The remark about his son was calculated. She believed he cared for his child. She thought hearing the name might put a dent in his armor. She needed to see inside him. Did he know his brother was dead? Unfortunately, he betrayed nothing.

“I’m happy to hear that,” he said. “How is Julie?”

“As pretty as ever.”

“And Michael?”

“He appeared kind of distracted. I don’t know what was the matter.”

“Did you tell him you were coming here?”

“No. Why?”

“Just curious. How was your flight?”

“I sat beside a little girl who reminded me of Anna. It made me realize how much I miss my family.” She added, “My husband’s trying to get back together with me.”

“Are you going to take him back?”

“Should I?”

“If you love him. That’s the only question that matters.” He paused. “You cannot pretend to be a hero forever.”

“Is that what all this is? Pretend? I thought I was here to slay the dragon. Or do you want to change the conditions of our deal?”

“We’ll go ahead as planned. But I thought we might talk a bit first.”

“What do you want to talk about?”

“How is Matt?” he asked.

“Fine. As far as I know.”

“Have you spoken to him lately?”

“Yesterday afternoon. I’m sure you watch the news. Amy jumped bail.”

He was pleased. “After murdering her husband. We both saw that coming. The two of them are together?”

“Of course. What do you think? Will it work?”

“She’ll destroy him. Or he’ll have to destroy her.”

“I told him the same. You and I are beginning to think alike.”

“You flatter me. Did he tell you where he was?”

She was casual. “I think somewhere in Nevada.”

“Has Tony left his lady friend?”

“He says he has. Should I believe him?”

“That is also the question, isn’t it? When you’ve been lied to the way you have, trust comes hard. But you two share a daughter. There’s no reason to think you cannot share your lives once again.”

What he just said went against everything he supposedly believed in.

Kelly leaned forward and taunted. “Unless I end up in jail.”

He shrugged as best a quadriplegic could. “You’ll never go to jail. I’m sure you’ve thought up the perfect way to kill me so as to make it look like an accident.”

“Maybe. I’m going to poison you.”

“How?”

“Potassium chloride.”

“Not very original.”

“Sometimes the old ways are best. Even with a thorough autopsy, it’s difficult to detect.” She held up the needle she had plunged into his brother’s heart. She had wiped it clean on the road, put water in it. “Especially when the solution is injected directly into the heart.”

His eyes widened. “But you’ll have the problem of the puncture wound.”