I nearly wag my finger at him, but then I remember that would trigger a shot from Sheriff Dennis. “Six o’clock,” I repeat. “After that, I’m giving Deputy Hunt to the FBI, turning Caitlin and her father loose on you, and going to work myself. If that happens, you can forget taking over the state police. They’ll be processing you into Angola within six months, I guarantee it. And I can’t imagine a much worse hell for a dirty cop who uses snipers to take out his black competition. That would be a fitting end, but it’s one you have the power to avoid.”

Forrest hasn’t blinked for maybe a minute. He probably looked like this when he staked out trails at night in Vietnam. After a few more silent seconds, a tight smile broadens his mouth, and he reaches out as though to shake my hand in acceptance of my terms.

Don’t do it, says a voice in my head. He’s playing you. Raise your finger and have Dennis blow his brains out. Any other choice is giving this man a chance to tear your life apart. If Walt weren’t already wanted for killing a state trooper, I might raise my finger and take my chances in court. But that’s not really an option now.

Suppressing my revulsion, I take Forrest’s hand and shake it. “We’re going to leave now,” I say evenly. “If either of you touch your weapons, Walker will fire. He won’t hesitate, trust me. He lost a cousin to one of your men, and he’d love some payback.”

Again Knox’s dark eyes glint with interest. “This has been an enlightening visit, Mayor. I look forward to our next meeting.”

“One more thing, Forrest. I’m not your problem. The federal government is. Special Agent Kaiser is running Sheriff Dennis’s department now, and he wants your ass bad. I think he’s wanted you for a long time. You need to get my father back, so you can focus on staying out of federal prison.”

I walk away from Knox without waiting for a response, nor do I speak when I pass Walt. All that matters now is Walker Dennis and his rifle. Without them, Walt and I would already be dead.

WALT GARRITY WATCHED FORREST Knox follow Penn with his eyes, then turn and walk back toward the lake house. Walt was about to follow Penn to the truck when the Redbone reached out and grasped his arm.

“What the hell are you doing here, Granddad? You sure as hell can’t be no bodyguard.”

Walt pulled his arm free and started to leave, but Ozan said, “So you shot Deke Dunn, huh? I find that pretty hard to believe.”

After watching Forrest walk back into the lake house, a cell phone pressed to his ear, Walt finally gave his full attention to the combative trooper.

“That’s because your head’s full of stump water. Why don’t you crawl back to whatever slough you crawled up out of?”

The Redbone’s eyes blazed. He balled his right fist and stepped toward Walt, but Walt didn’t move.

“You must be crazy,” Ozan said. “Is that it? Alzheimer’s got you?”

Walt spoke in a voice so low that the trooper had to lean forward to hear him. “I’ve known many a Redbone in my day, you know? Especially down around Galveston in the fifties. Some were hardworking boys you could trust to tote the key to the smokehouse. Others could wear a top hat and walk under a snake’s belly. But I sized you up the second I saw you. There ain’t much worse than a dirty cop. I don’t mean a patrolman who takes his share of the pad to pay for his kid’s braces. I’m talking about pricks who use their badge to extort and kill people. Pricks like you and your boss. I wouldn’t be surprised if I bent my Colt over your daddy’s head back in the day. And you could ask him about it, if you knew who he was. But I’m bettin’ you don’t.”

As Ozan’s cheek twitched, Walt said, “Tom Cage is worth two of me and ten of you. And if he don’t come out of this thing alive and in one piece, I’m gonna cut the blood out of you. And I’ll do the same to your boss.”

“You mouthy fuck,” Ozan said, reaching back and drawing a switchblade from his back pocket. The blade sprang out with a chilling snick.

Walt looked at the knife with disdain. “Crab apple switch? I figured you for an Arkansas toothpick.”

“What the hell you talkin’ about, old-timer?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.” Walt pointed at the lake house. “Run home to Papa, son. We’ll have our day, you and me.”

Ozan waved the knife under Walt’s chin. “Laugh it up now, Texas, but get ready. I’m gonna gag you and gut you and sit you in front of a mirror while I do it.”

Walt spat within an inch of the trooper’s boot. “I’ll look forward to that party.”

I STAND BY THE Tahoe with Walker Dennis, who is still sighting down his AR-15 at Ozan as Walt makes his way to Drew’s pickup truck.

“I’d like you to cover us until we’re clear here,” I tell him. “Then escort me back to Vidalia.”

“What about Garrity?”

“He needs to stay on these guys. As soon as I’m back in Vidalia, I want you to go to wherever you have Deputy Hunt and move him again. Find out everything he knows about the Knoxes, but don’t kill him. Right now he’s the only leverage we have against Forrest.”

“Understood.”

Drew Elliott’s truck starts up and begins rolling toward us. “And Walker? Switch vehicles before you do it. We’re not the only ones who know about GPS trackers.”

Walker nods, his rifle still trained on the lake house.

When the truck reaches me, I pat Walker on the shoulder, then climb into the passenger seat beside Walt.

“Does Knox even know where Tom is?” he asks.

“I don’t think so. I think Snake has stashed Dad somewhere.”

“Oh, man. Lord, just give me ten minutes in a cell with Snake Knox and no cameras.”

“You’re not going to get it. That’s why we’re splitting up.”

“What?”

“I’m going back to the sheriff’s office. I can use Sonny’s tattoo to buy my way back into the interrogations. You find a good spot to lie up and monitor Forrest by GPS. If he and Ozan make a move, stay with them. If they go to where Dad is, and you feel you have a chance, kill them and get him out of there. Or call Dennis and me, and we’ll help you hit them.”

Walt thought this through. “And if that call Knox just made was to order Tom killed?”

“There’s only so much we can control, Walt. Let’s get to it. Take me back to my Audi.”

He shifts into Drive and pulls onto the narrow lake road.

“What was that between you and Ozan there at the end?” I ask.

“Just a little flirting. Nothing to worry about.”

CHAPTER 60

THE VIEW FROM Danny McDavitt’s helicopter had been overwhelming in its way, but the view from Mose Tyler’s johnboat was oppressive. Traveling through the cypress swamp at water level felt like trying to navigate the delta of a great jungle river. Part of the time the boat was driven by a small, outboard Evinrude, but at other times the old man had to switch to an electric trolling motor. Tyler appeared to be over eighty, and he moved with an arthritic slowness that Caitlin recognized from her father-in-law’s careful motions.

Their guide said little, even in response to questions, and Caitlin soon began to doubt that he could even see well enough to read the map they had shown him. But he’d been happy to take two hundred dollars from her, and right now she had little choice but to trust the old man.

Just as she began to wonder whether they should head back to their car, a stand of massive cypress trees came into view. They dwarfed the ones she had seen up until now. Their trunks were as thick as economy cars, and the great knees that jutted out of the water around them looked like boulders made of wood. Several trees had wide cracks in them, as the story in Henry’s files claimed the Bone Tree did. But Mose Tyler seemed disinclined to stop and investigate these gigantic specimens. When Caitlin turned to Jordan for support, the photographer merely shrugged and went on shooting pictures with her plastic-wrapped Nikon.