James Burke - Pegasus Descending

“We have to exclude people, sir. It’s part of our procedure. Our questions shouldn’t be interpreted as accusations,” I said, using the first-person plural in a way that made me wonder about my own principles.

“I went to the Winn-Dixie at sunup. I got gas in my truck down by the drawbridge. I had a flat out yonder in the road and changed my tire right by the mill gate.”

He sat down across from me, his pale turquoise eyes never leaving mine. Not one strand of his silver hair was out of place; his skin had hardly a wrinkle or imperfection in it, except for the scars on his left forearm and the back of his hand. But the level of indignation in his eyes was like the edge of another personality asserting itself, one that was not given to latitude in its dealings with others.

I took his daughter’s diary out of the envelope and set it in front of him. “Violent and evil men took my wife Annie from me, Mr. Darbonne. The same kind of cruel men murdered my mother. But as bad as my losses have been, I think the greatest suffering any human being can experience is the loss of a child. But I have a job to do, and in this case it’s to exclude you as a suspect in the homicide of Bello Lujan.”

I removed a ballpoint pen from my shirt pocket and set it on top of the brown envelope and pushed them toward him. “Now, I need you to write down the names of the people who saw you this morning and the approximate times their sighting of you or their conversation with you took place. If you don’t know a person’s name, just describe what he or she does at the location the person saw you.”

He pushed the envelope and pen back toward me. “Why I want to hurt Bello Lujan, me?” he said.

If there was to be a moment of truth in this investigation, I thought, it was now. “There’s a possibility Bello attacked your daughter on the day of her death,” I said.

He canted his head to one side and tilted up his chin, as though a cold draft had touched his skin. His mouth parted and the color in his eyes seemed to darken. He placed both his hands on the tabletop. “Bello Lujan raped Yvonne?” he said.

“It’s a strong possibility.”

“And that’s why she took them drugs?”

“Yes, sir, I think that may well have been the case.”

He stared into space, one hand resting on top of Yvonne’s diary. “Why ain’t nobody tole me this?”

“What Bello did or didn’t do the day of Yvonne’s death is still a matter of speculation, Mr. Darbonne.”

“If I’d knowed this-”

I waited for him to finish his statement, but he didn’t. “You would have killed him?” I said.

He didn’t reply. He took back the pen and brown envelope and began to write, listing the places where he had been that morning and the time period he was there and the people who had seen him.

“Do you own a pick?” I said.

“I got one out in the shed. I brought it from the farm I used to own.”

“Let’s take a look at it,” I said.

We went outside, in the rain, with pieces of newspaper over our heads, and walked down the slope of his yard to an old army surplus radio hut where he kept his tools. He unlocked the door and clicked on a light. Like his home, everything was squared away, his nails in capped jars on his workbench, his tools oiled and sharpened and hung in rows on the walls, his paint cans and petrochemical containers arrayed neatly on a polyethylene tarp so they wouldn’t form rings on the floor.

“My pick ain’t here,” he said.

“I see. Could it be somewhere else?”

“No, suh. I hang it between them two nails. It’s been hanging there since last spring, when Yvonne and me put in a vegetable garden.”

“Does anyone else have a key to the shed?”

“No, suh.”

“Would you mind coming down to the department and being fingerprinted?”

It was dry and bright inside the shed, and the rain was slanting outside the door and clicking on the roof. The inside of the shed had a pleasant, warm odor to it, like leaves and field mice and oats in heavy burlap bags. “Sir?” I said.

“I don’t mind,” he said. He wiped the rainwater out of his eyes with his left hand.

“If you don’t mind my asking, how did you get those scars on your arm?”

“Duck-hunting accident ’bout twenty years ago. Just like all this, a big dumb accident. One t’ing turn into another and you cain’t turn none of it around. All she wanted to do was go to colletch. Everyt’ing gone to hell just because she wanted to go to colletch. She met that Lujan boy and t’ought she was gonna be his sweetheart. How come she didn’t tell me none of this? I wish I wasn’t never born.”

WHITEY BRUXAL’S CAPACITY for deceit and cunning was not to be underestimated. On Friday morning his attorney, a dapper grimebag by the name of Milton Vidrine, called Helen Soileau at the department. Milton had put himself through law school as a bug exterminator, then had made a good living chasing ambulances in Baton Rouge. In fact, he became known as “Twilight Zone” Vidrine because he was an expert at showing up in emergency wards and intensive-care units and convincing half-comatose accident victims to sign settlement agreements and liability waivers that often left the accident victims destitute. Vidrine said he wanted to talk to Helen and me simultaneously. Coincidentally, I was sitting in her office when the call came in. She clicked on the speakerphone but did not tell him that I was there.

“What’s this about?” she said.

“Mr. Bruxal wants you to have a clear understanding about a situation that is not of his making and over which he has no control,” Vidrine replied.

“What might that be?” Helen said.

“I’d like Detective Robicheaux to be present.”

“I’m the administrative authority in this department. Do you want to tell me what this is about or do you want to put it in a letter?” she said.

He paused a moment. “Detective Robicheaux has a reputation as a hothead and a violent man. His alcoholic history is no secret in Lafayette. But Mr. Bruxal wants to make sure Detective Robicheaux is not harmed in any way. This call is more a matter of conscience than legality.”

Helen was standing against the glare of the window, her face wrapped in shadow, but I could see her laughing silently at the absurdity of a man like Milton Vidrine referring to matters of conscience.

“I’m right here, Mr. Vidrine. Thanks for the character assessment and for getting in touch,” I said, leaning forward in my chair.

Milton Vidrine might have been disarmed for two seconds at the revelation that I had been listening to his remarks, but no more than two seconds. “Mr. Bruxal has fired his employee Thomas Leo Raguza and wants to inform all parties concerned that he takes no responsibility for this man’s actions,” he said.

“I’m not sure how I should interpret that,” I said.

“You gave Mr. Raguza a severe beating, Detective Robicheaux. Mr. Bruxal has no knowledge about your previous relationship with Mr. Raguza or why or how he provoked you. But Mr. Bruxal does not want to employ anyone who bears hostility toward any member of local law enforcement. He’s also concerned that Mr. Raguza could be a threat.”

“Say that last part again,” Helen said.

“My client believes Mr. Raguza is unstable and should be considered potentially dangerous.”

“Bruxal just recently made this discovery?” I said.

“I’m passing on the information as it was presented to me,” he replied.

“Here’s some more information for you. Lefty Raguza and your client were involved in the murder of a friend of mine. His name was-”

Before I could continue, Helen propped her arms on her desk and leaned down to the speakerphone. She placed her thumb on the phone’s “memo” button. “As of this moment this phone conversation is being recorded. Your statement about the danger posed to a member of the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Department by Thomas Raguza is duly noted. I’m also at this juncture informing you that I consider this information a disguised conveyance of a threat against a member of my department.”