Джон Коннолли - The Dirty South

‘If Cresil and my sister can inveigle Butcher to make a move against you, it’s a win-win situation. If Butcher succeeds, the murder investigation will lose momentum, and Griffin may be more amenable to waiting until after the Kovas paperwork is signed before continuing with his inquiries. If Butcher fails, any blame for the attempt will fall on him, giving the police an excuse to move in and close down his operation. And when they do, it will be my brother at the head of the arresting team.’

‘You got all this from one partly overheard conversation? I’m impressed.’

‘I didn’t have to hear it all. I know how my sister thinks, and my brother, too. It wasn’t hard to join the dots.’

‘I appreciate the warning. Now I have another question for you. What do you know about Hollis Ward?’

Nealus Cade barely reacted to the name, but it was a reaction nevertheless.

‘Why are you asking about him?’

‘It was my question. You can have your turn later.’

‘He and my father grew up together, and were partners for a while. Hollis helped him with some property and business deals in the county, back when my father was still laying the groundwork for luring companies like Kovas.’

‘Your father doesn’t strike me as the kind of man who requires a lot of help making deals, or not from someone like Hollis Ward.’

‘Hollis knew who was hurting for money,’ said Nealus. ‘He was aware of who might be vulnerable to blackmail, or simple threats, and whose claims to land might be open to challenge. He was particularly knowledgeable about potential cases of heirs’ property. Do you know what that is, Mr Parker?’

‘No, I do not.’

‘It’s a form of property ownership based on inheritance, but not backed up by a will, and is common in black communities.’

Black , Parker noted, not colored . Here was no Ferdy Bowers.

‘It dates back to a time,’ said Nealus, ‘when legal advice was not available to black people, and has persisted to the present day because the courts are regarded, not without cause, as being ill-disposed toward the interests of poor minorities. If they don’t have clear title, these people are ineligible for federal loans and disaster relief, and are unable to use their land for collateral with lending institutions. And if they can’t prove ownership, their property can be taken from them and auctioned without their consent. More than a third of the land owned by blacks in the South is heirs’ property, representing a potential windfall for the unscrupulous. My father more than qualified in that regard, and in Hollis Ward he found the perfect agent.

‘Through Hollis, my father could exert a great deal of influence without getting his hands too dirty – not that dirty hands ever concerned him greatly, but this was his county, and his people, and he wanted an element of deniability when things got rough or unpleasant. He didn’t want the community turning against him, and Hollis was comfortable with playing the bad guy, because that’s what he was. But then Hollis disappeared, and nobody’s heard from him in years.’

That, thought Parker, had just changed, but he decided not to mention it to Nealus. The print found on Donna Lee Kernigan’s body would become public knowledge soon enough.

‘Do you think Hollis Ward is still alive?’

‘He could be. He was a strange man. My father was as close to Hollis as anyone, but I don’t believe he ever really knew him. They didn’t socialize together, or even seem particularly friendly toward each other. My father used Hollis, and Hollis used him.’

‘And what did Hollis gain from this arrangement?’

Nealus Cade took a few seconds to decide on an answer. ‘Power,’ he said, finally, ‘or a semblance of it. Money, too, but mostly power.’

‘What kind of power?’

‘The power to alter the trajectory of lives, even to ruin them. Sometimes, I think he’d have worked for free for my father, just because his role elevated him and gave him an authority he would otherwise have lacked. Then he and my father fell out. Hollis’s conviction made it inevitable.’

‘The child pornography?’

‘Yes. My father ended their association. He had no choice.’

‘And how did Hollis take that?’

‘It probably didn’t come as a huge surprise to him, but he was still angry about it. He came to the house a month or two after he got out of jail. He wanted money from my father. There was a huge argument. Jurel arrived and threatened to put Hollis back behind bars if he ever showed his face on Cade property again. Hollis stopped coming around, and eventually he stopped being seen anywhere.’

‘That was convenient for your family, given the knowledge Hollis possessed about your father’s affairs.’

‘It certainly was,’ said Nealus. He smirked. ‘My father has that kind of luck.’

‘Was Hollis the only person to help your father out in this way?’

‘He was the main one. There were others, but not as important, except perhaps for Reverend Pettle.’

‘Why Pettle?’

‘He has influence with the black community.’

‘Did Pettle know Hollis Ward?’ said Parker.

‘Of course. I can remember him sitting down with Hollis and my father at the house. Pettle only ever drank soda. My father and Hollis would mock him about it. Of course, Pettle had just a small congregation in those days, but people listened to him and his wife. It’s surprising, really. I could never figure out if Pettle was a weak man pretending to be strong, or a strong one pretending to be weak.’

Parker picked up his pie. It was time to go.

‘I’m curious, Mr Cade,’ he said. ‘Why are you telling me all this?’

That smirk flashed again. ‘Why do you think?’

‘Don’t take this personally, but I suspect you suffer from a great deal of resentment.’

‘It’s all about power, Mr Parker. I learned that from Hollis Ward. There’s no point in having power, even the little I possess, without using it. My knowledge of my family’s past dealings in the area of heirs’ property has enabled me, belatedly, to put pressure on my father to ensure that there is no repeat of such behavior. Now, in return for one conversation, and the price of a pie and some beverages, I’ve managed to make life difficult for my sister while doing some good along the way – although the attraction was more the former than the latter, if I’m being honest.’

‘Yes,’ said Parker, ‘if you are. Goodbye, Mr Cade. Thanksgiving with your family must be a sight to see.’

‘Good luck avoiding that beating,’ said Nealus, as he called for the check. ‘And I hope your friend enjoys the pie.’

IV

Yonder come little David

With his rock and sling

I don’t wanna meet him,

He’s a dangerous man.

‘Sit Down Servant’ (Traditional)

72

Franke’s was the oldest restaurant chain in Arkansas, dating back to 1919. The original Franke’s location on West Capitol had closed in 1960, but the other outlets continued to thrive, mainly because the menu hadn’t changed much over the years. As long as it continued to serve meat loaf on Mondays, catfish on Fridays, and some variation on fried chicken virtually every day of the week, with Karo nut pie to finish, Franke’s wouldn’t be hurting for customers anytime soon.

Kel Knight found Tommy Robinett sitting alone at a table, making serious inroads into an egg custard pie. The two men had met a couple of times in the past. Robinett was a distinctive-looking man, thanks to a scar that ran from his hairline to the base of his right cheek, a relic of a botched surveillance operation on a Little Rock Crips leader named Winston Holmes back in the early part of the decade. By then Holmes was already a millionaire, thanks to his undeniable business acumen when it came to selling narcotics, and wasn’t about to allow the police to prevent him from becoming a multimillionaire. Holmes promised $20,000 to whomever made an example of a narc, and two brothers, the Embrys, took him up on it by targeting Robinett. Had they decided just to shoot him, Robinett would almost certainly have ended up dead. Instead, the Embrys elected to use blades, which meant they had to work up close. Robinett killed one of them and wounded the other, but not before acquiring the scar that was now his distinguishing feature.