Flash of anger. “More elaborate than a sting. Less contrived. Would’ve had political consequences. I would have had quite the career.”

“Silvina met Langer because you were going after Vilcapampa Senior.”

“More that I thought Silvina could give up Vilcapampa Senior. But by the time I knew Senior kept her at arm’s length … it was too late. She’d forged her own alliances, used Contila her own way, and blew everything up. Figuratively. I had to clean house.”

“What happened on the beach, before that? That week on the beach. Langer was hurt by you. Damaged.”

The smirk to avoid anything real. “Oh, we had a fun time that week. Maybe by the end, they thought they were going to change the world. Maybe they thought we were fast friends. But it’s not my fault I’m a good actor.”

“Better for Langer if he hadn’t truly been an idealist.” In his way.

Silver tongue. The smooth exchange. Made them laugh, maybe. Some kin to grudging respect. The things they said to each other. Langer against the system. Silvina convinced she could strike a blow against her family. Hellmouth the one who could make it happen, as if his presence made it easier for Silvina to be with Langer. Or see Langer’s point of view. Like I was trying to glean Silvina from Langer, from Hellmouth.

“And sometime later Silvina needed money and went to Langer.”

Hellmouth Jack leered. “Awkward conversation, right? Since their fling had fizzled out. I was still running Langer in the ruins of Contila and covering up what I could because by then what was left of Contila was, ironically, a real criminal enterprise—the networks and all the rest. Exactly what we’d tried to stop. And, then, in time, I lost control of Langer, too.”

I could imagine why. A cascading series of failures had sidelined Hellmouth. And the interest and energy went elsewhere. Maybe Vilcapampa Enterprises had even found a way to nudge that along.

“What about the warehouse?”

“A Frankenstein monster. A nightmare. Mostly stuff we planned to sell through Contila and Langer to get to the big players, like Vilcapampa. Wound up under Vilcapampa control. It wasn’t Silvina’s. But they didn’t know what to do with it. She just knew about it, and then when she needed money, she and Ronnie disappeared it in that clever way of moving it from one abandoned Vilcapampa property to another. Thought they could use it. But it was just another albatross.”

“How did Silvina get hold of the salamander?”

“I don’t know.” Irritated. Just like that his mood shifted. The salamander bothered him.

“Take a guess?” I prodded.

But Hellmouth Jack wasn’t interested in answering any more questions. He drank more rum, stared out toward the horizon.