She refocused on my head wound, dumping more peroxide on it and moving my hair again, making me jump. It was like a needle in my head. “I can patch you up a number of different ways.”

“But I still won’t tell you what happened. I don’t want to get you involved.”

“Okay then, go bleed to death somewhere else.”

“I’m sorry, Mom. But there’s something weird going on around town, and it may be related to Bailey Mae. I’m okay—that’s why I came here.”

“And you didn’t want anyone at a hospital asking questions, did you?”

“Yeah, that, too.”

She worked miracles with a couple of fancy bandages and some dissolving glue. When it was all done, the bleeding had stopped, and she even combed my hair the way I like it. As she dabbed the dried blood from my forehead, I heard the front door open. I sprang from the stool and reached for my knife. My first thought was that someone had followed me to her house. Exactly what I didn’t want to happen.

I stood in the hallway that led to the living room and listened for a moment. I wanted to have an idea of how many people had entered the house. It didn’t matter—at this point I was going to deal with all of them at the same time.

Then I heard a male voice that froze me in place.

It was my brother, Natty. That explained the phone call my mom had made.

Crap.

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

My mom walked casually past me into the living room, saying, “I called Natty so you could work together to find Bailey Mae. You each have your own strengths and complement each other very well.”

I said, “I’m looking for three strangers.” I faced my brother and said, “You sell any of your nasty poison to any strangers passing through town?”

Natty said, “I told you I didn’t recognize the three people in the photo. I only sell to regular customers.”

“You’re lying, Natty. Don’t be an asshole. Those strangers are tied to Bailey Mae somehow. Bailey Mae and the Wilkses. I know it.”

“You don’t know shit. You’re just a pretend private investigator in a shitty little town. Bailey Mae probably ran away, so we’ll find her. I don’t have time for any of this shit. At least I have a business to run.”

“Selling crap to people who can’t help themselves? Like the heroin that killed poor Mabel.”

Suddenly Natty was indignant. “I never sell heroin and never sold anything to Mabel. If she had asked for anything, I would’ve told you.”

I couldn’t stand it anymore. My brother’s self-righteous excuses for how he made a living caused something to snap inside of me. I punched him right in the face. Hard. The punch was so solid it made my head hurt.