Apparently moms work as well as enhanced interrogation because Natty turned to me and said, “What do you want to know, Mitchum?”

“Have you sold to any strangers?”

“I don’t sell to anyone but regular customers.”

“Have you seen anything unusual?”

Natty thought about that for a few seconds and said, “The Clagetts have been buying some ‘medicinal’ pot over the last few weeks. A lot more than usual.”

The name didn’t spring to mind, so I knew they weren’t on my paper route. Then I remembered. “You mean the people who bought those old cabins up in the hills off new Unionville Road?”

“Yeah. But they seem like a nice enough couple.”

“Let’s head out there and pay them a visit.” The fact that we were working together seemed to make my mom happy, even if she was a little worried about what we were doing. She kissed us each on the cheek as I called for Bart to join us. He happily hopped off the couch and trotted toward the door.

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

We took my brother’s sports car because it was a little more dependable than my beat-up station wagon. He was clearly uncomfortable with a dog riding unattended in the backseat. It brought a small smile to my face.

We’d been in enough fights with each other since childhood that there was nothing awkward in the aftermath of our last dustup. But as always, Natty was hesitant to talk about his business.

I said, “All I’m asking is to know how you met the Clagetts. No one in town has seen them, except for when they do a grocery run once a week or so.”

“I just met them one day and it all worked out.”

“Is that how you describe business transactions? They work out?”

“What do you want me to say, Mitchum? We can’t all know what we want to do from childhood.”

“You noticed my dream didn’t work out too well for me.”

“At least everyone looks up to you around here. I’m just the drug-dealing brother.”

“You can’t change that?”

“Not now. Not after all these years. I am what I am, and you’re the guy in town everyone counts on. No one cares if you were a SEAL or not. You’re still the Man in Marlboro.”

I had never considered how my brother felt or knew that he might resent me. It was disconcerting to have to reevaluate my relationship with him, which was based on mutual contempt. He wasn’t the shallow narcissist I assumed he was.

We didn’t say much more as we turned off Unionville Road up the winding, unnamed gravel path that rose in the foothills and then the steeper inclines of the mountains.