And this is your expiation? Be by my side, so poor Nick can let it all out? And you can move on. Be with what’s-his face.

“So now you’re giving me the chance?”

“No, that’s not it. I thought that …”

“Thought what?”

“Just that it would be good to see you and …”

Now that you’re serious with someone else.

“And see if …”

“See what?” he asked.

“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t.”

Addis stared at the stripes on the road. She can’t say it, he thought. She can’t tell me she’s doing a compare-and-contrast before making a decision.

“And why, why really did you ask me to come down here with you?” Rudd said.

“For your help.”

“That’s it.”

“Holly …”

She waited for more. But he did not know how to continue.

“Then it looks like,” she said, “we both got what we wanted.”

Rudd picked up the crossword puzzle and pulled a pen out of her pocketbook.

“How much longer do we have?” she asked.

He looked at her. Her face was red, her eyes wet.

“About two-and-a-half hours,” he said.

“Okay,” she said. “If you want me to drive some, let me know.”

She stared at the puzzle and then wrote over several letters.

Mickey Burton was waiting for them at the bar in the Chesterfield Hotel. He was in his late twenties, short, big-eared, and wide-mouthed. He shook hands with Addis and his eyes drifted toward Rudd’s chest. He took them on a brief tour of the hotel, which had been owned by his family for four generations. He noted that his grandfather had kept a suite on reserve for Huey Long’s “private meetings.” Then Rudd excused herself to stroll through town.

Burton brought Addis to the restaurant. He pointed at three elderly men sitting in a booth. “I invited some of the old boys down, but first we can talk,” he said.

The two sat at the empty bar.

“Got a call this morning from Joe Rego,” Burton said. “From Mumfries’s Texas organization. He asked if I’m ready to endorse Mumfries. Shit, I say to myself, they’re faster than a hound. He said they’re calling all the chairs. ‘In Louisiana?’ I asked. ‘Everywhere … So, Mickey, what’s it gonna be?’ I say, ‘Joe, you probably got me, but I got to get used to the fact first, alright?’ He gave me the usual line: ‘We’re going to remember the early ones.’ I know that. ‘Put me down as a leaner,’ I said, ‘But I’m not getting married today.’ Especially when I know you’re coming to see me.”

“That’s not what I’m here about.”

Burton lit up a cigarette and moved the ashtray away from Addis.

“Yeah, but Margaret may … And I’ve always liked her. When my mother was dying, she—”

“Mickey, that’s really not why I came,” Addis interrupted.