The older woman said, “You better listen to her, William. You do like she say, now.” The older woman was still back behind the counter, looking scared and wringing the gray cloth and rocking.

William stared down at Angelette for a little longer, then the jailyard eyes softened and he turned and walked back behind the counter and through the little work area and out the back door.

Angelette watched him until he was gone, then took a deep breath and let it out, as if with his leaving some inner tension within her had been removed. “It hurts him that I had to do what I did while he was away. It shames him.”

“He loves you very much.”

“Maybe.” She took another deep breath, then looked at me. “My name is not Angelette. Angelette a street name.”

“Okay.”

“My name is Sarah Lewis.”

“Sarah. That’s nice. Nicer than Angelette.”

She crossed her arms and made a sharp little laugh that was somehow hard and pained. “Stop talkin’ trash and tell me what you want.”

“I think Charlie DeLuca’s up to something that he doesn’t want the rest of the family to know about. If I can find out what it is, I can make him let go of my friend.”

“I ain’t seen Charlie DeLuca since before William got out. That must be five, almost six months ago.”

“How’d you meet him?”

“On the street. That’s the way he likes to do it, with the street girls. He see somethin’ he likes in a dirty movie, then him and his bodyguards come up here and he gets some of it.”

“He always up here with the bodyguards?”

She laughed. “Man, he don’t take a pee without them bodyguards. Got this one creepy guy, all tall and white and skinny, look like a goddamn vampire.” Good old Ric.

“You hear the bodyguards say anything?”

She shook her head. “No. They stay down in the car while we up in the room. You know.”

I said, “A guy named Richie might know something. I think he supplies Charlie with the movies.”

She thought for a second, then shook her head. “I don’t know no Richie.”

“Did Charlie ever talk business with you?”

“Not the kind of business you talkin’ about.” The older woman was working with the flowers, carefully turned away.

“He ever complain about anything to you, like what a crummy day it was, like how a big deal went bad?”

“Look, I know what you want, but it wasn’t like that. Charlie takes a liking to a girl, he comes around a lot and he spends big, but he don’t stay around too long. He never stayed with a girl longer than three weeks. He likes to hurt and you complain one time too much and then he beats the hell out of you and moves on.”

“He never said anything about what he does?”

“No.”