All the
Flowers
AreDying
LAWRENCE BLOCK
For a pair of Knockaround Guys:
b r i a n k o p p e l m a n
&
dav i d l e v i e n
O Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are callin’, From glen to glen, and down the mountainside, The summer’s gone, the roses all are fallen, And now ’tis you must go, and I must bide.
But come ye back when spring is in the meadow, Or when the hills are hushed and white with snow, Ye’ll find me there, in sunshine or in shadow, O Danny Boy, O Danny Boy, I love you so.
But if ye come, and all the flowers are dyin’, And I am dead, as dead I well may be,
Then you will find the place where I am lyin’, And kneel and say an Ave there for me.
And I will hear, though soft you tread above me, And then my grave will warmer, softer be, And you will bend and tell me that you love me, And I will wait in peace until you come to me.
—Frederic Edward Weatherly, “Danny Boy”
Listen, O judges: here is yet another madness, and that comes before the deed. Alas, you have not yet crept deep enough into this soul.
Thus speaks the red judge, “Why did this criminal murder?
He wanted to rob.” But I say unto you: his soul wanted blood, not robbery; he thirsted after the bliss of the knife.
—Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra Translated by Walter Kaufmann
Contents
1.
When I got there, Joe Durkin was already holding down a
corner tabl
e...
1
2.
He’d originally suggested dinner at seven, but I’d pushed
it bac
k to...
9
3.
The Greensville Correctional Center is located just
outside of J
arr
att...
17
4.
The cell is larger than he’d expected, and more comfortably
appointed.
25
5.
At a meeting over the weekend a woman whom I knew
by sigh t cam e up..
.
33
6.
There’s a Red Roof Inn just outside of Jarratt, at the exit
off
I-95,
but
on...
44
7.
The first thing TJ tried was the phone number. It was his
cell pho
ne...
60
8.
He’s up before the alarm rings. He showers, shaves, dresses.
He’s sav
ed a…
70
9.
It’s noon, and no one has yet made an appearance on the
