“It’s only gonna be three days,” Semelee said. “We want him to stay for the lights. But I tell you what: You find my other shell and we’ll do a trade…the shell for Carl.”

“Semelee,” Luke said. “You got no right. Carl belongs here.”

She turned on him, eyes flashing. “What’s more important—givin’ Carl a light show or gettin’ my eye-shell back?”

Luke looked away and said nothin’.

Semelee turned to Jack. “So that’s the deal. How’s it set with you?”

“Lady, I don’t know where this shell of yours is. If I’d known it was going to matter, I’d have kept track of it.”

She pointed to Carl’s borrowed canoe. “Maybe you’d better start lookin’.”

Keeping his pistol trained on Luke, Jack considered his options. He had a few, but didn’t like any of them.

He could do a little shooting, but he could see how that could turn counterproductive. He could do his own search for Carl, but he’d be a stranger looking for someone who’d been stashed away by folks who knew every nook and cranny of the terrain. He could head back and take one of these guys with him, then trade him back for Carl; but Jack had no place to stash him.

Or he could go back and find the shell, which was one tall order.

Going back…there was another challenge. He wasn’t Woodsman Jack. The closest he ever wanted to get to outdoor life was a copy of Field & Stream.

“I don’t know the Everglades,” he said. “I’ll get lost out there.”

Semelee laughed, a musical sound, void of harshness or derision.

“No, you won’t. The drought ain’t left too many wet channels. Every time you come to a fork, just take the eastmost. It ain’t all that far.”

“And if I do find this shell, how will I let you know?”

“Easy. Just stand outside you daddy’s house and say, ‘I found the shell.’ I’ll hear you.”

Jack didn’t think she was lying, and that gave him the creeps.

“All right,” he said. “I’ll go.” He hated to leave without Carl, but he’d be back. He also hated leaving without satisfying the reason he’d come here in the first place. “But I want to know something before I go: What have you got against my father?”

Semelee looked away, then back to him. “Nothin’.”

“Like hell. You folks tried to kill him the other night, and somehow sicced that freaky alligator on him yesterday. Let me ask you: What did he ever do to you?”

“We ain’t after him,” she said.

Jack caught Luke giving her a sharp look, but she didn’t see it.

“Why don’t I believe that?” Jack said.