Earl slipped the gun out of his pants and slid it across the seat toward me. “Hold that and get a feel of it.”

I took the gun in my right hand, startled, initially, by how heavy it was.

“See that little thing there, the safety? Make sure it stays set that way so you don’t shoot your nuts off. But if you think you’re going to have to use it, you move it”—he reached over—“like that.”

“Got it,” I said. I put the safety back on, slid the gun back across the seat. “Maybe you should be the guy who uses this. And I’ll ask the questions.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Earl, holding his cigarette between his lips as he turned the ignition. “Where we going?”

“Last time I saw Greenway and Company they were headed to the sales office. That was more than an hour ago, but they might still be there.”

“Why don’t we troll on by,” he said, rolling the truck out of the garage and slipping back out momentarily to close the garage door. We turned left on Chancery and drove to the entrance to the Valley Forest Estates, where the sales office was set up.

“Drive by once,” I said.

Earl slowed only slightly as we passed the office. Out front were Carpington’s Cadillac and Greenway’s Lincoln.

“Looks like Rick isn’t there,” I said with some sense of relief. “I don’t see his car around. He may still be looking for me. I think he thinks I have the ledger.”

Earl did a U-turn at the next intersection and came back slowly. “Whose car is whose?”

“The Caddy is Carpington’s, and the Lincoln is Greenway’s.”

“Let’s pay ‘em a visit,” Earl said, turning the pickup in to the sales office lot. The gravel crunched under the truck’s tires. Suddenly, I felt overwhelmed. My breathing grew quicker and shallower.

“Earl, I don’t know if I can do this,” I said. “I gotta be honest with you. I’m scared. I’m out of my league. These clowns kill people to get what they want.”

Earl gave me a gentle punch in the shoulder. “Don’t worry, pardner. The ones who should be scared are these asswipes.” He nodded toward the office. “We’re gonna get the jump on them.”