“You didn't think you'd see us, huh?” Gilmore said.
Immy turned to run out the front door, but two Oklahoma Highway Patrolmen appeared on the threshold. She back-pedaled, stepped out of her left heel and tripped. Immediately she burst into tears.
“I don't know anything,” Immy said, sniffles slurring her words. “I don't know anything.”
“Come on, you don't expect us to believe that? You and that deputy from Coleman County was blackmailing everybody!” Gilmore laughed, his eyes surveying the disarray of the house. “By the looks of it, he got most of the damn money. Your dark meat must not have been that special.”
“I don't know anything,” she repeated.
Gilmore snarled and snapped his fingers. Pita-Paul shuffled over and kicked Immy in the ribs. She screamed and rolled over on her back, holding her left side. Immy had several coughing fits. Pita-Paul was about to kick her again when Gilmore snapped his fingers again. Pita-Paul put his foot back on the floor and went back to a rigid stance.
“Give me one of those apples,” Gilmore barked an order at one of the OHPs. The highway patrolman hopped to it, scooped up the bruised red apple and marched it over to Gilmore. Gilmore looked the apple over and took a huge bite of it. “You been in the town square yet?” Gilmore asked, chewing vigorously.
Immy shook her head, weeping silently.
Gilmore swallowed, didn't waste time taking another bite of the apple. He chewed quickly, sloppily. Bits of apple fell to the front of his shirt. He swallowed hard and glared at Immy. “Shaw is swinging from a pole for all the niggers in Darktown to see.”
That disturbed Immy's weeping for a moment. She managed to say: “What-what do you mean?”
“Your boyfriend! The one who's married to a skinny, tiny little woman and has three small kids – they live at a house on Berget Street in Coleman County! The white man you been fuckin' since the middle of last year! He's dead…” He pointed the apple at Immy. “You two were stupid as shit. Can you believe this?” He asked Pita-Paul. The question fell on deaf ears. So he directed his enquiry to the state patrolmen. “Can you believe this shit? They try to blackmail the governor of Oklahoma. Not just him, but all these people involved in dirty pictures. Holy shit… it's… beguiling. I know – big word for me – but I'm always intrigued – there I go again, oops, flauntin' my college education from the U of Oklahoma – again, let me say, in a way that a nigger can understand. People who think they can get somethin' from those who control everything, and think that their brains are so big and get these ideas, the devil planted those ideas in their heads. The devil is a nigger, you know that, right? God is on our side, the white man. What I'm tryin' to say, is you got two strikes against you to make sure you won't get ahead in life. 1: You're a nigger. Plain and simple. 2: You're a woman…” He let the words trail off. Gilmore sighed deeply. He shook his head and laughed. “I mean, don't you understand that you are a nigger, which means dumb to begin with, right? Yes, yes, yes, yes… it does. I mean, I see what Shaw liked in you. I mean, if I liked nigger women, that is,” The state patrolmen laughed along with Gilmore. “You're almost white. But you aren't. I have to know something. What fascinates me is when two dumb people get together to hatch a plan to move them up in society. You see, Shaw, he was as dumb as they came. I know, I played against him in high school football. He was a quarterback and I was on defense, and all we had to do was make out like we were going the left and he would throw to the right, and there I was, with an interception. Every time. One game, I had four touchdowns.” Everyone laughed but Pita-Paul. He stared blankly at Gilmore. “How did you and Shaw know about the governor being involved with that kidnapping of that old actress's baby?”
Immy got herself together. She fixed her dress, moved strands of light brown hair from her face. She raised up, but stayed on her knees. “His sister told us about it.”
“Who's his sister?” Gilmore asked. He looked at Immy as if she were lying. “I didn't know Shaw had any siblings. I just remember he was an only child.”
“Betty Klein,” Immy said.
Gilmore laughed. “She's a Jew. Shaw ain't Jewish. You're making this up.”
She stood, kicked off her right high heel. She smiled at Gilmore alluringly. She batted her eyes and licked her lips seductively. Gilmore wasn't interested. He scowled. From the look on his face, he was disgusted by Immy. “No, he told me he was. Shaw was adopted when he was five. Betty was two. His father was a gambler from New Jersey. They moved here to get away from the mob. His father owed a lot of money. Somebody came down here and shot his father and mother. Left him and Betty in the house with their dead parents. When they got adopted, she was shipped off to an orphanage in Texas. He stayed here.”
“I'm supposed to believe that bullshit?” Gilmore said. The two OHPs laughed and he joined in for the last chorus.
“It's not bullshit!” Immy protested.
“Really,” Gilmore shook his head and waved his hands at Immy. “Really don't matter. We're off the subject. So, you two were blackmailing fucking everyone. I mean, huge balls! Blackmailing Homer? Blackmailing the pervert druggist? Even damn Oliver Spiff. That's unbelievable. It's a wonder him or Homer didn't have you two killed…” Gilmore stopped talking. A smirk crossed his chipmunk face. “Wait a minute. They
