and he had this check, and he wanted to party some more, so I went along with him, but it kind of hit the fan for some reason, and Liam said we ought to get out of there, and he thought you were gonna be pissed off, but that was all over my head and not really my business. I just wanted to clear this up and make sure nobody has a misunderstanding. Since we’d already met, I didn’t think you’d mind me coming by to answer any questions you might have.”

“Why should I have questions for you?”

“A couple of people told me this is what I should do. I didn’t mean to bother you during your program.”

Then she looked at the empty screen. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, out of breath and holding her hands in her lap, unsure of what she should say next. She placed one foot on the top of the other as a little girl might, chewing her lip.

“I don’t like touching the bedspreads in motels,” she said, half smiling. “There’s every kind of DNA in the world imaginable on them, not that I mean this place is any worse than any other, it’s just the way all motels are, with unclean people using everything and not caring that other people are gonna use it later.”

The side of Preacher’s face was immobile, the eye that she could see like a marble pushed into tallow. “Mona Drexel is my stage name,” she said. “My real name is Margaret, but I started using Mona when I was onstage in Dallas. Believe it or not, it was a club Jack Ruby once owned, but you can call me whatever you want.”

“Where’s Liam now?”

“That’s why I’m here. I don’t know. Maybe I can find out. I just don’t want to hurt anybody or have anybody think I’m working against them. See, I’m for people, I’m not against anybody. There’s a big difference. I just want everybody to know that.”

“I can see that,” he said.

“Can you turn down the volume on the television?” she said.

“Do you know what I do for a living?”

“No.”

“Who told you I was staying at this motel?”

“Liam said you use it sometimes when you’re in town. That noise is really loud.”

“That’s what Liam told you, did he?”

“Yes,” she said. “I mean, yes, sir, he just mentioned it in passing.”

“Do you know where Liam got the government check?”

“No, he didn’t tell me. I don’t talk with clients about their personal business.”

“That’s a good way to be.”

“It is, isn’t it?” she said, crossing her leg on her knee, her mouth jerking as though she wanted to smile. She watched Preacher’s face in the white glow of the television screen. His eyes never blinked; not one muscle in his face moved. Her own expression went dead.

“I have clients that become friends,” she said. “After they’re friends, they’re not clients again. Then I have friends that are always friends. They never become clients. They’re friends from the first time I meet them, know what I mean?”

“No, I don’t,” he replied.

“I can be a friend to somebody. I have to make a living, but I believe in having friends and helping them out.” She lowered her eyes. “I mean, we could be friends if you want.”

“You remind me of someone,” he said, looking at her directly for the first time.

“Who?” she asked, the word turning to a rusty clot in her throat.

He stared at her in a way no one had ever stared at her in her life. She felt the blood drain from her head and heart into her stomach.

“Somebody who never should have been allowed around small children,” he said. “Do you have children?”

“I did. A little boy. But he died.”

“It’s better that some people don’t live. They should be taken before their souls are forfeit. That means some of us have to help them in ways they don’t like, in ways that seem truly awful at the time.” Preacher reached out into the darkness and pulled a straight chair closer to him. On it were his wallet, a small automatic, an extra magazine, and a barber’s razor.

“Sir, what are you planning to do?” she said.

“You understood what I said.” He smiled. His statement was not a question but a compliment.

“Liam wanted to party. He had the check. I went with him.” Her breath was tangling in her chest, the room starting to go out of focus. “I have a mother in Amarillo. My son