The Forsaken

“You want some coffee?” Lillie said.

“No, ma’am,” he said. “Just figured me and you might have a heart-to-heart, you being the senior of the folks in this office. Qui

“Sheriff Beckett was on the take.”

“That hadn’t been proven.”

“What you got, Mr. Royce?”

The old man scratched his stubbled cheeks and smiled. His teeth were yellowed and crooked, one eyetooth capped in gold. “Just wanted to see how things was progressing from one lawman to another.”

He kind of gri

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You didn’t seem to be interested the other day.”

“Y’all kind of caught me with my pants down,” he said. “I was just waking up and not thinking. When y’all left, I started to kind of wonder why you and Hamp’s nephew would be kicking all this mess up. Are you some kind of special friends with the Tull girl?”

Lillie was five foot eight in bare feet but five foot ten in her boots that day. She stepped forward two paces and looked down at E. J. Royce’s bald head. “Do you have something to say?”

“Relax there, darling,” he said. “I don’t care which way y’all’s pendulum swings. What concerns me is y’all making a mess of what happened. I mean, when it all gets down to it, who gives a shit?”

“Who gives a shit that a young woman was murdered and another raped?”

“That ain’t it,” Royce said, his eyes glowing with an alcoholic heat. His cheeks so red, it looked as if he’d applied some rouge. “I just can’t figure out why y’all have interest in that nigger they strung up.”

“Excuse me?”

“We got the right man,” he said. “That nigger took them girls. Why on God’s Green do y’all want to make something of it? Justice was done.”

Lillie crossed her arms over her chest. “Sit down, Mr. Royce.”

“I’m just fine.”

“Sit the fuck down, Royce.”

Royce sat. He seemed amused by the whole thing, gri

“That was the SEC championship,” Lillie said. “I shot a perfect score. I’m prone to steadiness when my mind comes to it.”

“Oh, hell,” Royce said. “You are a pistol. I can’t even imagine what old Sheriff Beckett would think about his wild-ass nephew ru

Lillie did not speak. She breathed slowly. The door cracked open a little and Ke

“Mr. Royce was just leaving.”

Royce laughed, showing rows of uneven teeth, and stood, putting that old trucker hat on his rooster hair. His entire being smelled of burned-up cigarettes, ashen and dead.

“You know why people like you don’t bother me?”

Royce gri

“’Cause all of y’all are dying off,” Lillie said. “Less and less of you every day. You lost. Thank Jesus.”

Royce turned to Lillie, clenched his jaw, and spit on the floor, before following Ke

“This man gives you a bit of trouble, you toss his ass in the tank,” Lillie said. “And, for God’s sake, make sure he takes a shower. He smells like flaming dog shit.”

Glad you stopped by, Qui

“I’d rather talk out here, Joh

Stagg stopped midstride, having just turned in to the hallway by the public toilets. He nodded, gri

“I’m good.”

“What brings you here, Qui

“Your man Ringold said you wanted to talk,” he said. “So let’s talk.”

“Come on back to my booth,” Stagg said, walking on ahead. “I keep this place special for friends and family.”

Qui

“You want coffee?” Stagg said.

“No, sir,” Qui

“Probably seems slow after what we all went through after the great shitstorm,” Stagg said. “Sure I can’t interest you in anything?”

Qui

“I feel for your troubles, Qui

Qui

“I don’t like the rumors I’m hearing and what people are saying,” Stagg said. “It pained the shit out of me to talk to you like I did last night. You’re a good lawman and we’re lucky to have you. But it’s my constituents who want answers. You can’t just blow a fellow lawman’s brains out and expect no one to say nothing. Life ain’t no John Wayne movie.”

“I’ve always been a Jimmy Stewart man myself.”

“Or Gary Cooper?” Stagg said, gri

Qui

“You publicly embarrass me last night and now you want to feed me pie,” Qui

“I heard you been asking around a bit about a murder back in ’77,” Stagg said, leaning back in the padded vinyl, licking his lips. “I have to say, I’m a little hurt you didn’t come to me, ask me about it. You know, I do have a pretty good memory for all things Tibbehah County.”

“OK,” Qui

“You spoken to Hank Stillwell yet?”

“No, sir,” Qui

Stagg nodded. The waitress brought him a Coca-Cola but said that Willie James said the pie was still cooling and not to mess with it. Stagg shrugged and drank some Coke. “Y’all sure taking your time.”

“Didn’t know there was a rush,” Qui