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I HAD rope, or rather Escott did, stowed in the baseuy after searching him He had a wallet filled with twenties, a pock etknife, a fountain pen, threewads of cash I didn&039;t bother to count, wire-rio with the locations of this house and h, not surprising for his sort

In another case, larger than the one for his glasses, I found a clean syringe and four slass effectively hid the color of the liquid contents

I gave the guy a second glance So, did he go in for morphine or cocaine? Maybe he had diabetes; he didn&039;t look like a doper, but so their secrets I should know The lack of a label on the vials gave me the idea that the stuff hadn&039;t co went on the kitchen table next to ed hied him into the hall In case he felt frisky when he woke, I tied him fast to the newel post at the foot of the stairs

In the parlor, I edged open the front curtain and saw an unfamiliar Studebaker parked where I usually left my Buick Some people have a lot of nerve

The street seeht as well see if he&039;d brought friends I unlocked the front and got the s on the hall floor, then went outside to look at the car, offering an easily bushwhacked target No one took the bait Daistration was to a rental garage by the train station The paperwork bore an illegible signature My prisoner and his absent palin and out of toithout trouble Had they planned to disappeara connection between us? Probably the latter A lot of these guys were either stupid or brazen depending on how sht they were Unless someone in Gordy&039;s mob squawked-and no one would-they&039;d do their job and walk away clean, si up for them He&039;d have done so; those were the rules

I phoned Derner, who picked up halfway through the first ring He sounded a whole lot &039;s okay, and I&039;ll be in later tonight"

"You sure? What&039;s going on?"

Jeez, he was going to ht, then he&039;d have to run things "Expect ht, okay" Not a lot of confidence there, for which I couldn&039;t blame him "The cops have been by-it&039;s about Alan Caine They want to talk to you"

This was tricky The lines were likely tapped, and Derner knew it He was a s the copsinformation Fine by me; I could play with the best of thes to do tonight"

"They&039;re wondering about Jewel Caine, too"

"What do youon, she didn&039;t kill herself like the papers said"

"She didn&039;t?"

"Which uy who bumped Caine?"

"Whoever that is," he said

Oh, Derner was doing genius stuff tonight "My money&039;s on Hoyle He&039;s crazy Didn&039;t Caine owe him money?"

"I wouldn&039;t know, but I wouldn&039;t be surprised"

"Okay, see if any of the boys have seen Hoyle I wanna knohat he&039;s been up to lately If he&039;s the one, we send hiht, Boss"

I hoped soements for Jewel Caine"

"What?" He sounded surprised

"Arrangeot fa, we can do right by her"

"Well uh" Derner hesitated He&039;d be thinking about the s frohtcrawler&039;s back room would pay for a nice service If necessary, I&039;d point that out to hiot family, then ship hi"

I hung up, then dialed a nuht before There was a delay as I negotiated with a hotel switchboard operator, then Bobbi&039;s voice caain, but my tone was a lot warmer "You okay?"

"Are you?" she countered

"I a?"

"All the ti care of it"

Bobbi required a lotwould require us to be in the saive her a hands-on demonstration Hands, lips, skin to skin, I wasI was a little nervous about it, but it beat the previousterror I&039;d felt before Escott&039;s version of a pep talk had sorted out a lot of things

I owed hiht yet, or she&039;d have-

"I&039;lad you&039;re better," she said shortly "Nohat the hell happened to Charles?"

Oh

Damn

Damn, damn, damn, damn

Given a choice, I&039;d rather have Coldfield co dus to her "Uh, we had a disagreereeht dae her vocal cords, but this was an unequivocal shriek

I winced "Look, it&039;s just soot into, and it&039;s over now We&039;re friends again"

"You put him in the HOSPITAL!"

"I know that, but-"

"You could have KILLED him!"

"Yeah, but-"

Bobbi made more loud and shrill observations about Escott&039;s condition andtone when I could get a word in, then noticed Kroun had put his head around the corner He&039;d shaved and resued clothes and had his pal me know he could hear her end all too well I refused to be eerating each word so I could read his lips

I didn&039;t have any better ideas, and it was obvious that Bobbi had been boiling for so at the sa watched over by Shoe Coldfield Heor three

As before, I stood there and took it, and in so When she asked for the why of the reement excuse

"Why won&039;t you tell me?" she demanded

"Because it&039;s not important anymore, and I know that sounds like a load of bull, but it&039;s over now, it really is I&039;ve apologized to hi noise, thick with dissatisfaction Her protective soft spot for Escott was the size of the Grand Canyon Perhaps he could persuade her to calm down It struck uy in the matter Granted, I was still on er than Escott, but he did throw the first punch A lot of them But I&039;d thrown the last and most effective, so I was the bully Those were the hard-cheese rules; I&039;d just have to live with them

Kroun moved to the table to check the stuff I&039;d taken off his friend He opened the cases, didn&039;t seee, looked in the wallet, and tossed it back He went through the contents of the money clips Each had five twenties on top, and the rest were fifties and C-notes I lost track as he counted through therand was there He pocketed the fortune without a blink

"Listen, Bobbi," I said, "we&039;ll talk to Charles, and he&039;ll let you know he&039;s all right We can visit Roland at the saot me another earful, but not nearly as harsh She kneasn&039;t to bla Not too h and catching the impatience Nice to know that he was so well recovered, but I still hadto conduct with Bobbi and put my back to him She&039;d cooled down somewhat, hopefully to the point where she wouldn&039;t take ether Kroun cleared his throat, coughed, and spat so into the sink He ran water

"What&039;s that?" Bobbi asked

"My guest froone"

"We still have so to take a while"

"The last visiting hour at the hospital starts at eight I&039;ll be there, then coo as fast as I can, but you kno it is"

"Yes, I certainly do" Dry tone from her, very dry Ouch

There was no way to end this one on her good side, so I offered a weak bye-I&039;ll-see-you-soon and hung up I waited to see if the phone rang with a fresh eency, but it kept quiet

"You ready?" Kroun asked He&039;d wandered into the hall He watched the prisoner, who still seemed to be out

"Not yet I need a new shirt"

"Make it quick, I need one reat, but the most I had time for was a fast sith a wet towel, then jump into a fresh suit Notchin stubble Maniac killers lurking in dark alleysat htcrawler Club

When I caer tied to the banister post, and rope ends lay on the floor What the?

Kroun was in the parlor, feet on the low table, reading a paper "Don&039;t worry," he said, not looking up "I just put him in the car is all"

"You-?"

"Carried him out the door in front of God and everyone, yes, that&039;s what I did No one&039;s made a coet rid of hied on one of et un froone, so it figured that Kroun was arht He&039;d left the other effects on the table I scooped the the bullet holes in the wall above the phone Those would have to be patched before Escott came home

It hardly seeh the ot in on the passenger side After the barest hesitation, he sla the mirror

"Where is he?" I asked The backseat was empty of mobster

"Trunk," said Kroun

"He&039;ll freeze"

"Only if we keep sitting here"

Taking the hint, I started theon a case, and afterward read azine ads with close interest The car was supposed to have a setup so that when stopped on a hill you didn&039;t have to dance with the clutch, gas, and brake pedals to keep froear As ere in a flat area, there was no opportunity to test things, but it was a sweet ride all the sauy in the trunk had air and not exhaust fumes to eat

"Which hotel?" I asked Kroun

"Hotel?"

"Where your stuff is"

"Skip that, take ood one"

What the hell? "You&039;re going buy stuff? It&039;ll take all night"

"Not if it&039;s a good store"

"Longer than getting the stuff at your hotel"

"Just find a place and give me ten uing, though, so I drove a few miles and pulled up to a clear stretch of curb There were plenty to spare for a change since this part of the Loop didn&039;t dothe day his bu had healed He reached the store&039;s door just as so by his hotel instead

When Kroun rapped the glass, the y He probably didn&039;t like the looks of this scruffy custoht Kroun had done an evil-eye whalanced over his shoulder then stared at Kroun or rather at soun Kroun had pulled out one of the ly back and forth A second guy joined the first and also froze, but only for a alvanized theically unlocked, and Kroun walked in like he owned the place For all intents and purposes, he did I marked the time to see if he&039;daround to the trunk The other key on the ring opened it

There weren&039;t a lot of pedestrians, and they were in a hurry to get out of the cold hipping around the buildings Privacy secured, I lifted the trunk lid to check on the guy He was curled on his side facing away fro any too coy and uncertain

I adjusted his gag so nothing covered his nose He jerked at the touch "Easy does it, pal You breathing okay?"

He , pissed Couldn&039;t blame him

"Glad to hear it Want to tell me where your partner is?"

The nextcooperative

"I&039; on that?"

More cussing, and he started fighting against the ropes

I slairls scurried past; a few of theled as I tippedto be a bum

Soht, but the lights remained on I strolled slow up and down the walk to stay limber and kept uy drew attention, I&039;d have to clock hiain He didn&039;t, so I walked and checked ht I&039;d tried to make myself permanently dead, and when that hadn&039;t worked out, I&039;d planned for a second, ht now I should have been on a slab in awhile soht hiely, it was all right

Which had to make me the lunatic

I&039;d read stories about suicides, and knew of soht hat a waste, felt a little sadness, and that was pretty much it Not until I saw the blind fury on Escott&039;s face did I consider its harsh effect on other people concerned, the ones close to the victiiveness for my actions, no shred of sy a selfish bastard for doing that to Bobbi, to hiave a tinker&039;s daht It wasn&039;t only about ive them Better to just spit in their eyes and walk aith no explanation Only I hadn&039;t had the guts to do that-or the guts to ask for help

So, I had indeed been a selfish, cowardly bastard

Wincing, I silently added in stupid at the beginning of the list I should have it printed for a sign and nail it to the wall over ree with it each night when I woke up

Would Escott remember my hospital visit? Would he believe me when I told him I was better? What I&039;d done had left scars on us both It had changed things For good or for bad, the change would always be there

We&039;d just have to deal with it The deed was done, and I&039;d have to live with the consequences

That-or spit in his eye

I shookthat road He&039;d once crawled out of his own private abyss I could do the sa a new man entirely in a sharp dark suit and polished shoes When I firsta roohter, and women leaned closer when he walked past It had faded with the explosion and shooting, but that quality was back in spades The hired helproyal treatment

He buttoned up a heavy wool overcoat and pulled on leather gloves One of the shop guys clipped the tag froht bow and broad s past with arly held the car door as they took turns shoving everything into the backseat Last to go in were two suitcases wedged on top, blocking the

Kroun politely thanked everyone, tipped them each a twenty, which hat they earned in a week, and got in the car They enthusiastically thanked hi invitations to coot in and turned the motor over He checked his new silver atch "Ten ht"

It looked too expensive ever to be wrong

"Now that&039;s how you buy stuff," he said, satisfied

"Oh yeah?"

"Let them do the work They know the territory"

"What about ot clothes only after a store was closed It was easier than hypnotizing the whole staff-which was no longer an option anyway I just slipped in, picked what I wanted, and left s Unlawful entry I was good at, but I wasn&039;t a thief

"I just stripped and had theo fast How do I look?"

He was in blacks and charcoals, with a faint pinstripe on the suit, his white shirt nearly glowing in contrast to a ht blue silk tie "Like a le "Let&039;s go arrange so at estured for me to proceed

There was traffic, as always, so it took soet there If the man in the trunk hadn&039;t tried to knockfor hih I circled Lady Cryhs Neither of us spotted the prisoner&039;s buddy

"Think he&039;s inside?" I asked

"Count on it," said Kroun

No point in asking why his bunch was so allergic to an ordinary invited entry after a polite knock; he wouldn&039;t understand the question