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"I'm not sure I knohat you lass eyes, alate?"

"Some of it Not much"

"One of those pricks, one of the ones with a German name-"

"They all had German names, didn't they?"

"No, but there were two of them Not Haldeman The other one"

"Ehrlichman"

"That's the prick Did you happen to see him? Did you notice his eyes? No depth to them"

"A Marlboro man with eyes like Ehrlich, is it, Matt?"

"Only in spirit"

I went back to my table and had a cup of coffee I'd have liked to sweeten it with bourbon, but I decided it wasn't sensible The Marlboro ht There were too many people who could place hioing to try anything on, it would be some other time

That was the way it looked toto walk hoht, but I didn't want to risk being very wrong

I took what I'd seen of the guy and pasted in Ehrlicheneral impression of hiels I couldn't hneck off one of Prager's projects, he could be a healthy young stud Beverly Ethridge liked to have around, he could be pro talent Huysendahl had hired for the occasion Fingerprints would have given me a make on him, but e of the opportunity If I could find out who he was I could come up around him from behind, but now I had to let hiuess it was about twelve thirty when I paida little foolish, and I scanned both sides of Ninth Avenue in both directions I didn't see

I started toward the corner of Fifty-seventh Street, and for the first tiet I had set myself up this way quite deliberately, and it had certainly seeood idea at the tis had become very different It was real now, and that hat made all the difference

There was movement in a doorway ahead of nized the old woman She was in her usual spot in the doorway of the boutique called Sartor Resartus She's always there when the weather's decent She always asks for

She said, "Mister, if you could spare-" and I found soave them to her "God will bless you," she said

I told her I hoped she was right I walked on toward the corner, and it's a good thing it wasn't raining that night, because I heard her scream before I heard the car She let out a shriek, and I spun around in tih beams on vault the curb at uess h I was off balance fro around when the woet ht I landed on a shoulder and rolled up against the building

It was barely enough If a driver has the nerve, he can leave you no room at all All he has to do is bounce his car off the side of the building That can be rough on the car and rough on the building, but it's roughest of all on the person caught between the two I thought he ht do that, and then when he yanked the wheel at the lastthe car's rear end and swatting me like a fly

He didn't miss by much I felt a rush of air as the car hurtled past me Then I rolled over and watched him cut back off the sidewalk and onto the avenue He snapped off a parking meter on his way, bounced when he hit the asphalt, then put the pedal on the floor and hit the corner just as the light turned red He sailed right through the light, but then, so do half the cars in New York I don't re violation They just don't have the time

"These crazy, crazy drivers!"

It was the old wo tsk sounds

"They just drink their whiskey," she said, "and they so out for a joy ride You could have been killed"

"Yes"

"And after all that, he didn't even stop to see if you were all right"

"He wasn't very considerate"

"People are not considerate any ot to , and badly rattled She said, "Mister, if you could spare…" and then her eyes clouded slightly and she frowned at soave me money, didn't you? I'm very sorry It's difficult to remember"

I reached forit into her hand "You ht ae when you spend it Do you understand?"

"Oh, dear," she said

"Now you'd better go hoht?"

"Oh, dear," she said "Ten dollars A ten-dollar bill Oh, God bless you, sir"

"He just did," I said

ISAIAH was behind the desk when I got back to the hotel He's a light-skinned West Indian with bright blue eyes and kinky rust-colored hair He has large dark freckles on his cheeks and on the backs of his hands He likes the ht shift because it's quiet and he can sit behind the desk working double-acrostics, toking periodically froh syrup with codeine in it

He does the puzzles with a nylon-tipped pen I asked him once if it wasn't more difficult that way "Otherwise there is no pride in it, Mr Scudder," he'd said

What he said noas that I'd had no calls I went upstairs and walked down the hall tofrom under the door, and there wasn't, and I decided that that didn't prove anything Then I looked for scratch marks around the lock, and there weren't any, and I decided that that didn't prove anything either, because you could pick those hotel locks with dental floss Then I opened the door and found there was nothing in the room but the furniture, which stood to reason, and I turned on the light and closed and locked the door and held ers tremble

I made myself a stiff drink and then I made myself drink it For a moment or two my stomach picked up the shakes fro to stay down, but it did I wrote some letters and nuot out ofof sweat The worst sort of sweat, composed of equal parts of exertion and animal fear