“No. He’s an attorney, and the governor’s people were running around telling everybody that it was political-a gesture to the black caucus in the legislature. They understand that kind of politics down here. It’s considered smart and harmless. Especially with Ballem and Hill going on the council

“

“All right. It’s time for you to talk to Reverend Dodge.”

“We’re ready.”

“Take John with you. Just in case. You’ve got to get him by the balls-“

“We got him.”

“Then just sit tight. We’ll take care of Ballem and Hill.”

We spent the rest of the evening talking, sitting on the top deck, watching the river go by. We were almost done, we agreed. We should take the boat on down the river, to New Orleans. Hang out awhile. French Quarter. Take our time heading back up north.

“Maybe you could stay with me awhile,” I suggested.

“That’s kind of scary, Kidd,” she said.

More river went by. “Listen, I kind of wanted to ask

is your name really LuEllen?”

She looked amused. “Yeah, it really is.”

Marvel called at ten o’clock. It had worked, she said. Hill, Ballem, and Brooking Davis had been sworn in as the new city councilmen.

“And the Reverend Dodge’s ass is mine,” she said. “His ass, and his vote.”

“Did he freak out?”

“Nope. He was cool as a cucumber,” Marvel said. “I told him about this one girl, and then a second one, and he just reached out and patted me on the knee, and he said, ‘Marvel, what exactly is it that you want?’ I told him, and he said, ‘Well, I guess you got me,’ and asked if we wanted a beer.”

“That’s cold,” I said.

“I actually kind of admired him, the way he kept his shit together,” Marvel said.

At the meeting, she said, Ballem tried to get a “consensus of the council” that committed the new members to resign when the former members were found innocent of wrongdoing.

Only Hill voted with him.

Then two black members of the audience got up and demanded a new investigation of the shooting of Darrell Clark. After some heated discussion - and a recess, during which Marvel spoke to Brooking Davis - the proposal was rejected, three to two, with Bell and Dodge voting in favor. Both Bell and Dodge were surprised by Davis’s decision to vote with Hill and Ballem, as were the black members of the crowd.

“Brooking is going to take some shit, but we figure we’ve got to lay back. We don’t want anybody having second thoughts about who is on that council. We want him solid with the whites in town. I’d have told Dodge to vote against, too, but he’d already suggested a new investigation, so he couldn’t.”