Voodoo River

At two minutes before eight, headlights swung across the door, a baby blue BMW crunched onto the lot, and Frank Escobar came in, the guy with the pocked face holding an umbrella the size of a parachute canopy. LeRoy said, "Well, it's about goddamned time." He was working on his third Dixie and he said it too loud.

They came to the table and sat, Escobar shaking off his coat. "You pick a shit time to do business. Is Rossier here?"

"Not yet."

LeRoy stuck out his hand. "Mr. Escobar, my name is LeRoy Be

Escobar looked at me without acknowledging the hand or the person. "Who is this?"

"Rossier's stooge."

LeRoy said, "Hey, what the ruck?"

Escobar hit LeRoy with the back of his right hand so hard that LeRoy almost went out of the chair. It was exactly the same move he'd used on his wife. Two of the guys at the bar looked over and the woman gave a little gasp. Escobar grabbed LeRoy by the face and dug a thumb under his jaw. "You see me sitting here?"

LeRoy tried to get away from the thumb, but couldn't. "Hey, yeah. Whatchu doin', bro?"

"If I'm here, where's your goddamned boss? You think I got time to waste?"

Even as he said it more lights swept the open door and you could hear the crunch, even over the jukebox and the rain. LeRoy stood away from the thumb, saying, "That's gotta be Milt right now," just as Milt Rossier walked in.

The woman behind the bar said, "Hey, Milt," but Milt didn't acknowledge her. He saw us at the little table and came over, offering his hand to Frank Escobar. "Frank, I'm Milt Rossier. Lemme apologize if I've kept you, but this rain is a bitch."

Escobar said, "Hey, forget about it. You shoulda seen the drive up from Metairie." He held Milt Rossier's hand longer than he needed to hold it. "I'm looking forward to a fruitful partnership, Milt, but let's get first things first. Where's Prima?"

"Oh, he'll be at the pumping station. You bet." Escobar glanced at me, then put it back on Milt Rossier. He still had the old man's hand. "I wa

Milt was nodding and trying to get his hand away. Escobar's eyes were dark splinters and Milt Rossier seemed afraid of him. "Frank," he said, "I'm go

Escobar shook his head and stood. He snapped his fingers, and the pocked guy stood with him. "Prima." Talk about one track. You could see his hands flexing, already pulling the trigger. His coat flared when he stood, and you could see a glint in the darkness. Milt smiled. "Well, hell, let's go do it." We stepped out into the rain. Milt wanted everybody to go together in LeRoy's Polara, but there were five of us and it would be crowded, so Milt asked if Escobar would mind following us in his own car. Escobar said that that would be fine, and he and his goon hurried to their BMW, anxious to get out of the rain. Lightning crackled again, filling the parking lot with light. Escobar and his thug opened the Beamer's doors, the BMWs interior lights came on, and then two men stepped out from behind the Bayou Lounge. Balls of lightning flashed from their hands, and there was the sharp snapping of autoloading pistols muffled by the rain, and Escobar and his goon fell against their car. The pistols were still snapping when LeRoy Be

René LaBorde stepped out of nowhere and pulled me to my feet. Be

The rain fell harder and no one stirred from the Bayou Lounge.

The two men finished their killing and came to us. One of the men was Donaldo Prima. The other was Evangeline Parish Deputy Sheriff Tommy Willets. Willets looked scared. Donaldo Prima said, "We got that fawkuh good!" I knew then that the good guys were alone at the pumping station. All of the bad guys were here.

I said, "Jesus Christ, Willets."

Willets hit me on the forehead with the butt of his pistol and knocked me into the side of Be

CHAPTER 37

W illets put his cuffs on me, then got René to help put me in the backseat of Be

Across the lot, Be

Rossier said, "We might need the sonofabitch! Put it away!"

Prima pushed past Milt, screaming, "I go

Rossier made Rene" put him down, and then Prima and Rossier went to Escobar's car with Be

"Shut up."

"I know he paid you enough to keep tabs on the sheriff, but is it enough to buy a night's sleep?"

"Shut up."

"Willets, if you sold your balk by the pound, you didn't get enough to feed a parking meter."

Willets looked over at me, blinked twice, then backhanded me with his revolver. The barrel and the cylinder caught me above the left eye, snapping my head back and opening the skin. There was an instant of blackness, then a field of gold sparkles, and then only sharp pain above the eye. I could feel blood run down across the outside corner of my eye. I gri

He wet his lips and looked again at the men in the rain. Scared, all right. "I'm not the guy who has to worry about it."

"Were you in on Rebenack?"

He still didn't look at me.

"That's perfect, Willets. Perfect."

LeRoy and Milt came back to the Polara. Prima went behind the lounge, alone, and LaBorde and the mustache climbed into Escobar's Beamer. The Beamer pulled away, and Willets's highway car came from behind the lounge. We pulled out, and the highway car fell in behind us. No one had stirred in the Bayou Lounge, and no one had come out to look. All of it had been covered by the rain and the thunder.

I said, "I can't believe you didn't go for it, Milt. Two thousand a head is a lot of money."