“We’re the Bakers, now,” said Bill. “It was as good a name as any, and it made Aimee smile. Because one thing she could always do was cook and bake.”

“Bill Baker.”

He grinned and rolled his head. “Sounds like a rich white man, huh? Bill Baker, attorney. Bill Baker, businessman.”

“It does have a ring to it,” I said.

“It does, indeed.” He grew serious. “Before we start, I need you to know something. My Aimee, she’s like a kid. Always been different, always been scorned. I used to scorn her, like everyone else. Back when I was pushing dope and her brothers used to buy product from me. I liked selling to them because it was a nice change of pace for a South Central junkie. I’d meet them up in the hills above Bel Air, and it was so gorgeous, nothing like my usual transaction locales. I used to call it the scenic route. Make some quick money and get a tour of the way the other side lives.”

The same hills where Bowie Ingalls had died in a single-car encounter with a tree. The boys agreeing to meet him in a familiar spot.

I said, “Did you have lots of clients on the Westside?”

“Enough. Anyway, that’s how I met Aimee. Once in a while, the boys would bring her along. When their parents were in Europe or somewhere, which was a lot of the time, those parents were always gone. When they did bring her, they’d leave her in the car and make cruel comments. Embarrassed to be seen with her. To be related to her. I went along with the program. Back then, I had not an atom of compassion in my soul, was hollow, cold, manipulative, thinking only of me, me, me, and not very much of myself, at that. Cause if I’d really thought a lot about myself, I wouldn’t have done the things I did.”

He raised his arms with effort. Compressed his face and pressed his palms together.

“I was a very bad person, sir. I can’t say that I’m a good person, now, and I don’t give myself any credit for changing, because it was life that changed me.” A slow smile split his head. “How much sin can a blind man with no feet get into? I’d like to think I wouldn’t be bad, even with eyes and legs. But I can never be sure. I don’t really feel sure of myself, here.” One hand lowered laboriously and touched his belly.