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trying to tell them apart. She demanded the whole truth from him. He could only give her what he knew.
    Matt’s Charger was on the curb in front of the house when he pulled onto his street. Parker’s hands closed around the steering wheel, and the plastic squeaked in his grip. He nosed in behind the car and parked. Matt was not sitting in the driver’s seat. There was no one in the car at all.
    His hand shook slightly as he used his keys on the front door. He came through into the short hallway that opened onto the front room, and Matt was there on the couch with Lauren beside him. “Hey, it’s the man,” Matt said.
    “What are you doing here?” Parker asked.
    “What kind of a question is that? I came by to talk. Lauren let me in. She’s been telling me about school. Man, I don’t miss school at all . I couldn’t wait to drop out.”
    Parker closed the door. “Lauren, why don’t you go to your room?”
    Lauren got up from the couch, and Matt reached out as if to catch her hand, but he touched only air. “Bye, Uncle Matt,” she said.
    “See you later, sweetie,” Matt said. He looked to Parker. “Wow, she is really growing up, isn’t she? Getting curves and everything. I don’t envy you one bit, bro. Guys are gonna be all over her.”
    Parker swallowed. “Do you want a beer?” he asked.
    “A beer? Sure thing.”
    He retreated to the kitchen and fetched two bottles from the refrigerator. Back in the front room he handed one over to Matt, and then he sat down in a chair to pull from his own. The cold, clean liquid helped clear the sticky taste from his mouth. “What did you want to talk about?” he asked at last.
    Matt drank slowly, his eyes going lidded as he tipped his head back. “Last night for starters,” he said when he was done. “About that chick you said was going to work out for us.”
    “About that…,” Parker said. “I think there’s still a chance we can get her. I talked to her again today, and she knows the deal now.”
    “But?”
    “Well, I think she wants more money.”
    “Don’t we all.”
    “I’m saying that she’s taking a pretty big risk, what with it being her boat and all. It’s a long way to Cuba and back, and a lot can go wrong. She deserves a little extra.”
    Matt laughed a little and drank some more. “I should have known it was all about the cash. She put on that whole act last night, but it was just a chick thing. They tell you one thing, but they mean something else. Only problem is, if she gets more money then there’s less to go around to the rest of us.”
    “Yeah, I know, but—”
    “But nothing. Do you want her to get a bigger cut?”
    “I think it’s fair.”
    “Fine,” Matt said.
    Parker stopped with the bottle halfway to his mouth. He lowered it. “Fine?”
    “Sure. Fine. Only the extra comes out of your end, not everybody else’s.”
    “Hey, I’m not getting that much already.”
    “So? You said it was fair that she get more, so you ought to pay. I’m not gonna pay. The deal is for ten grand and that’s it. Whatever else is from your pocket. End of story.”
    Parker drank. His stomach was unsettled. He had eaten no lunch, and he was now pouring beer on top of nothing. It was hot in the house. “I’ll try to talk her down,” he said.
    “Ah, see? When it’s your money it’s different, right? And tell her this, too: if I don’t get a yes or no in two days, we’re moving on to somebody else. She’s out.”
    “I’ll tell her.”
    Matt drained the bottle and put it on the floor by his feet. He rose from the couch. “And now I got to go. Get that bitch on board, all right? No more delays.”
    “Okay, Matt. It’ll be all good. She likes me.”
    “It’d be better if she liked ten thousand bucks. See you around, bro.”
    Parker stayed in his seat, and Matt let himself out. He finished his beer, though he had no taste for it, and then he collected Matt’s empty. He put both in the recycling bin in the