“If it’s so fucking harmless then why did you stop shipping it by truck? Why did you start using barges?”

“I couldn’t get it to port any other way—because some knee-jerk counties and towns’ve banned transportation of some substances they don’t know the facts about. And I didn’t have the time to hire lobbyists to change the laws.”

“Well, I’ll bet the EPA’d be interested in what you’re doing here.”

“Oh, please,” he scoffed. “The EPA? Send them out. I’ll give you their phone number. If they ever get around to visiting the factory they’ll find permissible levels of toxaphene everywhere around Tanner’s Corner.”

“Maybe what’s in the water alone is at a permissible level, maybe what’s in the air alone, maybe the local produce alone…. But what about the combination of them? What about a child who drinks a glass of water from his parents’ well then plays in the grass then eats an apple from a local orchard then—”

He shrugged. “The laws’re clear, Deputy Kerr. If you don’t like them write your congressman.”

She grabbed him by the lapel. She raged, “You don’t understand. You are going to prison.”

He pulled away from her, whispered viciously, “No, you don’t understand, Officer. You’re way out of your depth here. I’m very, very good at what I do. I do not make mistakes.” He glanced at his watch. “I have to go now.”

Davett walked back to the SUV, patting his thinning hair. The sweat had darkened it and stuck the strands into place.

He climbed in and slammed the door.

Lucy walked up to the driver’s side as he started the engine. “Wait,” she said.

Davett glanced at her. But the deputy ignored him. She was looking at his passengers. “I’d like you to see what Henry did.” Her strong hands ripped her own shirt open. The women in the car gaped at the pink scars where her breasts had been.

“Oh, for pity’s sake,” Davett muttered, looking away.

“Dad …” the girl whispered in shock. Her mother stared, speechless.

Lucy said, “You said that you don’t make mistakes, Davett? … Wrong. You made this one.”

The man put the car in gear, clicked on his turn signal, checked his blind spot and eased slowly onto the highway.