This roused Easy to volunteer for combat, something he considered very foolish. They said we didn't have the discipline or the minds for a war effort, but they were really scared that we might get to like the kind of freedom that death-dealing brings." One day, some white soldiers insulted Easy by saying that black soldiers were cowards. They didn't want to see me spill white blood. Even though he was trained as a soldier, he explains that "white men weren't anxious to see a gun in my hands. He was made a typist in the statistics unit, which followed the troops and recorded their casualties. He enlisted because he believed the propaganda for the war, but soon discovered that the army was segregated. Easy explains that the voice has been giving him objective advice ever since he was in the army. When Easy suggests that he run like Odell suggested, the voice says, "Better be dead than leave." It tells him to stand up for himself and make things right. Easy knows it is useless to try to stop her, but he has a renewed sense that he will triumph over his situation.Īs Easy drives home, a voice in his head gives him advice. Then she kisses him so fiercely that she chips his tooth before driving off. She says she is getting out of town and advises Easy to do the same. Her French accent is replaced by a common Southern one. He finds her putting Richard's suitcase into the back of a pink Studebaker. While he is on the floor, he notices something, smells it, and picks it up in his handkerchief. Easy sinks to his knee, flooded with memories of all the dead bodies he has seen. Easy recognizes him as the drunk man he saw at John's Place the night he met Dupree and Coretta there. Richard is lying on his bed, stabbed to death with a butcher knife. When they arrive at the house, the door is wide open. Easy feels a renewed sense of power as he drives Daphne to Richard's. He explains, "If I was going to say no, it should have been to DeWitt Albright or even to Coretta." Before they leave, Daphne fetches an old suitcase that belongs to her friend, Richard, who lives on Laurel Canyon Road above Hollywood. Easy can tell that she is lying to him, but agrees because he realizes he is too deep into the mystery to go back. When Easy tries to give Daphne the cab money, she begs him to take her to her friend's house instead. She is young, about twenty-two, and beautiful though plain. When Easy arrives at Daphne's house, he realizes that he should have taken Odell's advice and left town.
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