Eliza finally broke her silence. Her voice was strange, soft, and unhappy. “You shouldn’t drink that.”

“Why? Is Harry right? Will it hurt me? I know you don’t care, so be sure to try a different approach when you answer.”

“No. I don’t care if you choke on it. Look at yourself, guzzling down a sick old woman’s medicine that you stole from her cabinet. I need that to live, and you don’t need it at all. You’re young and strong, and you are killing me with every drop you drink.”

“That’s not much of a deterrent. If anything that makes me want to hunt down every bit of it you’ve got in the house and run it down the sink.” I wiped at my mouth with one of the napkins that had not been used to plug Eliza’s mouth. I couldn’t have downed another sip if they’d held a gun to my head. How she’d been drinking it in such quantities for years astounded me. “You’ve got a lot of faith in this stuff.”

“It’s strong medicine. I need it.”

“But you can get more. Harry said you get a new shipment about twice a month.”

“I don’t know if I’ll last until the next one comes.” She was afraid. I saw it in her eyes, in her floppy jowls, and her quivering mouth. I looked down and saw there was enough “medicine” left for maybe another smallish dose. I looked up at Eliza.

In that moment, she and I understood each other for the first time. We both understood that I had leverage.

“You really do need this, don’t you? Or at least you think you do.”

“Yes, I do need it.”

“Then tell me where you get it from, and I’ll leave you the last bit.”

“You already know. I get it from a friend in Florida.”

“Who?”

“No one you know.” As she made her curt replies, she was watching me intently. Even in her fear, she was curious. She was expecting something, but what? What could the stuff possibly do to me? My stomach was sloshing and queasy, and burned in a place or two where the liquid rolled against it, but I did not feel any different.

Not better, not . . . worse.

“Satisfy my curiosity.” My voice came louder than I meant for it to. “Who lives in Highlands Hammock?”

She balked, or stalled. God. We were related. We used all the same tricks. I wondered if I was so transparent when I tried to manipulate people. Surely not, or I’d never have gotten anywhere in life. “No one lives there. It’s just a swamp. It’s a park. Nobody could live there, even if they wanted to.”

“Maybe it’s an alligator that sends you this medicine, then. Or a musk . . . rat.” I wanted to be cocky, but it was coming out wrong. I almost giggled. “A muskrat. I don’t even know what one looks like. They’re something like possums, I bet, but they live where it’s wet. I guess. I don’t know . . . .” I let it trail off.