“I miss Percy being my lawyer.”

“I don’t blame you. She’s the best. Maybe even better than Miles. But maybe I should blame you, because from what she told me you had a big part in converting her into a true believer. You and my ex-girlfriend. Do you still see her?”

“I see both of them. Percy more than Joyce. And I didn’t have anything to do with Percy quitting her job and moving to New Orleans. She did that when she heard Joyce was back in-country, helping to reboot the project.”

“Say hi for me next time.”

“Yeah, maybe not. You’re not so popular there, Donny.”

Donny nodded. He didn’t like to acknowledge it.

“But I did talk to Percy about the case. She said it’s a waste of time. That they all got amnesty.”

“She doesn’t know the facts I have.”

“Oh yeah?” said Slider, reddening a bit. “You gonna be my white knight now?”

“Come on,” said Donny. “You don’t have to like me, but I’m here to finish what we started, and make them pay. I got a new source. A good one. Inside the company. I think I can expose the whole thing.”

Slider’s demeanor shifted. He was more interested now.

“I got the names of the guys who did it,” said Donny. “I can put all the facts together when I file the lawsuit.”

“Bullshit,” said Slider.

“You don’t believe me?” said Donny. “Hang on.”

He opened his briefcase, pulled out his working file on the case, found the page with those notes, and showed it to Slider.

“Is that shorthand or something?”

“No, just shitty handwriting. They’re right here.” Donny put his figure right on the three names, and read them aloud to Slider:

Gannon

Peña

Lee.

Slider listened, and stared at the paper for a long moment, like he was recording it. Then he looked Donny in the eyes.

“You for real?”

“Absolutely,” said Donny.

“Who’s the source?”

“Can’t tell you,” said Donny. “Just like you can’t tell me what’s in the basement.”

“Where are these guards?” he asked, pointing at Donny’s scribbles.

“Two guards, one driver,” said Donny. “And the answer is, I don’t know yet. But I’m going to find out. First, I want to get this case on file. If we wait much longer we could have a statute-of-limitations issue. We’re coming up on the five-year anniversary, and if we miss that they can bounce the whole thing.”

“Okay,” said Slider. “But what about the amnesty?”

“That’s the thing—I don’t think it applies on these facts. Your parents were pranksters, not fighters. And with these names, we can put together the real story. Of the real reason they killed your parents, and a lot of other people who got disappeared for their politics.”

“You gonna be able to put them away?”