Doe Raines.”
I didn?t answer him. We sat and stared through the shadows for several moments. His jaw was
flinching.
“This isn?t going anywhere,” I said finally. “I owe you my thanks. I don?t know what you?re doing out
here, but I?m glad you showed up. A little law never hurt anybody.”
“A little law ain?t worth a damn,” he said. “Either you got muscle or you got numbers. You didn?t
have either.”
I asked it suddenly. I wasn?t planning on it, it just popped out, kind of like my gun popping out at the
dog fights.
“Is this your game, Mr. Stoney?”
He chuckled to himself, a mischievous chuckle, a tsk-tsk chuckle, which made me feel like a wahoo,
which is exactly what he wanted.
“I?m gonna give you a little advice, us being in the same game, so to speak. I been at it forty-five
years. How about you?”
“Almost ten.”
“People are gonna gamble, doughboy, it?s natural. The reason it?s natural is because most people are
losers and they see themselves as losers and they don?t think they?ll ever amount to a goddamn, so
they gamble because in their eyes it?s their shot at changin? their luck. So people?ll gamble, and a lot
of hardass law ain?t gonna change it. The same thing can be said of whorin?. Always gonna be
whorin? goin? on, doughboy. A man wants to get laid, he?s gonna get laid. Now, my job isn?t to teach
„em not to gamble or not to get laid; that?s a job for a preacher. No, my job is to make sure they don?t
get hurt bad at it. We all know gamblin? and whorin? can attract some unsavoury characters around it,
so for that reason I keep my finger on things. I like to know who?s doin? what. That way I keep things
from gettin? outta line, my folks from gettin? hurt.”
“That didn?t answer my question,” I said.
“The answer to your question is yes and no. I own quite a few fightin? dogs. It?s kind of a tradition in
my family. Been fightin? dogs all my life, just like my pap and his pap before him. The Titans?ve
raised pit dogs since before Georgia was a colony. But I don?t run the game, Mr. Kilmer. That?s
gaming and that?s felonious, and while I can tolerate it and my conscience doesn?t have a problem
with misdemeanours, it balks when it comes to felonies.”
It was my turn to laugh.
“That?s the damnedest bit of rationalization I?ve ever heard,” I said.
“Call it what you will, it?s the way I keep law and I haven?t had a lot of trouble doin? it and I been at it
