Tom heard Walt descending a metal staircase on the other side of the elevated shack, but he seemed in no hurry. As Walt had predicted, Sonny seemed to think this was a chance for escape. Wearing only pajama pants and a wifebeater T-shirt, he peered back at the staircase, gauging Walt’s rate of descent, a sly smile on his lips.

When the cage hit the ground, he jerked up the safety bar that held him inside and started toward his pickup truck. Either he kept a spare key inside, or there was a gun under its seat. Tom stepped out of the shadows, directly in his path. The old Eagle’s eyes went wide, then narrowed when he recognized Tom.

“What you doin’ here, Doc?”

“Waiting for you, Sonny.”

Thornfield looked back up at the staircase. Walt was only about halfway down and he hadn’t increased his pace. “I need to get somethin’ out of my truck, Doc. I’ll be with you in a sec.”

Tom took the Smith & Wesson out of his waistband and pointed it at Thornfield’s potbelly. The T-shirt that covered it was stained with fried egg and something dark, maybe jelly. “You wait right where you are.”

“Hey, Doc, take it easy with that. There’s a guy upstairs tryin’ to rob me.”

Tom couldn’t help but smile. “He’s not here to rob you. He’s here to help me. We need to ask you some questions, Sonny. We’ve got a proposition for you.”

Walt’s boots clanged on the metal steps as he neared the ground. Thornfield seemed to understand that once the man in the cowboy hat reached ground level, he would lose all chance of escape. Without another word, Sonny started running toward the next house over.

“Stop!” Tom shouted.

Sonny looked back over his shoulder but didn’t stop.

Tom raised his pistol, aimed between Thornfield’s shoulder blades, and cocked the hammer. The old man turned, trying to decide whether Tom had the nerve to fire.

“I’ll kill you, Sonny,” Tom said, surprised by his desire to pull the trigger. “You deserve it, for what you did to Viola.”

Thornfield stopped backpedaling and stood uncertainly between the camp houses. Tom walked toward him, still aiming the pistol. “You raped Viola when she was a happy young woman. You and Frank and the others. You ruined her life. If I kill you now, I could pin Viola’s murder on you, along with whatever else your buddies need to take off the books.”

Sonny’s eyes widened, and then his face took on the cast of the eternal loser who feels put upon by the world. “What do you guys want with me? I ain’t nobody. And I ain’t done nothin’ to you. I didn’t hurt that Viola none, neither. You got the wrong idea, Doc. Way wrong.”