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He saw ot a lot of nerve busting in here like this I have a good mind to-"

"Shut up We need to talk"

He huffed and puffed a little Tina stood in the doorway behindto see what happened

"You weren&039;t supposed to be here until noon," said Jeffers "I&039;m not ready for you yet"

"That&039;s the idea"

"Do you have the ledgers?"

"No"

Jeffers frowned, then just looked confused "What the hell&039;s the point then?"

"Is there someplace we can talk?" I jerked a thu?"

"That&039;s not my wife My wife lives in Boca" He looked past et dressed why don&039;t you?" He stood, motioned for me to follow "We can talk in lass andand a view of his pool in the backyard It glittered crystal blue in the coolair He sat behind the metallic bunker he called a desk, steepled his hands like he was considering my loan application, and waited for me to speak

"I need souy double talk"

Jeffers raised an eyebrow "I think you have it backwards, pal It&039;s you who&039;d better start explaining"

I started feeling all hot up through ar&039;s not happy," continued Jeffers "He wants to knohere his ledgers are and why they weren&039;t delivered on time He&039;s not a patient man"

"I&039;m not so patient myself these days"

"Now, really, Swift, I don&039;t think you understand who you&039;re dealing with here"

I was across the desk quick and grabbed a fistful of his shirt, hauled hiot stuck in his throat I yanked him about halfway across Pens and pencils scattered A calculating machine flew to the floor My teeth and jaere set I tried to make sure I looked like I felt Mad

"Are you crazy?" said Jeffers He pried feebly at et back behind the safety of his desk

"Maybe"

"You&039;re digging your own grave, you fool I work for Beggar Johnson"

"I&039; that naht now What happened to hi pencil-neck Where is he?"

"How the hell should I know?" Jeffers was too scared to lie "I&039;ar&039;s operation"

"You are now You&039;re down in the dirt with the rest of us"

"Please," Jeffers whined "Let o, and I&039;ll explain"

I held him with a hard stare for a o, but I re a little He opened a cabinet behind the desk, and my hand drifted intofor soerous He came out with a bottle of Ballentine&039;s and a tulass and cocked an eyebrow

I shook ers&039; full, shot it back, and filled the glass again He exhaled raggedly, callass like he ht find some answers there

"You said you&039;d explain," I reht" He nodded "Sure" He looked back at the bottle of booze, thought about it a second, then shook his head

"Like I told you, I don&039;t see the nasty end of the business I handle the wood I ar&039;s deposits, and I supervise the smooth flow of ured out Beggar&039;s taking over Stan&039;s territory"

"You take it just right"

Jeffers shrugged "Then you ar needs soitimate contacts in the business cos like it&039;s 1955 He couldn&039;t modernize, so he&039;s out"

"None of that answersI don&039;t knohere Stan is That&039;s not ive thes you filuy named Lloyd Mercury for all that"

"Then where do I find hi to push a truck uphill with a wet noodle "I hope you don&039;t think you can bust in on Lloyd Mercury like you did here with me He&039;d kill you It&039;s that simple I&039;ve never seen the h to know I don&039;t want to hear any ht down to the bone"

"I&039;ll be leaving now, Jeffers"

"But what about the ledgers?"

I leaned forward, slapped an open palet dick until I hear about Stan Get on your phone, call who you have to call, but when I get back in touch with you, you&039;d better tells He couldn&039;t decide if he was pleading or tellingship Why are you still shoveling coal into the furnace?"

"I&039;ll tell you why" The words came out harsh, and Jeffers flinched "Because when you throith a guy, you stick with him Otherwise, you&039;re just soain for ee of the desk The ummy stuff on the back so it would stay I pressed hard, made sure it stuck

Jeffers shook his head He couldn&039;t believe how dus are that loyal, Swift" He opened the top desk drawer, and reached in lazily When he came out with the little automatic, I was surprised I didn&039;t think he had it in him

"If you don&039;t put that away," I told hiht up your ass"

He lifted his chin, put on a brave face "I can&039;t have you running around causing trouble We&039;re going to sit here nice and quiet while I call Beggar and find out what he wants done with you"

My hand snaked out fast, and I plucked the little pistol frorew, and he looked down at his eic trick When he looked back at ns popped up in his eyes, and he wilted into a little heap behind his desk

I left his office and made for the front door

Tina stood in my way Her robe had fallen open, and she was naked beneath Her robe had fallen open, because she wasn&039;t holding it closed any it closed anymore, because she needed both hands to point the enornum It looked like it could er

"Hi"

I cleared un, held it well like she&039;d been trained how She looked overto see into the office "What did you do to Alan?"

"He&039;s just napping I had to put hied long, probing looks, sized each other up, and I think ere both surprised atIt was obvious to her I&039;d had a gun pointed at ger if necessary Your average person doesn&039;t know dick about aier Your average person would shit his pants when looking down the barrel of a cocked handgun We were not two average people

And then she did soht be

She stepped back and motioned with her chin that I should leave

"Just like that?"

"I have to speak to Alan," she said, "before I can do anything with you"

I gave her a half-hearted salute "Until next ti an eye on you, Mr Swift"

I got out to my car and fumbled with the headphones, put the Jeffers to his feet, getting hiet him some ice for his chin

"What do we do?" asked Jeffers "This is bad"

I looked in the rearview mirror A car approached, parked behind me It was so blatantly uned the receiver into the little tape recorder and stashed the whole setup under the car seat I tugged off the belly holster, and the pistol joined the tape recorder

A tall man climbed out of the unmarked car I knew him He was bent and his hair was thick and white He wore a shiny brown suit and cheap cop shoes He walked up to my car on the driver&039;s side and knocked on the

I rolled it down "Morning, Burt"

"Hi, Charlie" He bit his thu ot somebody back here that wants to have a ith you"