Heron turned his head and stared downward. “You’re about to make a decision. Something significant. Aren’t you.”

Vin’s eyes shot to the black velvet square he’d hidden.

“What’s in there?” Heron demanded.

“None of your business.”

“A ring?”

Vin cursed and reached for what he’d bought at Reinhardt’s. As he tucked the box into a drawer, he started to lose his patience. “Look, stop bullshitting around and tell me what you want. It’s not dinner and it’s not to get to know me. Why don’t you assume that there is nothing in this town that is unavailable to me and let’s get this over with. What the fuck do you want.”

The soft words that came back at him seemed so wrong: “It’s not what I want—it’s what I’m going to do. I’m here to save your soul.”

Vin frowned…and then busted out laughing. This guy with the Grim Reaper tat on his back and the tool belt wanted to save him? Yeah, that made sense.

And PS: Vin’s “soul” wasn’t drowning.

When he took a break to do some deep breathing, Heron said, “You know, that’s exactly how I reacted.”

“To what?” Vin said as he rubbed his face.

“Let’s just say the call to duty.”

“You some kind of religious freak?”

“Nah.” Heron finally went around and sat in the chair, his knees falling to the sides, his hands resting loosely on his thighs. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, why the hell not.” Vin found himself echoing Heron’s pose, just easing on back and relaxing. At this point, the whole thing was getting so weird, he was beginning to think it didn’t matter. “What do you want to know?”

Heron glanced around at the first-edition books and the artwork. “Why do you need all this shit? And I’m not being nasty. I’m never going to live like you, so I’m kind of wondering why anybody has to have it all.”

Vin was tempted to blow off the question, and later he would wonder why he didn’t. But for some reason he answered truthfully.

“It gives me weight and grounds me. I feel safe with beautiful things around my home.” The instant the words were out, he wanted to take them back. “I mean…shit, I don’t know. I didn’t come from money. I was just an Italian kid over on the north side of town, and my parents were always scraping to get by. I fought my way up because I wanted much better than where I’d been.”

“Well, you’re waaaaaay up, all right.” Heron glanced at the computers. “So you must work a lot.”

“All the time.”

“Guess that means you’ve earned this amazing view.”

Vin swung his chair around. “Yeah. Been looking at it a lot lately.”