RSON
he'd heard about in church. those kids looked. The way women. They were like zom- 4nd now, in America, Noel’s ids.
him, at least.
ill strong at fifty, and lucky alm Beach, he gets in to work white compactor truck clean, e runs hot and cold with the with much less to do, he’s on shift that would break a lesser | gets even harder. The Estate - of the parties have hundreds ntains of refuse. That garbage ty when requested. It's carried ler the porte cocheres. Then it to a landfill that the garbage-
+tion runs from the Everglades he island. It encompasses Ban- Vay, and El Brillo Way. His per-
far as the Palm Beach PD is or the job.
h pull’ —a legal way to collect >, evidence culled from Jeffrey
police call him, Noel St. Pierre
fugee boat has run aground on
reve
Firryy Ricu
the beach. A sad thing, but something that does happen from time to time. His homeland, Haiti, is desperately poor. Run by despots who line their pockets while everyday people suffer.
Many of the refugees are illiterate.
Most of them speak only Creole.
“Eske ou ka ede nou, souple,” they ask.
“Can you help us, please?”
The cops always need a translator, and Noel’s been asked to help out before. But this time the police officer’s voice is raspy, impatient.
“This time is different,” the officer says. “Something very special. You don’t have to accept. But if you do, you'll have to keep things to yourself, completely.”
When he hears what the story is, Noel accepts.
“Tll do it,” he says immediately.
The address he’s been given is 358 El Brillo Way. On his first morning, St. Pierre moves swiftly, sneaking a glance through the kitchen window at the four silhouettes standing inside. Three women, one of them quite short, with pigtails.
The fourth silhouette is that of a tall man.
The police have given him clear instructions. The work is unsavory, but so is the work Noel does every day. What the detectives want from him now are slips of paper with phone numbers, along with toothbrushes, condoms, discarded under- wear. Anything that could provide DNA. He’s been told to use a special truck on the El Brillo run. Whatever he finds he’s to put aside in small trash bags he'll deliver directly to the station at the end of every shift.
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