you. I'm after Milt. He's the guy I want to hurt. Do you understand?"
She nodded again. Getting her breath under control. "He killed Jimmie Ray?"
"I believe so. Yes."
"It's about those files, isn't it?"
"We shouldn't talk in the hall."
She brought us two flights down to an employees' cafeteria that smelled of hamburgers and lima beans. We sat at a table with a view across the city and drank coffee while Sandi Bergeron told us that she had met Jimmie Ray ten months ago when he had come to her office to ask for Jodi Taylor's adoption records. Just like that, he had walked in and asked if he could have a copy. They'd told him no, of course, and turned him away, but Jimmie Ray had hung around out in the hall by the Coca-Cola machine, stomping about and fuming and convinced that "the Boss Bitch," as he'd called Mrs. Washington, was just looking for a payoff. Sandi had gone out for a Dr Pepper and had met Jimmie there when he'd asked her if she had change of a dollar. She was surprised when he'd phoned a few days later, tracking her down by calling the Social Services Department and saying that he'd like to speak with "the pretty blond girl." They had connected him with two other women before they put on Sandi Bergeron, who was not pretty, and never would be, and would always feel bad about it.
Three weeks later, when they were lying in bed, he'd asked what was the big deal with these sealed documents, did they keep 'em in a goddamned vault or somethin'?
Two weeks after that, when they were lying in bed, he'd asked if she'd ever seen one of these sealed documents and, if she hadn't, how did she know they were really there?
One week after that, when they were lying in bed, he'd asked if she could get her hands on Jodi Taylor's adoption records, and, if she could, would she give it a quick read and tell him Jodi's bio-mama's name?
He hadn't asked her to steal the file, she said, but by the time she had it in her hands she was just so gol-darned nervous that it was just easier to steal it than to stand there reading the thing. So she had.
I said, "Did you know that Jimmie Ray was working for Milt Rossier?"
"Not then he wasn't. He was just lookin' for some-thin' he could sell to the National Enquirer or one of those magazines. Only he found that thing about Leon Williams and that sheriff over there, and he took it to Milt Rossier."
"You knew about the blackmail?"
She looked defensive. "Jimmie Ray said Mr. Rossier was gonna put him on retainer. He said he wouldn't have to work as a mechanic anymore. Jimmie didn't want to be a nobody all his life."
Pike said, "He doesn't have to worry about it any more, does he?"
Sandi Bergeron stared at him, and then had some of her coffee.
I said, "Did Jimmie Ray tell you why Milt was blackmailing the sheriff?"
She shook her head.
"Did he tell you anything about Rossier's business."
"I'm sorry."
"Please try to remember."
She put down the coffee cup and picked at the table. The bubble-gum nails were long and French-tipped and probably false. She made a little shrug. "Jimmie didn't know everything that old man had going, and Jimmie Ray had spent a lot of time trying to find out. He told me so himself. He said that Mr. Rossier was so careful about all these things that he'd never get caught. He said he learned a lot from that old man."
"Like what?"
You could see her work to try to remember. "He said the old man never got involved himself. He had this other guy do that."
"LeRoy Bennett."
"Jimmie Ray called him a stooge. He said that if there was ever any trouble, it would all go back to the stooge."
"What else?"
She chewed at her lips, thinking harder. "He told me about this place called the Bayou Lounge."
"Uh-huh."
"Mr. Rossier owns it. Jimmie Ray said that the old man bought it so he wouldn't have to bring any of his bad business home. Jimmie thought that was just the smartest thing. He said the old man's stooge would go to the Bayou Lounge to take care of business. That way they didn't have to bring it home. You see?"
I glanced at Pike, and Pike nodded. He said, "If we're looking for something, maybe we should look there."