people are aliens.'
Lucy said, 'Oh, come on, Merhlie.'
He spread his hands again. 'That's my opinion. If you think you can get more, go to the state and see what they say.'
Jo-el said, 'If we go in now that sonofabitch will know we're onto him.' He chewed at his lip, then went to the window before turning back and staring at the largemouth on his wall. He stared at it, but I'm not sure he was seeing it. 'Goddammit, me and my family are gonna do something pretty goddamn hard here. Maybe we shoulda done it a year ago, but if we're gonna do it now I want that sonofabitch to pay for his pleasure. I want him in jail. I don't want any more little girls like that.' He jerked an angry gesture toward the case file. The one with the pictures.
I said, 'So you'll have to bust him in the act.'
They looked at me.
I said, 'That wasn't the first time Prima brought up a load of people. We just have to be there the next time. And we have to make sure that Rossier is there to take delivery.'
Comeaux was shaking his head. 'Go easy with that, son. If he's entrapped, you've got nothing.'
I was thinking about Ramon del Reyo. 'All we have to do is give him a strong enough reason to be there. It won't be easy, but it might be possible.'
Comeaux said, 'Tell me what you have in mind.'
I did. It didn't take very long, and then he got up and Lucy got up with him. The last thing he said was, 'It's your neck, podnuh. Go with God.'
A frown line had appeared between Lucy's eyebrows. 'Can you pull something like that off?'
I looked at Pike. 'Can we pull this off, she asks.'
Pike was frowning, too. I guess he had his doubts.
I used Jo-el's phone to make some calls, and when I was finished Lucy and Merhlie were gone. Jo-el stood in his office window, passing his palm across his hair and staring down along the street of his town. Maybe at the rows of buildings, maybe at the cars and the people walking on the sidewalks. He said, 'I should've done this six months ago. When that bastard came to my house and started all this, I should've dropped the hammer on him then and goddamned there.'
'You were caught off guard, and you were scared. People get scared, they don't think straight.'
'Yeah.' He didn't look convinced. He glanced at the floor, and then he looked up at me. 'I appreciate this. So will Edie.'
Pike said, 'Buy us a beer if we live through it.'
That Joe. He's a riot, isn't he?
We went out to our car and drove to New Orleans.
CHAPTER 32
T he Haitian was waiting for us at a beignet shop on South Rampart Street along the northern edge of the French Quarter. He hung there just long enough to make eye contact, then started walking without waiting for us. We went west to Canal, then south, and after a couple of blocks, Pike said, 'Across the street and half a block behind.'
I glanced back and saw the guy with the Ray-Bans. I nodded. 'Security conscious.'
Pike said, 'Creepy.'
Ramon del Reyo was waiting in the front passenger seat of a Yellow Cab a little bit down from Carondelet, where the old green streetcars make their turnaround from St. Charles and the Garden District. The cab's Off Duty light was on. The Haitian opened the back door for us, then got in behind the wheel. He didn't start the engine. Ramon smiled at Pike. 'So. You are with us this time, senor.'
'With you last time, too.' Pike tilted his head. 'Guy with the glasses across the street. Another guy to our left by the horse carriage. I haven't made the rifle.'
Ramon made a little shrug. 'But you know he's there. The man with the rifle is always there, you see?'
Pike's mouth twitched.
I said, 'I can take Donaldo Prima and Frank Escobar off the board. How badly do you want it to happen?'
The Haitian twisted in his seat to look at me, but Ramon del Reyo did not move.
I said, 'I know how and where Prima gets people into the country, and I've got a parish sheriff who is willing to make the case.'
Del Reyo wet his lips. 'It is a Justice Department case.'
'My guy will make the bust and collect the evidence. Justice comes in after the fact, everything laid out and undeniable.' I leaned toward him. 'It's solid. My guy just wants to clean up his place of business.'
The Haitian looked at del Reyo. Del Reyo said, 'There is more than that, my friend.'
I said, 'Yes, but I'm not going to tell you.'
Del Reyo said nothing.
'All you need to know is that if we can set it up well, both Escobar and Prima are over.'
The Haitian said something in Spanish, but del Reyo did not respond. The Haitian said it again, and this time del Reyo snapped something angrily. He frowned at me. 'What is it you want?'
'I need Escobar to make the case. That means I need to learn about the coyote business. I need to know how much it costs and how much people get paid and how Escobar works and how Prima works. I want to make Escobar think I'm in the business, and that I'm trying to cut a deal with him, so I have to know what I'm talking about. If I don't have Escobar, I can't make it happen.'
Ramon del Reyo laughed. 'You're a fool.'
'I think you've got someone inside with Escobar. I think that's how you keep tabs on him. Help me inside, Ramon. Come on.'
The Haitian said something else, and this time Ramon nodded. He didn't seem to be liking it a whole lot, but he was going along with it. He said, 'Why would Frank Escobar want to see you?'
'Because he hates Prima, and I can give him Prima. And if he wants Prima dead, I can give him that, too.'
Ramon smiled at me.
'We haven't identified the old man, Ramon. I want the picture.'
Ramon smiled some more and shook his head. He got out of the cab and walked south on Canal. He was gone for the larger part of an hour, and when he returned there was a middle-aged Asian guy with him. The Asian guy was slight and dark and looked Cambodian. The Cambodian leaned in to look at me and Pike, then he and del Reyo stepped away from the cab to talk. After maybe ten minutes the Cambodian walked away, and Ramon came back to the cab. He spent a little less than thirty minutes with us, first describing Escobar's setup, and then Prima's. He told us how much a guy like Escobar charged to sneak someone into the country and how much a guy like Prima paid to use Milt Rossier's pumping station. Everything was related to some sort of by-the-head payment. Escobar charged so much per head to get people in. Prima paid so much per head to use Rossier's waterway. Like we were talking about cattle. Something less than human.
Del Reyo gave me a slip of paper with a phone number. 'We have a man on very good terms with Escobar. He is arranging the meeting. Should anyone need a reference, have them call this number.'
I put it away without looking at it.
'I will leave you now. Jesus will take you there.' I guess the Haitian was Jesus. 'He will drop you off and leave, and you will be alone. If something happens, we will not be there to help. Do you understand this?'
'Sure.'
Ramon del Reyo walked away without another word and without looking back. No 'I'll be seeing you.' No 'good luck.' No 'win one for the gipper.' Maybe he knew something we didn't.
We drove north across the city toward Lake Pontchartrain, and soon we were out of the business district and driving along narrow residential streets with high curbs and plenty of oak and magnolia and banana trees, and old people in rockers on front verandas. We seemed to just sort of drive around, turning here and there, taking our
