. Are you positive you don't want a shot

of vodka?"

"I'm sure," Arden said. Her heart had stopped pounding, but her

nerves were still raw. "How many ... how many Bright Girls have there

been?"

"Cemetery's not far. You can go count for yourself. But I think

the first two were buried at sea."

Arden still felt @ crying. She felt like having a cry that would

break the heart of the world. Maybe she would, later.

But not right now. "Who was the first one?"

"The woman who founded the hospital. Avrietta Colbert.

Her journals and belongings and things are in a museum between the

chapel and where the sisters live. Interesting, gutsy lady.

Strong-willed. Before the Civil War she was on a ship with her

husband, sailing from South America to New Orleans. He was a rancher.

Wealthy people. Anyway, not far from here a storm blew up and smashed

their ship. Smashed their ship in these barrier islands. She washed

up here. The legend goes that she vowed to God she would build a

church and hospital for the poor on the first island that would have

her. This one did, and she did. There's a photograph of her

over there. She was a beautiful young blond woman. But her eyes

... you can tell she had fire in her."

Arden sighed. She lowered her head and put a hand to her face.

"The sisters came here sometime in the forties," Kathleen went on.

"They manage the place, pay the staff, make sure all that work's

done." She finished her lemonade and very carefully put the glass down

on the bedside table. "All of us-the Bright Girls, I mean-came from

different places, for different reasons. But we all have shared one

very, very important thing."

Arden lifted her head, her eyes puffy and reddened.

"What's that?"

"We believed," Kathleen said. "In miracles."

"But it was a lie. It was always a lie."

"No." Kathleen shook her white-crowned head. "It was an

illusion, and there's a difference. What the Bright Girl could do-what

she was-became what people wanted to believe. If there is no hope,

what reason is there to live? A world without miracles ... well, that

would be a world I wouldn't care to live in."

"What miracles?" Arden asked, a little anger creeping in.

"I don't see any miracles around here!"

Kathleen leaned forward, wincing with the effort. Her cheeks and

forehead had become blushed with anger, too; she was a scrapper. She

said three short, clipped words: "Open. Your. Eyes."

Arden blinked, surprised by the strength in the old woman's voice.

"No, you can't get your birthmark healed here! Just like I

couldn't get my arthritis healed, or Juliet Garrick couldn't get her

short leg lengthened! that's junk! But what's not junk"-a breath, a

breath, a breath-"not junk is the fact that I can walk through those

wards. Through those wards, hobbling on my walker. I can walk through

them and people who are dying sit up they sit up in their beds and they

smile to see me and for"-a gasp-"for a few minutes they have an escape.

They smile and laugh as if they've touched the

sun. For a few precious, precious minutes. And children with

cancer, and tuberculosis, and AIDS, they come out of their darkness to

reach for my hand, and they hold on to me.

On to me like I am somebody, and they don't mind my ugly fingers.

They don't see that Kathleen McKay of Evansville, Indiana, is old and

crippled!" Her eyes were fierce behind the glasses. "No, they hold on

to the Bright Girl."

She paused, getting her breath again. "I don't lie to them," she

said after a moment or two. "I don't tell them they can beat their

sicknesses, if Dr. Felicien or Dr. Walcott don't say so first. But I

have tried-I have tried-to make them understand the miracle the way I

and Sister Caroline see it. That flesh is going to die, yes. It's

going to leave this world, and that's the way life is. But I believe

in the miracle that though flesh dies, the spirit does not. It goes

on, just like the Bright Girl goes on. Though the women who wear that

title wither and pass away, the Bright Girl does not. She lives on and

on, tending to her patients and her hospital. Walking the wards.

Holding the hands. She lives on. So don't you dare sit there with

your eyes closed and not look at what God is offering to you!"

Arden's mouth slowly opened. "To . . . me?"

"Yes, you! The hospital would survive without a Bright Girl-I

guess it would, I don't know-but it would be. Be terribly changed.

All the Bright Girls over the many years have held this place together.

And it's not been easy, I'll tell you! Storms have torn the hospital

half to pieces, there've been money problems, equipment problems,

troubles keeping the. The old buildings from falling apart. It's far

from perfect. If there wasn't a Bright Girl to solicit contributions,

or fight the oil companies who want to start drilling. Drilling right

offshore here and ruin our island. Keep our patients awake all night

long, where would we be?"

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the pillow.

"I don't know. I do know ... I don't want to be the last one. No. I

won't be the one who breaks the chain." She sighed, and was silent

with her thoughts. When she spoke again, her voice was low and quiet.

"The Bright Girl can't be any damn pushover. She's got to be a

fighter, and she's got to

do the hard work as best she can. Most of all"-Kathleen's eyes

opened-"she can't be afraid to take responsibility."

Arden sat very still, her hands gripping the drawstring bag.

"Maybe you're not the one. I don't know. Damn, I'm tired. Those

sisters over there, praying and praying at the chapel. I told them. I

said if she's coming, she'll be here. But maybe you're not the one."

Arden didn't know what to say. She stood up from her chair, but

she didn't know where to go, either.

"If you stayed," Kathleen said, "if you did what had to be done.

. . I could promise you no one here would even see that birthmark. It

would be gone. They'd see only the face behind it."

Arden stood in a spill of light, caught between what was and what

could be.

"Go on, then." Kathleen's voice was weary. "There's a radio at

the hospital. The ferry can get here from Grand Isle in half an hour.

I know the man who owns the marina. He can find a ride out for you,

take you up Highway One to Golden Meadow. Catch the bus from there.

Do you have money?"

"No."

"Pearly!" Kathleen called. "Pearly!" There was no response.

"If he's not outside, he's probably walked along the path to the barn.

Go over there and tell him I said to give you fifty dollars and call

the marina for you."

"The barn?" Arden's heart was pounding again. "What's

' 'in the barn?"

"Horses, of course! Those things have always scared the skin off

me, but Pearly loves them. I told him, when one of them kicks him in

the head one day, he won't spend so much time over there."

"Horses," Arden whispered, and at last she smiled.

"Yes, horses. Avrietta Colbert's husband was a rancher.

They were bringing horses back from South America on their ship.

Some of the horses swam here, those started the herd. We raise and

sell them, to make money for the hospital." Kathleen frovmed. "What's

wrong?"

Arden's eyes had filled with tears. She couldn't speak, her

throat had clutched up. Then she got it out: "Nothing's wrong. I

think ... I think everything's right."

She was crying now, and she was half blind. But she realized at

that moment that never before had she seen so much, or so clearly.

He was sitting in a chair on the upper porch, the blue shadows of

twilight gathering on the emerald lawn. A crutch leaned against the

railing beside him. He was watching the sun slide toward the Gulf, and

he was thinking about what had happened an hour ago.

The ferryboat had come from Grand Isle. He'd been sitting right

there, watching. Two men and Sister Caroline had left the hospital,

walking down the path to the pier. One of the men was bald and fat,

but he walked with his shoulders back as if he'd found something to be

proud of about himself The other man, tall and slim and wearing a dark

suit and a new pair of black wingtips someone on the staff had brought

him yesterday from the mainland, had stopped short of getting aboard

the ferry and had looked back.

Dan had stared at Flint Murtaugh, across the distance.

Nothing had remained to be said. They'd still been cautious

around each other during the last three days, both of them knowing how

much he was worth as a wanted fugitive. Dan figured the idea of all

that money still chewed at Murtaugh, but the fact that Dan had gone

after them when he could have cut and run was worth much, much more.

Then Murtaugh had turned away and stepped onto the ferryboat.

Sister Caroline had waved to them as the boat's lines were cast off.

Dan had watched the boat get smaller and smaller as it carried Eisley

and Murtaugh onward to the rest of their lives. He wished them well.

"Hey, al'dinosaur, you. Mind if I plop?"

"Go ahead."

Train had walked out onto the porch. He drew a wicker

chair up beside Dan and eased himself into it. He was still

wearing a green hospital gown, much to his displeasure. His bullet

wound-a grazed gash and a broken rib-was healing, but Dr. Walcott had

insisted he stay for a while. It had been two days since Dan had seen

Arden, whom he'd caught a glimpse of from the window beside his bed,

walking around the grounds with Sister Caroline. Arden hadn't been at

lunch in the hospital's small cafeteria, either. So something was

definitely going on, and he didn't know if she'd found her Bright Girl

or not. One thing was for sure: she still wore her birthmark.

"How the leg feel?"

"It's getting' along. Dr. Felicien says I almost snapped my

ankle."

"Hell, you coulda done worse, ay?"

"That's right." Dan had to laugh, though he would see Gault's

mottled face in his nightmares for a long time to come.

"Yeah. You done good, leatherneck. I won't never say no more bad

tings 'bout marines."

"I didn't know you ever said anything bad about marines."

"Well," Train said, "I was getting' to it."

Dan folded his hands across his chest and watched the waves

rolling in and out. When the breeze blew past, he saw some paint flake

off the sun-warped railing. This was a peaceful place, and its quiet

soothed his soul. There were no televisions, but there was a small

library down on the first floor. He felt rested and renewed, though he

couldn't help but notice there was a lot of carpentry work needed on

the aging structure. "How loug have you known about this place?"

"Years and years. I bring 'em cat and turtle. Who you tink

carted the goats here from Goat Island?"

"Did you tell 'em about me?" he had to ask.

"Sure I did!" Train said. "I told 'em you was a fine al' fella."

Dan turned his head and looked into Train's face.

"Ain't it true?" Train asked.

"I'm still a wanted killer. They're still lookin' for me."

"I know two men who ain't. They just got on the boat and gone.

"

Dan leaned forward and rested his chin on his hands. "I don't

know what to do, Train. I don't know where to go."

"I could put you up for a while."

"In that houseboat? You need space just like I do. That wouldn't

work."

"Maybe no." Both of them watched a freighter in the shimmering

distance. It was heading south. Train said, "The steamers and

workboats, they come in, unload, and load again at Port Sulphur. Ain't

too very far ways from here. Some of them boats lookin' for crew. You

up to workin'?"

"I think I could handle some jobs, if they weren't too tough."

"I tink you could, too. Maybe you take some time, decide for

y'self Couple a' day, I'm goin' back home. Maybe you stick 'round here

week, two week, we gonna go do us some fishin', little

dinosaur-talkin', ay?"

"Yeah," Dan said, and he smiled again. "That'd be great."

"I take you to a lake, fulla cat-huuuuwheeee!-big like you never

did saw!"

.'Dan?"

They looked to their left, toward the voice. Arden had come out

on the porch. Her wavy blond hair shone in the late sunlight, and she

was wearing a clean pair of khakis and a green-striped blouse. "Can I

talk to you for a few minutes?

Alone?"

"Oh, well, I gotta shake a tail feather anyhow." Train stood up.

"I'll talk at you later, bon ami. " "See you, Train," Dan said, and

the Cajun walked back through a slatted door into the hospital. Arden

took his chair. "What've you been up to?" Dan asked her. He saw she

no longer carried her pink drawstring bag. "I haven't seen you for a

while."

"I've been busy," she said. "Are you okay?"

"I believe I am."

She nodded. "ll's a beautiful place, don't you think? A

beautiful island. Of course ... that's not sayin' it doesn't need

work." She reached out to the railing and picked off some of the

cracking paint. "Look there. The wood underneath that doesn't look

too good either, does it?"

"No. That whole railin' oughta be replaced. I don't know who's

in chargd of the maintenance around here, but they're slippin'.

Well"-he shrugged-"they're all old buildin's, I guess they're doin' the

best they can."

"They could do better," Arden said, looking into his eyes.

He had to bring this up. Maybe he'd regret it, but he had to.

"Tell me," he said, "did you ever find out who the Bright Girl is?"

"Yes," she answered, "I sure did."

Arden began to tell him the whole story. Dan listened, and as he

listened he could not help but think back to his meeting with the

Reverend Gwinn, and the man giving him the gift of time and saying God

can take a man along many roads and through many mansions. It's not

where you are that's important, it's where you're goin' that counts.

Hear what I'm sayin?

Dan thought he did. At lut, he thought he did.

It occurred to him, as Arden told him her intention to stay on the

island, that Jupiter had been right. He had a lot to think about in

the time ahead, but it seemed that he had indeed been the man God had

sent to take Arden to the Bright Girl. Maybe this whole thing had been

about her and this hospital from the beginning, and he and Blanchard,

Eisley and Murtaugh, Train and the drug runners, and all the rest of it

had been cogs in a machine designed to draw Arden to this island for

the work that had to be done.

Maybe. He could never know for sure. But she had found her

Bright Girl and her purpose, and it seemed also that he had found his

own refuge if he wanted it.

He could never go back. He didn't want to. There was nothing

behind him now. There was only tomorrow and the

day after that, and he would deal with them when they came.

Dan reached out and took Arden's hand.

Out in the distance, on the shining blue Gulf, there was a

sailboat moving toward the f@r horizon. Its white sails filled with

the winds of freedom, and it ventured off for a port unknown.

ROBERT R. McCAMMON is the author of twelve novels, including Gone

South, the New York Times bestsellers Boy @ Life, Swan Song, Stinger,

and The Wolfs Hour; Mine, Baal, Bethany @ Sin, The Night Boat, They

Thirst, Usher @ Passing, and Mystery Walk. He is the author of a

collection of short stories, Blue World, and contributing editor for

The Horror Writers of America Present Under the Fang, a collection of

vampire stories. Mr. McCammon is a native of Birmingham, Alabama.

/U/