They sat down on the kitchen sofa, McCulloch curled between them, and Katelin talked on, about the hillbilly with a rifle who pinged a bullet off their moving car in New Mexico, and the hitchhiker who paid for a lift to Austin by reading their palms. Rose-Ann’s money lines were many, deep and clear, he’d told them.

‘Sounds about right,’ said Dan. ‘And what about you?’

‘High energy, short temper, ambitious to a degree, apparently. I have fire hands, which basically means my fingers are a bit stubby.’

‘I never noticed that,’ Dan said, picking up one of her hands. ‘But now you mention it …’

She laughed, and cuffed him round the ear. ‘All the better for hitting you with,’ she said. ‘Rose-Ann has water hands. They’re lovely, her hands, long fingers and oval nails, pianist’s hands.’

‘But she doesn’t play the piano.’

‘I know, but she could.’

Dan said, ‘I’ve never wanted to know my future.’

‘It’s not really about the future, according to Devin.’

‘Devon?’

‘Dev-IN,’ Katelin said. ‘The guy we picked up. And the lifeline doesn’t tell you how long you’re going to live, that’s a big mistake we all make. Devin said it just indicates what kind of life you might lead, your vitality and vigour, y’know? C’mere.’ She grabbed his right hand, spreading it out flat before her, and traced the arc of the line that ran from the edge of his palm above the thumb to the base of his wrist. ‘Your lifeline,’ she said, with a certain amount of triumph, as though she might not have expected him to have one; then, dipping closer for a better look, ‘Oooh, see, it’s a double line, that’s rare, that is. Devin has one, he showed us his.’

‘I bet he did,’ Dan said. ‘I’m not happy about you picking up stray men on the road. Have you never seen The Hitcher?’

‘It means you either met your soulmate, or you’re leading a double life. Which is it?’

‘What?’ Dan said.

‘I reckon it’s the soulmate thing,’ Katelin said. ‘I’d know if you were a bigamist. There’d be less washing in the basket, for a start.’

‘Y’know what?’ Dan said, pulling his hand away. ‘That’s enough of your blarney.’