to the table, Winters’ hand left the phone to land on Samuel’s wrist. A second later, Winters shot out of the chair. “We have no time,” he said. “She’s alive, but perhaps not for much longer.”

“Where is she?” Samuel asked.

“Holt Cemetery,” Winters replied. “Underground.”

—

Most of the cemeteries in New Orleans were small cities themselves, towering homes of monuments to the dead. A high water table made certain features common to other areas unrealistic for the Crescent City. Basements, for one, and below-ground graveyards.

Those who had passed away among New Orleanians, after being honored with a funeral and a second line, were usually placed in mausoleums, or at least above-ground tombs. But for the poor or anonymous,...

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