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said. “I’ve written my home phone number on the back, should you need to reach me. Call anytime. I live in Lexington.”
    â€œThank you,” I said.
    My voice sounded hoarse to me. I put the card in my shirt pocket and stood up.
    â€œI’m sure we’ll be in touch,” I said.
    My voice was hoarse.
    â€œI do hope so,” Beth Ann said.

10
    H EALY GOT ME an interview with Jared Clark at the Bethel County Jail. DiBella took me over and walked me to the interview room.
    The room was gray—walls, floor, and ceiling—with no windows. The gray door was metal and had a small window in it, covered with wire mesh, through which a guard could watch the proceedings. There was an oak table in the room, and four straight chairs. I sat at the table. DiBella waited outside.
    Jared Clark looked badly out of place in his jail coveralls when two guards brought him in. He wasn’t very big, and I was pretty sure he didn’t shave yet.
    One of the guards said, “You’re with Sergeant DiBella.”
    I said I was.
    The guards put Jared in a chair opposite me.
    â€œBe outside,” the guard said. “Bang on the door when you’re through.”
    I said I would.
    Jared sat back in his chair with his arms folded and looked at me scornfully. I took out one of my business cards and put it in front of him. He looked down and read it without touching it. Then he looked at me, and snickered faintly and shrugged. I folded my arms across my chest and leaned back in my chair and shrugged back at him. Neither of us spoke. The Bethel County Jail was a new facility. It was air-conditioned. I could hear the white sound of cool air moving through the vents. In the far background, I could hear the darker sounds of jail life.
    We did this for a while.
    Jared had light brown hair cut short. His nose was small and sharp. His mouth was thin and not very wide. He was short and seemed wiry. His hands were small. It was possible, of course, that Jared would outlast me. I knew he had noplace special to go, and that staring it out with me was as pleasant as his day was going to get. On the other hand, he was seventeen and alone in a scary place, whereas I was not seventeen, and I was tougher than Bill O’Reilly. I might mean something to him. He’d need to know what.
    And he did.
    â€œSo, what are you,” he said finally.
    â€œI’ve been hired to save your ass,” I said.
    He snickered again. We went back to quiet again.
    â€œWho hired you to do that?” he said after a while.
    â€œYour grandmother,” I said.
    He nodded.
    â€œShe thinks you’re innocent,” I said.
    He nodded, and shrugged and smirked. I was tiring of the smirk.
    â€œCare to tell me what happened that day in the school?” I said.
    â€œMe’n Dell took out a lot of assholes,” he said. “Needed taking out.”
    â€œDell being Wendell Grant?”
    â€œSure.”
    â€œCan you name them?” I said.
    â€œWho?”
    â€œThe people you took out.”
    For a moment, I thought he actually saw me. But it passed quickly.
    He shrugged.
    â€œHow many did you take out?” I said.
    He shrugged.
    â€œWhy did they need it?”
    â€œThey were assholes.”
    â€œAnd you could tell that how?” I said.
    â€œWhole school was assholes,” he said.
    And smirked.
    â€œLot of that happening,” I said.
    He didn’t say anything. I didn’t say anything. We were back at it.
    After a while he said, “How much she pay you?”
    â€œYour grandmother?”
    â€œYeah. How much she paying?”
    I told him.
    â€œShe can afford it,” he said.
    â€œYour lawyer wants to plead you crazy,” I said.
    Jared shrugged.
    â€œYou okay with that?” I said.
    Shrug.
    â€œYou crazy?” I said.
    â€œYou ever kill anybody?” he said.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œYou crazy?”
    â€œNo.”
    He smirked.
    â€œAre you comfortable spending