Whatever was happening, I couldn’t change it. Time to go. I was out the door, crossing the street to the parking lot, when I heard somebody coming after me. Hill, I thought, and I pivoted. It was Marvel.

“Gotta talk,” she said in a harsh whisper.

“Jesus Christ, Marvel, if anybody sees us, the whole thing comes unglued

“

“I can’t help it,” she whispered. I pointed to the other side of the car as I unlocked the door and said, “Lay down on the backseat.”

When she was in, I started the car and rolled out of the lot, turned away from the courthouse, and started around the block.

“What?” I asked.

“A problem we didn’t see.” Her voice was disembodied, floating over the backseat. “Bell caught on, of course, as soon as Davis suggested nominations for new members.”

“What can he do about it? He’s outvoted, two to one.”

“He can do two things that we didn’t think of. He can refuse to go back to the meeting. Without a quorum there’s no vote,” she said.

“Shit.” I gnawed at a thumbnail. “He can’t stay out forever, though.”

“And he can quit. That would do it. The governor would have to appoint replacements again, and there’d be three more white boys. And Bell’s talking about doing just that.”

“Goddamn it. Who’s he talking to? Everybody? Or just Davis.”

“Just me and Davis. I think he’s still trying to figure out what we’re doing. And he really doesn’t want to quit; that’d be the end for his precious bridge.”

I took a couple of more blocks, worrying it. There was only one out. “You gotta deal with him,” I said. “You. Or Davis. Somebody. You’ve gotta find a way to cut a deal with Bell.”

“How?” she asked. “He doesn’t even want to live here. He wants to live across the river, in a whole ‘nother state. He’s here only because he thinks it’ll help him get that fuckin’ bridge.”

“Then get the bridge for him,” I said.

“I can’t. Everybody’s tried. And they’ve tried about everything they could think of.”

“Well, I’ll tell you what, Marvel,” I said. “If he walks out of that City Hall without going back to the meeting, the white pressure’ll get heavier and heavier, and he won’t be able to move. If he goes back tonight and you get elected to the council, he can always claim that it didn’t occur to him to boycott the meeting. If the meeting gets put off until tomorrow, there’s no way that’d work. By tomorrow everybody will have thought of it.”

“You got nothing for me?” she asked. “Nothing?”

“Man, I’m a technician. I can get you to a point, but after that