Voodoo River

CHAPTER 35

M ilt Rossier called at fourteen minutes after nine the next morning. First thing out of his mouth was, "I'll go along for twenty-five hunnerd a head."

"Forget it."

"Twenty-two five, then, goddammit, or I'll just leave things the way they are."

I hung up on him. If I had a strong hand, I'd play it. If I didn't, he'd know I was shooting blanks.

Six minutes later the phone again rang and he said, "Twenty-one hunnerd, you sonofabitch. You know goddamn well there's some give. Be reasonable."

I thought my heart was going to come through my nose. "There's more, Milt, but I'm taking it. It's a one-shot, then I'm back home and out of it. After that, if you can screwdriver Escobar out of the extra cash, go for it."

Milt Rossier said, "You sonofabitch," but now he was laughing. One slimebag to another. Just a couple of good ol' boys ripping off each other. "Prima's bringing a load up tonight. That too soon for you boys?"

"Nope. What time?"

"The boat comes in around ten. Prima meets my boy LeRoy at a place called the Bayou Lounge. You know it?"

"Not tonight, Milt. Have Prima meet us at the boat. Escobar and I will meet you at your place at eight. Escobar wants to go in early." If I could get Escobar. If he'd go for it.

Milt said, "Escobar gonna bring the money?"

"Sure."

"Well, good."

I said, "You didn't tip Donaldo, did you, Milt?"

"Hell, no."

"Frank wants him, Milt. That's the deal."

"I said I didn't, goddamn it. If Frank wants to be in business with me he can have Prima's ass in a goddamned croaker sack. I'll gut him and skin him, he wants."

"Good enough. He's looking forward to meeting you, Milt. He's thinking he can run in three loads a week."

Milt Rossier said, "Holy jumpin' Jesus." There were probably dollar signs in his eyes.

"Happy days, Milt."

He said, "One thing, podnuh."

"What's that?"

"You be at the Bayou waitin'. You ain't there, I'll back away from this thing like a mud bug divin' down his hole." Ah, that southern color.

"Wouldn't miss it, podnuh." Now I was doing it.

"Ol' Frank don't show, you gonna wish you had. Milt Rossier don't take shit from any man on this God's earth. You hear where I'm coming from?"

"Loud and clear, Milt."

I hung up and called Frank Escobar. I said, "Donaldo Prima is bringing in a boat of people tonight at ten P.M. Rossier says you can have him. Are you in?"

Escobar said, "Yes."

"He wants to meet at ay place called the Bayou Lounge. We'll meet him there, then go to the boat. You have to have the money."

"Don't worry about it."

I hung up and called Jo-el Boudreaux at his home. He answered on the second ring, and his voice was shaky. He said, "Did they go for it?"

"We're on for tonight. Can you get your people together?"

He said, "Oh, Christ."

"Can you get it together?"

"Yeah. Of course, I can." He sounded strained.

"Calm down, Jo-el. The boat will come at ten, but I have to meet him at his bar at eight, and that means your people have to be in position by seven. Are you going to be able to arrange that?"

"Yeah. Yeah, sure. I'll get my guys and have them come over to the house around four, and we'll set everything up."

"I'll be there."

"Hey, Cole."

"What?"

"I appreciate this."

"Sure."

I hung up and phoned Lucy at her office and told her we were on. She said, "Do you think Jo-el can pull it off?"

"There's nothing to it, Luce. When the bad guys are all together with the money and the illegals, all he has to do is arrest them. The trick was in getting everybody together. There's nothing fancy in the bust."

"I guess not." She didn't sound convinced.

I told her that we would be putting it together at the Boudreaux's house at four, and she said that she'd call Merhlie Comeaux and that they would meet us there. We hung up, and then I went next door for Pike. I said, "We're on."

He went to his closet and got the duffel. When he picked it up you could hear the clunk of padded metal. He said, "I've been ready for years."

At three o'clock that afternoon, we went down to the car and drove across the bridge to Eunice.

Three Evangeline Parish Sheriff's Department highway cars were parked on the grass in front of Jo-el Boudreaux's house, and Lucy's Lexus was in the drive. I wondered if the neighbors might think it odd, so many cars, but maybe not. Just a little midweek barbecue for the boys. Pike and I went to the door, and Edith Boudreaux let us in. She smiled when she greeted us, but the smile seemed strained.

Lucy and Merhlie Comeaux were in the wing chairs, and three parish cops were on the sofa. The young black cop named Berry was there, along with the cop named Tommy Willets. The third cop was a guy named Dave Champagne, who looked like the Pillsbury Doughboy with a pink downy face. Willets frowned when he saw us, then looked away, shaking his head. Still with the attitude. Champagne and Berry were younger than Willets. Boudreaux introduced everybody, and I stayed with the group while Pike went off by himself and stood against the wall. Both Berry and Champagne kept glancing at him. A little tray of Fig Newtons and sugar cookies was on the coffee table, and Edith Boudreaux offered us coffee in fragile china cups. She seemed anxious that we accept, and she hovered at the edges of the room, as flighty as a mayfly trapped behind glass. I thought that, in a way, this might be harder on her than on anyone else. Jo-el said, "I've told everybody that we're goin' after Milt Rossier tonight. I told'm about the illegals and Donaldo Prima and Frank Escobar and what we're tryin' to do. You wanna tell'm what you saw out there?"

I went through it about the towboat and the pumping station and the old man and the little girl, and then I told them about backtracking on Prima to uncover the scam. When I was in the middle of it Willets sat forward on the couch and stopped me. He said, "You saw a damned murder you shoulda come in right away."

Jo-el said, "He had his reasons, Tommy."

Tommy Willets was staring at the sheriff. "Not reportin' a crime is against the law, Jo-el. Jesus Christ, who made this guy the goddamned sheriff?" He shot a glance at Edith. "Sorry, Edie."

Jo-el Boudreaux was looking embarrassed when Dave Champagne said, "Oh, put a sock in it, Tommy. We're gonna finally take down ol' Milt Rossier. Ain't that a hoot?" He was grinning so wide his face looked like a fuzzy pink pumpkin. I looked at Pike, and Pike shook his head. We were making this bust with a Boy Scout troop.

Lucy said, "How is this thing going to be staged?"

I said, "I'm going to meet Milt Rossier and Frank Escobar at the Bayou Lounge at eight, and then we're going to the pumping station to meet the boat. The boat's due in at ten. Prima is supposed to arrive with the boat."

Jo-el looked at Merhlie Comeaux. "How we doin' with this? We clear on entrapment?"

Merhlie nodded. "I don't see a problem, sheriff. It looks clean. We give the state a clean bust with Rossier in possession of cash and a truck full of illegal aliens, and they'll put his name on a double occupancy suite in Angola. I guarantee." He said it gah-rawn-tee. Cajun.

I said, "Rossier may not actually take possession of the cash. It could go to Bennett. That's what happened last time."

"Same thing," Merhlie said. "Bennett works for Rossier, and Rossier holds the lease on the land." He looked back at Boudreaux. "I'll wait by the phone.

Just lemme know when it's done and I'll call Jack Fochet at state and we'll have of Milt arraigned by tomorrow noon. Jack Fochet is a good boy."

Berry was looking concerned. "I know the old Hyfield Oil station. How are we supposed to see any of this if it happens inside there?"

"Prima flags the towboat in from the shore, then they bring the trucks into the building through a couple of barn doors," I said. "They leave the doors open. You won't have any problem. That's how we saw the old man killed."

Jo-el said, "We're gonna be in the weeds, so we may not be able to see what's going on. Maybe we oughta have a sign or somethin'."

Merhlie frowned. "Well, hell, Jo-el, what do you want him to do, wave a red bandanna? Those sons of bitches have guns and they like to use them."

When he said it, Lucy sat forward in her chair. "You're going to be with them when the arrests are made?"

"Yes."

She looked at Pike, and then back to me. "Is that necessary?"

"I'm what holds it together. I'm putting Rossier and Escobar together, and they're going to want me with them all the way. Rossier's nervous, and Escobar's only going along because he thinks he's going to kill Prima." I looked at Boudreaux. "Prima isn't expecting Escobar, so when these guys see each other all hell's going to break loose. You'll have to move fast."

Jo-el nodded. "Sure. You bet." He was pale and he kept rubbing at his jaw.

Willets hooked a thumb at Pike. "Where are you going to be, podnuh?"

Pike said, "Watching."

Willets didn't like that. "What in hell does that mean?"

Jo-el said, "Don't worry about it, Tommy. He'll be there."

Willets stayed with it. "We should know where everyone is. There might be shooting. Be a shame if somebody got shot accidental-like."

Pike said, "Don't worry about it, Willets."

Willets frowned, but he let it go.

Berry said, "Where we gonna be?"

Boudreaux said, "We'll set up in the cane with a view through the doors. We'll have to hide the cars off the main road, then hike in. I want you fellas to go home and get your waders. You're gonna need'm."

Willets said, "How much time do we have? I got things I need to do."

Boudreaux checked his watch. "We got about an hour before we have to get in place. That about right?" He looked at me, asking. I nodded, and Willets snorted, disgusted that Boudreaux would ask. Boudreaux ignored him and went on. "I want you boys to change into old clothes, cause we're gonna get wet, but I want everybody in a Sheriff's Department shell parka. I wanna know who's who out there." Boudreaux had brought it to the end, and now he looked at me. "I think maybe we oughta get going. You got anything you wanna say?"

"Yeah. Nobody shoot me."

Berry and Champagne laughed, and everybody stood, moving toward the door. The sheriff went to Merhlie Comeaux, and Lucy pulled me aside. Her mouth was still in the tight line, and she pulled me as far from the others as she could. She said, "Do you really have to be out there?"

"I've done things like this before. Trust me."

Her nostrils flared, and she stared across the room, frowning. "Well, isn't that just great. And what do I get to do, wait here with the womenfolk?"

"If you ask him nice, Pike might loan you a rifle."

She said, "Oh, right," and stalked away to Comeaux.

Pike looked at me from across the room and cocked his head toward the door. I met him there. He said, "You okay with these guys?"

"They're what we have."

He glanced at Willets. "I don't like the dip with the attitude."

"See you on the other side, Joe."

Pike nodded, and I went out to my car and left for the Bayou Lounge.

Years ago, a friend and I booked a package cruise from Tahiti to Hawaii, sailing north. The passage took five days, crossing waters so remote that we were beyond all radio contact with land. As we sailed, the sea grew deeper until, three days out of Papeete, the crew told us that the sonar could no longer the bottom. The charts said that the bottom was seventeen thousand feet beneath the hull, but, for all purposes, the ocean was bottomless. No way to know what's down there, they said. No way to call home for help, they said. Here there be monsters.

Great dense clouds grew on the western horizon, towering anvil thunderheads that rolled steadily toward me, filling the sky with the slate-steel color of deep ocean water, water with no bottom.