The sun was still hanging up in the hot, hazy sky when we drove out to the Wal-Mart on the edge of town, bought the green gum boots, and tossed them into the trunk. We ate at the Holiday Inn, stopped in the bar, and eventually ducked back to John’s room. He was alone.

“I set you up,” I said. “Told Dessusdelit that her future involves a black knight on a white horse, bringing welcome change.”

“The Beemer’s white, and I sure as shit am black,” he said. He stepped over to the credenza, picked up a film cartridge, and flipped it to LuEllen. “Hope these are good.”

“I’ll look at them tonight.” She glanced at her watch and turned to me. “We better get going. It’ll be dark in half an hour.”

“So tomorrow-“

“I’ll talk to Brown about the land option,” John said. “I hope Bobby’s ready.”

“I just talked to him. He’s all ready. Is Marvel ready to move?”

“Harold’s got the capitol crowd fixed. He told them that some heavy-duty crime is going down, that big money is being stolen, that something could happen this weekend. If he comes up with enough specifics, the attorney general will send in the state bureau of investigation.”

“On a Saturday? For sure?”

“Any day of the week, any time of day, on six hours’ notice.”

“Can we trust them?”

“I think so. Crime is just crime, and most of the time they probably couldn’t give a shit. But this is politics. This is a deal.”

We pulled out of the dock just as the sun was disappearing over the highest of the old Victorian mansions up on the hill. The marina manager was leaving as we unhooked, and stopped by.

“Midnight cruise?”

“Little romance maybe,” LuEllen told him, rolling her eyes at me.

“Well, good luck with that.” The manager laughed, and he watched as we backed away, into the current.

We took our time going downriver, floating, easy. LuEllen stayed below, in the head, processing the film. I let the boat slip below the animal control complex, riding downriver for a dozen miles or more.

I could live out there on the Mississippi, I think, if I weren’t eaten by the worm of Art. I could live there for the names alone. Longstreet was the only big town between Helena, Arkansas, and Greenville, Mississippi. Just in that stretch of 120 miles, from Helena to Greenville, you roll through Montezuma Bend, Horseshoe Cutoff, Kangaroo Point, Jug Harris Towhead, Scrubgrass Bend, Ashbrook Neck, and a few other places where you’d like to hop off the boat and look around.