“We’re going to do you a favor, Mr. Hollins.” Agent Edmonds grabbed some paper towels from the kitchen counter to handle the painting as he wrapped it back in the brown paper. “We believe the person who delivered this painting to your front steps is a member of a cartel. We need to take this painting to our labs to run some tests on it for fingerprints—”

“Wait. What if this cartel guy comes around looking for his painting?”

Charlie fixed his eyes on Floyd. “I guess you should’ve asked questions before you pocketed money from the devil.”

“Man, I’ve seen what those guys do to people who double-cross them.” Floyd’s face went slack. “Leave them naked and headless in the middle of the street.”

“Where’s the shipping label?” Sheriff Huggins asked.

“I haven’t received it yet.” Floyd’s voice wobbled. “Those guys are going to kill me.”

“Does the label come by mail or is it dropped off on your porch?” Charlie asked.

Floyd looked up at Charlie, his face green again. “Dropped off.”

“If you cooperate”—Agent Edmonds pulled out his cell phone—“we can offer you protection.”

“Yes, sir. Whatever you need,” Floyd answered, offering his first act of respect.

“But first, you need to go put on some pants and brush your teeth.” Agent Edmonds sighed. “And call your parents.”

“Yes, sir.” Floyd disappeared to the upstairs.

Fear does that to a person. Makes them start listening to the one who can offer protection. It was hard to feel sorry for the kid. He didn’t need the money and yet greed made him an unwitting participant in a scheme that could’ve cost him his life.

Sheriff Huggins’s forehead creased. “You can trace money . . . you think you can trace a painting?”

“We’ll run prints first, but yeah, I think we can put a tracer in it and find out where it leads. I don’t know if it’ll help out your investigation, but it might help ours.” Agent Edmonds put his phone back in the clip on his belt. “Sent a message to my guys and they’re going to work with Metro police to make sure Captain Oblivious here stays safe.”

“What if we take the painting back to the gallery? Ms. Benedict lied to us. Sydney was there the day before she died.” Charlie caught Agent Edmonds eyeing him, but he didn’t care. This was a huge step forward in their case, and while they were currently on the same side, Charlie couldn’t help but feel that the DEA’s cooperation might conveniently cease the second the painting was in their hands. “Doesn’t murder trump a drug bust?”