… And the Govnor made like a prince. So when I hear this, I was ready to be beat. Should have been ours. So I tried to see the govnor to complain. Drove to Baton Rouge. Guess I caused a stir at the office there. This lady won’t let me see him or no one else. Then this fellar comes to pull me out of there. He’s rough at first. But he asks me to explain why I’m so agitated. I tell him I see what’s been done and it ain’t fair. So he says that he’ll take a look and get on back to me. Talks like your momma did. I ain’t no fool so I say what if you don’t. He writes down his telephone number for me. And a week later he comes by Uncle Pete’s. Says what’s done is done and all that. But says some folks want to make it up. Big folks, he says. This is when you got your troubles at training. So I tell him you punched out this sergeant and they going to bust you out. He says, he’ll talk to the big folks. A week later you called me to say your on to something big and secret and all’s OK. So I figured they done kept their word. So I don’t fuss no more about what’s been done. Cause maybe I figured it’s a good thing cause it got you something. But if things ain’t turn out good, then I don’t know what. Anyhow, I hope you ain’t got no twitches yet. Your momma fought them for a long time. She always prayed and smiled, and made everybody feel good. Just like her name. And the docs always said they may pass you. I am praying for you. More for you than for me.

Addis let the page drop on the tapletop. He stared at the wall. A Redskins calendar.

This can’t be. It’s not a bad movie. It’s a bad joke. The worst fucking joke of all time. The worst in the fucking history of the U.S. and the entire fucking universe. Who could believe this? This guy’s—he’s like Oswald—every-fucking-where. Worse than Oswald. Not the biggest damn coincidence ever. The two biggest. One on top of another. Son of the hick ripped off by Chasie Mason to help the Hanovers, and, then, to keep that deal quiet, he’s bounced to some scum squad of government assassins. And then he …

Addis’s heart pounded. Might he be reading this wrong? The Blue Ridge property had been owned by a Helen Peters. He looked again at the death notice. Helen A. Morrison had been the wife. Two Helens. Could they be the same? Had Matthew Morrison’s mother once been Helen Peters?

“ … and made everybody feel good. Just like her name.”