“Hap. My dad was Mr. Collins, and he didn’t like being called that either.”

“Hap. I came here to thank you personally for saving my daughter’s life.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I want to show my appreciation by giving you a check for a hundred thousand dollars.”

“Do what?”

“A check, for a hundred thousand dollars. I’ll write it out now.”

“Hey, you don’t owe me anything for that.”

“I’d like to give it to you anyway.”

“That’s a lot of money.”

“Not to me. It’s a drop in the bucket. I’m wealthy, Hap. Money is not a problem. A hundred thousand is not a problem. I’m not paying you for doing what you thought you should do, I’m showing my appreciation. Thanks and a handshake is very nice, but a hundred thousand dollars is better. I did the same for Miss Drew.”

“Drew?”

“Ella May,” Charlie said.

“I don’t want to be paid, Mr. Bond.”

“Elmer. If you’re Hap, I’m Elmer.”

“I don’t want to be paid, Elmer.”

“Certainly, I can’t wrestle you to the floor and make you take it and spend it on yourself, but hear me out. My daughter is sixteen years old, Hap. Sixteen. A baby. She was attending a church function. Just got her driver’s license. Has hardly been driving at all. This… human… No… this animal, this thing. A man named Bill Merchant, he knew my daughter. They went to school together, though he dropped out his junior year. He’s a few years older. Did you know that he’s only eighteen?”

“I knew he was young. One of the reasons I was amazed at the way he fought.”

“Drugs,” Charlie said. “Pills. Alcohol. Ritalin. Lots of Ritalin.”

“I thought that was a medicine for hyperactivity,” I said. “Attention deficit.”

“It is,” Charlie said. “If you have those problems. But if you don’t, it works like speed. Bruce Lee couldn’t have beat that guy that night, Hap. He was on that and everything else.”