Ronnie shrugged. “A couple a week. Most people call me. They don’t visit. I do house calls.”

“What do you tell them about Unitopia?”

Ronnie smiled. A tight smile. “What can I help you with?”

I didn’t like how she’d started to bend at the knees. Was already in the wrong mood or mode.

I pulled out the gun, pointed it at her. It looked so small in my hand. I’d surprised myself. Had thought out so many subtle ways of questioning Ronnie. This wasn’t one of them.

“Step away from the counter. With your hands where I can see them.”

I held the gun tight-in to my body so no one passing by could see it past my bulk. Hell, they probably couldn’t see Ronnie.

“I don’t keep any money here. There’s no safe or anything,” Ronnie said, hands in that universal “Don’t shoot” position. But calm, like she’d experienced this before or knew that it was coming. Or didn’t believe I’d shoot.

“Money isn’t why I’m here,” I said.

“I don’t think these parts will fetch much on the black market.”

As if she hadn’t heard me. I didn’t appreciate the fearlessness. Defiance in the stance. Best to get to the point.

“I want to know why your initials are scrawled on the bottom of a stand for a piece of taxidermy.”

“I wouldn’t know,” she said. A little too quickly. Not what she’d expected.

“A hummingbird. Skillful job.”

“I wouldn’t know.” A cold, appraising stare. Like she was weighing the odds of a jail break.

“Silvina Vilcapampa.” Another client trick. If you want a reaction, strip out the context.

A rapid blink, a wince, no way to hide it.

“You know her?”

No response.

“You served two years for breaking and entering. As part of sabotage for an extremist environmental group.” Easy enough to get those records, once I had the name.

“They were going to poison a river for a mine.”

“Did you do that for Silvina, too?”

No answer. But I realized it was probably before she’d met Silvina—the thing that had gotten Silvina’s attention.

“And then you wound up here. Did Silvina set you up here? Did you run Unitopia?”

“No one ran this place,” she said. “It was a commune of like-minded freethinkers.”

“Who wanted to blow up things.”

“No,” she said, in a quiet voice. “We just wanted to be left alone.”

“Actually, not true. You wanted people to come here. You wanted to make more Unitopias.”

A wild, strange light turned on behind her eyes. “And why not?” Defiant. “Why did everyone have such trouble with that? Waystations for rebirth. Centers for resistance. Haven’t you read the news? Do you think we couldn’t have used it?”

“Except, on the side, you’re also a taxidermist,” I said. “Of extinct and endangered animals.”

“No!”