“Not me.”
“That deputy named Sean shot an innocent man.”
“You’ve got it wrong.”
“Some colored people saw it from their car.”
“Tillinger was armed. He was pointing a German Luger at both me and the deputy.”
“But you didn’t shoot. The deputy did. That means you knew Mr. Tillinger wasn’t going to shoot.”
He had me again. “Don’t go near my colleague.”
“I go where I want.”
“Not in this instance.”
“I am very angry. Mr. Tillinger was brave. He told the truth about his family. He stood up to me under very difficult circumstances. Y’all have committed an evil act, Mr. Robicheaux.”
“It’s Detective Robicheaux. But I want you to call me Dave. You know what Witness Protection is?”
“Don’t try to trick me.”
“You could be of great value to us. But you’ve got to disengage from settling scores on your own. Things aren’t always what they seem. None of us is God.”
The phone line was silent.
“Don’t hang up on me, Smiley,” I said. “The young deputy who shot Mr. Tillinger made a mistake. You’ve made mistakes, haven’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Sean is a good kid. He’s feeling a lot of guilt right now. He needs a friend, not an enemy. I bet Mr. Tillinger would tell you that. Right or wrong?”
“Maybe.”
“We’ve got a deal?”
“About the deputy?”
“Yes, the deputy.”
“All right,” he said.
I was sweating and my heart was pounding. I got up from my desk, the phone in my hand. I felt as though I had stepped into a vortex. Down below I could see the bayou and a pirogue spinning emptily in the center of the current.
“You still with me?” I said.
“We’re on the same side now?”
“You bet.”
“But you know there’s a difference between us, don’t you?”
“I don’t know how to respond to that.”
“I don’t have restraints. I do things other people have seen only in their dreams. And I don’t feel bad about that at all.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight