“He wouldn’t talk, would he?”

“Oh, he talked.”

Another keen-eyed study. Another sigh. “And it was one of those times when he does, and you’re left wishing he’d kept his mouth shut.” She shifted to face me. “Jack isn’t very good at expressing himself.”

“I think he expressed himself very well.”

I looked out the windshield. There was no sign of Jack. I glanced at my watch.

“He’s just walking it off,” she said. “He hates confrontations. I remember this time, years ago, a middleman was bad-mouthing Jack behind his back and…” She noticed my wandering gaze. “And you’re really not in the mood for ‘insight into Jack’ stories, are you? In that case, I’d suggest we discuss something that it takes very little insight to know he’s not going to want to discuss. Our next move.”

“It’ll need to involve me. Up close and personal with Wilkes again. I’m the eyewitness who got away.”

She nodded. “And this whole thing started because he wanted to shut up his last—and only—witness. Meaning if he can get a shot at you, preferably before you go to the Feds, there will be no luring involved—he’ll jump hurdles to get to you.”

“Question is: how to make sure he finds me?”

“I have an idea for that, but Jack will absolutely hate it.”

“At this point, not a concern.”

She looked at me, and her mouth opened, as if she wanted to say something, then she gave a sharp shake of her head.

“He’s a big boy,” she murmured. “Okay then, here’s what I’m thinking….”

By the time Jack returned to the car, fifteen minutes later, we’d hammered out the skeleton of a plan. When it was time to tell him, I let Evelyn do the honors. As he listened, his face darkened. He let Evelyn get into it, then interrupted.

“Involving the Feds is stupid.” He looked at me. “That your idea?”

I smiled. “But of course. If it’s stupid, it must be my idea.”

“I didn’t say—”

“We can’t just make Wilkes disappear. You saw the scene in that Vegas diner. People need to see a body, to know this is really over. They need resolution. We need resolution or every pro is still on the Feds’ hit list.”

“And no, it wasn’t Dee’s idea,” Evelyn said. “It was mine. If this agent in charge is as ambitious as Quinn says, he’ll make the trade. He gets the glory of the arrest, and in return, plays down Wilkes’s past, doesn’t portray him as a psycho hitman. Things go back to normal. Sure, the cops still want us gone, but they won’t be seeing us all as potential serial killers. That’s what we’ve been trying to do all along, isn’t it? Get back to business as usual?”

“Pulling Feds in—”