THE ORANGE COUNTY jail, where anyone held on charges from Newburgh ended up, was an unimpressive, sprawling structure surrounded by a twelve-foot-high chain-link fence. It was also in the village of Goshen, about thirty-five miles west of Newburgh. That’s where my brother had been cooling his heels after his initial bond hearing failed to win his release.

The jailers were clearly breaking my balls by making me wait in one room after another while they said they were getting my brother ready for our visit. I stopped one of them, a tall muscle-head with the name Norton on a tag, and said, “Do you know how frustrating it is to wait this long for a simple visit?”

Norton shrugged and said, “Probably feels just as frustrating as it does for the cops when some smart-ass tries to take over a homicide investigation.”

That answered my question for sure.

I glanced through a couple of Time magazines that were all more than three years old and got to know the layout of the facility by studying a map on the wall.

Finally, two jailers led me to a narrow room, about twice the size of a confessional, with a Plexiglas partition. Natty sat on the other side in a simple orange jumpsuit. We had to speak over a closed-circuit telephone. Natty gestured with his hands to let me know that the call could be monitored. That was important information. Especially considering all the shit that had happened to me the last couple of days.

The first thing Natty said was, “How’s Katie holding up?”

“It’s you I’m worried about.”

“I’m fine. Could be better. I know a couple of the guys in my dorm. Since I’m in here on a homicide charge, everyone’s keeping their distance.”

I said, “I need some answers, Natty.” I didn’t like how tired he looked. Eyes bloodshot and his usually neat hair hanging down in an oily curl.

Natty showed no emotion as he said, “Go for it.”

“Do you know any more details on the big score Pete and Alton made about six weeks ago? Like where the proceeds are or how to get them?” I was hoping the answer was no. That meant he was never involved.

He shrugged. “You’ve met Alton. He’s the first one to tell you how smart he is. He was always bragging about one thing or another, but he’d never tell me anything important.” Then he added, “I was sorry to hear he was killed.”

“Word travels fast, even in jail.”

My brother shook his head and said, “We have TVs in here. It was on the news.”

I just shrugged. “Was anything unusual going on with Pete or Alton?”

“Pete was acting a little funny. He’s the one that was all excited about something they did, but he didn’t give me any details. I have no idea about Alton. We were never close.”