“You’ll stay with us till the cops have moved on,” Walker said. “After that, you’re free to go back home.”

Eugene took a bite from his cucumber sandwich. The bread was stale, but he'd had worse. He didn’t answer.

“You’re real quiet for a journalist,” Monnet said, leaning in to rest her elbows on the table edge. Her necklaces fell forward to knock against the wood. “Don’t imagine you get many stories if you keep your mouth shut the whole time.”

Eugene glanced between the two outlaws. “Didn’t imagine you’d want me to talk.”

“You had plenty of opinions the last time we met,” Walker said.

“You hadn’t pointed a gun at me yet.”

The room lapsed back into silence.

It was Nancy who moved first, laying her palm flat on the table as she stood. “You’re always welcome here, Johnny, you know that. Come hell or high water. But I don’t want any violence done in this house, you understand?” She glanced at Eugene. “And if you go out back, take care not to wander too far. The bayou’s swelling fast. I reckon it’ll reach our back door in another few days.”

Todd nodded solemnly. “Best to steer clear. Too many things wandering the waters, especially after dark.”

“We’ll take care. We do appreciate you letting us stay.” Walker rose and leaned in to press a kiss to Nancy’s cheek, and Nancy looked youthful again as her face softened, just for a second.

“You’re not staying here,” Eugene said. They all turned to look at him. “With the flooding, I mean. Surely you’re evacuating until the waters settle?”

“We talked about that,” Todd said slowly. “Truth be told, there’s no good reason we’ve stayed as long as we have. We’ve got nothing of value here, not anymore.”

“The land never did recover from the great flood,” Nancy said. “Useless for farming. We’ve eked out a living, but nothing more.” She shook her head. “Should’ve left when my sister did. She and her husband had the right idea, even if circumstance did force their hands.” Walker touched her arm and she straightened. “It’s a damn shame, is what it is. We ought to go.”

“I expect we’ll head out not long after you,” Todd said. “In a few more days, just before the waters reach us.”

Eugene stayed sitting at the kitchen table long after the others dispersed, tracing the grooves in the wood with his fingertip. Would his coworkers notice that he had never returned from his lunch break? Had anyone at the bank recognized him before Walker pulled him away? Or would people assume he had simply disappeared without explanation, like Murdock or Benoit or Mol, never to return?

The last slivers of light faded from between the boarded windows, deepening to gold, then red, before giving way to the violet gray of dusk. He listened to the other people moving through the house: footsteps upstairs, the creak of swollen floorboards, the hushed click of closing doors. It grew cooler as the evening passed into night, and the frogs began their weary chorus. Finally, when it was properly dark and the kitchen had faded to mere blocks of shadow, blue and fuzzy around the edges, Walker returned to the table. He flicked on a lamp as he passed: just enough light to glow and let them meet each other’s eyes.