“My grandpa used to talk about you all of the time. How he outsmarted the devil.”

I coughed. “Excuse me?”

“He was a bit of an exaggerator. ‘For the sake of the story,’ he always said. Of course, he didn’t actually outsmart you, did he? You got him in the end.”

“I am not the devil.”

I was the only person Evan had ever met from Hell. So, in the way kids who grow up in Westchester say they’re from the city when they travel anywhere outside of New York, it was close enough. But it’s still an irritating generalization. On the scale of humanity, I was closer to him than to this supposed devil. Surely.

“Who are you, then?”

“I’m the answer to your problems.”

“Sounds like the devil to me.”

I laughed. “Fair enough.” I reached for the mug in front of me. “What’s your question for me?”

I could see the sleepless nights on his skin. The purple under his eyes, the tremor in his hand. He wasn’t here anymore, not fully. He was somewhere between reality and nightmares. Exhaustion coated him like oil on a baby duck.

“I need to know the truth. Before I sign myself over to you, I need to know for absolute certain what happened that night. Did—” Evan’s voice wavered. He coughed to cover it. “Did my son kill that girl?”

He was already in Hell. The murder, the police touching everything he owned with rough and thoughtless hands, the attention junkies who stood night after night on his front lawn, pictures of Sarah they’d pulled from the Internet and candles with drip protectors in each hand, sucking whatever particles were left of her from the air with open mouths.

“Yes,” I said. “I’m sorry to have to say it, but yes, he did.”

Evan put his head in his hands.

“Jesus,” he said, his voice muffled. “Good God.”

“Just me, I’m afraid.”

I pulled out my briefcase and flipped through the pages inside and he signed again and again.

“Okay, Evan. Your deal is done. Your soul for Philip’s. We will not interfere with your life or your death—you will live and die as you would’ve anyway. Only after you die will the deal take effect.”

“Thank you.”

I have never forgotten that part. The sound of him thanking me.

I’ve wondered many times if I should’ve left it at that, and why I didn’t. According to the training manual, a sales associate should never disclose information that isn’t required to make the deal, and this deal was already made. Maybe I was looking out for him and what was left of his life. Or maybe I was simply wreaking havoc for havoc’s sake, due to the devil in me.