Chapter 11.

I said, "Well, well. Bill and Hillary."LeRoy lowered his gun. "Knew we'd see you again, podnuh." He tilted his head toward the backseat. "C'mon. Don't make ol' Ren+! have to get out."

Ren+! was in the backseat. His eyes were filmy and moved independently of each other, and I was struck again with the sense that maybe he was here with us, but maybe not. I said, "What if I won't go?"

LeRoy laughed. "Knock off da bulls.h.i.t and les' go."

I said, "Tell me something, is Ren+! for real or did someone build him out of spare parts?"

Ren+! shifted and the Polara squeaked on its springs. He had to tip in at close to four hundred pounds. Maybe more. LeRoy said, "Get in front wi' me. Ren+!, he won't fit up front. He ride in back."

I got in and they brought me south through Ville Platte and down along the highway to Milt Rossier's Crawfish Farm. We drove slowly up between the ponds and along the oyster sh.e.l.l road past a couple of long, low cinder block buildings. The buildings had great sliding doors and the doors were open and you could see inside. Hispanic men driving little tractors towed open tanks alive with wiggling catfish into the near building. There, Hispanic women working at large flat tables scooped up the catfish, lopped off their heads, then gutted and skinned them with thin knives. Other men drove trucks filled with crawfish into the far building where women washed and sorted and bagged the crawfish in heavy burlap bags. With the windows down and no air conditioning, the crunching oyster sh.e.l.ls were loud in the car and sounded like breaking bones. Jimmie Ray Rebenack's Mustang was parked on the far side of the processing sheds, and Jimmie Ray was standing with Milt Rossier at one of the ponds. LeRoy parked by the nearest building and said, "Here we go."

We got out and went over to them.

Milt Rossier was in his early sixties, with blotched cr+!pey skin and cheap clothes and a gut that hung well out over his belt. The short stub of a cigar was fixed in one side of his mouth, and his hands were pale and freckled with liver spots. He wore a long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves down and cuffed at his wrists, and he was wearing the Panama hat again. Sensitive to the sun, no doubt. Milt said, "My name is Milt Rossier. They tell me you're some kinda private investigator."

"Did they?" Ren+! walked past us to the edge of the pond and stared into the water.

"Mm-hmm." The cigar shifted around in the side of his mouth. "What you doin' heah?"

"LeRoy brought me."

Rossier frowned. "I don' mean heah, I mean in my town. You been makin' waves in my town, and I want it to stop. You got no bidniss heah."

I said, "Wrong, Milt. I do have business here."

Jimmie Ray said, "He was with some woman, Milt. Some kinda attorney." I looked at Jimmie Ray and grinned. He couldn't have known that unless Sheriff Jo-el Boudreaux had told him.

I said, "I've been trying to find you, Jimmie Ray. I've been in your house."

Jimmie Ray looked at me as if I'd just shot him in the foot, but then he turned a very bright red. He said, "Well, we'll see about that. That ain't why you're here."

Ren+! suddenly dropped to his knees at the edge of the pond and reached into the water. He moved faster than I would have thought possible for such a large man. One moment out of the water, the next in. He lifted out something black and wiggling and bit it. The wiggling stopped.

LeRoy yelled, "G.o.ddammit, Ren+!! You stop that!"

Ren+! dropped what was left back into the pond.

"Spit it out."

Ren+! spit something red and black and glistening into the gra.s.s. He walked a few feet away and sat down. LeRoy squinted after him, then hurried over for a closer look. "G.o.ddammit, he's sittin' in red ants. Get up, fou!" Ren+! lumbered to his feet, and LeRoy brushed at his pants. "Fi de chien! Emplate!"

Milt Rossier shook his head, then took out a handkerchief and wiped his brow. It had to be a hundred degrees in the sun, and the sweat seeped out but had nowhere to go with the humidity. He said, "That boy is a trial."

"I'll bet."

He looked back at me. "You know anythin' about me, son?"

"I can guess."

"Don't let's guess. I got business interests all over this parish, and I have to protect those interests. It's the dollah, you see?"

"Sure."

"Someone from outta town comes in, diggin' aroun', that can push things outta kilter." He took out the cigar, examined it, then put it back in his mouth. "Why you heah, son?"

"I'm here because you're blackmailing my client."

He stared at me, and when he did I could tell that he didn't know. I looked at Jimmie Ray, who was squirming like something from one of the ponds. It wasn't Rossier; it was Jimmie Ray, all by his lonesome. I said, "I'm here because this a.s.shole is blackmailing a woman in California."

Jimmie Ray shrieked, "That's a G.o.dd.a.m.ned lie!" He waved a hand at Milt Rossier. "That's pure bulls.h.i.t, Milt! He's makin' this s.h.i.t up!"

"No," I said. "I'm not." I looked at Jimmie Ray. "Three hours ago I broke into your house and found doc.u.ments there relating to the birth of my client. I also found evidence linking you to a series of conversations with my client, predating a thirty-thousand-dollar deposit into your checking account." I glanced back at Milt Rossier. "I don't know what this has to do with whatever you've got going, but I don't give a d.a.m.n. All I care about is how it affects my client."

Jimmie Ray said, "Oh, man, what a bare-faced liar!" Laughing like he couldn't believe these lies.

Milt Rossier swiveled the Panama toward Jimmie Ray, his eyes hard black dots. "I thought you were workin' for me, son. You out on your own?"

"This is bulls.h.i.t, Milt. Who you gonna believe, me or this t.u.r.d?"

Rossier squinted harder. "You bring me something and I pay for it, it's mine."

Jimmie Ray looked greasy and he kept shooting glances at Ren+!. "h.e.l.l, yes, it's yours. This sumb.i.t.c.h is jus' tryin' to weasel!"

Rossier shook his head and sighed. "G.o.ddammit."

"I swear, Milt. I'm tellin' you the truth."

LeRoy came back and slapped Jimmie Ray on the back of his head, knocking the pompadour sideways. "Emplate!"

Jimmie said, "Hey!"

Milt Rossier spit at the weeds, then headed for the near building. "Y'all c'mon. Bring'm, LeRoy. Ren+!! You, too, now."

We followed Rossier between the two buildings and out to a small circular pond surrounded by a low wire fence. LeRoy picked up a two-by-four as we walked. The banks of the pond were muddy and sc.u.mmed with something green and slimy, probably runoff from the processing sheds. Rossier got there first and waited impatiently for the rest of us to catch up. He gestured at the pond with his cigar. "Ren+!". You get Luther. Be careful, now."

I said, "Luther?"

Jimmie Ray shook his finger at me and laughed. "Yo' a.s.s is gra.s.s now, boy."

Ren+! stepped over the fence, knelt at the edge of the little pool, and slapped the water. He slapped three or four times, and then something moved beneath the surface and the water swirled. Ren+! jumped in up to his knees and his hands plunged down and caught something that made him stagger. He found his balance and then his face went red with strain and he lifted out a snapping turtle that had to be three feet across and weigh almost two hundred pounds. It was dark and primordial with a sh.e.l.l like tank armor and a great horned head and a monstrous beak The head twisted and snapped and tried to reach Ren+!, but couldn't. Its mouth was almost a foot across, and every time it snapped there was a sharp clicking sound, like a ruler rapping on a desk. Ren+! trudged up out of the water, stepped across the fence, and put Luther down. When he did, the turtle pulled its feet and head up under its sh.e.l.l. The head was so big it didn't fit and its snout was exposed. LeRoy was grinning like a jack-o'-lantern. He waved the two-by-four in front of the turtle. The big head flashed out and the big jaws snapped and the board splintered. LeRoy beamed. "That Luther's somethin', huh?"

Jimmie Ray shook his finger at me some more. "We'll see who's lyin'now."

Milt Rossier said something in French, and Ren+! grabbed Jimmie Ray and jerked him toward the turtle. Jimmie Ray said, "Hey!"

Jimmie Ray tried to pull away from Ren+!, but he didn't have any better luck than Luther. Ren+! carried him by the back of the neck and the belt, and pushed him down on the ground just outside of Luther's range. You could see the beady turtle eyes following the action from up under the sh.e.l.l. Jimmie was yelling, "G.o.dd.a.m.n, Milt, stop it! Please!" His eyes were big, and he had gone as white as typing paper.

Ren+! let go of Jimmie's belt and grabbed his right forearm and forced his right hand toward the turtle. Jimmie Ray screamed.

Milt said, "Now you tell me true, son. You using my information to blackmail this gal?"

"I swear I ain't, Milt. I swear."

"Ren+!."

Ren+! forced the hand closer. Luther's eyes blinked, and the big jaws parted.

Milt said, "Try again, son."

I took a half-step forward. "That's enough, old man. Make him stop."

Milt said, "LeRoy," and LeRoy pointed the big .45 at me. LeRoy was grinning. Milt shook his finger at me. "You jes' sit tight." He stepped closer to Jimmie Ray and squatted beside him. "Ol' Luther looks like he's anxious, boy. You better tell me."

Jimmie Ray was babbling. "I didn't see what it'd hurt. It didn't have nothing to do with you or us and I thought I could just make a little extra cash please Milt please make'm stop I never woulda done it if I thought you'd be mad I swear to Christ!"

"All right, Ren+!. He's done." Jimmie Ray Rebenack had peed his pants.

Ren+! lifted Jimrnie Ray out of harm's way. The wet stain spread across the seat of his pants and down his legs. Milt chewed on the cigar and stared toward the buildings. His eyes were small and hard and not a great deal different from the turtle's. He moved the cigar at me. "The only reason you're heah is because of this blackmail thing?"

"That's it."

Milt chewed on the cigar some more. "Ren+!, put ol' Luther back."

Ren+! put Luther back in the pond. Luther slipped beneath the water, and the water grew still. Milt said, "We feed ol' Luther there catfish heads. Had a fella from LSU out here once said Luther might be better'n a century old."

Jimmie Ray was on his knees with his face in his hands. I felt embarra.s.sed and ashamed both for him and for me. Milt Rossier went over to Jimmie and patted his shoulder. "You see what dishonesty gets fo' ya? You go behin' my back, now this fella's heah. You see where ya get?"

"I'm sorry, Milt. I swear to G.o.d I am."

Milt Rossier looked over at me with the Luther eyes. He stared at me, thinking, until LeRoy said, "He was with some woman, Milt."

Milt spit. "Yeah. I guess so." Disappointed, as if he had come to a serious decision about something, only now to change his mind. He patted Jimmie Ray's shoulder again, then helped him up. "C'mon, now, Jimmie Ray. Get up and stop blubberin'. You get yourself on outta heah."

Jimmie Ray said, "I didn't think I was doin' any-thin' wrong, Milt. I swear to Christ."

"We'll jus' forget about it. Go on, now."

Jimmie Ray looked like a man who'd just won Lotto, like he couldn't believe that Milt Rossier was giving him a pa.s.s on this one. Milt Rossier said, "G.o.ddammit, get outta my sight."

Jimmie Ray scrambled back to his Mustang, and the Mustang's rear end fishtailed hard as he drove away.

Milt shook his head, then turned back to me. "You go on back where you come from and tell your woman everythin's over with. What we got down here, it don' have nothin' to do with her, and nothin' to do with you, either. You understand that?"

"Sure. You want me to go home. You want me to stop stirring things up."

He nodded, looked at the cigar again, then tossed it in the pond. It floated for a second, sending out perfect circles, and then the water exploded and the cigar was gone.

Milt Rossier made a little dismissive gesture and walked away. "LeRoy, you see this fella gets back real safe, you hear?"

LeRoy said that he would.

Ren+! and LeRoy brought me back to the motel in the gold Polara and let me out in the parking lot. I watched them leave, then went to my room and tried to let myself in, but I couldn't get the key in the lock. I tried as hard as I could, and then I sat on the sidewalk with my hands between my knees and pressed my knees together to try to make myself stop shaking. I pressed for a very long time, and finally the shaking stopped.

Chapter 12.

I double-locked the door and showered, letting the hot water beat into me until my skin was red and burning and I began to feel better about things. I was out of the shower and getting dressed when Lucy Chenier returned my call. She said, "Sorry it's taken so long. I was trying to find out about Milt Rossier.

"I just came back from Milt's. Before that, I broke into Jimmie Ray Rebenack's home and found what I believe to be the entire state file on Jodi's adoption. I found other things, too, and I learned some things at Rossier's that we need to talk about." Maybe there was something in my voice that the shower hadn't washed away. She didn't say anything about the break-in.

"Can you drive back to Baton Rouge this evening?"

"Yes."

"I have to leave the office soon to be home for Ben, but you could meet me there and we could have dinner. Is that all right?"

"That would be fine."

Lucy gave me directions to her home and then we hung up. I dressed, then got the papers together from under the mattress, and drove back to Baton Rouge. I brought flowers.

The late afternoon was clear and bright when I found my way through a gracious residential area east of Louisiana State University to Lucy's home. The streets were narrow, but the houses were large and set back on wide rolling lawns amid lush azaleas and oaks and magnolia trees, worthy digs for doctors and lawyers and tenured professors from LSU. I slowed several times for families on bicycles and young couples with strollers or elderly people enjoying a walk. Two girls and their dad were on one lawn, trying to launch a blue kite with no breeze; on another, an elderly man sat on a glider, gently swaying in the evening shade beneath an oak tree. Everything seemed relaxed and wonderful, the ideal environment in which to escape the realities of lying clients, enraged snapping turtles, and the loneliness of being far from home. Maybe I should move here.

Lucy Chenier lived in a brick colonial with a circular rock drive and a large pecan tree in the front yard. A knotted rope hung from the tree and, higher in the branches, several boards were nailed together into a small platform. Somebody's treehouse.

I crunched into the drive, got out with the flowers and the doc.u.ments, and went to the front door. When I had stopped for the flowers I had picked up a folder in which to hide the doc.u.ments. Can't very well be seen sneaking stolen doc.u.ments into an attorney's home. Might get her disbarred. The door opened before I reached it and a boy with curly brown hair looked out. He said, "Hey."

"Hey. My name's Elvis. Are you Ben?" He was looking at the flowers.

"Yes, sir. My mom's on the phone, but she says you can come in."

"Thanks."

He opened the door wider and let me in. He was still with the flowers. Suspicious. "Are those for my mom?"

"Unh-hunh. Think she'll like 'm?"

Shrug. "I dunno." Can't give stray guys too much encouragement, I guess.

From somewhere in the house Lucy called, "I'm on with the office. I'll be off in a minute."