?Why should you care about us??
?I?ve been sent. I am the one who has been sent.? Preacher tilted his face up. He seemed to smile in a self-deprecating manner, in a way that was almost likable.
?What the hell are you talking about?? Nick wiped at his nose with the back of his wrist, not expecting an answer, not wanting to listen any more to a lunatic.
?You watch television shows about witness protection and that kind of thing??
?Everybody does. That?s all that?s on TV.?
?Want to live in a box in Phoenix in summertime with sand and rocks for a yard and bikers with swastika tats for neighbors? Because outside of cooperating with me, that?s the only shot you?ve got. Artie Rooney has an on-again, off-again business relationship with a Russian by the name of Josef Sholokoff. His people come out of the worst prisons in Russia. Want me to tell you what they did to a Mexican family in Juárez, to the children in particular??
?No, I don?t want to hear this.?
?Cain?t blame you. You know a man name of Hackberry Holland??
?No Who? Holland? No, I don?t know anybody by that name.?
?You recognize the name, though. You?ve seen it in the newspaper. He?s a sheriff. You read about the death of the ICE agent in San Antonio. Holland was there.?
?I told you, I don?t know this Holland guy. I?m a restaurateur. I got into the escort business, but I don?t do that anymore. I?m going broke. I?m not a criminal. Criminals don?t go broke. Criminals don?t file bankruptcy. They don?t see their families put on the street.?
?Were you interviewed by the ICE agent? Has Holland been to see you??
?Me? No. I mean, maybe the man from Immigration and Customs came to my home. I don?t know anybody named Holland. You say something only once to other people, but other people got to say it ten times to you??
?I think Sheriff Holland wants to do me injury. If he takes me off the board, you go off the board, too, because I?m the only person standing between you and Artie Rooney and his Russian business partners.?
?I made mistakes, but I?m not a thief. You stop dragging me into your life.?
?You?re telling me I?m a thief??
?No, sir.?
?You have a pistol in your drawer, a Beretta nine-millimeter. Why don?t you take it out of the drawer and hold it in your hand and point it at me and call me dishonorable again??
?If you found my gun, you took the bullets out.?
?Could be. Or maybe not. Open the drawer and pick it up. The weight should tell you something.?
?I apologize if I said something I shouldn?t.?
Preacher leaned forward in the chair. He was wearing a brown suit with light stripes in it, and the cast was gone from his leg. ?You take Mrs. Dolan and your children out of town for a while. You pay cash everywhere you go. A credit card is an electronic footprint. You don?t call your restaurant or your lawyer or your friends. Artie Rooney may tap your phone lines. I?ll give you a cell phone number where you can contact me. But I?ll be the only person you?ll be talking to.?
?Are you crazy? Nobody is this arrogant.? Nick opened the side drawer to his desk and looked at the gun lying inside it.
?A crazy person is psychotic and has a distorted vision of the world. Which of us is the realist? The one who has survived among the predators or the one who pretends to be a family man while he lives off the earnings of whores and puts his family at mortal risk??
Nick tried to hold his gaze on Preacher?s.
?You want to say something?? Preacher asked. ?Pick up the gun.?
?Don?t tempt me.?
?Did you ever fire it??
?No.?
?Pick it up and point it at me. Hold it with both hands. That way your fingers will stop trembling.?