I stand, glaring at Uncle Gavin. “I don’t want your pity, and I really don’t need your fucking disappointment. I don’t need you to come in and shake your head and let me know how put out you are that you have to save me. I don’t need you to save me. I’ve been saving myself for a long time. I’m my own white knight. But the armor I have to put on to deal with this fucked-up world is so goddamn heavy that I don’t need your condescension on top of it. I don’t blame you for the world being a dark, fucked-up place. I blame you for dropping a big, sloppy bowl of chili in my lap, and then getting mad at me when some of it spills.”

End scene. Cue dramatic silence. I’m breathing like I just ran up a long slope. Ethan, Frankie, and Caesar are all looking at me with wonder and fear. Even Wilson rolls onto his belly and puts his head down, ears and eyes alert. Uncle Gavin’s eyes haven’t shifted away from mine this entire time. Even half dead, he has a will of granite.

Then he blinks and looks away. “I’m sorry,” he says. I’m so astonished that I can’t say anything before he swings his eyes back to me, a pair of dark lamps. “I should have told Frankie about Tane and the Sureños. But now we’ve got more immediate things to deal with.” He looks at his wristwatch. “Ethan tells me you have to call Finn at five o’clock. That’s in two minutes, which doesn’t give me much time.”

I find my voice again. “Time for what?”

“Explanations,” Uncle Gavin says. “So when you call Finn, tell him you’ve found the money. You can exchange the cash for Tane as soon as tomorrow.”

“What money?” I say. “I haven’t found any money.”

“I have it,” Uncle Gavin says.

I shake my head. “No, you aren’t bailing this asshole out. Not with your own money.”

“It’s not my own money,” Uncle Gavin says. “It’s his.”

Everyone turns to look at my uncle. My brain feels like it has a couple of wires crossed—I can’t compute. “Say again?” I manage.

“I have his money. The money he stole from Iraq.” He glances at his watch again. “Call him, Susannah. Or he’ll do something worse to Tane.”

I bring my palm to my head as if I’m going to smack it like a staticky radio. “You have the money,” I say.

“Call him,” Uncle Gavin says, and I take out my phone and dial Finn’s number, putting the phone on speaker so everyone can hear.

“Susannah,” Finn says upon answering.