“Yes, ma’am, I did figure he . . .” And tears started to roll down her face. “I apologize, I really do. Please don’t send me to jail.”

Fiji looked startled. She has a soft heart, thought Bobo. She never even thought about that.

“Lisa, I won’t send a pregnant woman to jail if I can help it,” Bobo said. “But I can’t say that I’m happy with you, either. You did a bad thing, the kind of thing that can get you hurt, or locked up, and you did it knowing you were wrong.” He shook his head, and Lisa’s tears accelerated.

“I did,” she said, with the air of one facing a firing squad. “The Devil tempted me, and I gave in.” She grabbed up a clean T-shirt and blotted her face with it.

“What’s the name of this man who came by here, Cole’s daddy’s friend?” Bobo said. And there wasn’t any sympathy in his voice at all. He knew giving her sympathy would just make the girl weep again.

“I shouldn’t tell you,” she said.

“You owe Bobo that, at the very least,” Fiji said. “Also, you can keep your mouth shut about our visit. You kept your mouth shut about what you put in the pawnshop, after all.”

Lisa looked as though she were at the end of her tether. She made a helpless gesture with her hands. “It was Mr. Eggleston, him that owns the real estate agency and the lawn service company,” Lisa said. She used another tissue to blow her nose.

Bobo said, “We’ll leave now, but I’m counting on you to keep this to yourself. It’s for your own good. You don’t want to get drawn into this any deeper.”

“I will,” Lisa said. “I ain’t gonna say a word to Mr. Eggleston.” She rose, and they rose with her. “Like I said, I never want to get mixed up in anything like this again.” Her nose reddened as if she were about to cry again.

Bobo gave Lisa a steady look. He’d come loaded for bear, but all he could summon up now was pity. From the dilapidated rental house to the visible pregnancy to the low-paying jobs, it seemed that life had stacked the chips against Lisa Gray Denton. At the same time . . .

“You really don’t want to be involved in this, Lisa,” he said, and the girl looked at him with wide eyes. For a moment they gave each other a very direct look. Lisa turned to go to the door. She opened it for them, standing aside to let them pass. As they left, she wiped her cheeks again with her sleeve.

“I’m glad I came with you,” Bobo said, as he backed out of the graveled area in front of the little house.