“I wanted to talk to Dennis,” I said. “First to warn him if he didn’t already know about his friends, and then . . . well, maybe to see if he needed any help he was willin’ to pay for.”

“I already told you he cain’t even pay a lawyer.”

“Oh yeah. And I heard you too.”

“So that’s all?”

“I don’t know. I mean, maybe if you could give me some information about your husband and, and his friends, then I could give you money to get far enough away so that Dennis won’t find you to talk to.”

“You think I’m’a turn on Dennis fo’ the little change you got in your pocket?”

“More’n twenty-fi’e hunnert dollars.”

“You lyin’,” she said speculatively.

“Swear to God.”

“Niggahs been sayin’ shit like that to me ever since I was thirteen.”

I took the envelope that Mr. Jericho’s man Orrin Cause had given me and put it down between us on the end table.

“Two thousand six hundred and sixty-some dollars,” I said.

Faster than either of us could move, Theodore ran up and grabbed the envelope. But before he could make good his escape Corrine yanked him by the arm, hard.

The boy hollered in pain. His sister ran up and wrapped her arms around her mother’s offending wrist.

“Don’t you ever come up and take my property!” Corrine yelled, shaking the little cowboy and his wailing sister. “You keep your goddamn hands to yourself!”

With that Corrine dropped Theodore on his butt and plucked the fallen envelope from the floor.

Holding each other, the children ran crying from the room.

Their mother looked at me and asked, “Can I count it?”

“Be my guest.”

Two times she shuffled through the twenties, tens, and ones. When she was satisfied I held out my hand. She hesitated but then passed the bills over. I put them back in the letter casing.

“What you wanna know?” she asked.

“Did your husband and Alonzo work together at some kinda job?”

“Yeah. Construction. I think the company was called Pitbull an’ it was out in the Valley somewhere.”

“How long ago did they quit that?”

“’Bout three months past. Dennis said that he hurt his shoulder liftin’ sumpin’ too heavy but there was blood on the bandages. When he took ’em off it looked like somebody had grazed him with a bullet.”

“You know anything else about the place he worked?”

“Him and Alonzo had been hangin’ out with this white boy worked there. They came by here a time or two. He had this black girlfriend one time and then a white one.”

“What was his name?”

“Um, uh, oh yeah, it was Kurt. No, no. Kirk, Kirkla, somethin’ like that.”

“What kinda stuff they talk about?” I asked.