“They’ll keep him for observation. With head injuries like this, they like to keep them overnight.”

“I’m not staying. They stitch me up, I’m outta there.”

Dru Rayne moved to the gurney and looked down at him.

“Wilson. Please don’t be like that.”

Hydeck gave her card to Ms. Rayne and informed her that detectives would likely interview her uncle at the hospital. The paramedics finished strapping Smith to the cart, and Pike watched his niece follow them out. She did not look back at Pike as she left.

Hydeck waited until they were gone, then turned back to Pike. She still held his driver’s license.

“You think what happened here was a dispute over a sandwich?”

Pike shook his head, and Hydeck glanced at his license again.

“You look familiar. Do I know you?”

“No.”

“Those tattoos ring a bell.”

A bright red arrow was inked onto the outside of each of Pike’s deltoids. She could see them because Pike wore a gray sweatshirt with the sleeves cut off. Government-issue sunglasses shiny and black as a beetle’s shell hid his eyes, but the arrows hung on his arms like neon signs. They pointed forward. Pike was six feet one, weighed just over two hundred pounds, and his arms were ropy with muscle. His hair was a quarter-inch short, his skin was cooked dark, and his knuckles were scarred and coarse.

Hydeck thumbed the edge of his license.

“Most people walk into a beat-down like this, they run. But looking at you, I guess you can handle yourself. What do you do, Mr. Pike?”

“Businessman.”

“Of course.”

Pike expected her to ask what kind of business, but she returned his license. If she noticed a bulge where one of the two pistols he carried was hidden, she ignored it.

“Guess Mr. Smith is lucky it was you who happened by.”

She gave him a business card.

“The detectives will probably call you, but this is my card. You think of anything in the meantime, call.”

Pike took the card, and Hydeck left to join McIntosh at their radio car. Dru Rayne was with her uncle as the paramedics opened their vehicle. She clutched his hand as she spoke to him, and seemed very intent. Then she stepped away and the paramedics slid the gurney into their truck. Hydeck and McIntosh climbed into the radio car, flipped on their lights, and stopped traffic to let the ambulance leave. The paramedics headed toward the hospital. Hydeck and McIntosh turned in the opposite direction, already rolling to another call.

Dru Rayne watched the ambulance. She stared after it until the ambulance was gone, then hurried back to the shop. Pike didn’t like the way she hurried. It looked like she was running for cover.

Pike said, “Why is he lying?”

She startled, making a little jump.

“You scared me.”

Pike nodded, then thought he should probably apologize.

“Sorry.”