Dirty South - v4 Page 26

  The fall sky was slate blue and gray when I arrived at the dented silver mailbox and turned along a long gravel road. The small white clapboard house waited, draped in big ceramic Christmas lights. Maggie’s truck parked sideways by a propane tank. Her cotton shirts, faded blue jeans, and her son’s jerseys riffled in the wind.

  I parked alongside of her truck. The red, green, and yellow lights warming up the chill.

  Annie and I followed a stone path as the door opened, an old screen door slamming shut from a rusted spring.

  Maggie tucked her hands into her jeans and shrugged her shoulders in a tight black T-shirt. The summer tan still coloring her face and long arms. Wind sifting her black hair across her eyes.

  She reached down a hand and pulled me up onto the porch.

  The crossroads were far behind me.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Thank you: Master P, Joseph L. Porter, BET’s 106th and Park, Dashiell Hammett, Lil Wayne, Polk Salad Annie, John D. MacDonald, Mystikal, Blind Willie’s, XXL, Louis Armstrong, the late, great Hummingbird Grill, and the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society.

  Special thanks to Keith Wehmeier, Debbi Eisenstadt, Tim Green, Jere Hoar, Laura Lippman, Ted O’Brien, Keith Spera, Tom Piazza, Kline Sack, and Randy Wayne White.

  Carolyn, thank you for always being a friend to Nick, understanding the cooler parts of Southern culture, and making sure everything is the best it can be. And a big thanks to RP in NYC for being a terrific friend and reader and for taking care of his people.

  An extra special thank you to Jan Humber Robertson for saving a story from disaster.

  None of this would be possible without Angela — my muse, fellow barbecue connoisseur, and best friend.

  About the Author

  ACE ATKINS, an Alabama native, earned nominations for the Pulitzer Prize and the Livingston Award for his work covering crime at the Tampa Tribune. He now teaches at the University of Mississippi and lives on a century-old farm outside Oxford with a half-dozen faithful mutts, including Elvis and Polk Salad Annie. And yes, Ace is his real name.

  Books by Ace Atkins

  DIRTY SOUTH

  DARK END OF THE STREET

  LEAVIN’ TRUNK BLUES

  CROSSROAD BLUES