She rubbed her hands across the surface of the table, back and forth as if soothing herself.

"I didn't know he was going to ask Nosmo to give me a divorce. All I knew was that Vernell was going to meet Nosmo and tell him he didn't need the money after all. He said the price was too high. Nosmo would want Vernell in his pocket. Vernell don't do that. But Nosmo was expecting to give him three million dollars."

Three million dollars? Vernell Spivey and three million dollars? The idea blew me away. Maybe the mobile home lot and the satellite dish business together were worth a million, but not three. How would Vernell have paid it back?

Bess looked up at me. "It would've worked out fine," she said, "but then Nosmo got himself killed and now we're all in a mess."

Bonnie's cell phone rang, startling both of us. I fished into the pocket of my jacket, drew out the phone, and flipped open the lid.

"Just thought I'd let you know she's here," Weathers said.

"Good." The relief was clear in my voice and Weathers picked up on it.

"It's all right," he murmured. "I'm not going to let a thing happen to her."

"Well, I would appreciate it if you would not start in with her until I get there." I looked at my watch. "Give me fifteen minutes."

I didn't wait for an answer; instead I flipped the phone closed and hung up on him. For the briefest second I wondered if Tracy the cadet was giving my daughter hot chocolate and making nice.

Bess looked at the phone. "Guess you need to go, huh?"

I stood up, pushed the phone back into my jacket pocket, and scowled at her. "Maybe this is something you and Vernell need to discuss tonight when you go to see him. When three million dollars is missing, people get angry. Nosmo's boss is looking to get his money back. Since he can't get to Vernell to convince him, he's threatening his family. If Nosmo didn't know about you, then his boss probably didn't know about you. That leaves me and Sheila on the front line. Vernell is jeopardizing his daughter's life in an attempt to make money."

"That's not fair!" Bess said. "It's not like that at all. He's trying to give Sheila a future. We don't know where Nosmo's money is. Hell, for two days I didn't even know where Vernell was!"

I seized on that. "Where was he for two days?"

Bess shook her head. "He can't remember. He started drinking with Nosmo. He'd been sober for a month, but the strain of facing Nosmo down was too much, I reckon. He tied one on good."

Bess had the earnest face of a do-gooder, an I-know-he'll-change-with-enough-love face. I'd been the same way with Vernell when I was twenty, but years of him letting me down had hardened me to reality. I didn't think Vernell would ever change, not enough. This latest foolishness seemed to prove it.

I left Bess sitting at the table and walked back out to Bonnie's van. I was no better off for talking to Bess than I had been before, except that I knew who Nosmo's girlfriend was and I had an idea about where to find her. But why wasn't Marshall Weathers interested in Bess as a suspect? And why wasn't the Redneck Mafia going to her for answers? And where had Vernell been for two days? What if he'd taken the money in an alcohol-induced blackout, and then lost it? What if he'd killed Nosmo and couldn't remember?

I started up the van and began to move down the driveway. I couldn't think about it all anymore. I had one thing on my mind: getting to Sheila and making sure she was safe. I had to make Weathers believe that we were in danger, and I had to figure out how to protect my daughter. I reached for the radio, hit the button, and was immediately rewarded with Patty Loveless.

"I just hate country music."

I screamed and swerved, almost throwing the van into the path of a car out on the two-lane. Carlucci was right behind me, his voice in my ear.

"Why did you ran off, Maggie?"

"Listen," I said, my eyes on the road as I pulled out onto the two-lane. "You are not my father. I can take care of myself. And frankly, I can get to the bottom of things easier if I don't have some overgrown biker following me around!"

"Now, that's just stupid," he said. "What you could do is get yourself killed a whole lot easier. I was trying to help you out, and you're fighting me at every turn. What is that?"

I accelerated and turned off onto Route 29, headed for downtown Greensboro and the police department.

"Carlucci, I'm sure you mean well, but face it, your job was to find Vernell and you've done that, so why are you still hanging around?"

He was silent for a moment.

"There is the matter of the missing money," he said. "And then, there's you and Sheila."

"What?" I jerked around to look at him, almost ran off the road, and had to pull hard to avoid going into a ditch.

"Watch the road, Maggie!"

"If you'd come up here where I can see you, and not slink back there in the shadows, I might not be running off the road. And furthermore," I added as he moved up beside me, "what are you doing hiding in my vehicle anyway?"

"It wasn't hard to figure where you'd go," he said. "Nothing about you is hard. In fact, I have come to the conclusion that you are probably too stupid to take care of yourself." He was just warming up. "Obviously, being attacked in your own home hasn't scared you off, so I doubt anything else will either. But you're gonna die if I don't watch out for you."

"Why don't you look for the money your way, and I'll look mine?"

Carlucci turned in his seat. "Maggie, I'm going out on a limb here, and if I'm wrong, well, I'll apologize later, but I'm saying it anyway. I think you're putting yourself in danger to avoid looking at what's really going on."

"What?"

Carlucci shrugged. "Yeah, that's what I think. We both know you can't find that missing money any better than me or the cops or Nosmo's people. You could be somewhere safe, taking care of your little girl, but no, you're out here, and any smart person's gotta wonder why."

I was almost on Eugene Street, a short hop to the police department. Five minutes from now I'd be sitting with my daughter, listening to Weathers try and worm his way out of having arrested Vernell Spivey.

"And I suppose you're so smart you've got it all figured," I said.

"Maybe not that smart, but I've got ideas. Look at what just happened here," he said. "I tell you that one of my reasons for being around is to look after you and Sheila, and what do you do? You start in on me. You change the subject. You're scared of me, Maggie. I frighten you 'cause there's nothing holding me back. I am completely available, and I like you, and you know it. So go on, Maggie, run away. Just don't get your kid killed over it, okay?"

I stopped the van, pulling it over against the curb into a tow-away zone. I couldn't think. I couldn't hear for the roar of blood that thundered in my ears. I wanted to kill him.

"That is so totally unfair!" I yelled.

Carlucci just looked at me.

"I would not jeopardize my daughter's life! That is not true! I can't believe you'd even say something like that!"

I wanted to tear him apart. I wanted to scream and scream and scream until he went away or said he was wrong and I was right, but he just sat there, waiting.

"Vernell needs me," I said. "No one believes he's innocent."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Bess King does. He doesn't need you. You need him. You need to be needed. You wouldn't know what to do if someone wanted you just for you and not for what you can do for them."

"Shut up!"

"Marshall Weathers," he said, "another prime example. I didn't have to spend thirty minutes with the man to see what a piece of work he is. You can still see the pale spot on his ring finger, Maggie. He's just another wounded bird."

I lashed out at him then, swinging my hand up to hit his face, stopped by his hand grabbing my arm.