I WAITED UNTIL the two men had pulled away in the rented Cadillac, then turned to my brother and said, “Is that what you called me about?”

“No, something else.”

“You aren’t gonna tell me?”

“It’s nothing. Business dispute. No big deal.”

“Who in the hell were they?”

Natty was rubbing his face where the big man had slapped him. “One of ’em is Alton Beatty, my competition and the main suspect in the homicide I called you about.”

“Who’s dead? I mean, aside from the usual homicide victims that pile up here in Newburgh.”

The way Natty hesitated made me realize the case really did mean something to him. Maybe it’d mean something to me as well.

Natty said, “Pete Stahl was shot and killed on Friday.”

I cocked my head. “Petey Stahl from Highland Middle School?”

“The same.”

I felt my legs go a little weak and leaned on the hood of an old Dodge. “I haven’t talked to him in a few months, but seriously? I really like that guy. Even though he became a…”

“Drug dealer?”

“I’m sorry, Natty, I didn’t mean it like that.”

Natty said, “I know.” Then he surprised me by putting his arm around my shoulder.

Petey was a year older than my brother and three years ahead of me, but I remembered him as a decent football player and one of my brother’s few friends who didn’t pick on me too much. When I got out of the Navy, we would play basketball and complain about my brother.

“Does Mom know?”

“Yeah, she’s the one who suggested I call you. She and Pete’s mom talk all the time and his mom is heartbroken. Not just because he was killed, but because no one seems to care. The police aren’t even doing anything about it.”

I thought about the boy I knew and the man who still seemed like a decent guy, no matter what he did for a living. Now he was dead.

Natty said, “He was a good friend and a good business associate.”

I shook my head and said, “You mean dope dealer? At least call it by its name. I understand what you do, but I don’t like it.”

“Jeez, Mitchum, this isn’t the 1970s. No one calls it dope anymore. That’s insulting to our customers. We enhance recreational activities. Or, if you have to label us, you can say ‘drug dealer,’ but the word dope is offensive.”

“So why is Alton Beatty a ‘competitor’ and Pete Stahl an ‘associate’?”

“Because Alton is overly ambitious. That’s why I think he killed Pete. They both focus more on meth and some of the more synthetic stuff, and the rumor was they made a big score in the city about a month ago.”

“What kind of score?”