Love Let Her
Issue 67

The story begins in Juarez, around the time of the Mexican 'Day of the Dead'. We see Branch and Benito searching for Dizzy at night, whilst an unknown voice narrates how he came to fall in love with her. From the first night they met, he's been in love with "Graves' girl". As the voice continues, we see Wylie, sitting in the desert, drinking beer. He's another likely narrator after Benito and Branch. Wylie throws an empty bottle into the air, where it is shattered by a bullet. Dizzy is with him, drunk on champagne and brandishing a weapon. Her teardrop tattoo has had an extra tear added to it, and the sides of her head are shaven. She takes a drink for herself, and pours one into the ground for Shepherd.

In town, Benito runs into Coochie, who is still full of double talk, adding hidden meaning to every passing comment. The two men are soon bonding on account of Benito's large wad of notes. Coochie brings Benito up to speed with his quest. Dizzy has been in town for about two weeks. She came to get away from a man who loved her, but not in a good way, a man who she killed. As Coochie talks, Benito spots Branch at a table, staring at a picture of Dizzy. In fact it is the picture that catches his attention, Branch is a stranger to him. Coochie's men drag Branch into the desert for interrogation, asking where he got the picture. Branch says he took it, which Coochie interprets as 'stole it'. Benito decides to keep Branch alive, and Coochie takes the two men to meet with Dizzy.

As they arrive, Coochie describes their location as their cemetery. Benito starts to object, but Coochie says Dizzy is here, with a different man. In fact, the man is very different from when Coochie met him before. Wylie and Dizzy are still engaged in drunken target practice, and the arrival of the others interrupts a possibly disastrous William Tell moment. Wylie chastises Coochie, reminding him that they wanted to be left alone. Coochie indicates that with a swift pull of the trigger, gesturing towards Benito and Branch, they will be. He takes his leave, so that Wylie is free to face off against the interlopers. A moment passes, then Dizzy emerges from behind a rock, and the three men walk towards her.

The overall theme of the 'love letter' is of a man who has fallen for a woman he can never be with, a woman who belongs to someone else, for whatever loveless reason that might be. The narrator is a close confidant of Graves' and doesn't want to go against him, as to do so would be stupid and suicidal, which the narrator never is. He knows he may be being played by Graves and the Trust, and that being in love with Dizzy might all be part of the bigger scheme. He is also aware that this thing will end in death, probably his own. He hopes this story will end in the heart, "anywhere but the face".

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