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"You mean Lionel and Ray buying it? I never thought those two would try to rip me off. But you have to deal with a lot of untrustworthy types in this business, Dave."
"You know all about the rip-off, then? You know about Jimmie Lee Boggs?"
"A guy like Boggs has one talent. You probably met one or two like him in 'Nam. He'd take out a water buffalo or spook a farmer out of a rice field so he could drop him. Anything to stay busy. But he's not too bright about anything else. The word's already out, he wants to lay off fifty keys of pure product."
"Where is he?"
"Here, Miami, Houston. It's all Motel Eight to a guy like that."
"Do you know why they tried to take you off?" I said.
He sucked in his cheeks, and his mouth became small and button-shaped. The man behind him flexed his shoulders as though he had a neck ache.
"You're telling me something?" Tony said. His eyes were bright, amused.
"Like you said, you didn't think Lionel or Fontenot had it in them."
"I didn't put it that way, but all right…"
"Boggs is a psychopath, but he's a pro. He doesn't make moves without somebody's permission," I said.
Tony's eyes were dark and friendly, his lashes as long as a girl's.
"Go on, Dave," he said.
"I'm saying these guys are piranhas. They don't attack until they smell blood in the water."
"I look like I'm bleeding?" he said, and smiled with the corner of his mouth.
"I'd watch my back."
"Listen to this guy. He gets beat up, he almost drowns, he loses his boat and money, and he worries about somebody else."
"Take it for what it's worth, Tony. I think they've got a whack out on you."
"What do you think, Jess?" he said to the man with the cannonball head.
"I think they'd better not fucking try," the man said.
"See," Tony said. "This is New Orleans. We don't worry about some gumballs in Miami or Houston. They want to get ugly, we take it into their backyard."
"Lionel used the shortwave on the shrimper to call Boggs. Did they tell you that?"
I saw the pause come into his eyes.
"No, I didn't know that," he said.
"Maybe they didn't speak English. Or maybe they didn't have any way of knowing he was setting up a rip-off."
"What you're saying, Dave, is they probably didn't care."
"Maybe."
"You're a good guy, Dave, but you're still a newbie. There's two ways to run the business—you don't get greedy, you piece off the action, you treat people fair. Then your conscience is clear, you got respect in your community, people trust you. Then when somebody else breaks the rules, gets greedy, tries to put a lock on your action, you blow up their shit. You don't fuck around when you do it, either. It's like a free-fire zone. Nobody likes
it, but the only thing that counts is who walks out of the smoke."
I got up to go to the bathroom. The floor felt as though it were receding under my feet.
