I absorbed his response as just a jab, glad that he had not jumped immediately and that he was willing to talk, at least for a moment. “So it’s Mr. Joel Watson or whatever your last name is.” Then his eyes focused on Grandfather behind me, and he added: “And that must be your genius grandfather who tricked Maria into giving you my address. Boy, does he look ancient, And he climbed all the way up here to try to save me, only there’s no one to save. I killed Ori, and that’s that, and now I will pronounce judgment on myself—guilty of murder and set for self-execution in just a few minutes. Then you can feel good that you’ve solved the case and collect your fee.”
I moved a foot closer, and Michael still did not flinch. “But we don’t deserve to collect our fee because we didn’t really solve it
