“On TV they said they were looking for a suspect caught on security camera.”

“They’re trying to get an ID on him but—”

“You think it was Billy Panella.”

“The girl in Tobias said Royce Sherman’s killer spoke through a voice enhancer. Nobody had mentioned that to her. How could she have made up a detail like that? And Hick’s shooter was wearing a hoodie similar to the one Hick gave Kinnard. Like that was his little inside joke with us.”

“How would he know where you had sequestered Jordie Bennett? Or about Kinnard and the hoodie?”

“I’ve been asking myself that. Only thing I can figure, he returned to the scene of the crime in Tobias. To snicker. Gloat. Maybe he marked us while we were there. Followed us back to the hotel. My decoy caravan didn’t fool him. All he had to do was keep an eye on Hick’s car.”

He thumped his knee with his fist. “He’s nervy as hell, and he’s outsmarted me again, goddammit. Six months ago, he sensed that Hick and I were coming for him, and split in the nick of time. Am I ever gonna catch this fucker?”

She rubbed his spine. “Joe, don’t do this to yourself now. You don’t even know for sure it was Panella.”

“There’s no arguing it with Kinnard. He’s certain.”

“Where is he?”

“That’s another story.” He told her about Kinnard’s disappearance from the crime scene. “He claims to have placed Jordie Bennett under arrest.”

Marsha arched her eyebrow.

“Right.” He told her what Hick had said about the steam escaping the hotel bedroom. Her only response was a thoughtful hmmm. He knew that sound.

“What?”

“All these people—men—in her life, pushing her around, pulling her this way and that. I feel sorry for her.”

“Don’t. Not yet. Kinnard may be in lust, but he also thinks she knows more than she’s telling.”

“What do you think?”

“Same. She’s not coming clean about something.”

“Panella? Herself?”

“Possibly, although she says no. But she’s mama bear when it comes to Josh. You heard what I said to him this morning.” Marsha had been in bed with him when Josh had called before dawn. “I intentionally tried to scare him into turning himself in. That was before Royce Sherman’s body was discovered. According to Ms. Bennett, that freaked him out. Now Hick? If we get confirmation that it’s Panella—”

That instant, his phone rang. He answered and Kinnard said, “It was Panella.”

“He had juvenile arthritis.” Shaw held the phone out nearer to Jordie. “Tell him.”

“He basically grew out of it,” she said into the phone, “but it flares up when he’s fatigued or sick, even with something minor like a sore throat, any malady that weakens his immune system. When that happens, his joints become inflamed, especially his left knee. It causes him to limp.”

“I didn’t know this,” Wiley said.

“Neither did I,” Shaw said. “Neither did anybody.”

“Except Ms. Bennett.”

“Yeah,” Shaw said. “Except her.”

Her face turned rosy with anger over his tone.

“She says Panella is self-conscious of the limp,” Shaw said. “He’s good at hiding it.”

“Unless he’s on his way to a murder.”

“I guess.” Shaw paused then asked Wiley how he was holding up.

“I’m okay. My wife’s here.” He told Shaw about the guards he’d ordered for his family.

“Good call,” Shaw said. “Might be even better to get them out of town.”

“I’ll look into it as soon as I know more about Hick’s condition.”

“He still in surgery?”

“Far as I know.” His voice went shaky. He switched to another topic. “You going to tell me where you are?”

“My own safe house. Panella won’t find us.”

Wiley sighed but let it drop, probably because he didn’t have the energy to pursue it. “I don’t suppose Ms. Bennett’s heard from her brother.”

“No. And she hasn’t been out of my sight. Nothing on your end?”

“No,” Wiley said. “I figured he’d call in a panic when he heard about Hick.”

Jordie must’ve figured that as well. Shaw could tell by her expression that she was unsettled by her brother’s silence.

“How are you doing?” Wiley asked. “Side hurt?”

“It’s felt better. I need to lie down. But let me know when you get an update on Hickam, no matter what time.”

“I will.”

“My money’s riding on him making it.”

“Paramedics said you probably saved his life by curbing the bleeding.”

“Let’s hope.”

“Yeah.” Wiley’s voice had turned gravelly with emotion again. He cleared his throat. “He still won’t like you, though.”

“Nobody does.”

Shaw disconnected and replaced the phone in his shirt pocket. “Jordie.”

For the entirety of his conversation with Joe Wiley, he hadn’t taken his eyes off her. Now he walked toward her with a deliberateness that set off a tremor of apprehension. She had to will herself not to angle away from him as he came to a stop directly in front of her where she sat on the arm of the chair.

“From this moment forward, you tell me the truth. All of it.”

“Or what? You threatened to kill me, and you didn’t. What will you threaten me with this time?”

“Jail.”

She hadn’t even considered that. It took her aback and left her momentarily speechless.

“Where you’ll have no chance of helping your precious shithead of a brother because you’ll be fighting your own legal battles.”

She swallowed drily. “I haven’t been charged with a crime.”

“Not yet. That could change. It’ll take a while for state and federal prosecutors to sift through everything and determine if you’re indictable. Meanwhile, you stay behind bars.”

“You couldn’t do that.”

“You want to test me? Or simply tell me the truth here and now?”

“I have told the truth.”

“Not all of it. You failed to mention your vacation with Panella. Three days. Lavish accommodations. Limos. Surely you remember. How could you have forgotten?”

“I haven’t.”

“Then why didn’t you mention it when I asked you about your personal relationship with him?”

“Because there’s no such thing!”

“Was there ever?”

“No.”

“Never?”

“No!”

“Then explain why you went to Central America with him for three days. To move money?”

“No.”

“Why did you go, Jordie?”

“It isn’t relevant.”

“The federal government thinks it is. I think it is.”

“Why?”

“Because, dammit, I’ve got to know.” He moved closer to her, radiating an angry heat. “Did you ever fuck Billy Panella?”