"How well do you know her?" Danny asked.

I knew where he was heading. "Not as well as I should, considering the circumstances."

"Exactly," Danny said. "So here's what you're facing." He held out one hand. "Either you keep spinning lies about what you're doing, each time increasing both the guilt and the chances she catches you, and I know you, you'll fold under questioning." He opened his other hand. "Or you come clean and tell her the truth, which puts her, me, and you in danger."

Dry leaves crunched under Danny's feet as he moved closer to me, setting his hands on my shoulders. My lungs felt a lot like those leaves, parched and frail. Danny's eyes glittered in the fractured light coming through the trees.

"This isn't a game we're playing, Kev. We're not working on our extortion merit badges here.

The construction contracts for those dorms are worth fifty million. Santoro's got those contracts and more. Clearing the land, a ten-year maintenance contract for the dorms. All he needs to chow down is that fat little fly Whitestone plucked from the grease so the state'll release the money.

We get to be the fingers, hardly even get dirty. For that we get five percent. Two-fifty large to start, split three ways." He shrugged. "Two if Al doesn't make the finish line. That's life-changing money, Kev." He raised a forefinger. "But here's the punch line. If we fuck it up, Santoro will eat us alive. Us and everyone around us that might've played a part. But . . . but if we do right, we'll be set. And free to spread the wealth."

"I thought this was about destroying Bloodroot," I said. "About you burying the past. Now you tell me it's about money."

"Let me ask you this," Danny said. "If it was just about the money, and it's not, but if it was, would you be in or out?"

"In," I said. I wanted to believe different, but that wasn't the truth. I fumbled through my pockets, searching for my smokes. "God, what does that make me?"

"Not some kind of monster, if that's what you're thinking," Danny said. "It makes you smart. A red-blooded American."

He leaned aside, peering over my shoulder. I turned in time to see curtains fall across a window.

"That's the third time," Danny said. "Let's get moving before one of these sinister old biddies calls the cops on us."

I turned back toward Forest Avenue but Danny walked the other way. He pulled keys from his pocket and the parking lights on a black, two-door Saturn flashed at us.

"I'll give you a ride home," Danny said.

"When did you get this?"

"Today," Danny said. He pulled open the driver-side door. "I promise you, no way Kelsey makes this car." He shook his head. "Fuckin' Al. He refuses to learn the finer points of our business.

Like that it's bad when the whole world knows you're a criminal. One day it's gonna cost him."

I climbed in the passenger seat. "It's got that new-car smell. I love that smell. Not that I've ever had a new car."

"That could change real soon." Danny lit a cigarette. "That smell everyone loves? Fucking formaldehyde."

DANNY EASED THE SATURN to the curb outside my apartment. He reached across the car for my arm when I opened the door. I closed it and turned to him, waiting.

"I have an idea," Danny said, tapping his temple. "Something that might speed things up."

"I'm all ears," I said. I lit a cigarette and hung my elbow out the window.

"Can you get me into Whitestone's office?"

"I don't like this idea already," I said. "I thought you said no contact with anyone but me."

"Relax," Danny said. "We can bend the rules a wee bit this one time. You can just say yes or no and I'll take it from there."

Cigarette dangling from my lips, I rubbed my hands up and down my thighs. "Tell me what you're thinking."

Danny turned in his seat, framing an imaginary box with his hands. "Okay, listen to this. You get me in. I slip some equipment into his office, his computer, simple shit I've already got at the apartment, and then we kick back and wait. Why hunt him down when we can set a trap? I'll know in a week or two if he's stealing the money and we can confront him with that. He'll fold.

Bang, we're paid and done." He brought his hands together, as if in prayer. "Just me and you on this. No Al. No Kelsey. Everyone stays safe and clean."

"Everyone except you and me," I said. "Shit, Danny, you're talking about breaking and entering, just to start with. On city property, no less. I know this is Staten Island but after nine-eleven everything's locked down tight."

"Not everything," Danny said. "That's simply impossible. Besides we're not breaking, we're just entering. You work there. You have a key. You have perfectly legal twenty-four-hour access to the building."

I was about to answer when a blinding light hit my eyes. I shaded my face with my hands and watched the patrol car glide up beside us, coming to rest with its driver and Danny inches apart.

Danny already had his hands at ten and two on the wheel.

"Passenger," the driver cop said, "put your hands on the dash."

I did as I was told, my cigarette warm on my knuckles as it burned down to the filter.

My eyes sideways, I watched the other cop lean forward. "Everything okay here, gentlemen?"

"It's all good, Officers," Danny said. "I'm dropping my brother off at his apartment."

"That true?" driver cop asked me.

"Absolutely," I said, tilting my head toward my building. "Mine's the one with the balcony."

"Face me, passenger," the cop said. He pursed his lips, nodding. "Right, I know you. I've seen you up there. You're the guy who sits outside all night and never sees anything. What's your name again?"

"Kevin. Kevin Curran."

"It ain't the safest move, Misters Curran," passenger cop said, "to be sitting out here in a new car. Maybe you wanna finish your conversation indoors?"

"You're right," Danny said. "Will do."

The patrol car eased away, both officers staring straight ahead.

"Good lookin' out," Danny shouted, waving at the cops. "Stupid pigs." He turned to me, chuckling. "Jesus, Kev, how bad has this neighborhood gotten? What was that about, anyway, that cop saying he knows you?"

"Do you always have to antagonize them?" I asked, dropping my cigarette butt out the window.

It had burned my knuckles. I stuck them in my mouth. "Those cops work the neighborhood. I live in it. We see each other around."

"What else?" Danny asked. "You're afraid to drop a done cigarette out the window in front of them. You're white as a ghost, like you're a fucking criminal or something."

I just stared at him.

"All right," he finally said. "Poor choice of words."

"That drug shit up on the corner," I said. "The cops like to ask me questions. They think because I'm white and I sit outside that I like to take notes on the neighborhood or something."

"That's fucking prejudiced, is what that is." Danny studied me across the car. "And what do you tell them?"

"What do you think? I got nothing against the police and I don't like those gangbangers out there, either, but I have to live on this block." I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. "Who do you think comes sniffing around right after the cops do?"

Danny turned in his seat, straining to see the corner over his shoulder. He reached for his door handle like he might get out, then decided against it. He turned back to me frowning, his mind working overtime. "So what's the verdict on Whitestone's office?"

"When do you want to go?" I asked.

"Well, I need to get in twice," he said.

"Fuckin' A."

"The first time, he can be there," Danny said. "I just need to get the lay of the land, any security cameras, alarms, shit like that. I'll need a look at his computer. The second time'll need to be at night when no one else is around."

"And how're we supposed to get into his office in the middle of the night?"

"Leave that to me," Danny said. "You think I can't pick a lock?"

I turned to him. I had an idea of my own. "Okay, I'll do this with you. But I have a condition."

Danny swore in mock exasperation. "Again with the demands. What? I gotta buy Kelsey a new TV now? Fine. Done."

"I can get you in tomorrow," I said. "But after I'm done with work, you gotta go see the folks with me. That's the deal."

Danny puffed out his cheeks, turning away to stare through the windshield. "Tomorrow. I don't know. I'll need to have some gear ready for the first visit. Might take a couple days."

"Bullshit. You just said it was simple shit you had on hand."

Danny glanced at me then looked away again.

"Quid pro quo, Agent Starling," I said.

"You watch too many fucking movies," Danny said.

"No doubt," I said. "This is what it's like to have no life."

The slick, defiant Danny who moments ago had shone on the cops evaporated into the night air.

He pretended to debate my demand in his head but the tight skin drawn across the side of his face, the jackrabbit beat of his pulse in his throat, they told me he was scared; he was deeply terrified, in fact.

"Me and you, we'll go together?" Danny said.

"Of course."

"Dad's cool with this?" he asked.

"He will be," I said, "for Mom's sake."

"Get out of the fucking car," Danny said.

I did, walking around to Danny's side of the car. I crouched down to his level, my arms folded atop the door.

"Sorry to be rude but I gotta get home and get started on tomorrow," Danny said.

"For Whitestone or for Mom and Dad?" I asked.

"Both." He nodded to himself. "I'll do what's right."

I stood and patted the roof of the car. "I know you will. Meet me at the campus Starbucks at one."

"Will do," Danny said, looking up at me, his blue eyes soft and young. He smiled. "When do I get to meet Kelsey? You know, as your brother?"

"When I say so," I said. "When all this shit is done."

Danny started the car and I backed away to my stoop. He made half a U-turn then stopped in the middle of the street and called me back to the car. I walked over and leaned in his window.

His eyes were locked on the corner. A black semiautomatic pistol sat in his lap. He picked it up and handed it to me. I figured he wanted to get the gun out of the car so I took it, dropping it into the inside pocket of my jacket. It fell heavy and awkward against my ribs, like the hammer had a few nights ago. I thought of our recent encounter with the police. "Where the fuck was that hiding?"

"Don't worry about it," Danny said. "Take it. In case the wrong people come knocking."

"I don't want it," I said, reaching into my jacket. With both hands, I shoved the gun into his chest.

I took a step back from the car, raising my hands in the air. Thoughts of nosy neighbors watching us pass a weapon back and forth made me nervous. Someone could come walking up the block for the bus stop at any time. What if those cops passed by again just to be dicks? What if the dealers saw us?

"Would you put your fucking hands down?" Danny said. "It looks like I'm fucking mugging you. Calm down." He waved me back to the car with the gun. "C'mere, for chrissakes."

I stepped back to the car and leaned my weight on the door.

"I promise you," Danny said, "no one has ever been shot with this gun. It's brand-new. Never even been used in a crime. Unlike every human being walking the earth, it's totally clean."

"It's not that," I said. "I've never used a gun before."

"Not a problem." Raising the gun, Danny turned it so I could see it better in the streetlights.

"Nine-millimeter. Real powerful. One shot should get the job done for you, God forbid. It's fully loaded with one in the chamber. Point it anywhere near the target and you're good. Hammer goes back like so. This is the safety." He thumbed the switch back and forth several times. "On, off, on, off. Got it?"

He handed the nine back to me but this time I wouldn't take it.

"These dealers or whatever," I said, "they don't care about me. I do a hell of a job acting intimidated. They're like the trash or the potholes around here, an occasional pain in the ass but no real danger. It's no big thing. I don't need a gun."

"Take it," Danny said. "For me. I'll feel better."

He rested the gun on my shoulder, looking into my eyes. I wished I'd seen where he'd left the safety set. I took the pistol back and put it in my jacket. It was the only way to end the conversation.

"Just keep it in the house for a couple of days," Danny said. "If it still makes you nervous, I'll take it back." He smiled. "You don't like the gun, we'll go get you a fucking dog." He exhaled hard, fogging his windshield. He rubbed the cloud away with his sleeve, peering again at the corner. "You and me? We're gonna get you the fuck outta here. This neighborhood is infested with fucking criminals."

Danny shifted the car into drive and rolled away up the street, giving the corner boys a long stare as he turned the corner.