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"I'm going to be out of here by tomorrow," I said. "Maybe I ought to call you up off-duty, meet you someplace, talk over some things. What do you think?"
"You call me up off-duty, you better be asking for bus fare to an AA meeting."
"I've got a feeling it won't make much difference if I go out of control here today."
"I wish you would, wise-ass. I'd love to stomp the shit out of you."
"Get out of here, Baxter, before somebody pours you out with the rest of the bedpans."
"Keep popping those Quaaludes, hotshot, because you're going to need them. It's not me that's dropping the hammer on you, either. You blew out your own doors this time. I hope you enjoy the fall, too, because it's a big one." Then he turned to his partner. "Let's get out in the fresh air. This guy's more depressing every time I see him."
They went out the door, brushing past a young Irish nun in a white habit who was bringing in my lunch on a tray.
"My, what an intense pair," she said.
"That's probably the nicest thing anyone has ever said about them, Sister."
"Are they after the men who did this to you?"
"I'm afraid they get paid for catching other cops."
"I don't understand." Her face was round and pretty inside her nun's wimple.
"It's nothing. Sister, I don't think I can eat lunch. I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it. Your stomach will be better by tonight."
"You know what I'd really like, that I'd give anything to have?"
"What?"
The words wouldn't come. My eyes swept around the brightly lit room and went outside the window to the green tops of the oak trees moving in the breeze.
"Could you get me a big glass of Coca-Cola? With a lot of ice in it, maybe with cherry juice and slices of lime in it?"
"Of course."
"Thanks very much, Sister."
"Do you want anything else?"
"No. Just the Coca-Cola. I'm sure that's all I need."
That afternoon Captain Guidry sat on the foot of my bed, snuffed down in his nose, and wiped his glasses on my bedsheet.
"One time after every newspaper in the country condemned George Wallace as a racist, he told a reporter, 'Well, that's one man's opinion,'" Captain Guidry said. "I was never his admirer, but I always liked that statement."
"How bad is it going to be?"
"They stiffed you. Indefinite suspension without pay."
"That's what they give cops who get caught dealing dope."
"For what it's worth, I argued against it. They dumped on you, Dave, but you've got to see their side of it, too. In a week's time your name has gotten into a lot of paperwork. We're also talking about two people shot to death in one of the richest neighborhoods in New Orleans, and a Treasury agent killed in your automobile that falls three stories into the middle of a city street. That's a tough act to follow." ,
"Do you believe my report?"
"You've always been a good cop. There's none better."
