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"Me?"
"You My guess is you stayed around"
"And went after him," I said "But that was different I kneho he was I had a fair shot at getting hiot me" I frowned at theot stabbed, she had her spleen removed She almost died"
"Didn't you say she left the country?"
"That was another woht you didn't have any women in your life at the time"
"We weren't married then We'd known each other years previously Motley brought us together again"
"Motley was the guy anted to kill you"
"Right"
"And after she recovered-Elaine?"
"Elaine"
"After she recovered you resue?"
"A very good e"
"My God," he said "Maybe if I stick around and see this thing through I'll wind up back in Connecticut with Barbara But it's hard to iine her without her spleen It's the key element of her character" He took a drink "In the ot a law practice to run and a case to try Te as it may be to fly off for a couple of weeks in Oslo or Brussels, I think I'll stick around and face the et killed, nor do I think itme to the NYPD I' has good security"
"I don't think Will would have uy on the desk make you show ID? I told hiive him time to look at it, and he didn't insist"
"I'll have to speak to him about that"
"Don't bother You can't expect verypersonnel The elevator's self-service All anybody has to do is take out the doorman and he's in"
"Take him out? You mean kill him?"
"Or just slip past hi into Fort Knox If you want a good shot at getting through this alive, and if you won't leave town, you need bodyguards around the clock That means three shifts a day, and I'd recommend you employ two men per shift"
"Would you be one of those men?"
I shook my head "I don't like the work and I don't have the reflexes for it"
"Can you supply bodyguards?"
"Not directly I'm a one-man operation There are people I can call for backup, but not as encies who can be counted on to furnish reliable operatives"
I took outwith a phone nue and handed it to Whitfield He read it, folded it, and tucked it in his breast pocket
"No point in calling now," he said "I'll call first thing in the ot a few days He'll wait until the story runs, and until you've had time to worry about it"
"He's a real prick, isn't he?"
"Well, I don't suppose he's on the short list for the Jean Hersholt Huot a lot of competition Ah, Jesus, you think your life's in order and then so like this comes at you from out of nowhere Do you worry a lot?"
"Do I worry a lot? I don't know I don't think so"
"It seems to me that I do I worry about a stroke or a heart attack, I worry about prostate cancer Soene that'll havedoith one of those rare diseases I can't think of the word I want and I start to worry about early-onset Alzhei waste of ti?"
"You said it You never worry about the right thing I never worried about this son of a bitch, I'll tell you that, and now he's got uards You must have a few ideas on the kind of routine I should follow, the precautions I ought to take"
By the ti ways he could increase the odds of his staying alive, he'don our second cup He talked about a current case of his, and I talked about a piece of work I'd wrapped up a month previously
"I want you to know I appreciate all this," he said "I'd tell you to send ht to keep his accounts current What do I owe you? I'll write you a check"
"There's no charge"
"Don't be silly," he said "I dragged you out of your house in the ot two solid hours' worth of your professional expertise Go ahead and put a price on it"
"I have a vested interest in your survival," I told him "If you stay alive, there's a chance you'll throw some work ht to get paid for tonight" He patted the pocket where he'd put the slip I gave hiuys?"
"It depends which one you call"
"Only one of them'll pay you for a referral?"
"I do a certain amount of per diem work for Reliable," I said, "and Wally Donn payselse I happen to steer their way"
"Then why'd you put down the other agency as well?"
"Because they're good"
"Well, I'll use Reliable," he said "That goes without saying And I'd still like to pay you for your tiot a better idea I'd like to hire you"
"To do what?"