Devil In A Blue Dress

Easy is both sexually aroused and moved to reflection as Daphne washes him. She begins to make “obscene suggestions,” and they spend the night making love. In the morning, Daphne explains that she called Easy because she wanted to get away from “the ones who won’t let us be ourselves. They never want us to feel this good or close like this” (186).

After a lazy morning, Easy begins to question Daphne. She reveals Richard was her boyfriend before Carter, and that he joined with Teran and Howard to blackmail Carter after Daphne left him. Daphne hired Joppy to deal with Howard, and Joppy killed him, presumably by accident. Afterwards, when Coretta started asking questions, Joppy killed her to cover his tracks.

As they plan their next move, Daphne warns that they cannot be together once they leave. Easy accuses her of using him because he is Black, and she tells him that he doesn’t understand.

Easy and Daphne go to a nearby Chinese restaurant. As they wait for their food, Daphne tells Easy a story from her childhood in New Orleans. One day at the zoo, teenage Daphne and her father saw zebras mating. Back in their car, he kissed her, then cried. Over the next year, he continued to show romantic attention to Daphne, then left the family. Daphne says he left because he was too close to her. She suggests that Carter became similarly close to her, which makes Easy feel jealous. Something about her story doesn’t ring true to Easy.

They return to their room at Primo’s hotel, where Easy sees Albright before someone knocks him out.

Easy dreams that he is fighting in a naval battle. Mouse appears and tells him not to fight in a “white man’s war” (197), since following victory he will be sent to a plantation.

A few hours after Easy was knocked out, Primo wakes him. Easy learns that Albright, accompanied by Joppy, took Daphne. Unsure what to do, Easy drives toward home. On the way, the voice in his head tells him to find Albright and Joppy. After seeing that Joppy’s house is vacant, Easy calls information to get Albright’s address.

Easy drives to Albright’s home in a remote part of Malibu. Through a window, he spots Daphne sitting unclothed on a couch, with Albright and Joppy threatening her and asking about the suitcase full of money. Easy enters the room through the window, but Albright spots him before he can shoot. Easy and Albright take cover behind furniture, while Joppy leaves through the back door. When Albright is about to shoot Easy, Mouse appears and shoots Albright, who flees and drives away. Mouse also captures and ties Joppy. He explains that he started tailing Joppy earlier in the day when he saw him leaving Easy’s house.

Mouse asks Daphne, whom he refers to as Ruby, for the money. He reveals that she is Frank’s half-sister. Daphne breaks down when Mouse tells her that Joppy killed Frank, which Joppy denies. Mouse shoots Joppy, first in the groin and then in the head, killing him. They leave the house, with Daphne in Easy’s car, followed by Mouse in his own car. Easy asks Daphne whether she killed Teran; she admits that she shot him when he refused to stop blackmailing her and Carter. She took Teran’s kept boy to her home, where he remained unresponsive.

Daphne leads them to a locker where she stored the $30,000; Mouse splits it three ways. While Daphne waits for a cab, Easy asks her to stay with him. She refuses, explaining that she is simultaneously Daphne Monet, her invented white personality, and the Black woman Ruby Hanks. Daphne’s zoo story was a fabrication; instead, Ruby’s father raped her repeatedly until Frank killed him. Before she leaves, Daphne asks Easy to bury Frank and take care of the boy.

Easy asks Mouse why he killed Joppy. Mouse identifies Joppy as “the cause of all [Easy’s] pain” (208) before admitting that he, not Joppy, killed Frank to protect Easy. Mouse says that Easy and Daphne are similar, since both try to live like white people, Daphne in the way she looks and presents herself and Easy in the way he thinks. Mouse suggests that Easy “ain’t never gonna be happy ‘less he accept what he is” (209).

As Easy drives Mouse to the bus station, they hear on the radio that Albright died in his car. Mouse leaves for Texas, but Easy senses that he will see him again.

Easy finds the boy at Daphne’s apartment. He cleans him up, then takes him to Primo, who promises to find someone to care for him.

Easy visits Carter, who relishes Easy’s declaration that Daphne loves him, even though she knows she can’t be with him. Promising to protect Daphne from the police, Easy convinces Carter to vouch for him. At City Hall, accompanied by Carter and his lawyer, Easy reports to several high-ranking officials, as well as Mason and Miller. He ascribes political and financial motivations to the murders and pins them on Joppy and Frank without mentioning Daphne at all. He is unable, however, to provide a satisfactory explanation for Richard’s death. On his way out, Miller threatens to keep harassing Easy; Easy reluctantly suggests that he compare Junior’s fingerprint to that on the knife used to kill Richard.

Three months later, Odell and Easy chat. Odell asks Easy why he isn’t looking for work. Easy explains that he works for himself now, both as a detective and as a landlord, though he doesn’t say where he got the money to buy a property. As an example, Easy cites a recent case where he tracked down Ronald White, who ran away from his family, for Ronald’s wife, Mary.

Later, Easy asks Odell whether it’s okay not to report a friend for a crime, even as he turned in another man for a lesser crime. Odell says that the second man just had bad luck. They laugh.