"Something like that," Hanson said. “There's a back story though. You see, this Bobby Joe Soothe, he was the grandson of L.C. Soothe. Heard of L.C.?"
"Hell yeah," Leonard said. “Country blues guitar. I got some of his stuff. One of those boxed set things. One of the greats. East Texas legend of the late twenties, early thirties. Kind of like Robert Johnson. Had the same story about him. That he sold his soul to the devil to play way he did. Some kind of deal where he took a piss in a fruit jar and took it to the crossroads and the devil came and drank it, then the devil peed in a jar, and L.C. drank it, then L.C. had the devil in him and the devil had his soul. After that, L.C. could play that old standard guitar like a sonofabitch. Used a pocketknife or a bottle neck for a slide."
"I can't think of nothing I'd want so bad I'd drink wee-wee out of a fruit jar," Charlie said.
"L.C. only made a few records," Leonard said, "but he was a big influence on East Texas blues men. The records are rare. I think he made some recordings on 78s, whatever the method was then, and they were never released, or lost. I don't remember the details. It's just the general stuff I know about, and I got that out of the booklet in the collection box."
"All I know," Hanson said, "is a fella from up North read an article in some music magazine about this Bobby Joe Soothe who was tryin' to build a name on his grandfather's name, and Bobby Joe said he had in his possession this recorded, but unreleased record L.C. had made. Said too he was singing some songs L.C. had left written down, but never recorded. This Bobby Joe had a bit of reputation for good blues himself, see. So this Northern fella made contact with him, made some promises of money for the record, came down here to check it out, and supposedly, Bobby Joe cut that white boy's throat, took his money, then got hauled into jail where he decided he couldn't go on and hung himself with his shoe strings."
"I thought they didn't let prisoners keep stuff like shoe strings and belts," I said.
"Not supposed to," Hanson said. “Interesting thing is, there's been more hangings and accidents and suicides of this kind in that jail in the past forty-five years than there's been accidental prisoner deaths in all the state of Texas since nineteen sixty-five. And that includes goddamn Huntsville Prison. Guess I ought to give the cracker runs the place now some credit, though. Only one hanging, the Soothe hanging, has happened in the twelve years he's been Chief in Grovetown."
"What happened to the recordings?” Leonard asked.
"No one knows," Hanson said.
"How does Florida come into this?” I asked.
"I'm gettin' to that," Hanson said. “Florida, as you know, is an ambitious gal. She decided lawyering wasn't enough. She wanted to go out and do some investigative work. Go to Grovetown, ask some questions, use her law credentials, maybe get some kind of article out of this, move herself into investigative journalism. I think she wants to be on television. She's got the looks, the voice, the brains, and the personality, so it's not a far-fetched kind of idea. She's been sort of looking around for something to tie her to a bigger gig. A journalism career. Thought if she cow-girl'd this one, she could write her own ticket."
"In other words," I said. “Florida was looking for a rat to ride, and smelled one in Grovetown?"
"Yep," Hanson said. “She went down there couple weeks ago. I told her not to, that it was dangerous. She didn't listen, and that didn't surprise me. We hadn't been doing that good anyway. We were supposed to get married, but didn't."
"Kind of thought the date for that had come and passed," I said.
"Figured you were marking your calendar," Hanson said. “Thing is though, me and her had a fight. She thought I was being a male chauvinist jerk. If being worried about someone you care about, being realistic about what can happen to them is being a jerk, then I'm a jerk. Grovetown is a scary place for black folk to go hang around and try to pry into stuff, but she went anyway."
"Florida doesn't strike me as that brave," I said. “Least not in that way. Considering my own experiences with her, I'd say she's been cautious in the past."
"She's cautious till she wants something," Hanson said.
"True," I said. “Selfishness is one of her major traits."
"She got to Grovetown," Hanson said, "cooled some, called to say she was okay, and that things between me and her had reached a wall. She called again a few days later to say she was okay, and things were going good, but she didn't give details, and she said she'd have someone come for her stuff when she gets back."
"So you're split up?” Leonard said. “Like me and Raul. It's like a disease going around."
"Guess that means you don't get to keep the aerobic book and the one on making love to a man," I said.
"Looks that way," Hanson said. “I gotta tell you. I like that gal. Really. But I gotta tell you too, and this will sound like some horseshit since I've been fuckin' her, but it was getting so our relationship was more like father and daughter, her being so much younger. Thinking so different and all."
"I don't think I like the sound of that father and daughter stuff," Charlie said. “Not with you throwing the pork to her."
"You know what I mean," Hanson said. “I think I was gonna cut it off between us. I didn't feel right. Maybe it's not just because she's so young, but because I still love my ex-wife, goddammit. You know, like that's gonna go somewhere."
This was a new wrinkle. I said, "So if you were developing a more father-daughter relationship than a romantic one, and she cut the romance off, why are you so moony? And why does your kitchen look like a tornado blew through it?”
"She spent the night with me morning before she left," Hanson said. “We had an argument. It got out of hand. I grabbed her. I'm ashamed of that, but I did. But she got right up in my face, see, and it was just reflex. I grabbed her and hurt her arm a little. It wasn't on purpose, guys, really. I'm no woman beater."
"We're all human," I said. “Everybody fucks up now and then."
"Really, I never hit a woman in my life, and I didn't hit her, but I grabbed her. She could be so infuriating. She was standing in there with the refrigerator open, looking for something for breakfast, and that's when the argument started and the door got left open. She pulled some celery out of there, hit me with it, and I grabbed her. When I realized what I'd done and let her go, she snatched up the frying pan and hit me on the shoulder with it and burned me, dropped it on the floor. I still got the egg on my pajamas. She left five minutes later and I haven't changed a thing in there since."
"Kind of a shrine, huh?” Leonard said.
"I keep telling him she'll get over it," Charlie said. “Hell, she called from Grovetown, didn't she? She knows Marve just lost his cool, and she had something to do with it. They're both to blame. A lesson was learned."
"It's not the getting back together that's bothering me," Hanson said. “I mean, not that way, you know. I'm just worried about her down there, and if I go check on her, that's just more male chauvinist stuff, and there's no reason she should report to me, and theoretically, she's out of my life, but . . ."
"Why don't you go there anyway?” Leonard said. “You could see she's all right, and if you're telling it straight, it's not like the relationship is coming back together anyway. Or that you want it to. So what's it matter she gets mad at this point?"
"I'd like to end this on a note of respect," Hanson said. “Not like I'm spying on her."
"And you think these two dimwits showing up down there ain't gonna make her suspicious?” Charlie said. ”Hell, she knows them. She knows Hap biblically."
"Thanks, Charlie," I said, "you certainly know how to defuse a tense or worrisome moment."
"It's different," Hanson said. “She sees you two, you could say Charlie told you about her, and you thought you might go down and check on her. Old times' sake."