“Snake’s son. About your age. He’s a legitimate businessman, according to his 1040. He’s into everything from timber to TV production. He uses old Eagles in the meth operation, probably because he knows he can trust them. Guys like Snake and Sonny Thornfield own front businesses that shield the operation. Car dealerships, Snake’s crop-dusting operation, that kind of thing.”

“Perfect for laundering drug profits. Also for purchasing and moving precursor chemicals. We might just have to give this operation a little scrutiny, depending on how things go.”

Henry shakes his head like a man trying to come to grips with a new world. “We’ll have to be damn careful. Morehouse said the drug operation has powerful protection.”

“From whom? Brody Royal?”

“In part, maybe. You may not know this, but the district attorney of this parish is married to one of Brody Royal’s nieces.”

“Oh, God. Have you checked the court record for any signs of corruption on his part?”

Henry shrugs. “He seems pretty clean. I don’t think he’s the heavyweight protection for the meth trade. The Knox people are never even arrested.”

“Who’s shielding them?”

Henry’s eyes lock on to mine. “Remember Forrest Knox?”

This takes me a minute. “The kid who witnessed the plane crash? Frank’s son?”

“Right. You know what he does for a living now?”

“No idea.”

“He’s a lieutenant colonel in the Louisiana State Police. Director of their Criminal Investigations Bureau.”

This seems too absurd to believe, yet it must be true. Henry’s eyes are shining with perverse satisfaction. “How the hell could Forrest Knox rise so high in law enforcement with his family pedigree?”

“This is Louisiana, brother. The land of Edwin Edwards and David Duke.”

“It can’t be that simple.”

“No. Forrest was a war hero, for one thing. Vietnam, Silver Star. For another, he worked his whole life to distance himself from his relatives—at least in public. The Double Eagle connection always dogged him, but his political instincts are so good that he managed to rise above it. Forrest and Snake supposedly hate each other, and have no recorded contact except at family funerals. But Billy and Forrest sometimes get together at a fancy hunting camp they own in Lusahatcha County. And it seems awful coincidental that a big-time drug dealer never seems to get arrested in a state where his cousin is chief of the most powerful criminal investigative agency.”

“Bottom line, if we push the Knox family, they’ll push back.”

Henry nods slowly.