“I’m sorry, but I don’t know where Dad is,” I confess. “That’s why I’m here.”

“Well, you must think I can help, or you wouldn’t be here. Start talking. I’ll need to get back on my oxygen soon.”

“Dad’s in trouble, Pithy.”

“I’ve heard some things. Enough trouble to postpone a wedding?”

I can’t help but smile again. “You heard that, too?”

She rolls her eyes. Pithy’s telephone is her lifeline to the world, and even in her present condition she doesn’t miss much. “You go on and marry that girl, even if she is half a Yankee. She’s got spunk, and you’ve dawdled long enough.”

“I’m going to. Postponing the ceremony was Caitlin’s idea.”

“Well, don’t let her get away. You’re ten years older than she is. Remember the old adage: ‘Don’t keep a girl guessing too long, or she’ll find the answer somewhere else.’”

Flora chuckles behind me. “Sho’ will.”

“Bring Penn a cold drink, Flo. I think we still have one or two cans of Tab down in the icebox. And bring me some sherry to go with this nasty ginger tea.”

“All right.”

As Flora’s steps fade, I say, “They indicted him, Pithy. For murder.”

“I heard. But darling, there’s a world of difference between that and being convicted. Some of the best people have been indicted for one thing or another. And anyone worth knowing has been arrested at least once.”

“Have you?”

She vouchsafes me a smile. “What Mardi Gras anecdote is complete without a night in jail?” Pithy fans her face with her hand. “Enough repartee. What do I know that you don’t?”

“Tell me about Brody Royal.”

Pithy inclines her head slightly, and I can almost see the flash of synapses behind her eyes. “What do you want to know?”

There’s no point trying to hide anything from this woman, and I haven’t got time anyway. “Brody almost certainly killed some people a while back, mostly black men. Albert Norris and Pooky Wilson to start. He also ordered the deaths of Jimmy Revels and Luther Davis. Probably Dr. Leland Robb, too, which caused the deaths of three other innocent people.”

My bald assertion has managed to impress a woman not easily shocked. “Well, well,” she trills. “You said a mouthful there. If Brody Royal did all that, why didn’t the high sheriff hang him in the courthouse square? Why is he roaming free?”

“That’s what I’ve come to find out.”

“Dear me. Sooner or later, everything comes to the surface, doesn’t it?”

“Talk to me, Pithy. Please. And don’t hold anything back.”