But assuming he was being at least partially truthful, she asked, “What kind of confirmation will he require?”

“I’ll know when I ask him.”

“You’ve had twelve hours or more to negotiate a new deal with him. In the meantime, you’re stuck with mouthy me here in these swell surroundings.” She pointed out a rip in the tin roof that looked like it had been made with an old-fashioned can opener. “Aren’t you anxious to get to Mexico and that cerveza? What’s holding you back?”

He scooped the last of the food from the can, dropped the spoon into it, and set it on the floor. He pulled the bandana from his pocket and wiped his mouth and hands, then stretched his legs out in front of him, folded his arms over his midriff, and crossed his ankles.

She noticed that the soles of his cowboy boots had seen a lot of wear. They’d been lived in. Like his face.

“You love your brother?”

The unexpected question snapped her gaze back up to his. “Why do you ask?”

“Just answer me.”

“Of course I love him. He’s my brother.”

“He’s a double-crossing chickenshit.”

Reacting as though he’d slapped her, she retorted, “What do you know about Josh, about anything?”

“Even a guy like me watches TV every now and again.”

“Triple-X pay-per-view.”

“Sometimes I catch the news. What I didn’t know about the Panella case, Mickey filled in yesterday while we were trailing you.”

“Trailing me?”

“We followed you around town. Waited while you got your manicure. Parked down the street from your house.”

“Spying on me.”

“Not so much spying as plotting how we were gonna…you know.”

“You were formulating plan A. What was plan A?”

“Doesn’t matter. It got scrubbed. Back to your brother—what was life like when you two were kids?”

“Why do you care?”

“Stop answering every question with a question.”

“Then stop asking me questions.”

“You don’t like my questions?”

“I don’t like your prying. Or is delving into the background of your victims part of your MO?”

“My MO?” That amused him. “I guess you watch some TV, too.”

He came as close to smiling as she’d seen, but it didn’t soften his mouth or any other feature. If anything, it emphasized the harsh angularity of his face.

Nor did the semismile last. It faded as he tilted his head to one side and studied her, then said, “I’ve had an idea. But before I advance it, I want to know why the subject of your brother makes you twitchy and defensive.”

“It doesn’t.”

He merely looked at her with an unflinching, I-know-better gaze.

After an interminable length of time, she relented, ran her hand around the back of her neck, stretched it, released a long sigh. “There was nothing extraordinary about our family life. We were typical. Middle class. There was Mom, Dad, me the big sister, Josh the younger brother.”

“Did you watch out for him?”

“More or less. Like older siblings do.”

“Which was it? More or less?”

“If I must pick, I’d say more.”

“Why?”

She caught herself shifting her weight—twitching—and stopped. “Every family has a unique dynamic.”

“Those are words that don’t mean shit.”

“In our family they meant that I, as the older child, had an implied responsibility to protect my younger brother.” Actually her responsibility to safeguard Josh had been more than implied. Daily she’d been reminded of it, if not with a verbal admonishment then with sighs of disappointment or looks of reproof which were equally, if not even more, effective.

“To protect him from what?”

“Normal, everyday childhood hazards.”

“Hmm.”

With impatience, she added, “Like stepping on a rusty nail. Tripping down the stairs. Running with scissors.”

“Tiresome and thankless job for a kid,” he said, to which she didn’t respond. “Did your protective tendencies carry over into adulthood?”

“No. We both grew up.”

“Josh grew up to be a thief. What did your mom and dad think about that?”

“What did yours think about what you became?” she fired back.

“Actually my dad was tickled. I followed in his footsteps and had big shoes to fill. In our line of work, he was famous.”

“Oh. Then your upbringing was anything but typical.”

He shrugged. “It was commonplace to me. I was a kid, didn’t know any other kind of family life.”

She thought about that, then remembered his earlier reference to his mother. “Your mama taught you better than to molest a woman, but she was okay with the profession you chose?”

“No, she died wishing I’d taken another career path.”

“She’s deceased?”

“Both of them. Dad shot her, then put the forty-five to his own head and pulled the trigger.”

She couldn’t contain her shock. By contrast, his features remained unmoved and inscrutable.

Was he trying to stun her with cruel candor? Was he even telling the truth? There was no way of knowing. She reasoned that he could lie with nonchalance but could also reveal a terrible truth with matching indifference.

“Was Josh always a tattletale?” he asked.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” she said. “Especially not about Josh.”

“Well, see, you should open up to me about him.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because, Jordie, your little brother just might save you and your saucy ass.”

Ignoring the remark, she pounced on the substance of what he’d said. “How?”

“At some point during our long, overnight drive—”

“You were going in circles the entire time, weren’t you?”

“Do you want to hear this or not?”

Subdued by his sharp tone, she fell silent and gave a small nod.

“Here’s where your life does become your business. Because somewhere between midnight and dawn, it occurred to me that you might be more valuable alive than dead.”

Her heart rate ticked up. She glanced at the pistol, which remained set aside on top of the crate. “You’re not going to kill me after all?”

“Depends. All you gotta do to prevent it is tell me where your brother is.”

Her flare of optimism flamed out. Slumping, she raised her arms to her sides and gave a dry laugh. “I don’t have any idea where Josh is.”

“Jordie,” he said, speaking softly, “what did I tell you about lying to me?”

“That’s the truth! When Josh turned informant, he was placed in protective custody. Even I don’t know where. I’m not allowed any contact with him. He’s being guarded around the clock by federal marshals.”

“Not anymore he’s not.”

Her stomach swooped. “What?”

“Your baby brother Josh eluded his guards and—” he made a whooshing sound and accompanied it with a hand gesture like an airplane taking off “—flew the coop.”