On his face and arms were welts that hadn’t been there earlier. She asked, “What happened to your skin?”

He looked down at his arm and rubbed self-consciously. “Poison oak,” he muttered.

In a kind voice Bell said, “You heard your rights, didn’t you? Did Deputy Kerr read them to you?”

“Yeah.”

“And you understand them?”

“I guess.”

“There’s a lawyer on his way. Mr. Fredericks. He’s coming from a meeting in Elizabeth City and he’ll be here pretty soon. You don’t have to say anything until he gets here. You understand that?”

He nodded.

Sachs glanced at the one-way mirror. Wondered who was on the other side, manning the video camera.

“But we hope you’ll talk to us, Garrett,” Bell continued. “We have some real important things to ask you about. First of all, it’s true? Mary Beth’s alive?”

“Sure she is.”

“Did you rape her?”

“Like, I’d never do that,” he said, and the pathos momentarily gave way to indignation.

“But you kidnapped her,” Bell said.

“Not really.”

“Not really?”

“She, like, didn’t get it that Blackwater Landing’s dangerous. I had to get her away or she wouldn’t be safe. That’s all. I saved her. Like, sometimes you gotta make somebody do things they don’t want to. For their own good. And, you know, then they catch on.”

“She’s near the beach somewhere, isn’t she? The Outer Banks, right?”

He blinked at this, red eyes narrowing. He’d be realizing that they’d found the map and talked to Lydia. He looked down at the fiberboard table. Didn’t say anything else.

“Where is she exactly, Garrett?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Son, you’re in serious trouble. You got a murder conviction staring you in the face.”

“I didn’t kill Billy.”

“How’d you know it was Billy I was talking about?” Bell asked quickly. Jesse Corn lifted an eyebrow to Sachs, impressed at his boss’s cleverness.

Garrett’s fingernails clicked together. “Whole world knows Billy got killed.” His fast eyes circled the room. Resting inevitably on Amelia Sachs. She could endure the imploring look for only a moment then had to look away.

“We got your fingerprints on the shovel that killed him.”

“The shovel? That killed him?”

“Yep.”

He seemed to think back to what had happened. “I remember seeing it lying there on the ground. I guess maybe I picked it up.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking. I felt all weird seeing Billy lying there, like, all bloody and everything.”

“Well, you have any idea who did kill Billy?”