Louisiana Lament

what
they
did. But I couldn’t make it make sense.”
    Talba’s neck hairs prickled. “Makes sense to me.” Made her sick too.
    They walked in silence while Talba got up the nerve to bring up a couple of things that bothered her. “Why didn’t you come forward before?”
    Richard didn’t answer for awhile; seemed to be thinking of a way to explain. Finally, he said, “You know about my little boy?”
    Talba nodded. “Damian? Yes. I thought it might be something to do with him.”
    “It started about four years ago. Checks started coming. Made out to Damian Richard from some foundation; signed by somebody we never heard of. They always came with a nice letter with some real good reasons why our son had been chosen. But I’m a cop, right? I checked it out. There ain’t no such foundation. It was a bribe, pure and simple. I knew it and I took it.”
    “I don’t blame you for that,” Talba said. “I don’t think anybody would.” She shook her head at the sheer size of the deception. “Buddy sure thought of everything, didn’t he?”
    “He’s a detail man. Always has been.” He spoke absently, his mind elsewhere. “Tell me something. Doesn’t this bother you at all? You really glad you brought Buddy down? You gonna be happy with Jack Haydel for governor?”
    “No, I’m not. Hell, no. But, Calvin, look—Buddy Calhoun’s as crooked as Haydel is—and a cheap opportunist and a murderer. Sure, politicians are corrupt; that’s a given. But you ever heard of one who’s actually a murderer? I mean, Hitler and Stalin, sure, but in this country? This guy’s way beyond Nixon and Clinton and everybody else. You ever think about that?”
    “I swear to God I might vote for him if he were still running.”
    “You don’t care that he killed all those people? And covered up for Trey—who tried to kill
you?”
    Richard bowed his head. “Yeah, I care. I just think he’s better than the other guy. This damn thing’s warped me, you know that? I’ve lived with it all these years.”
    “What happened with you and Clayton after the attack?”
    “Nothing. We were never alone together after that—even for a minute. Never spoke again except to say hi. I never got over her, though. In some ways, I never did.”
    “I should think not.” They had walked back around to his parking spot. “I’ve got one last thing to ask you,” Talba said. “Her fiancé needs to know about this. Would you be willing to tell it again?”
    Real distress filled his face. “Talba, I can’t. Right now my stomach feels like there’s a hive of bees in it. I can’t go through this again.”
    She nodded, as if in sympathy. “Okay, then.” She pulled a tiny tape recorder out of her pocket. “Would you mind if I played this for him?”
    “Hey! You should have asked my permission to do that.”
    Legally, she didn’t have to and they both knew it. “I’m asking for your permission to play it. Out of courtesy.” He scowled, but she didn’t really give a damn. “Eddie wouldn’t have been kidnapped if you’d come forward. Your own wife wouldn’t have been shot at.”
    “Oh, fuck it,” he said. “Play him the goddamn thing.” Like he was the victim. He got in his car and drove away, leaving Talba with a bad taste in her mouth. Sure, the scalping and all its attendant effects had been hard on him—nearly getting killed; seeing Clayton hurt; being threatened. And God knows, so had his son’s illness. But one little confession didn’t make up for all those years of silence—for all the harm they’d done.

Chapter Thirty
    “Closure,” Eddie called it. It had a nice, long-
o
’d, settled sound. Serene, almost. She sincerely wished she had closure.. But in fact Talba had hardly felt less serene and settled in her life. Impressions of the past weeks swirled in her brain—feelings, images, but most of all, words. Words, words, words.
    Oh, God, the words:
    Hanging by a thread.
    Rudimentary conscience.
    Just a real friendly girl.
    Oh, Mama, I’m gonna lose her!
    Daddy! It’s that girl I hate.
    Professor Plum. Whatchathink that means?
    At least that one made her smile. She’d been longing lately for Janessa, no longer feeling it her duty or some adventure or learning experience to find a sister, but a real need. Why, she didn’t have a clue. It could have had to do with the greater sense of family she’d felt since the birth of Sophia, or the loss she felt for a lot of things, many of them illusions. But it was