〃Yes；〃 he said。 〃They do。 They certainly do。〃
〃And it occurred to me that it would be easy enough to follow his backtrail and find out。 A man his size； and a Negro to boot； can't be that hard to trace。〃
〃You'd think so； but you'd be wrong；〃 he said。 〃In Coffey's case； anyhow。 I know。〃
〃You tried？〃
〃I did； and came up all but empty。 There were a couple of railroad fellows who thought they saw him in the Knoxville yards two days before the Detterick girls were killed。 No surprise there； he was just across the river from the Great Southern tracks when they collared him； and that's probably how he came down here from Tennessee。 I got a letter from a man who said he'd hired a big bald black man to shift crates for him in the early spring of this year … this as in Kentucky。 I sent him a picture of Coffey and he said that was the man。 But other than that …〃 Hammersmith shrugged and shook his head。
〃Doesn't that strike you as a little odd？〃
〃Strikes me as a lot odd； Mr。 Edgebe。 It's like he dropped out of the sky。 And he's no help； he can't remember last week once this week es。〃
〃No； he can't；〃 I said。 〃How do you explain it？〃
〃We're in a Depression；〃 he said； 〃that's how I explain it。 People all over the roads。 The Okies want to pick peaches in California； the poor whites from up in the brakes want to build cars in Detroit； the black folks from Mississippi want to go up to New England and work in the shoe factories or the t