“Odell kept coming to the house, and he was the one that done it, Milton.”

“Yeah, but we know what a snake Odell is. We been blackmailing him, so he had a damn good reason for trying to destroy us. We ain’t done nothing to Joyce. If he did try and drag her into his plan, she’d want to know why. Do you think he’d tell her?”

“No, but he could have told her some other story without mentioning Betty Jean.”

“Yvonne, let’s drop the subject. Why don’t you rear back in your seat and take a nap? We got a long ride.”

“I’m too jittery to take a nap.”

“Then hush up about Odell and Joyce.”

“What do you want to talk about then?”

“Nothing. I just want to get us home as fast as I can.”

I reared back in my seat, but I didn’t take no nap.

Milton took a few shortcuts and drove down some back roads so we’d get home a little sooner. I stayed quiet for about fifteen minutes. “Baby, what if Joyce went back to that restaurant? If Odell left before she got there, she could have asked some of them folks about him. What if she got enough information to track him down before she left Hartville?”

“I thought I told you to get off this subject.”

“Milton, you might not want to keep talking about it, but I do. She might pick up a stick and beat him and that woman to death,” I wailed.

“That would be bad for him, good for us. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about him coming after us. At the end of the day, we got his money. If Joyce don’t kill him, and you worried about him getting back at us, we can haul ass.”

“Where would we go?”

“Well, my brother in Louisiana been trying to get me to move over there for years. The church he pastors is known for helping folks start new lives. He’d find a job for me, and I’m sure he’d find something for you. There is still white folks with money that need help. I’m a damn good cook. I know I’d be able to get on at another restaurant or do farm work again. And if you can’t get no waitress job, you wouldn’t have no trouble getting hired as a mammy.”

My mouth dropped open and I looked at Milton like he’d lost his mind. “I don’t want to be nobody’s mammy. And I know you don’t want to be no farmhand again. You hated that kind of work.”

“Look, I’m just talking about temporary jobs until we can get something better.”

I sighed and softened my tone. “I never thought you’d give up bootlegging.”