Hedges is surrounded by the newest residential developments on the south side of town, it?s mostly wooded, and protected from casual observation on every side. Drew originally planned to build a home here, but now I hear he plans to build a high-end subdivision. Modern medicine in a nutshell. There are a couple of aluminum buildings on the property, and it?s one of these that I?'ve chosen for our rendezvous.
?Is that the one?? Caitlin asks, pointing to a narrow gravel road just past the entrance to an antebellum home on the right.
?No, the next one.?
?I see it. Okay.? She slows the car, and the wheels crunch on gravel. ?The thing about dogfighting,? she says?it?s standard procedure for Caitlin to return without warning to a previous discussion??is that when the police do bust fights, which is rarely, they always turn up evidence of other crimes. Drugs, weapons, prostitution. The gambling goes without saying.?
?Kill your lights.?
?What??
?There?s enough moonlight to get us down this road.?
She switches off the lights but keeps talking. ?I don'?t mean random stuff either. The same criminals who run drugs and guns and girls love fighting dogs. It?s like the ultimate expression of the male lust for power and violence.?
?Your Radcliffe education is showing.?
?Well, it?s true.?
?I know. That'?s why I called Kelly.?
She gives me a tight smile. ?Yeah, I get it now.?
As we roll up to a metal gate, a tall, white-haired man steps from behind some cedar trees to our right. My father. Caitlin smiles and starts to roll down her window, but Dad pulls open the gate and motions for us to drive quickly through. After we do, he locks the gate behind us and comes to the passenger door of the Volkswagen. I get out and squeeze into the back, leaving the front seat for him.
?Well, Kate,? he says, his eyes glinting as he looks at Caitlin. ?It?s sure been dull without you around.?
?No more boredom,? she says with a smile. ?I guarantee that, at the very least. Have you heard from Peggy and Annie??
Dad shakes his head. ?We?re talking as little as possible. And only on the satellite phone.?
?I have it with me,? I say. ?We can get an update after this meeting.?
?Good. I have a surprise for you, Son.?
?What?s that??
?Walt?s here.?
?Garrity??
?Right.?
?What do you mean ?here?? In Natchez? Or
here??
?He?s in the shed now, talking to Kelly.?
For the first time, I feel a rush of real optimism.
?The sly son of a bitch just appeared in my house,? Dad says. ?Almost gave me a coronary. I have James Ervin watching me, and he had no idea Walt was even there.?
James Ervin is a black cop my dad used to treat. ?That'?s not encouraging.?
?Walt?s pretty slick,? Dad says.
?Who?s Walt Garrity?? Caitlin asks.
?A Texas Ranger,? Dad explains. ?Met him in Korea, when we were still boys. He?s semiretired, but I guess once you learn to sneak past Indians and Mexicans, retired city cops aren'?t much of a challenge. This will be the only night we see him. He wants to work totally apart from everyone else.?
As well as I got to know Walt in Houston, there are many things
I don'?t know about him. For example, I know that my father saved Walt?s life during the Korean War, and that Walt later returned the favor, but I don'?t know the circumstances of either episode. Both men belong to a generation that doesn?'t talk about certain things without a compelling reason.
?I'm sure Walt knows best,? I say. ?We?ll talk about your security later.?
Dad ignores this and motions for Caitlin to continue up the road. She gives his hand a squeeze, then begins driving us deeper into the forest.
We?re meeting in a sixty-by-forty-foot shed of galvanized aluminum, the kind you see along highways all over the South. My father leads Caitlin and me past a ski boat on a trailer, a 1970s-vintage Corvette with a hole in its fiberglass, an orange Kubota tractor, a zero-turn lawn mower, and various other power machinery used for grounds maintenance. Near the far end of the building, sitting in folding lawn chairs beneath two camouflage-painted deer stands, are Danny McDavitt, Carl Sims, Walt Garrity, and Daniel Kelly. At first glance, they look incongruous, like an illustration of different American types: an astronaut, an NFL cornerback, a cowboy, and a surfer with a blond ponytail. I'm surprised to see Carl Sims here, but before I can ask about his descent into the Devil?s Punchbowl, Walt Garrity drawls, ?Look what the cat drug in.?
Rising from his lawn chair, Walt catches sight of Caitlin and quickly doffs his Stetson. ?Ma?am. I didn't realize we?d be having female company.?
Kelly rises to give Caitlin a hug. They met seven years ago, when we were drawn together by the Delano Payton case. ?What do we have here, Penn?? Kelly asks. ?The Seven Samurai??
Carl Sims smiles from his chair. ?Kind of looks like it, if you count the lady.?
?Oh, she pulls her weight,? Kelly says.
Gratitude shines in Caitlin?s eyes as she shakes hands with Carl and Danny.
?Maybe you?re right,? I say. ?Leaderless soldiers gathered to save a village.?
?Well, I'm impressed,? Caitlin says. ?An air force pilot, a marine sniper, a Texas Ranger, a Delta Force commando, and a doctor.?
?You left out lawyer and reporter,? McDavitt points out.
?Superfluous on any important mission, I'm sure,? she quips, getting a chuckle all around and putting everyone at ease.
?Not these days,? Kelly says. ?Even the army needs a legal department and a propaganda machine.?
He unfolds three more chairs, and we sit in a tight circle, surrounded by chain saws and Weed Eaters and the oily smell of two-stroke engines. I look across the circle to Carl.
?So, you made it out of the Punchbowl??
The sniper grins and shakes his head like a man who?s spent a week crossing a desert. ?Took a while, but I finally did.?
Danny McDavitt says, ?I would have called and told you, but I figured you needed the sleep.?
?Thank you,? says Caitlin. ?He did.?
?Did you find anything down there?? I ask.
?Not a damn thing. Not in the car or around it. I grid-searched on my hands and knees. If there was anything down there, somebody else already got it.?
?Do you think the car burned when it crashed, or somebody torched it and dumped it there??
?Somebody torched it, but I don'?t think they did it until yesterday. I think somebody else made the same climb I did, either to find something or to be sure they destroyed something.?
As I recall the USB drive Tim concealed in his own body, Dad says, ?So, where do we start? Is everybody on the same page, or whatever they say these days??
Walt leans back and speaks from beneath the brim of his hat. His voice has been roughened by years of cigarette smoke, and the clear eyes in the weathered face give him a natural authority that the others seem ready to defer to, at least for now.
?Mr. Kelly was just telling me some things his company has learned in the past few hours. Reckon he ought to
