Chapters (110)
- Cover
- ALSO BY J. TODD SCOTT
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- PROLOGUE
- I
- II
- PART ONE
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- PART TWO
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- PART THREE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- PART FOUR
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- SEVENTY-FOUR
- SEVENTY-FIVE
- SEVENTY-SIX
- SEVENTY-SEVEN
- SEVENTY-EIGHT
- SEVENTY-NINE
- EIGHTY
- EIGHTY-ONE
- EIGHTY-TWO
- EIGHTY-THREE
- EIGHTY-FOUR
- EPILOGUE
- I
- II
- III
- IV
- V
- VI
- VII
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Excerpt from LOST RIVER
- LITTLE PARIS
- DILLON
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- What’s next onyour reading list?
“Nice to see you again, Eddy,” Johnnie said, sizing him up with a long stare.
“Look, if you’re here about that shit that went down, I didn’t say nothin’. Not a goddamn thing,” Eddy said. “See, it all started with my girl, Charity. She was shootin’ off her goddamn mouth and—”
Johnnie stopped him with a slap across the face. Slapping him like Eddy was his bitch. “No, Eddy, it’s not about that. I don’t give a shit about those dead mules. They were a fucking business expense, a write-off.” Johnnie took the unfinished beer from Eddy’s hand and tossed it into the water. Eddy had only gotten two deep swallows. “But you’ve been slow answering my messages.”
Eddy rubbed his jaw, although the slap hadn’t hurt much at all. “It’s not like that. I did answer ’em. You wanted to know if I’d seen some old Mexican in Murfee, and I told you that’s all Murfee is full up of.” Eddy waved at the river and the trailer. “Look at where the fuck I live. Do you think I’m just running into folks on the street out here?”
Johnnie laughed. “You’re being funny, I get it. But here’s the thing, our friends, these fucking Indians we both work for, don’t have a goddamn sense of humor. Not like me. Hell, I like a good joke. But they want this old man found, Eddy, like yesterday, and they’re more convinced than ever he’s here in the Big Bend, in Murfee. Possibly shacked up with a female deputy named America Reynosa. You know her?”
Eddy gave his own best bullshit grin, bracing to get slapped again. “I think I saw her when I got arrested, but you know, we didn’t really socialize. I’ve heard about her, from around, but that’s it.”
Johnnie chewed his matchstick. “You heard about her? ‘From around’? What the hell does that even mean?”
“Exactly. Exactly what I said. As you can imagine, since I got pinched, my dance card’s been a bit light.” Eddy figured he was going to get slapped around some more if he kept talking Johnnie around in circles, but fuck it. He pressed ahead. “You know, if you want, we can just take a drive up there to Murfee together and look for this old guy.”