He rose from the chair and his nostrils flared.
”I feel like I'm wrapped in stink,“ he said.
”If you need a ride, a deputy will take you wherever you want,“ I said.
”Thanks, I'll get a cab. Can I use your John? I got to wash up.“
I pointed toward the men's room, then I said, ”Let me ask a favor of you, Emile.“
”You got it.“
”You're a pro. Don't come through the wrong man's perimeter.“
”The house next to yours? Who the fuck wants to live on a ditch full of mosquitoes?“
He went down the hall and pushed through the men's room door. The light from inside framed him like a simian creature caught in the pop of a flashbulb.
I worked open the window to rid the office of the peculiar odor that Pogue left behind, like the smell of a warm gym that's been closed for days. Then I called home and went inside the men's room. It was usually clean and squared away, but around one basin soap and water were splashed on the mirror and walls and crumpled paper towels were scattered all over the floor. I walked down the darkened hall to the sheriff's office.
”Where's Pogue?“ he said.
”Gone.“
”Gone? I asked you to see me before-“
”That's not what you said.“
”I was going to put a
tail on the guy. I just called the FBI in Lafayette.“
”It's a waste of time.“
”Would you care to explain that?“ he said.
”His kind don't disappear on you. I wish they would.“
”What are you talking about, Dave?“
”He's evil incarnate, Sheriff.“
Bootsie and Alafair and I had a cold supper of chicken salad sandwiches, bean salad, and mint tea on the redwood table in the backyard. The new cane in my neighbor's field was pale green and waving in the sun's afterglow; he had opened the lock in his irrigation canal and you could smell the heavy, wet odor of the water inching through the rows.
”Oh, I forgot, Dave. A man named Sonny called while you were gone,“
Alafair said. She had showered and put on makeup and baby powder on her neck and a dark pair of blue jeans and a lavender blouse with primroses sewn on the sleeves.
”What'd he have to say?“
”Nothing. He said he'd call back.“
”He didn't leave a number?“
”I asked him to. He said he was at a pay phone.“
Bootsie watched my face.
”Where you going tonight?“ I said to Alafair.