'This the toughest we got?' lesse said to Simpson.
'Three of the toughest kids in Paradise,' Simpson said.
'How you think they'll do at Lancaster?' Jesse said.
Simpson and De Angelo both laughed.
'They were in with the girls,' he said, 'they'd be the three sissies.'
Jesse nodded.
'You think you're tough because kids in the schoolyard are scared of you, and you dare do things like torch somebody's house.
Small town tough guys.' He snorted.
'But when we send you up, you'll be in with people who routinely carry razor blades in their hat bands, who would cut you right across the eyeballs for a pack of cigarettes, or for the hell of it. They will have you snowflakes for a snack.'
Earl said, 'I want...'
And Jesse cut him off.
'I don't care what you want,' Jesse said.
'Get them out of here, Suit.' Simpson and De Angelo left with the three kids. In ten minutes Simpson came back.
'The Hopkins kids are scared already,' he said.
'I could see it when we put them in their cells. Jencks is the tough one.'
'Yeah,' Jesse said.
'I know.'
'We don't have too long, Jesse,' Simpson said.
'One of the parents will come home from work or get a call from a neighbor, or whatever, and they'll be up here with a lawyer.'
'We'll make do,' Jesse said.
'You got them isolated?'
'Yeah.'
'Leave the cell doors unlocked?'
'Yeah.'
'They know that?'
'No.'
Jesse smiled.
'Jencks in the farthest cell?'
'Yeah.'
'Okay,' Jesse said, 'bring him in here. Make sure they both see him on the way by.'
When Jencks was in Jesse's office, Jesse nodded Simpson from the room and pointed at the empty chair in front of his desk.
Jencks sat.
He met Jesse's look.
'You're not scared?' Jesse said.
Jencks shook his head.
'I'm a juvenile,' Jencks said.
'You can't do shit with me.'
'You know one of the Hopkins boys will rat you out,' Jesse said.
'Nobody's gonna rat nobody,' Jencks said.
Jesse smiled and shook his head.
'You gonna be a bad guy, Snapper, you better learn the business. Everybody rats everybody. It's only a matter of time and pressure.'
Jencks leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his head and stared at Jesse without speaking. He had on baggy jeans and big sneakers. He wore a Foo Fighters sweatshirt. Jesse assumed that Foo Fighters was a rock group.
'You're a tough kid,' Jesse said.
'I like that. Why I gave you the first shot. You tell me about the fire and you walk.'
'Even if I did it too?'
