All the Sinners Bleed

by S.A. Cosby

“I killed a man. A terrible man, but a man nonetheless, and I got away with it because I was the law. I ran for sheriff because I didn’t want anyone here to get away with the things they did to us when we were growing up because they were the law. I wanted to … change things from the inside, I guess. That’s a lot easier said than done. But it’s my penance.”

“What if me trying to hold the world together is what keeps me from falling apart?”

“Everything you need to solve a crime is already within your grasp. It’s like you are putting together a jigsaw puzzle of a snowstorm. You have to take a step back and see how everything fits together,” Special Agent Tolliver used to say, before Red DeCrain’s wife and kids blew him into a million little pieces.

“You been around the world, Pip. You can’t believe that the Mark of Cain or Original Sin have made us suffer like this,” Titus said. Pip shook his head. “You asked me what was wrong with Charon. That’s the best I got.”

The word failure seemed to glow like a neon sign in front of his eyes, but he knew that was just his pride talking. A good leader knew when he was in over his head or when he’d exhausted himself and his team. And Titus had exhausted them, pushed them to their limits.

He stared at the picture. Saw past its rusted, corroded appearance. Saw it for what it was, but also what it would be for him, for the county. A key to finally let in the light and chase away the darkness that had enveloped them like a mourning shroud ever since he’d first seen those poor broken bodies among the roots of the weeping willow tree.

Royce Lazare. Lazare. Move the letters around and they spelled a different word. Azrael. The Angel Of Death.

The darkness wasn’t that bad. In a way it was comforting. It was a place he’d run from for so long, a thing inside him that he wanted so badly to excise that he’d never considered the possibility that this was where he was supposed to be, what he was destined to become. One with the shadows, part of an endless night.

“I think you killed Black kids because you were trying to kill that part of yourself. I think that’s why you joined the Sons of the Confederacy, wore trucker hats, and listen to Hank Williams Jr. But you can never kill that part of yourself, Gabriel.”

“You saved Lavon. You saved Kellie. You saved Charon. Now it’s time for you to save yourself, big brother,” Marquis said. They rocked back and forth like that for a long time.