"Dana isn't helping, Thomas, so I'll have to dial. We'll tell Pardy you don't just pimp tricks for your girlfriend, you take pictures to blackmail her johns. Then we'll see if Stephen rats you out to save himself."

Pike said, "Oops. Strike three."

Dana suddenly pushed up from the couch, and dropped the phone.

"It's Stephen. It isn't us. We don't blackmail anyone - it's Stephen!"

Thomas made a grunting sound to warn her to shut up, but she shouted at him.

"I'm not the one who told him about the car! I wasn't gonna say anything, but you had to say about the car!"

I waited for Thomas, and watched the resignation settle into his eyes.

"You going to talk to me if he lets go?"

Thomas croaked a sound like a yes. Pike released the pressure, and Thomas staggered sideways, coughing, with his right arm hanging limp. Dana kept shouting.

"You hadda say! You hadda tell him about the car!"

Thomas glared at Dana, but there was more hurt in his eyes than anger.

"It was my ass with the three strikes! Stephen already told him we were there. That bastard gave'm our names. I hadda give the man somethin', else they'd think we were holdin' out!"

I said, "Show me Reinnike's picture."

"I can't. I sent those pictures to Stephen."

Those pictures. More than one picture of George Reinnike. More than one chance to see his license number.

I picked up the phone and punched in Pardy's number.

"Listen, I'm telling you the truth. I sent'm to Stephen. After I sent them, I deleted them. He has them. I don't keep incriminating shit like that on my computer."

I lowered the phone. I studied him, then glanced at his computer. Thomas was probably telling the truth, but I couldn't be sure.

"What does Stephen do with the pictures?"

"A lot of johns use credit cards, and expense the charge to their companies. Stephen's girlfriend has a brother works at a credit bureau, something like that, so he can get contact information. These guys go home, a few weeks later they get a copy of the picture. A lot of them, they cough up an extra grand to make Stephen go away. Stephen doesn't push it; he don't ask for too much or keep after them. Stephen ain't no hard-core badass; he's just looking for an easy dollar."

"Reinnike paid with cash."

"Here's this dude with all this cash, hiring all these girls- Stephen said it was worth a shot. I didn't get any sex stuff. Just them out in the parking lot. That was all I got, and I ain't even got that anymore. I sent'm to Stephen."

I walked over to his computer. A screen-saver pattern had appeared. A ball slowly bounced between the four sides of the screen, the ball trailing an expanding wake that overlapped and consumed itself. Thomas might be lying, but I believed he was telling the truth.