Shiver

to crouch near Veith’s head. To Veith he said, almost conversationally, “Looks like you’re in a bad way.”
    “Get me out of this,” Veith replied. His voice was weak. He looked first at Marco, then at Sam. Standing close behind Marco, listening for any stray footfalls, she watched for signs of danger. Unwillingly, she registered how white Veith’s face was and how shrunken and dark his eyes looked. Despite everything, she felt a twinge of pity for him. Not for him, precisely, but for a living creature who was obviously hurting.
    Sam didn’t hear Marco’s reply, but something, either his expression or a gesture that Sam missed, must have told Veith he wasn’t feeling a Good Samaritan vibe.
    “I can help you out.” Veith sounded desperate. “You need somebody like me on your side.”
    “I’ll think about it. And while I’m thinking about it, suppose you tell me what happened tonight at the town house.”
    Veith grimaced. “What’s to tell? We showed up, damned place blew up.”
    “You didn’t blow it up?”
    “Why would I do that? Calderon wants his fucking money back. Kill you before I know where the money is, and my ass is in a sling.” Veith moved uncomfortably. “You think you could move some of this crap off me now?”
    Marco gave a negative shake of his head. “Keep talking. If you were there, why didn’t you get blown up with the house?”
    “Something seemed screwy about that whole deal, so I sent a guy in to case the place while the rest of us cruised around in the van. He was supposed to text us, let us know if you were in there, before we tried hitting it. He sent a text saying he was in, and the next thing we know the whole place goes sky-high.” He took a labored breath. “You didn’t do that, then you got more troubles than me.”
    “Maybe.” Marco seemed to be thinking. “What do you mean, something seemed screwy?”
    “We got tipped off that’s where you were. One of our usual informants. But it was too easy. It just didn’t feel right.” He wet his lips. “You stay in the business long enough, you develop a nose for things like that.”
    “The guy you sent in? He say anything about offing the marshal standing guard?”
    Veith shook his head. “No time. He didn’t have no time to off nobody. What happened was, he walked in, the place blew. At a guess, I’d say it was rigged to explode a couple of minutes after someone opened a door. It’d take a real pro to do that, but it wasn’t me.”
    “Yeah.” The affirmative was terse. Marco stood up and looked down at Veith almost meditatively.
    “Hey.” Veith sounded alarmed. “You’re not leaving, right? You get this stuff off me, and I’ll tell you something else.”
    “You tell me something else, and I’ll see about getting this stuff off you.”
    “All right. All right.” Veith made a gesture toward a piece of wreckage. “You see that piece there? That’s part of the tail. I’m an old military man, served my fair share in war, and I know the signs. I’ve been lying here just looking at that. See those scorch marks? See that jagged edge? We didn’t just hit something up there. We got shot down.”
    “Don’t get within his reach,” Marco turned to say softly to Sam, then went over to the piece of wreckage Veith had indicated and examined it.
    Sam was left looking at Veith. His eyes gleamed up at her through the dark.
    “I’m sorry I threatened you,” Veith said humbly. “Nothing personal, you understand. I was just doing my job.”
    Sam thought of Mrs. Menifee, thought of Marco as she had first seen him, thought of the unknown number of others whom Veith had undoubtedly killed, and didn’t even bother to reply. Amoment later, Marco had rejoined them and also stood looking down at Veith.
    “See? Was I right?” Veith asked.
    “Looks like it.” At Marco’s terse confirmation, Sam looked at him with a frown. They were shot down ? By whom? But Veith had started talking again, so she saved her questions for later.
    “See, you got more enemies than me. Maybe I can help you out with that. Maybe that even puts us on the same side in this. The enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that, right? Right?”
    Marco was looking down at Veith thoughtfully. Then he shook his head. “Nah. The enemy of my enemy is still my enemy,” he said, then glanced at Sam. “Head on down the slope, would you? I’ll catch up in a minute.”
    For a moment Sam just looked at him. Then she turned and did as he