He shook his head slowly. “I’m not sure.”

“Maybe a tattoo parlor?”

Trevor’s head rose sharply. He looked into his father’s face. “What?”

“You might have met her at Mike’s. When you were getting your tattoo.”

Trevor’s expression of confusion transformed into contempt. “What the hell is going on here? Have you got cameras on me everywhere? In bars, in tattoo parlors, places of business all over Promise Falls? If I go into a McDonald’s to take a piss, have you got pictures of me with my dick in my hand?”

“Whether you like it or not, what’s going on today involves you. I’m not saying it involves you in a bad way, but you’re a common thread. Your girlfriend is missing, possibly after talking to this Dolores woman, and she’s someone you’ve come into contact with.”

“This is unbelievable.”

“Do you remember this woman or not?”

“Yes! I remember her!”

“What do you remember about her?”

“She took my money, okay? I paid her. I gave her my Visa card and she put it into a machine, then she gave it back. Is this about me getting a tattoo, or is it about me spending money on one when I don’t even have a job?”

“I don’t give a damn about that. You’re old enough to make your own decisions.”

“But you don’t like it.”

“I’m telling you I don’t care about that.”

“How do you even know I went to Mike’s?”

Duckworth sighed. He realized he was doing it again. Maybe, when you were a cop, there was no good way to ask your son questions.

“I’d been there before, asking about tattoos. Because of that guy with the message on his back. I met Dolores. When I saw her in the trunk of Carol’s car, I recognized her, went back to talk to Mike. He asked if I was related to a Trevor Duckworth.” He tried to smile. “Should I have said no?”

“Jesus,” was all Trevor could say.

“So I figured maybe you’d met that woman in the trunk, even if you didn’t realize it. And now that you know who it is, maybe you noticed something, heard something, anything about her when you were at Mike’s.”

“Good story,” Trevor said.

“It’s the truth,” Duckworth said. “I just don’t want to get blindsided. Any connection you have to any of this, I have to know.”

“You think I had something to do with this?”

“I’m not saying that. Of course I don’t.”

“You should be trying to find Carol instead of wasting time talking to me.” Trevor shook his head angrily. “I never should have got it.”

“What?”

“The tattoo. It was a mistake.”

“Yeah, well, that’s how people feel sometimes, after they get one.”

“Let me show it to you,” Trevor said.

“It’s okay, you—”