Free DR10 - Sunset Limited by James Lee Burke

question.
    Her father, Archer Terrebonne, was another matter. He had the
same eyes as his daughter, and the same white-gold hair, but there was
no lack of confidence in either his laconic speech or the way he folded
his arms across his narrow chest while he held a glass of shaved ice
and bourbon and sliced oranges. In fact, his money gave him the kind of
confidence that overrode any unpleasant reflection he might see in a
mirror or the eyes of others. When you dealt with Archer Terrebonne,
you simply accepted the fact that his gaze was too direct and personal,
his skin too pale for the season, his mouth too red, his presence too
close, as though there were a chemical defect in his physiology that he
wore as an ornament and imposed upon others.
    We stood under an awning on the back terrace. The sunlight was
blinding on the surface of the swimming pool. In the distance a black
groundskeeper was using an air blower to scud leaves off the tennis
courts.
    "You won't come inside?" Archer said. He glanced at his watch,
then looked at a bird in a tree. The ring finger of his left hand was
missing, sawed off neatly at the palm, so that the empty space looked
like a missing key on a piano.
    "Thanks, anyway. I just wanted to see that Lila was all right."
    "Really? Well, that was good of you."
    I noticed his use of the past tense, as though my visit had
already ended.
    "There're no charges, but messing with guns in barrooms
usually has another conclusion," I said.
    "We've already covered this territory with other people, sir,"
he said.
    "I don't think quite enough," I said.
    "Is that right?" he replied.
    Our eyes locked on each other's.
    "Dave's just being an old friend, Daddy," Lila said.
    "I'm sure he is. Let me walk you to your cruiser, Mr.
Robicheaux."
    "
Daddy
, I mean it, Dave's always worrying
about his AA friends," she said.
    "You're not in that organization. So he doesn't need to worry,
does he?"
    I felt his hand cup me lightly on the arm. But I said goodbye
to Lila and didn't resist. I walked with him around the shady side of
the house, past a garden planted with mint and heart-shaped caladiums.
    "Is there something you want to tell me, sir?" he asked. He
took a swallow from his bourbon glass and I could feel the coldness of
the ice on his breath.
    "A female detective saved your daughter from a resisting
arrest charge," I said.
    "Yes?"
    "She thinks Lila has been sexually molested or violated in
some way."
    His right eye twitched at the corner, as though an insect had
momentarily flown into his vision.
    "I'm sure y'all have many theories about human behavior that
most of us wouldn't understand. We appreciate your good intentions.
However, I see no need for you to come back," he said.
    "Don't count on it, sir."
    He wagged his finger back and forth, then walked casually
toward the rear of the house, sipping his drink as though I had never
been there.

----
    THE SUN WAS WHITE in the sky and the
brick drive was dappled
with light as bright as gold foil. Through the cruiser's front window I
saw Cisco Flynn walk toward me from a trailer, his palms raised for me
to stop.
    He leaned down on the window.
    "Take a walk with me. I got to keep my eye on this next
scene," he said.
    "Got to go, Cisco."
    "It's about Swede Boxleiter."
    I turned off the ignition and walked with him to a canvas
awning that was suspended over a worktable and a half dozen chairs.
Next to the awning was a trailer whose air-conditioning unit dripped
with moisture like a block of ice.
    "Swede's trying to straighten out. I think he's going to make
it this time. But if he's ever a problem, give me a call," Cisco said.
    "He's a mainline recidivist, Cisco. Why are you hooked up with
him?"
    "When we were in the state home? I would have been anybody's
chops if it hadn't been for Swede."
    "The Feds say he kills people."
    "The Feds say my sister is a Communist."
    The door to the trailer opened and a woman stepped out on the
small porch. But before she could close the door