Rooney turned his head to face a wall with a bland framed pastel print of flowers in a pink vase. “Go away.”

“Now, don’t be like that,” Joe said. “You know, if you cooperate, I can talk to the district attorney about maybe getting your sentence reduced. You’re facing kidnapping and assault charges here, as well as breaking and entering, and theft by taking. Not to mention possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. And then there are the old fraud charges dating back to five years ago.”

Vikki leaned closer to the bed. “Joe! Don’t forget that little incident down in Immokalee.”

DeCurtis smacked his forehead. “Oh yeah. I should catch you up on that. The cops down there found a body way out in the swamp. Somebody shot a guy and then set the car on fire. The corpse was in pretty bad shape by the time they found it, but fortunately they were able to lift your late buddy Chuck’s fingerprint and identify him that way.”

Rooney’s shoulders lifted in a barely perceptible shrug. “Too bad.”

“Yeah, it was too bad,” Joe said. “He’d only been out of prison, what? A day or so?”

“Don’t know,” Rooney said. It sounded like he had a mouth full of marbles.

“We think you do know,” Vikki said. “After Joe mentioned that you and Chuck liked to gamble at Indian casinos, the sheriff down there told us there happens to be a Seminole casino right there in Immokalee. They checked the casino’s security cameras, and sure enough, they’ve got you and Chuck, on camera, at adjoining slot machines.”

“You know what else?” Joe asked. “They’ve even got security cameras out in the parking lot there. Because sometimes, unsavory criminals like you take advantage of gamblers who’ve been playing poker and slots and drinking cheap booze for hours and hours. Anyway, it’s a good thing, because the cameras show you getting into a vehicle and driving away with Chuck. And that’s the last time anyone saw the poor dumb bastard.”

Vikki crossed her legs and looked around the hospital room. “You know I think the jails and hospitals down here in Florida are probably way nicer than the ones in New York City, don’t you? I’ve heard some bad stuff happens at Rikers Island.”

“Probably so,” Joe said. “Although I myself hate New York like the plague.”

“New York?” Rooney shook his head slightly, looking confused.

“Yeah. That’s where your girlfriend Tanya was living with her little girl, Maya. The same little girl you tried to snatch this morning,” Joe said. “And don’t try to tell us you haven’t been to New York, or that you haven’t seen Tanya, because we have video of that, too.”

“No way,” Rooney said. His words seemed to run together. “Neverbeenthere.”