“And that’s lying by omission,” Gary added.

“Oh, come now,” Arthur said, making no effort to hide his disdain. “As an attorney, you know very well a witness is under no compulsion to volunteer information he hasn’t been asked for. You would be the first to tell a client to stick to a yes or no answer and not elaborate unless it was in his interest. If you come out and ask one of us a direct question, you’ll get a truthful answer or silence. Of course, there will be times when the truth may be taken several ways. The English language is by nature ambiguous.”

Gary nodded thoughtfully. “I'll keep that in mind. But I think we’ve gotten off the track. About those guns …” “Ragen knows, much more than anyone, what happened the mornings of the three crimes. Why don’t you talk to him?” “Not right now,” Gary said. “Not yet.”

“I sense you’re afraid to meet him.”

Gary looked up sharply. “Isn’t that what you want? Isn’t that part of your reason for telling us how evil and dangerous he is?”

“I never said he was evil.”

“That’s the effect,” Gary said.

“I think it’s important for you to know Ragen,” Arthur said. “You've unlocked Pandora’s box. I think you should open the lid all the way. But he won't come out unless you want him to.” “Does he want to talk to us?” Judy asked.

“The question is, Do you want to speak to him?”

Gary found that the thought of Ragen coming out did frighten him.

“I think we should,” Judy said, looking at Gary.

“He won’t hurt you,” Arthur told them with a tight-lipped smile. “He knows you’re both here to help Billy. We’ve talked about it, and now that the secret s out, we realize we have to be open with you. It’s the last hope, as Mrs. Stevenson so forcefully put it, to keep us out of prison.”

Gary sighed and put his head back. “All right, Arthur. I’d like to meet Ragen. ’

Arthur moved his chair to the far end of the small interview room, to put as much distance between them as possible. He sat down again, and his eyes grew distant, as if looking inward. His lips moved, his hand jerked up to touch his cheek. His jaw tightened. Then he shifted, the body dropping from a stiff-backed posture to the aggressive crouchlike position of a wary fighter. ‘Is not right. Was not good to reveal secret.”

They listened in astonishment as the voice dropped to a low, harsh tone with confident power and hostility. It Doomed out in the small conference room with a deep, rich Slavic accent.

“I tell you now,” Ragen said, glaring at them, the tension in his face muscles changing his appearance, eyes piercing, brows beetled. “Even after David tells secret by mistake, I Was against it.”

It did not sound like an imitation of a Slavic accent. His voice now truly had the natural sibilant quality of someone who had been raised in Eastern Europe, had learned to speak English, but had never lost his accent.