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“What about to the people they spoke with?”

She drank some of her water but didn’t look at me.

“You don’t give up, do you?”

“I’ve been told it’s one of my better qualities,” I said, “or one of my qualities, anyway.”

Her tone changed, and the pretense of ignorance was dropped.

“Nothing has happened to Wyatt Riggins, or if it has, it’s nothing todo with BrightBlown. Devin has never even set foot here. That’s deliberate. We don’t want anything to tarnish the company’s reputation or draw heat. We have twenty employees, both full- and part-time, and we’re hoping to double that number when the new facility is up and running. Like me, they love what they do and want to keep doing it. They’re working with their hands, digging in the soil, growing plants.

“We have customers who come to us with epilepsy, cancer, MS, chronic pain. Before legalization, they might have been hooking up with some street dealer or trying to cultivate cannabis in their yard or greenhouse, always looking over their shoulder for a cop. Do I think there are too many outlets in the city? Of course, but I would say that, right? Whatever you may feel personally about what we do, it’s not all bad, and we’re here to stay. If Wyatt Riggins is in trouble, I hope he stays away from here, and if he tries to come back, he won’t find a welcome or his old job. Have I made myself plain?”

“Very,” I said.

“The man I spoke to asked me to pass on a message. He said that efforts were being made to trace Wyatt and make him calm his girlfriend down, which means persuading her to dispense with your services. He was hopeful of getting a message passed along to Wyatt. Once Wyatt’s spoken to Zetta Nadeau and confirmed he’s safe and well, we can all go our separate ways.”

I finished my water.

“I’m never going to speak to Jason Rybek, am I?” I asked.

“I told him to leave town. Even if you find him, it won’t change anything. BrightBlown is a dead end as far as Wyatt Riggins is concerned.”

And I believed her. Thanks to Rybek, I knew more than she did about what Riggins might have been doing for Devin Vaughn. Unfortunately, it made me less inclined to drop the investigation.

“Thanks for the tour,” I said. “I doubt I’ll be bothering you again, but I can’t say the same for Vaughn. When you next speak to your contact, you might share that with him.”

“There must be easier ways to earn a living than getting in Devin’s face.” She shook her head. “And you’ll receive no help from anyone here, because if he goes down, so do we.”

“An enterprise like this?” I said. “No, someone will keep it running just as it is. They might change the name, but they’ll have no reason to mess with the structure. I mean, you’re getting a pizza van. You’ll be okay.”

I tossed my empty bottle in one of the many recycling barrels scattered around the property. BrightBlown was very eco-friendly, which proved that even miscreants like Devin Vaughn weren’t all bad.

“Does that mean I can come to you for a reference should it all go south?” asked Lawrence.

“No need,” I replied. “If someone’s looking to employ an apologist for a criminal, I’ll send them straight to you.”

To her credit, she didn’t take it badly.

“Maybe I can get a job working for Congress, or Big Oil.”

“Reach for the stars,” I said.

CHAPTERXXXIX

With Aldo Bern gone, Devin Vaughn squatted before the child. He ran an index finger over the glass that separated them, following the curve of her cheek down to her mouth, which hung open in repose.

“I’m sorry, honey,” whispered Vaughn, “but we’re going to burn your twisted brother. I wish it didn’t have to be this way, but it looks like the bad men will keep on keeping on, and we can’t have that. So we’ll set the boy alight and film the results. Maybe it’ll convince old Blas to call off his dogs, because if he loves you enough, he’ll want you to remain unharmed. It’ll pain me, and I know it’ll pain you, too.” This Vaughn was curious about, though he did not say so aloud. He wondered whether the girl would react when the boy was incinerated. Would she know? Would Vaughn hear her scream? “All I can promise is that you’ll be safe. You can count on it. You’re mine now.”

Vaughn listened to her reply. The girl’s eyes remained closed, and if she spoke, it was in a voice only he could hear.

“Hush, now,” he said. “Please, hush. It’s okay.”

But she would not be calmed, repeating a name, one that bounced around inside Vaughn’s head like the slug from a .22, slowly tearing his mind apart.

CHAPTERXL

When I was certain that Louis and Angel would be showered and dressed, if not decent, I called to suggest we meet for lunch at Hot Suppa on Congress, since by that stage I’d been up and about for so long I was beginning to hallucinate.