“How’s this for an answer?” I said.

The gun. That’s what I was looking for in the backpack.

The man in the doorway was not the killer. I could see that right away. He held up his hands to show he was unarmed, but there was a half-amused, half-weary look on his face as he did so, as though he knew this was all just a formality, a twisted version of two people exchanging how are yous and not giving a damn what the answer is.

Jimmy whistled. Actually whistled. “Damn, girl.”

“Uh huh.” I motioned to the man. “Turn around and face the wall and don’t move until I say so.”

He did so with a sigh as though we were wasting his time. I dressed quickly, one-handedly, as Jimmy scrambled to get a shirt and pants on as well. “Turn back around slowly and start talking.”

“I already started talking. You interrupted me.” He was somewhere around my age, though he actually looked it, and there was something shadowy about him even as he stood in the bright room. No wonder he’d been able to slip into the apartment without us noticing. “I want to know where Lindstrom is.”

“Everybody does.”

“Well, my clients really do. They’re willing to pay a whole lot of money to find him.”

“Everybody’s willing.”

“But they actually can do it.”

“I can’t help you.”

“I think you can.”

“Dude, enough with the private dick act,” Jimmy interjected. “She just said she doesn’t know where he is.”

“That doesn’t matter. She knows people who do.”

“The only person I knew from back there is dead,” I retorted.

“Maggie wasn’t the only one,” he said. I stared at him. “Yeah, I know about her. That’s how I found you. And she wasn’t the only person you knew.”

“I was almost three years old when we were all shipped out. I don’t remember those people.”

“I bet you do.”

“Dude! Stop the film noir already!”

The man barely favored Jimmy with a half glance before turning his eyes back, hard, onto mine. “I’m prepared to offer you protection in return for information.”

“Does it look like I need protection?” I said, motioning with the gun.

“That thing isn’t going to do you much good against a grenade.”

So he knew about that too. Out of the corner of my eye I could see bewilderment plain on Jimmy’s face. When I’m not running away from serial killers I’ll have to arrange a poker game with him.

“I can protect you better than you can protect yourself. You, too,” he tossed in Jimmy’s direction. Before Jimmy could protest, the man cut in, “Yes you need it. If you’re with her, you’re taking your life into your own hands.”

“Who the fuck are you, buddy?” Jimmy spat.

“Harrigan. My clients’ names I can’t divulge.”

“Nobody here asked,” said Jimmy. “Nobody here cares.”

“Look, Harrigan,” I interjected tiredly. “I can’t help you. I already said that. I don’t know where any of the scientists are, I don’t know where any of the other Lao Babies are, and I can’t even remember what Lindstrom looked like much less know where he is. He was the head of research. He didn’t bother much playing with tykes.”

“Who adopted you?”

I sighed. “Sylvia Lowe. You must know that already.”

“How did she get you?”

“Through an agency…” I stopped. “No. Wait a minute. There was an agency, but…”

Jimmy and Harrigan actually leaned forward. “But?” Jimmy coaxed.

“But she also talked to someone.”

They were clearly waiting for me to say who. I couldn’t. Harrigan put his arms down. “I think you need to talk to her. Now.”