“No, I didn’t!”

“You want me to help you? Then let’s start again, and this time tell me the truth.” I gripped the steering wheel to try to control myself. The black plastic was hot in my hands. “Admit it. You set me up.”

“I didn’t think anything would happen to you,” she said with a defiant model-like pout.

“Why me?” I continued, hardly mollified but trying to disguise my anger. “How’d you find me? Tell me right now, or I’ll throw you out of this car. To the wolves. Or the pigs. They’ll lock your behind up for a long time when I tell them what I know about you.”

For the first time since getting in the car, she actually looked me in the face. She hesitated for an instant, trying to decide how to play me. She sat up straighter, as if this was supposed to convey honesty. “I used to know Harvey,” she admitted. “When Harvey was a big name, he handled a case for a friend of mine. It was a heroin bust, and my friend could have gone away for a long time.”

“You mean your husband, don’t you?” With supreme confidence I eased back in my seat to watch her.

Warily, Monica Fullbright nodded. Only Rudy could have told me this, and I could see her wondering how much more he’d spilled to me.

“Yes, my husband. I don’t know how Harvey fixed it, but the deal got set up and went down smooth. My husband walked.”

I tried to imagine Harvey in court but couldn’t. “Harvey!” I hooted.

“Harvey was cool,” Monica Fullbright snapped defensively and pulled herself into an even more elegant posture. “When I lost contact with Cathy and thought she’d been picked up, I wanted to get a lawyer. I figured we’d need one. So I decided to see Harvey, but when I got over there and saw him, Jesus, he was too fucked up to do anything. Didn’t look like he could find the front door. Then I saw you. I thought I could pay you to find out where Cathy was, see if there was a problem. Then I could get a real lawyer if I needed one.”

I watched the woman who had been walking the dog. She leaned over and lifted its tail to wipe its runty butt.

“You set Cathy up, too,” I said, angrily jabbing my finger at Monica. “Just like you set me up. You killed her.”

Words formed in Monica Fullbright’s mouth but were muffled when she started to cry big, racking, insincere sobs. “I didn’t know Cathy was dead until you told me and showed me those pictures.”

The lady patted the dog on the head.