Black Cherry Blues (Dave Robicheaux 3)

“Why’d they do it?”

“Sal’s running scared. He’s got nobody but his old man and his hired dagos. Even the cornholers cut out on him.”

“That’s not it,” I said.

“How do I know what goes on in his head?”

“Come on, Clete,” I said.

“When I left, he owed me fifteen hundred in back salary. Plus I’d already paid my rent to him in advance. So I went in his house and took a couple of gold ashtrays.”

“You crazy bastard,” Dixie Lee said.

“He didn’t kill Darlene, then, did he?”

“I don’t know,” Clete said.

“Yes, you do. Somebody shot at him. He thinks it was Charlie Dodds. If he had killed Darlene, you’d be the first person he would fear. Those two guys wouldn’t have just broken your hand, either. They would have passed you on the road and taken you out with a shotgun.”

“Maybe,” he said.

“No maybe about it, Cletus,” I said. “It was Mapes. He thought she sent me over by the reservation where he killed the two Indians. He found her alone, and he raped and killed her. You’ve got a beef with the wrong guy, and you know it.”

“I got a beef with Sal for all kinds of reasons,” he said. “But that’s all right. Our man’s going to have a sandy fuck.”

“What?” I said.

“A fifties joke. Sand in the Vaseline,” he said. “Forget it. Hey, do me a favor. My jeep’s still out at that bar. It’s a log place, right where Broadway runs into Ninety. Take it to your house, will you? The keys are on the table. I don’t want some local punks to clean it out.”

“All right.”

“Where’s Mapes?” he said.

“You’ll have to find him on your own, partner.”

“You know where he is, then.”

“Do you want us to bring you anything?”

“Come on, you think I’m going to get out of bed and scramble Mapes’s eggs? You give me too much credit.”

“You’d find a way, Clete.”

He wet his mouth and smiled.

“Dixie, can you give me and Streak a minute?” he said.

“Sure.”

“It’s just something from our First District days,” Clete said.

“I don’t mind,” Dixie Lee said.

“Then come on back later,” Clete said.

“Don’t be talking down to me. It hurts my feelings,” Dixie Lee said. “I’ll come see you tomorrow.”

He walked out of the room.