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It didn’t really work for New York; anything halfway important that happened there was considered national news, butevery day, and had read brief ite, and none of theas station But that didn’t mean they hadn’t found hie, Keller had to admit it wasn’t much of a story

Whether or not they’d found the body, Keller knew the safe way to play it was to ditch Reas for cash, now that he wasn’t using too much of it, and as to say another credit card wouldn’t come his way, as unexpectedly as Reas in its tank for now, and it wasn’t burning any of it at theas it stayed parked Thea risk by walking around New Orleans, and that was one he didn’tto like the answer

Yes, it was a risk

On the other hand, could he really drive all the way to New Orleans, then turn around and drive out again, only to sustain hiers and fries fro fast-food joint? That hadn’t been so bad in Tie Plant, Mississippi, or White Pine, Tennessee, where one’s choices were limited, but Keller had been in New Orleans a few tinets and chicory coffee at Café du Monde And that was just the tip of the Tabasco bottle -- could he really leave this city without a bowl of gumbo, or a plate of red beans and rice, or an oyster po’boy sandwich, or jambalaya, or crawfish étouffée, or any of the spectacular dishes you could get virtually anywhere in New Orleans, and nowhere else in the world?

Of course he could He could walk away from all of it -- or drive away, actually -- but he wasn’t sure it would be a good idea

Over the years, when he orking for the old man, he’d been dispatched on several occasions to deal with overnram Furnished with new identities and set up in a new environment, all these individuals had needed to do was keep a low profile and stay out of the liht

One of theon, and up until then he was a Witness Protection Program success story, a client who had adapted readily to his new life in the Pacific Northwest He’d been an accountant originally, with no cri toowhat he knew But he remained a mild-mannered accountant at heart, and he’d done just fine in Roseburg, running a quick-print franchise and one on that way forever if sonize hi in San Francisco But so, and that was that

The others, however, weren’t constitutionally capable of settling forever into the quiet life the federal agents arranged for them One couldn’t stay away from the racetrack, and another becaot drunk periodically and told his business to strangers, and it didn’t take too long for hion who’d turned federal witness to get out froe; spirited away to Hays, Kansas, he’d been picked up for loitering outside a school playground in Topeka The feds ot back east, and Keller was scouting around, looking for the guy, when he got arrested right there in Hays for willful abduction and unnatural sexual conduct with aabout doing the world a favor; then he called Keller back to New York, having arranged for a fellow prisoner to strangle the pervert in his cell

Boredom was the enemy, and if the new life you created for yourself was unendurably monotonous, how could you stay with it?

So he’d treat himself to a day in New Orleans A few hours, anyway He wouldn’t get drunk and run his mouth, wouldn’t throw his money around at the racetrack or Harrah’s casino, wouldn’t haunt schoolyards or carouse on Bourbon Street A couple of h streets shaded by live oaks Then back in the car and back to the highway, and New Orleans, like everything else, could slip fro it couldn’t last, knowing one afternoon was all he’d have in New Orleans, Kellerin the older homes, some of theood to hi he hadn’t done in years, let hiine what it would be like to live here, what sort of life he ht one of these houses and spent the rest of his days in and around it It wasn’t a terribly exotic fantasy, and a h But a o all he’d wanted to do was live out his days in New York, and that was out of the question, and so was this His net worth was now limited to the cash in his pocket and five Swedish stamps he couldn’t sell, and he could no iving up the highway and settling down

Still, it was so for his mind to play hile he walked these streets and looked at these houses He’d want one with an upstairs porch, he decided He could easily picture hi chair on just such a porch, looking out over the street, lass of -- what?

Iced tea?

He pushed aside thoughts of Dot -- her porch, her iced tea -- and walked on On St Charles Avenue, where the streetcar used to run in the days before Katrina, he stopped at one suht him his meal commented cheerfully on his Homer Simpson cap After she’d left his table he took the cap off and set it on the seat beside hi of Homer, and wondered if the cap had outlived its usefulness Keller’s picture had stopped showing up on the newscasts, and the papers had tired of running it, so maybe his face was less likely now to set off alarms in people’s head But they still noticed Ho Homer, and after they’d noticed the vivid yellow embroidery, lide right past