Wylie Runs the Voodoo Down
Issues 51 - 57

Told mostly in flashback, Wylie Runs the Voodoo Down begins in a New Orleans hotel room where Wylie, dressed in the black suit of a Minuteman, talks to an unknown figure whilst toying with a garrote, one hand bandaged. To a background of jazz, Wylie explains how he was forced to kill a friend of his earlier that evening.

We flash back a few days, to Wylie standing in the same room, with an attaché and a picture of Shepherd. He is thinking back to his meeting with Graves and the woman whose death changed Wylie's life. Her name was Rose Madrid. Wylie goes to a bar where he meets Gabe, a disfigured young black man with a gift for the trumpet, the owner Harry and his girlfriend April, the subject of many a man's desires, particularly Gabe. As Wylie drinks himself into a stupor, a man named Warren enters the bar. He has deadly business with Harry, who needs him to take care of something permanently. As Warren leaves, he believes he recognises Wylie, but Wylie has no idea who Warren is. Drunk, Wylie staggers to a cemetery, to the grave of Rose Madrid. He stumbles, splitting his head open, and as he kneels at the grave, Dizzy and Shepherd appear behind him.

Returning to the present, Wylie picks up the garrote once more, approaching a figure tied to a chair in the corner of the room. It is Mr. Shepherd. He asks for a final cigarette, and the two men banter before Wylie resumes the story.

Having slept off the beer, Wyllie awakes in his room with Dizzy watching over him. Shepherd has gone to meet someone. Wylie takes Dizzy for a drink on the waterfront and tells her how Rose was murdered whilst he was in prison doing time for another man, rather than rat him out. They share talk of their mutual losses whilst in jail. In the distance, a naked girl appears, seemingly high on drugs. As they watch, two men are chasing the girl. One throws a bear trap on a chain which snaps shut on the girl's arm, breaking it. She reels in pain, falling into the lake and drowning. Wylie shouts out, but the two men open fire on him. They run back to town. Dizzy decides to call Shepherd but Wylie stalks off, deciding to get drunk again. As he drinks, he calls his old friend Homer, and asks him to meet at the bar. Homer arrives with Warren, rousing Wylie, who has fallen asleep and is dreaming of Rose. Seen in silhouette, Homer and Warren appear to be the two men from the lake.

Wylie resumes in the present, asking Shepherd where he was that night, so Shepherd tells him of his visit to the House of Madrid.

Shepherd spends that evening with Anwar Madrid, head of one of the thirteen families and a New Orleans resident. He tells Madrid he is just in town by chance, but warns Madrid that Graves is probably on his way. Madrid defends his position, offering Shepherd some men to take out Graves whilst maintaining that he never stood against the Trust over the decision to kill off the Minutemen. He stood firmly with Augustus Medici, and Shepherd wonders aloud if this was less about the Trust and more about a personal vendetta against Graves following an earlier, undisclosed event. Madrid reacts angrily, again defending himself by saying that the Trust is now more powerful than ever before thanks to their recent decisions. Shepherd promises to keep Madrid abreast of any developments.

As Shepherd talks, Wylie is sleeping, and we flash back to Wylie waking at Homer's house, talking to his wife Janice. Outside Homer and Harry are having words. Harry leaves, and Wylie goes to talk to his friend. it is Homer who Wylie did the time for. They talk about old times, and Homer invites Wylie round  for a party that night. Wylie leaves, heading for a beer with Gabe before going back to his room. Gabe tags along and as Wylie showers, pulls out the gun and fires it. Wylie is shaken and a knock at the door soon follows. Wylie fears it is the law, but it's Dizzy and Shepherd. They return to the lake and show Shepherd the location of the woman's body. Shepherd says simply "She's in there". Once again, strangely angered and over-reacting, Wylie storms away from Shepherd back to the bar. Harry's wife Diane comes into the conversation, a crack head who is bleeding him dry, and disappears for weeks on end. Meanwhile Harry is screwing April behind her back. Dizzy arrives and floors Wylie as they argue about Shepherd. Wylie tells Dizzy that Shepherd is responsible for Rose's murder. As he makes for the door once more, he stops to compliment Gabe on a tune he is playing. Gabe says it's one of his own; it's called 'Blue Day for Croatoa'.

Wylie comes to from an unexplained loss of memory. Gabe is lying on the floor unconscious and bleeding, there's a hole in the wall and Wylie has injured his fist. Dizzy wants to know what is going on, Harry wants Wylie to leave and not come back. Wylie walks away with Dizzy following. He stops outside a fortune teller's, thinking back to a time spent there with Rose, discussing their future together. Rose tells Wylie she is going to Miami.

Dizzy catches up with Wylie and warns him off of touching Shepherd. They head to Homer's to watch a ball game but as Wylie tends to his hand, issuing his favourite four letter expletive, Homer becomes suspicious. Dizzy notices, and as Warren arrives, Homer takes him outside to talk. Dizzy senses trouble and she and Wylie escape through the bathroom window. Heading back to town they pass a restaurant, just as Anwar Madrid is leaving. Madrid spots them and reaches for his phone. Meanwhile Wylie is planning on protecting himself and returns to his hotel to get the gun, telling Dizzy to wait in the bar and call if she sees Homer.

Returning to his room, Wylie is met by Gabe, pointing the gun firmly at Wylie. Downstairs, Dizzy waits, but Agent Graves arrives at her table. A phone rings, and we see Homer and Warren, Wylie, Madrid and Shepherd all waiting for a call. Wylie tells Gabe to give him the gun. As he grabs the phone, he knocks the gun from Gabe's hands. Looking through the window he spots a fleet of limousines arriving outside, and recognises Anwar Madrid. Wylie and Gabe slip out of the fire exit into an alley and talk about Wylie's disconnected memory, Gabe's love of April and how the trumpet is all he has. Homer and Warren are waiting at the end of the alley and take Wylie and Gabe away in a pick up.

Back in the bar, Dizzy is distracted as Graves tries to talk to her. Graves steps into the street, in full view of Madrid, and stands there silently. Madrid panics, calling his men back, and flees the scene. With the distraction gone, Graves returns to Dizzy, where he calls Shepherd. Shepherd tells Dizzy it's time for her to go to Graves, that Wylie is back where he belongs, and finally, that his first name is Joseph. Dizzy refuses to go with Graves, who is sorry to hear this. He tells Dizzy that she will be sorry to hear something very soon.

Out in a wood, Wylie and Gabe are forced onto their knees  by Homer and Warren. Although Wylie kept Homer out of jail, Homer tells Wylie he's seen to much and has to die. He offers to take whatever Wylie is hiding in the case, an item that  he believes Wylie has stolen from Madrid, to return the favour Wylie did him. Warren begins throwing bear traps around. Wylie tells Gabe to stay put whatever happens, then tells Homer he's ready to die like a man, and opens the attaché. As Wylie opens fire on Homer and Warren, Gabe gets up and runs. Two shots later, Homer and Warren lie dead, but as Wylie turns he sees that Gabe has fallen face first into a bear trap, which has severed his lower jaw, destroying his only great talent. Gabe looks at Wylie, pleading for him to shoot and put Gabe out of his misery, but Wylie can't do it. He gives the gun to Gabe, who puts it into his wrecked mouth, but is unable to pull the trigger. Wylie picks up the gun, tells Gabe to picture himself where he wants to go, and as Gabe thinks of April, Wylie pulls the trigger. Having thrown Gabe's body into the lake, Wylie's thoughts return to that night in Atlantic City.

Victor and Wylie are waiting on the waterfront as a car pulls up. Wylie has chosen this spot to stage the burning of the Hooded Man. Cole, Milo and the two remaining Minutemen step out of the car, and retrieve the Hooded Man from the boot. Wylie draws a chalk line on the dock, indicating the line they are stepping over. Cole asks Victor if everything is set for later, which it is. Wylie and Cole talk. It is apparent that, although their motives are different and there is animosity between them, they both back Graves' plan, but some of the other Minutemen, notably Milo, do not. As the Hooded Man is doused with petrol, they talk about going into hiding, and losing their memories. Cole tells Wylie that he'll remember who he is one day, and that he wants to be there to see it. Wylie, who wants to forget the whole thing, says that will be a bad day, and that Cole won't want to be there at all.

Back in New Orleans, Harry and April return to find Dizzy sitting in the bar .Harry is surprised at her nerve, returning to the place, but Dizzy is clearly pissed off about something. April joins Dizzy at her table, Harry saying that the two of them sitting in his window is a license to print money. Dizzy introduces herself a Isabelle, and calls Shepherd. Shepherd is with Anwar, who is still feeling uneasy after seeing Graves. He smashes Shepherd's phone as it rings, angered by his comment that it is a wrong number. Anwar describes Graves as "cut and dried", saying that the Trust knew where they stood with him. His mistrust of Shepherd stems from the fact that Wylie and Graves are both alive, despite Shepherd confirming their deaths to the Trust. He suspects that the three are working together. Madrid tells a story about infidelity, saying that a man who cheats with another man's woman will end up waiting for the day that she does the same thing to him.

As Madrid speaks, gunfire begins in the grounds of the house, and one gun sounds more loudly than the others, every shot finding it's target. Shepherd's admiration for Wyllie's skill and accuracy as he heads towards them is obvious. There is a pounding on the door, Anwar quakes in fear demanding Shepherd does something, but it is the Madrid guards who enter, taking them by surprise. Wylie appears from the shadows, gunning them down before forcing Shepherd to drop his own weapon.  Anwar panics, offering Wylie first money, and then Shepherd's job if it well keep him alive. The exchange questions the loyalties of Shepherd, who tries to tell Anwar he is mistaken, tells him to shut up, but Anwar carries on, and as he is about to mention the past, to mention Rose, Wylie shoots him in the head. He wasn't their for Madrid, he has come for Shepherd. As Wyllie attacks, Shepherd refuses to defend himself, apologising for what has gone before. Wylie knocks Shepherd unconscious, and drives away from the now burning house with Shepherd in the boot of his car, eerily reminiscent of that night in Atlantic City.

Back in Wylie's room, Shepherd says the Trust will now devour the House of Madrid, much as it did the House of Peres, leaving eleven Houses, a number Graves wants. Wylie hints at there being another house ready to fall. Shepherd asks which one, but Wylie says he should worry about his own ass. Shepherd replies that he is sweating about someone else's ass, and Wylie pulls back the bedclothes to reveal Dizzy, bound and gagged beneath the mattress. She sees Wylie as he really is, and her look is withering. Shepherd reveals to Wylie that Dizzy has been trained at Graves' request to become a replacement for one of the seven. Wylie can't believe he jumped her and tied her up so easily if this is true. The two men argue once more, Shepherd apologising once again, which isn't enough for Wylie as once again there is a flashback...

Shepherd and Wylie sit in a car outside the Orleans Hotel. Shepherd says "She's in there", as Wylie looks at a file on Rose Madrid. Flicking between past and present, Shepherd and Wylie reveal how the hatred between them began. Shepherd orders Wylie to kill Rose, the person Wylie loves. In dialogue that has replayed in the recent past, Wylie deliberates "the job in hand". Shepherd is sorry, Wylie thinks he is a cold bastard for sending him to do the job, but even Anwar Madrid realised that Rose had crossed the line. As Wylie goes to Rose he talks about her trip to Miami, about how she wasn't there for the sun, but to move against Augustus Medici, on her own, without the knowledge of her family. Wylie tells Rose that they will run away together, change their names and grow old. They kiss, and Wylie shoots her. She dies in his arms.

Back in the room, Wylie beats Shepherd some more. Under the bed, Dizzy is freeing herself, but the fight between Wylie and Shepherd is ending. Shepherd couldn't send another of the minutemen to kill Rose, it had to be Wylie himself. Wylie leaves for the bathroom and a single shot rings out.

Down in the bar, Harry is closing up when Wylie walks in. Grabbing a drink from Ronnie, he tells everyone in the bar how Harry paid Homer and Warren to get rid of his wife. Harry says he only paid them to scare her, but Wylie recounts how he saw her die. He gives April Gabe's trumpet. She is in tears, and assumes that Gabe is dead too. Wylie is about to tell her when Ronnie covers him, saying Gabe has gone to New York to become a recording artist. Wylie tells April not to forget Gabe, or to forget what Harry does to women. As he leaves, Shepherd and Dizzy are waiting for him outside. They climb into a car. Wylie offers to forgive Shepherd as he isn't about to forget what has happened. Wylie's memory is returning, but still has holes. Shepherd asks him to forgive himself, but Wylie says there's not much chance of that. Shepherd takes "not much" to mean "some". The final shot is of a mirror, broken where Wylie has shot a bullet at his own image, reflected in it.

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