His expression hardening, Perez jabbed a finger at Glynis as he said, “All you’re gonna do is get yourself hurt, kid. You could wind up dead. Or maybe get shipped to Mexico, Honduras, someplace like that. They’d have a good time with you.”

Jake jumped to his feet. “If anybody tries to hurt her I’ll—”

“You’ll do what, college boy? Nuthin’, that’s what you’ll do. Because you’ll be dead. Siddown and take it easy.”

Jake plopped back onto the sofa.

“You realize that you’ve just admitted that Professor Sinclair and his wife were murdered,” said Glynis.

“So what?”

“So I can get the state’s attorney to arrest you.”

Jake added, “Harraway can’t protect you from the state police.”

Perez shrugged. “So I’ll be in Las Vegas. I’d like that better than this hick town anyway. Or maybe I’ll take a vacation in Mexico. We got good connections down there.”

“You’re not above the law,” Glynis said.

“Lady, we are the law. Why do you think we keep guys like Leeds in our pocket? We don’t just run little towns like Vernon. We got whole states organized. And there’s nuthin’ you can do about it.”

“But if Tomlinson gets elected—” Jake began.

“We’ll buy him out, just like we bought out Leeds and a lotta others.”

Glynis said, “Tomlinson doesn’t need your money.”

“Maybe not,” Perez admitted. “But there’s other ways of buyin’ people. Women. Drugs. Power. If Tomlinson beats Leeds and goes to the Senate, we might help him move up and become president. That’d be neat, huh?”

Before Glynis could reply, Jake gripped her wrist tightly and said to Perez, “I see what you’re telling us. I understand how the game is stacked.” Turning to her, he said, “Come on, Glyn. It’s time for us to leave.”

“But—”

“Time to go home,” Jake said firmly. He got to his feet and pulled Glynis up beside him.

“Thanks for the education, Nacho,” Jake said. “I appreciate it.”

“Just go home and forget this business,” Perez said, rising from his chair. “You’re a couple of nice kids. I wouldn’t want to see you get hurt.”

“I understand. Come on, Glyn. We’ve got a long drive ahead of us.”

Glynis looked from Jake to Perez and back to Jake again. The expression on her face was halfway between puzzlement and frustrated fury.

On the Interstate

ON THE INTERSTATE

Jake could feel Glynis’s cold rage as he drove out of Vernon. She sat in the darkness beside him like a statue of ice, unmoving, silent as death. Neither of them said a word until he got onto the interstate and set the cruise control at seventy.

“You let him bully you,” Glynis said, her voice hard and low.