"I answered you. I told you I'm not a mole. You're insane if you think I am."

"Then correct me."

"Give me a reason."

"Besides the obvious?" Andrew said. "If I can't get an answer from you, I'll get it wherever I can. How about I start with your parents?"

"Good luck," Neil said, feeling cold all over. "They're dead."

"Did you kill them?"

He said it so casually, like he was asking for the time, that Neil could only stare at him for a minute. It was such an unreasonable leap of logic Neil didn't understand how he even thought to ask it. Then he remembered who he was talking to and asked, "Did you kill yours?"

Andrew gave a dismissive flick of his fingers. "I don't have parents."

It was only a half-lie. The twins didn't know who their father was, and only Aaron grew up with their biological mother. Andrew was surrendered to foster care when he was just a few days old. He spent thirteen years in the system and three at juvie. It wasn't until he was released on early parole that his mother let Andrew move home. Five months later she died in a car accident. Neil doubted Andrew attended the funeral.

"I didn't kill my parents," Neil said, but he couldn't go on. Fear was an iron grip around his lungs, making it impossible to breathe. Neil trusted the story he'd patched together on his walk, but he didn't want to say it aloud. The words came out in jagged pieces and he hoped his struggle added realism to the lies. "Riko's family did."

That got Andrew's attention. Neil swallowed hard, trying to clear the tightness from his throat, and forced himself to explain.

"My father was a gopher for a group who did business with the Moriyamas. In the grand scheme of things he wasn't worth much, but he knew a lot of names and he knew how to move product. He did some business out of Edgar Allan, which is how I met Kevin and Riko. I didn't know who they were back then. I was just excited to meet kids my age. I thought we were going to be friends.

"Then my father started getting cocky, started getting stupid, and tried skimming from payments. He took Moriyama money that was meant for his boss. They found out, of course. The Moriyamas executed him and my mother before his boss could get to him. I took what he'd stolen and ran. I've been running ever since."

Andrew wasn't smiling anymore, but Neil was. He felt it as it curved across his lips and knew it was a sick, ghastly expression. He dug his fingernails into his mouth, trying to claw the look off his face, but it was frozen in place.