I heard Marvel squeal and John laughing; then Marvel came on, somewhat breathless, and said, “You don’t pay any attention to this liar.”

“Hey, he’s a good guy,” I said.

She laughed and said, in an aside to John, “Quit that,” and then to me, “He’s been hanging over me since that first night. You know what finally did it? I think it was those fuckin’ wing tips of his. He looked so cute in them.”

“Jesus, that is perverted.”

“That’s me.”

“I don’t mean to bring you down, but something occurred to me. This woman out at animal control

“

“Sherrie?”

“Yeah. A black guy’s going to show up at Dessusdelit’s place tomorrow with a copy of the secret books. The question may arise, Where did he get them?”

“Oh, shit,” she said. There was another pause. “I can handle it, I think.”

“OK.”

“I can tell her

to get sick, or something. If I tell her it’s important, she’ll do it.”

“With no questions?”

“Nothing I’ll answer. She’s not too bright

I can handle it.”

“OK. I just thought I’d mention it.”

“Good thought,” she said.

“And listen

take care of John.”

“Better’n he could possibly believe,” she said.

LuEllen and I went to bed, LuEllen speculating about John and Marvel. Would they get married? Would it be a church wedding? Would Marvel wear a formal white wedding gown, and would that be right at her age? Would we be invited, and if we were, could we come?

She went on for a while, while I listened distractedly. Finally I got out of bed, picked up the phone, and called Bobby on a voice line. I outlined what we were doing and asked if he could monitor Dessusdelit’s phones in the morning.

“We’re putting a lot of pressure on her,” I said. “If something goes wrong, or if she decides to run for it or figures out some kind of double cross

“

“I’ll monitor it,” he said. “If anything happens, I’ll get back to you.”

“Why do you want him to do that?” LuEllen asked when I hung up.

“I don’t know,” I said. “It seems like a good idea.”

I was sound asleep when the phone rang the next morning. I groaned, sat up, looked at the clock. Ten-thirty. I got to the phone on the fifth ring.

“This Kidd?” Bobby, his voice urgent, harsh, not waiting even for my “hello?”

“Yeah, Bobby? What’s going on?”

“Get over to Dessusdelit’s house,” he snapped. “Something bad’s happening.”

“What?” I asked. LuEllen sat up, watching, roused by the tone of my voice.

“I was monitoring her line. About two, three minutes ago, the dogcatcher-“

“Duane Hill-“