Chapter 24

“Exactly,” he said.

I walked smack into that one.

“May I come in?” I asked.

“What do you want, Wiley?”

“Just to talk,” I said.

He considered this in silence, not moving his solid bulk out of the way.

“Reckon there ain’t much we have to talk about,” he said at last.

“I’m trying to find out where Kayla is,” I admitted. “Her son would like to see her, spend some time with her.”

“You done come to the wrong house, son.”

“Do you know where she is?”

“No,” he said. “And frankly, I don’t care to know. That girl is dead to me now.”

“You must have a lot of kids if you can afford to give up on them so easily,” I offered.

“She’s my only child,” he said in a hard voice. “Of course, you know that. I blame you for getting her involved in drugs.”

“I think it was the other way around.”

“You were both doing it,” he said.