Cane's Corner: Cane's Landing, #2

By Patrick Hennessy

Jake had to turn a corner. To the world, he was a respected family man, leader and successful stockbroker. To those close to him, he could no longer be trusted and most importantly, he didn’t trust himself. That one decision so many decisions ago had changed the course of his life; and now it was a chase, but for different people, a chase with different goals. Some would chase money. Some would seek redemption; some love, and some just want normalcy; but for all, a chase to the end, or at least to an end.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Patrick Hennessy
• Release date: Mar 14, 2016
• ISBN: 9781530475025

Patrick Hennessy

Patrick Hennessy was born in San Francisco, California and grew up in Bossier City, Louisiana.  Patrick graduated from Bossier High, Louisiana Tech and LSU Law School.  He is a retired lawyer, having practiced law in Louisiana for many years. Patrick now lives and writes in his home in the South Highlands area of Shreveport, Louisiana.  He and his wife enjoy traveling and spending time at their shot gun house in uptown New Orleans.

Book preview

DEDICATION

To my wife, Holli, who liked the first book even   though it wasn’t her kind of book. Maybe she will   like this one, too.

PREAMBLE

I invented the characters and events in this book.  Many of the characters were also part of my first book, Cane’s Break, but I attempted to write this book as a standalone novel.  I hope it makes sense on its own. 

I used real places, but embellished those places with my imagination.  For instance, Harry’s Corner Bar is a real bar located on Chartres Street in New Orleans.  I bought the painting that serves as the cover of this book in Harry’s about twenty years ago.  The artist, Dick Malanoski, still hangs out in the bar.  I know, because I recently ran into Dick in Harry’s and obtained his permission to use his painting as my cover.   

In the book I imagined that Harry’s was opened after Katrina.  In fact, like almost everything else in the city, it was closed.  One exception was Johnny White’s Bar, which did remain open.

I again used songs by traditional country artists as my chapter titles.  Each of the artists appeared on The Louisiana Hayride with four exceptions.  The artists and the songs used as chapter titles are listed below. 

Bob Luman.  Let’s Think About Living.

Lefty Frizell.  If You’ve Got the Money, I’ve got the Time and Mom and Dad’s Waltz.

Joe Stampley.  Do You Ever Fool Around?      Joe Stampley would have certainly been a regular on the Hayride except for the fact that he was still in school in Springhill when the Hayride closed.  The song I chose for this book, Do You Ever Fool Around, was co-written by Jerry Kennedy.  Jerry lives in Shreveport.

Billy Walker.  The Lawman.

Jean Sheppard.  When Two Worlds Collide and   Slippin’ Away.

Kitty Wells & Red Foley.  One by One.     Kitty Wells is one of the big time country artists who owes much to the Hayride.  She was among the artists who appeared on the first broadcast of the Hayride.  I don’t think Red Foley ever appeared on the Hayride.  If I am correct, it is probably because he was already a regular on the Grand Ole Opry when the Hayride started.

Johnny & Jack.  Down South in New Orleans.

George Jones.  Still Doing Time and The Race is On.

Jack Kittel.  Psycho.   Leon Payne, a regular on the Hayride, wrote Psycho.  I can’t find anything about Jack Kittel except for the fact that he recorded this song and several others.  I do not find any reference to him ever appearing on the Hayride.  I wonder if Horace Hoss Logan, the producer and emcee, would have allowed this song to be played on the Hayride.

Hank Locklin. Please Help Me I’m Falling.

Jim Reeves.  Don’t Let Me Cross Over and Mexican Joe.

Jimmy C. Newman.  Alligator Man.

Faron Young.  Alone With You. 

Eddie Bond.  Big Boss Man.    This is an earlier version of the same song later recorded by Elvis.

Charley Pride.  Mississippi Cotton Picking Delta Town.  Charley Pride did not record his first single until 1966.  Nevertheless, it is impossible to imagine that a black man would have appeared on the Hayride. When it ended in 1960, nothing in Shreveport was integrated.  Even in 1966, when I graduated, there were no black students at Bossier High School.  The fact that Charley Pride became a huge country star (36 no. 1 hits) has always intrigued me. It should be obvious why I picked this song when you read the chapter.

Webb Pierce.  I Ain’t Never and Why Baby Why?   I Ain’t Never was co-written by Pierce and Mel Tillis. Tillis also appeared on the Hayride, released the song himself in 1972, and made it a No. 1 single.

The Carlises.  No Help Wanted.

Floyd Cramer.  Last Date.    Jerry Lee Lewis tried to get on the Hayride as a piano player and was rebuked. The Hayride already had a piano player, Floyd Kramer.

Floyd Tillman.  Driving Nails in My Coffin.    Floyd Tillman and Earnest Tubb both released this song in 1946.  Floyd’s single went to No. 2, Tubb’s to No. 4.  Tubb never appeared on the Hayride, enough said.

Carolyn Bradshaw.  Oh, I Like It.    Carolyn Bradshaw was an attractive young singer on the Hayride when Elvis arrived.  Rumor has it, Elvis   noticed her.

Johnny Cash.  Goodnight Irene written by Huddie Ledbetter and Ghost Riders in the Sky.    Huddie Ledbetter was no country singer, but he is certainly one of the greatest song writers to come from Caddo Parish.

Curly Fox & Texas Ruby.  Shanty Street.

T. Texas Tyler.  Remember Me. And,

Hank Williams.  Long Gone Lonesome Blues.   This is the only song from the greatest country singer/songwriter of all time that serves as a chapter title in this book.  Hank’s career really got its start on   the Hayride.

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If you liked my first book, you will love this one.

CHAPTER 1 - Let’s Think About Living.  Bob Luman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLAA9ioRsQ0

He was a devoted father and husband and a serial adulterer.  He was a highly respected civic leader and a murderer.  He was a successful, reliable, and honest businessman and in possession of well over one million dollars of contraband cash.  It had taken James Caldwell Jake Cane more than twenty years to overcome his father’s legacy and no time to ruin his own.  To the world he was still a respected family man, leader and successful stockbroker.  To the wife he truly loved, he could no longer be trusted. 

Many hours earlier, Jake’s best friend, Buddy Hawkins, had dropped Jake off at his downtown office.  Jake was a highly successful stock broker and investor in oil and gas wells.  He was well off by nearly all standards.  A million dollars is a lot of money, but Jake did not need another million dollars,especially, considering the trouble that had accompanied the money he had found.

The stock brokerage firm where Jake worked was closed, but he had stopped by anyhow to open mail and catch up on paperwork.  Jake was tired, too tired to simply get into his old pickup truck and go home.  Unable to concentrate on work Jake soon gave up and was now sitting at the bar of the nearby Shreveport Club reflecting on the events of the last week.  Jake did not want to go home.  Or rather, he very much wanted to go home, but not to the empty rented house he now inhabited.  No one would be waiting for him at his rental across the river, not even his devoted dog that was now dead and dissolving in the bottom of old water well along with the man Jake had killed a few days earlier.  Jake wanted to go to his real home and to his wife, but that was not possible, so he sat and drank.

Three hundred miles away, New Orleans was bracing for Hurricane Katrina.  Jake’s in-laws had been forced to evacuate their home in Chalmette, a suburb of New Orleans, and  were now safe in the million dollar home Jake and his wife Jeannette owned  a few miles away from where Jake now sat.  It was Sunday night and the few staff members left at the Shreveport Club were ready to go home.  Tomorrow he would drive to Memphis for the funeral of a friend who had been murdered.  Jake knew that he was likely the cause of his friend’s murder.  Would Jeannette go to the funeral?  Would Jeanette go with Jake?

From the kitchen Jake could barely hear Bob Luman in the background.  Jake was in his mid-forties.  He had dug himself out of holes before, he could do it again.  It was time for Jake to stop dwelling on the past.  It was time for Jake to start thinking about living.

CHAPTER 2 - If you’ve got the Money Honey, I’ve got the Time.  Lefty Frizzell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwyGS-CZ0qA

Sidney Jones, known to all as Pinky, was stuck in New Orleans.  When the driver for Pinky and their boss, Big D, saw their boss get shot and fall dead in the middle of Bourbon Street, the driver had continued driving.  He never stopped for anything other than gas until he dropped the Escalade at the offices of D-Line Construction in Memphis.  Pinky was left behind and was now sitting in Harry’s Corner Bar with a cougar tourist he had just met.  Hurricane Katrina was bearing down and they both should have been long gone, out of town, on a plane, in a car, or on a bus.  Neither Pinky nor the cougar had a car, and it was now too late to leave.  Pinky wasn’t concerned.  He had been in worse spots, many times, and Pinky was in luck.  The cougar had money, no one back at her home in Saginaw, Michigan, and Pinky had lots of time.

Earlier, after having successfully dealt with Kelley, Pinky had made his way from the French Quarter to Lucy’s Retired Surfer Bar on Tchoupitoulas Street.  He had been instructed to wait at the bar for Big D.  When Big D failed to show, Pinky caught a cab back to the Quarter just in time to see his boss being loaded into the coroner’s van.  Pinky was surprised to see that Jake Cane was still manning the Lucky Dog cart as if nothing had happened.  What Pinky didn’t know was that it was actually Buddy Hawkins who was working the cart.  Pinky did not know that Jake and Buddy looked enough alike to have been twins.  Pinky went into the Famous Corner Bar without being seen by the man he thought was Cane and watched.  Kelley was gone and there was no one around who had seen his attack on Kelley, except for Cane, so Pinky decided to wait.  Pinky had watched Cane kill Mario, and now Big D was dead.  Pinky was unarmed.  To Pinky, Cane was dangerous, more dangerous than he looked.  Pinky was hesitant to approach Cane.He waited and watched.

After a while two bikers entered the Famous Corner, both with long hair, tattoos, and dark beards.  They could have been brothers, both were big, but one was slimmer and a full six inches taller than the other.  The bikers seemed to be watching the street and especially Cane.  Pinky stayed in the shadows.  Pinky kept the cast on his broken arm hidden.  The bikers should have seen Pinky, but they didn’t.  Hours passed and eventually Buddy, (Pinky still thought that he was watching Cane) packed up the Lucky Dog cart and began slowly pushing the cart up