“Don’t act like I’m the one in the wrong here,” he snaps, pulling back and looking up the street. “Your father is refusing to assist the coroner with a legal obligation, and you’re trying to blackmail the district attorney. Any objective listener would brand you the bad guy here.”

I know Shad too well to let this bother me.

“Penn,” he continues gravely, “have you considered the possibility that your father might actually be guilty?”

Of course I have. “Of murder?”

“Yes.”

“No.”

The ping of my cell phone alerts me to a call. My first instinct is to ignore it until I’m clear of Shad, but then I remember that Kirk Boisseau is diving the Jericho Hole this morning. While Shad watches, I dig out my phone and check the screen. Sure enough, it reads KIRK B.

“Hey, buddy,” I answer. “I’m in a meeting. What’s the situation?”

“I found what you wanted.”

My heart quickens, but I keep my face impassive. “What would that be?”

“Bones.”

“The ones I mentioned?”

“I’m pretty sure.”

Shad looks impatient. “That was fast,” I say casually. “What makes you think so?”

“There was a car sitting on them. Some were handcuffed to a steering column. If they hadn’t been, they’d have washed out into the river back in the flood of seventy-three.”

My heart stutters, and I turn away from the DA in hopes of concealing my excitement. “Where are you now?”

“On Highway 84. We had to tear ass out of there. The landowner was riding a four-wheeler around the hole when I came out of the water the last time, and that hole ain’t exactly a lake. It’s more like a big pond.”

Shad points at his wristwatch, a platinum Rolex.

“Thank you, Rose,” I say with all sincerity. “I’ll call you back in a few minutes.”

Again I give Shad my full attention. “You and I need to arrange a DNA test,” I remind him. “Immediately. I want this paternity bullshit settled before rumors hit the street.”

“Okay by me,” he says. “But the usual procedure isn’t going to cut it. Lincoln Turner doesn’t trust any local lab to send the right swab to New Orleans or Jackson. He doesn’t even trust the cops down here. We’re going to have to get an out-of-town lab to send a tech.”

“Christ, Shad. Well … get on it. The sooner Turner knows the truth, the sooner sanity might prevail. Have you spoken to him about his possible parentage? And by that, I mean the gang rape.”