ELEVEN

Ten days after Wes Taggart had been shot dead in the Tibbehah County Jail, Lillie Virgil stood in the open door to his cell and looked down at the stained floor. “Damn shame.”

“It was a real mess, Lil,” Quinn said. “I don’t find much comfort in a man being shot while under my watch.”

“Technically, he was under my watch,” Lillie said. She glanced around the cell. The bloody sheets taken from the bed, a bare pillow and mattress left on the lower bunk. Quinn was told the state people were done taking pictures and he could use it again. Not many takers with the inmates he had now. Even after a lot of scrubbing, the concrete floors still held the stain.

“How long did the Marshals put you on leave?”

“Two weeks,” Lillie said. “Paid. But still.”

“I shouldn’t have asked you to bring him here,” Quinn said.

“You didn’t ask a damn thing,” Lillie said. “I brought him here because this was where the first charges were filed. It was up to you where they shipped his sorry ass next. I’m curious as hell about how and why this shitshow went down, but let’s not pretend like either one of us is sad this turd’s gotten taken off the board. You and I didn’t cause this. Wes Taggart started the whole thing by throwing in with J. B. Hood and going after Boom.”

Quinn nodded, wanting to tell her about Reggie and how he blamed himself. He’d come in to apologize to Quinn damn-near every day about screwing up, letting those two men inside the jail without getting confirmation. Quinn had told him that he would’ve done the same, no one expecting a couple of killers to roll up in a patrol car stolen from Lafayette County. They looked and acted the part. Everyone knows they got hit by some pros. Quinn had told him so.

“You think someone here snitched on him?”

“About what he said about Vardaman?” Quinn asked.

Lillie nodded.

“Nope,” Quinn said. “I think they had this planned out the minute you snatched him up in Biloxi. He didn’t start talking until his lawyer ditched him. Wes believed the Syndicate boys had already left him behind.”

“Did he give you anything?” Lillie asked.

“Not really,” Quinn said. “He only confirmed what we already know. I’d arranged for a meet between him and the Feds in Memphis. Jon Holliday had set it all up and Taggart had agreed to make some kind of bargain against jail time.”

“But nothing you could work with until he got an official offer?”

Quinn nodded. “The boy may have been stupid, but he wasn’t dumb. He wanted to see what kind of deal he could work with the Feds and I can’t say I really blame him.” Quinn lifted his chin toward Lillie. “Any chance you might stick around for a few days?”