“She’s something,” I said.

“Huh?”

“Charlene. She seems to believe in you.”

“Yeah, well.”

“Been friends a long time?”

“Pretty much forever, I guess.”

“Girlfriend?”

He gave me a pained look. “You already asked me the going-steady question.”

“Which you really didn’t answer.”

“You’re like my mom. You’re all hung up on labels. Is she a girlfriend. She’s a friend. Sometimes we’re closer than at other times.”

“Regardless of how close you are right now, you shouldn’t have called her or let her know where you are.”

“What?”

“I think the word you were looking for there is ‘pardon.’ Or perhaps a question, along the lines of, oh, Mr. Weaver, why would you say that?”

“You think you’re funny, don’t you?” Jeremy asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m saving my best stuff for later. Anyway, since you’re not going to ask, I’ll tell you. You’ve got a target on your back. Now, if you want to be stupid and let the world know where you are, that’s one thing. But when you invited Charlene up here to join you, you put her at risk. You want to get her killed?”

He shot me a look. “No one’s going to kill me.”

“Let’s hope not.”

“I’m not scared.”

It was my turn to shoot him a look. “Then what was that I saw earlier?”

“When?”

“On the porch of Ms. Plimpton’s house.”

“Huh?”

“The look in your eyes. I know what I saw.”

“What did you see?”

“You looked scared to me.”

“Yeah, right. I’m fucking shaking in my boots.”

“Fine,” I said. “Look, I know the whole world’s been calling you a big baby and you want to show that you’re not. I get that. But the fact is, a little bit of fear is a good thing. It makes you smarter. It makes you pay attention. Now, all I’m being hired to do is have a look at your level of security, and right now I’d say it’s zero. A good portion of the blame goes to you and your mother for being too free with what you say online. You might as well have put a billboard on your grandmother’s front lawn advertising your arrival. Part of you wants to bust out and party, but part of you knows you may actually be in danger. That’s what I saw when I looked at you on the porch.”

Jeremy didn’t say anything for several seconds. “Maybe. But only a little.”

“Whatever. You’re a soldier.”

“You gonna buy me a new phone?”

“No.”

He thought about that. “Bob will.”

“There you go. I thought you didn’t like him.”

Jeremy looked out his window. “I don’t know. I guess he’s okay.”

“What’s his story?”

“He’s some big real-estate guy. Has properties all over the place. He’s always doing deals. Always waiting for the really, really big one, like the one he did with, you know.”

“No, I don’t know.”

“The guy who had the party. Where it happened.”

“Where the accident happened?”