”To study. At the library.“
”You're going fifteen miles to study?“ I said.
”Danny's picking me up.“
”Danny who? How old is this kid?“
”Danny Bordelon, and he's sixteen years old, Dave,“ she said.
”Great,“ I said. I looked at Bootsie.
”What's the big deal?“ Alafair said.
”It's a school night,“ I said.
”That's why we're going to the library,“ she said.
Bootsie put her hand on my knee. After Alafair finished eating she went inside, then said good-bye through the window screen and waited on the gallery with her book bag.
”Ease up, skipper,“ Bootsie said.
”Why'd you call me that?“ I said.
”I don't know. It just came to mind.“
”i see.“
”I won't do it,“ she said.
”I'm sorry. It's fine,“ I said. But I could still hear that name on the lips of my dead wife, Annie, calling to me from the bed on which she was murdered.
”What's troubling you, Dave?“ Bootsie said.
”It's Marsallus. We sat on the story about the body we pulled out of the slough by Vermilion Bay. It was the guy Sonny parked a couple of rounds in.“
She waited.
”He doesn't know we've got a murder charge against him. I might have to set him up, the same guy who possibly saved my life.“
Later, Bootsie drove to Red Lerille's Health and Racquet Club in Lafayette and I tried to find things to do that would take me away from the house and Sonny's call. Instead, I turned on the light in the tree, spread a cloth over the redwood table, and cleaned and oiled an ARij rifle I had bought from the sheriff and a Beretta nine-millimeter that Clete had given me for my birthday. But the humidity haloed the light bulb and my eyes burned with fatigue from the day. I couldn't concentrate and lost screws and springs in the folds of the cloth and finally gave it up just as the phone rang in the kitchen.
”Was that your kid I talked to?“ Sonny said.
”Yes.“
”She sounds like a nice kid.“
I could hear traffic and the clang of a streetcar in the background.
”What's up?“ I said.
”I thought I ought to check in. Something wrong?“
”Not with me.“
”I heard about what you did to Patsy Dap,“ he said.
”Are you in New Orleans?“