“I know,” Lillie said. “I got your damn voicemail. We’ve already been over every inch of this crap. You know I do have a shitload of trouble on my desk? I had to drive over to Atlanta to pick up some man who’d killed two folks over a set of tires in south Memphis. And let me tell you something, that son of a bitch didn’t want to go quietly.”

Quinn reached into his humidor for a fresh Liga Privada, setting fire to it with his battered Zippo. He smiled at Lillie Virgil through the smoke. “I figured that’s why you missed the service for ole E. J. Royce,” he said. “You were too busy.”

“Yeah, that’s the reason,” Lillie said. “I hate I had to shoot the kid who killed him. I knocked that hat right off his head but he kept running. All that blood we found? No way he made it.”

“He had help,” Quinn said. “I guarantee those boys drove straight back to the Rez and are hiding out now.”

“Couple of button men,” Fannie said. “I’d rather find out who mashed that goddamn button.”

“Can’t ask Royce.”

“Nope,” Lillie said, shaking her head. “Did y’all have enough of the bastard to bury? Looks like his hounds got most of the prime cuts.”

“We had plenty.”

“A shame,” Lillie said. “I hope none of those dogs ended up with worms.”

Lillie stood up and pushed the chair back, leaning over the desk and snatching up Quinn’s cigar. She took a long puff, thinking on things, looking out the beaded glass of the window to the recreation area. It was Saturday afternoon, when families came to visit the folks in jail, setting up lawn chairs on the other side of the chain-link fence. They passed fried chicken and snack cakes through the fence, having family reunions, laughing, talking, arguing. One couple one time had tried to have sex through the chain links and it turned into a real mess.

“You found her,” Quinn said. “Didn’t you?”

“She’s out in my vehicle now,” Lillie said. “Why don’t you try and give me a fucking challenge sometime. How’d you know?”

“How long we know each other, Lil?”

“Ansley won’t come inside,” Lillie said. “And she won’t talk to me. I found her at her girlfriend’s house over in Cordova. I never figured that girl to be a switch-hitter. But Ansley apparently is open to all kinds. Isn’t that something? She wasn’t happy to see me. Even said I could be a real raging bitch back in high school.”

“Who would ever say such a thing?”

“I know,” Lillie said. “Just fucking insane. Nearly made me want to slap the shit out of her.”

“You think she’ll talk to me?”