“Yeah. He was a real gentleman if you think about it. Anyway I’m leaving the house when what do I see parked about fifty yards up the hill but a black van. Subtle, right? Now I don’t know if somebody’s watching me, if these are cops, or if it’s just some kids looking for privacy. So I go back to my car and I decide to watch for a couple of minutes. Nothing happens, so I drive down toward the main road and when I get around the curve I park my car in that pull-off and walk along the edge of the woods to where I can see the van and the house. Sure enough, these two guys get out and walk right into Jasper’s house. I’m curious, which is stupid of me, but I watch. They’re in there for a good three hours, then they go back to the van, and one of them stays there and the other takes a rifle and heads up toward what turns out to be your place.”

“And you followed him,” said Patton.

“You’re welcome,” said Nemo.

“But why? Why didn’t you just leave?”

“Because somebody was using me, and that pisses me off. These guys are serious muscle but they need me to kill Jasper for them? No way. But they also don’t trust me to find whatever they’re looking for. Looks to me like somebody wants me to take the rap for a murder while they get whatever is in that house that’s so important.”

“Only they didn’t find anything, did they?”

“Apparently not. And then they came after you.”

“So for some reason they figured I had it.”

“You were Jasper’s only friend.”

“Been watching him, have you?” said Patton.

“Little bit,” said Nemo.

“So you’re like a big-time professional assassin?”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“Why would someone hire a person like you to kill a ninety-two-year-old man?” said Patton. “Why not just hire some local thug?” She had lowered the gun and finally dragged her sleeve across her damp face.

“I got hired for the same reason I always get hired. Because I have something lacking in Fritz and Franz. I have subtlety. I have discretion. Shooting up your house because they thought you had something important, murdering law enforcement—that’s not just wrong, it’s stupid. That’s not how you conduct yourself in this business if you want more than one job. These guys are not subtle and they’re probably not smart, but they are dangerous.”

“What do you mean you have subtlety?”

“It’s my second rule,” said Nemo. “Never leave a crime scene.”

“You have rules? You kill people for a living and you have rules?” There was a hint of accusation in her voice even as Patton thought about the rules under which she had killed people.

“Four,” said Nemo.