Stagg nodded, placing his hands in the pockets of his pleated trousers, and rocking up on the toes of his brand-new penny loafers. “My heart breaks every time I think what she and that black boy did to her momma.”

“Hell,” Lovemaiden said. “Thank God you didn’t have to see it.”

“You knowed that colored kid, too,” Stagg said. “Caught him a few times busting in windows over here?”

“A time or two,” Lovemaiden said. “He’s a nice boy with sticky fingers.”

“He been in your jail recently?”

Lovemaiden scratched at his cheek, his head with reddened cheeks roughly the size of a damn basketball. His bloated belly extended so far out from his tan trousers that it appeared that the buttons could pop off his shirt.

“A long time back,” he said. “Maybe two-three years ago. Stealing cars before he could drive legal.”

Lovemaiden held a Styrofoam cup to his lips and spit. He stood there under the weak light of the few fluorescent bulbs that still worked and waited for Stagg to ask him the favor he’d mentioned on the phone. Stagg always liked to draw matters out—going ’round and ’round added a little drama and emphasis.

“I sure would like to see those kids get what’s coming to them,” he said. “I was thinking earlier today that Ladarius McCade might’ve made a few friends over here in Parsham.”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe one or two boys who recall him talking about his little girlfriend?” Stagg asked. “And maybe what they’d been planning to do to her momma?”

Lovemaiden spit again. “Figure someone with that kind of information would get a little compensation.”

“Yes, sir,” Stagg said. “But it would make me feel a mite better to pass along that money through the law, let them decide just what that upstanding young person would deserve.”

“Some of the boys come in and out of my jail would kill their sister for twenty bucks.”

“That a fact,” Stagg said. “Sounds like y’all need more to do over here in Parsham. How’d you feel about adding some brass poles around this establishment? Sure would give something for the young women to do. Provide jobs and such. And sure would tickle the men around here.”

“I thought you were out of that kind of business, Mr. Stagg?” Lovemaiden asked, grinning and spitting again. “Got right with the Lord and turned over a new leaf.”

“Yes, sir,” Stagg said. “Yes, sir. But I’m also always looking for ways to invest in the infrastructure and small businesses of north Mississippi.”

“You want me to find you a jailhouse snitch.”

“Yep.” Stagg winked at Lovemaiden and grinned. “If it ain’t too much trouble.”

*   *   *

“They blocked the driveway,” Holly said. “Ain’t no way we’re getting out.”

“Maybe we can all pile in your momma’s minivan,” TJ said. “Bust right through that roadblock and just keep on driving. How about that?”

“How far you think we’d get?” Ladarius asked. “Two, three miles, maybe. This ain’t Tibbehah County, TJ. They got police all over the damn place.”