I stopped wiping and used the dishrag to mop sweat off my face before I laid it back on the counter. “I’m sorry, sugar. Keep in mind that even though Joyce is way more educated than us, she is naïve as hell. We got street smarts, so we might be able to hoodwink her in some way—behind Odell’s back of course—and get a few bucks from her, too. Shoot. She can afford it. If she don’t give us nothing, we ain’t lost nothing. But we can’t risk losing a jackpot from a sure thing like Odell. That would be a stupid move and we ain’t stupid.”

Yvonne dropped her head. When she looked back up at me, there was tears in her eyes. “Baby, I’ve enjoyed being on the same team with you. Before I met you, my life was so humdrum, I couldn’t tell one day from another. But . . . I . . . I have to come clean about something. You’ll probably find out sooner or later anyway. And I don’t want you to think less of me.”

“What is it you want to come clean about?”

“See, I know what a big fish Odell is and I wanted to take advantage of it. There ain’t no telling when or if we’ll ever stumble upon another gold mine like him. Um . . . I been getting hush money from him ever since you told me about him and Betty Jean.”

I held my breath and narrowed my eyes. “Say what?”

Yvonne gave me a exasperated look. “Don’t even try to act surprised. If you think we such a good team, you need to come clean, too. He told me you been getting money from him since July. Eight dollars a week every Wednesday.”

My face felt like I had leaned over a bonfire. “I’m sorry. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to think I was greedy.”

“Pffft.” Yvonne waved her hand. “I didn’t tell you for the same reason. Things is different now. We got to work together to find out who set the law on us, and we can’t do that by hoodwinking each other with a bunch of lies. That ain’t the way Christians behave.”

I glanced around to make sure we was still alone. “That’s right, sugar.” I licked my lips and snorted. “Well then, I guess I’m duty-bound to come clean, too.”

“Oh yeah? About what?” Yvonne asked with both eyebrows raised.