“You’re suggesting I killed someone?”

Slidell just looked at him.

“That’s insane.”

“Is it?”

“Who are these dead people?”

“Eli Hand and Wayne Gamble.”

Beside me, I heard a sharp intake of breath.

“I don’t know either of them. Why would I poison total strangers?”

“You tell me.”

“The substances I work with are strictly controlled. You can’t just waltz out of the lab with a jar in your pocket. Every gram of powder, every fricking red seed has to be accounted for.” Raines’s voice was taking on an edge of alarm. “Call my supervisor.”

“I’ll do that.”

“Do I need a lawyer?”

“Do you?” Slidell asked.

“I didn’t do anything!” Shrill.

“Why are you in Charlotte?”

Raines’s eyes bounced from Slidell to Nolan and back. He answered with a nervous snigger, conspiratorial, guy to guy. “Look, man. I was just getting a little on the side.”

“Bastard!”

I eased Nolan back into her chair.

“Your girlfriend knew Wayne Gamble.” Slidell kept his eyes on Raines as he spoke to Nolan. “Didn’t you, Mrs. Nolan?”

“What?”

“You gonna tell him? Or should I?”

“I knew his sister. Like, centuries ago. Wayne was just a kid.”

“Sweet God in heaven.” Raines flopped back like a rag doll, hands covering his face.

Slidell peeled his glare from Raines and turned it on Nolan. “You aware Gamble’s dead?”

“While Ted was getting a little….”—she spat the phrase at Raines—“we weren’t exactly keeping up with the news.”

“You don’t look real upset.”

“I haven’t seen Wayne Gamble since he was twelve years old.”

“Tell me what you overheard at the Double Shot.”

Slidell’s change of direction seemed to confuse her.

“I already did.”

“Tell me more.”

“Like what?”

“Describe the guy that was talking to Cale Lovette.”

“Kind of tall and thin. Old.”

“How old?”

Nolan shrugged. “Probably not as old as you. It was hard to tell because he was wearing a hat.”

“What kind of hat?”

“Like a baseball cap. Red with a big number above the brim. Oh. And it had a button pinned to the side. The button had a picture of a cowboy hat.” Nolan smiled, pleased with the brilliance of her recall.

I’d seen a hat like that. Where? Online? At the Speedway?

“What was the tenor of their conversation?” Slidell asked.

“Huh?”

“Friendly? Heated?”

“Like, they didn’t look happy.”

“What were they saying?”

“I already told you this.”

“Do it again.”

Nolan crossed her legs, raised her toes, and pumped one foot as she searched her memory.

“OK. The old guy said that thing about poisoning the system. Then Cale said something about it being too late. It was going to happen. Then the old guy said something about knowing your place.”

We waited out an interval of rapid foot pumping.