Voodoo River

She handed me the spatula and went in for the cheese. When she was gone I looked at Ben and caught him grinning at me. I said, 'What?'

'She likes you.'

'She does?'

He nodded. 'I heard her talking to her friend, Marsha. She called you Studly Do-Right.' He giggled.

I looked in at his mother and then I looked back at the hamburgers. 'She probably wouldn't like it that you told me.'

'Why not?'

'Women tell other women things that they don't tell men. It's a law they have.'

He giggled some more.

Lucy came back and put cheese on the hamburgers, then covered the grill so that the cheese would melt. Ben and I stood with straight faces until Ben couldn't stand it anymore and giggled. I concentrated on the burgers, hoping that they wouldn't overcook. Ben giggled harder. Lucy said, 'What?'

I said, 'Nothing.' Ben giggled harder.

Lucy smiled. 'Hey! What were you guys saying?'

Ben giggled louder and I looked at Lucy. 'Studly?'

Lucy turned a deep rich red. 'Ben!'

Ben howled. I said, 'It wasn't Ben. I am Elvis Cole, the world's greatest detective. I know all and see all, and there can be no secrets from the All-Seeing Eye.'

Lucy said, 'I hate you both.'

Ben put out his hand and I gave him a low-five. Masculine superiority strikes again.

Lucy said, 'Benjamin. Wash.'

Ben ran into the house, cackling, and Lucy shook her head. 'That little traitor.'

I said, 'Studly.'

She waved the spatula at me. 'I was just being cute. Don't get any ideas.'

'I won't.'

'Fine.'

'But what do I do with the ones I've got?'

She closed her eyes, maybe envisioning the line we shouldn't cross. 'You're really quite something, aren't you?'

'Most people think so.'

She opened her eyes and looked at the sky. 'Oh, God.'

'Well, no. But close.'

Lucy laughed, and I laughed, too.

When the cheese was melted we brought the burgers inside and ate them with the potato salad and cole slaw and the rest of the Sonoma-Cutre. Ben ate quickly, then asked to be excused and raced to the TV so that he could watch Star Trek – The Next Generation. Lucy called after him, 'Not too loud!'

I said, 'Won't bother rne. I like Star Trek.'

Ben yelled, 'Cool!'

Lucy shook her head and rolled her eyes. 'Oh, Studly.' She tilted her glass toward me. 'Pour.'

So we watched TNG. It was the one where you follow the android, Data, through a twenty-four-hour period in his life, most of which is spent attempting to comprehend the vagaries of the humans around him. The fun comes in watching the logical, emotionless Data try to make sense of the human condition, which is akin to trying to make sense of the senseless. He never quite gets it, but he always keeps trying, writing endless programs for his android brain, trying to make the calculus of human behavior add up. When you think about it, that is not so different from what I do.

When Star Trek was over I said that I had better be going. I told Ben good night, and Lucy walked me out. I thought that she'd stop at the door, but she didn't. It was a clear night, and pleasant. She said, 'Will you drive back to Ville Platte tonight?'

'Yes. There are still plenty of questions and Jimmie Ray might be willing to answer them.'

She nodded. 'Okay. I'll call you there tomorrow as soon as I have something.'

'Great.' A man and a woman and an Akita walked past. The Akita was a big brindle pinto, and watched me suspiciously as his people nodded hello. I said, 'Good-looking dog.'

The man said, 'Thanks.'

Lucy and I stood silently until they were gone, vanishing gently in the humid dark.

We looked at each other. 'This is the second time you've fed me. Thanks again.'

'It's an ugly job, but somebody's gotta do it.'

We both grinned. I said, 'Oh, man. Dueling comedians.'

She looked at me carefully and said, 'I have a good time with you.'

I nodded. 'Me, too.'

Then she said, 'Oh, damn.' She leaned forward, kissed me, then pulled away. 'I've just kissed a man who ate dog. Yuck.'

She ran back into her house.

I guess there are lines, but sometimes lines bend.

CHAPTER 13

T he night canopy above the Atchafalaya Basin was velvet black as I drove through the sugar cane and the sweet potato fields and the living earth back to Ville Platte. A woman I had known for approximately four days had given me what was maybe the world's shortest kiss, and I could not stop smiling about it. A lawyer, no less.

I folded up the grin and put it away and rolled down the window and breathed. Come to your senses, Cole. The air was warm and rich and alive with the smells of water and loam soil and blossoming plants. The sky was a cascade of stars. I started singing. I stopped singing and glanced in the mirror. Smiling, again. I let the smile stay and drove on. To hell with senses.

When I got back to Ville Platte there was a message from Jimmie Ray on the motel's voice mail system, his voice tight and sounding scared. 'This is Jimmie Ray Rebenack and you really put me in a world of hurt, podnuh.' You could hear him breathing into the phone. The breathing was strained. 'It's twenty after six right now, and I need to talk to ya. I'm at home.' He said the number and hung up.

It was now ten fifty-two, and there were no other messages in the voice mail.

I dialed his number and got a busy signal. I took off my shirt, then went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. I dialed his number again and again got a busy signal. I dialed his office, got his answering machine, and hung up without leaving a message. I redialed his home. Busy. I called the operator. 'I need an emergency break-in.'

'Number, please?'

I gave her the number. She went away for a little bit and then she came back. 'I'm sorry, sir, but that number seems to be off the hook.'

'He's not on the line?'

'No, sir. The phone's probably just off the hook. It happens all the time.'

I put my shirt back on and drove once more to Jimmie Ray's house. A couple of houses on his street were still bright with life, but most of the street was dark and still. Jimmie Ray's Mustang was parked at the curb in a dapple of moonshadows, and the front upstairs window of his duplex was lighted. The bedroom. Probably with a woman. They had probably been thrashing around and had knocked the phone out of its cradle. I left my car on the street, went to his front door, and rang the bell. I could hear the buzzer go off inside, but that was it. No giggles. No people scrambling for their clothes. I rang the bell twice more, then went around the side of the house and let myself in through the back exactly as I had twelve hours ago.

The ground floor was dark, and the kitchen still smelled of fried food, but now there was a sharp, ugly smell