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"Anyway, I'm not a cop Just crooked" Her eyebroent up "I left the force a few years back"

"Then I don't get it How do you wind up with the stuff?"

Either she was honestly puzzled or she knew Spinner was dead and she was very good indeed That was the whole probleers and I couldn't even get them all around the same table

The waiter came around with the drinks I sipped a little bourbon, drank a half inch of coffee, poured the rest of the bourbon into the cup It's a great way to get drunk without getting tired

"Okay," she said

I looked at her

"You'd better lay it out for me, Mr Scudder" The well-bred voice now, and the face returning to its earlier planes "I gather this is going to cost e"

She smiled suddenly, whether spontaneously or not Her whole face brightened with it "I think you really ought to call me Beverly," she said "It strikes me as odd to be addressed formally by a man who's seen me with a cock in my mouth And what do they call you-Matt?"

"Generally"

"Put a price on it, Matt What's it going to cost?"

"I'reedy aren't you?"

"I'll settle for the sah for hihfully, a trace of a ser to her "

"Oh?"

"The Spinner didn't tell you e to work one out I didn't want hiive him some money I suppose it came to a total of five thousand dollars over the past six months"

"Not very much"

"I also went to bed with hi him more money and less sex, but I don't have much money of my own My husband is a rich , you see, and I don't have very ot a lot of sex"

She licked her lip in a very obvious way That didn't make it any less provocative "I didn't think you noticed," she said

"I noticed"

"I'lad"

I had some of my coffee I looked around the room Everybody was poised and well dressed, and I felt out of place I earing my best suit, and I looked like a cop in his best suit The woraphic ame And she was completely at ease here, while I knew I looked out of place

I said, "I think I'd rather have reed

"Or Bev, if you prefer I'ood, you know"

"I'm sure you are"

"I'm told I combine a professional's skill and an amateur's zeal"

"And I'raphic proof"