Archie looked at her hands, worrying at the contract that sat in her lap. “Now is not the time, Gran.”

Gran cleared his throat, looking to Houndstooth. “Mr. Houndstooth. I believe you’re in charge of this hippo caper?”

Houndstooth looked simultaneously pained and affronted. “It’s not a caper, Mr. Carter.” Behind him, Archie mouthed the words along with him. “It’s an operation, all aboveboard. We were hired by the federal government, I’ll have you know, and—”

“Oh, my apologies, Mr. Houndstooth. I misspoke. Of course it only makes sense that the federal government of the United States of America would hire a team of down-and-out criminals for a caper on the Harriet.”

“It’s not a caper—”

“Yes, well. At any rate.” Carter grinned at Archie. “Miss Reyes is none of your concern. She’s hardly a member of your crew at this point, is she?”

Houndstooth seemed uncertain as to how he should respond. Adelia had been a member of the crew until thirty minutes before; but now, with Hero’s blood on her hands?

“I’ll make this easy,” Carter said, with the same relaxed grin. “Miss Reyes here is a fugitive, and I’ve been chasing her down these past five years now. She killed two good men in Arizona while she was on the run from California ten months ago—where she killed three more good men—and I’m near about fed up with her giving me the slip. I arranged with my contact at the Bureau of Land Management to get her on board for this here caper, and to make sure she’d be on the Harriet.” Houndstooth opened his mouth to interrupt, but Carter didn’t give him an opening. “I’ve been tracking her ever since. I was going to wait until the caper was done to pick her up, but seeing as how you’ve got her all trussed for me, and Travers is out of the way?” He spread his hands in a gesture of acquiescence to fate. “Seems to me the time is ripe.” He gestured to Hero. “I’ll even take your friend here to a doctor on my way out of town. It looks like you’ve done well by them, but that?” He pointed at the wound in Hero’s stomach. “That’s more than you can handle.”

Archie and Houndstooth looked at each other. Archie spoke first. “Travers—do you know where ’e is? They were working together.”

“Ah,” Carter said, “last I saw, he was on a raft heading toward the dam.”

“Gran, do you mind if we confer for a moment?” Archie asked seriously.

“You go right on ahead. I’ll get this package all wrapped up and ready for transport,” Carter responded, unhooking a pair of heavy manacles from his belt and turning to Adelia.

Houndstooth and Archie stepped into the hall. Houndstooth stared over his shoulder at Carter as the door swung shut.

“Will Adelia be . . . safe, with him?” he asked Archie, rubbing at his eyes.