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That seeet him to accept the initial examination and not take it for further tests?"

"Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that Alejandro’s authenticator is a smarmy son-of-a-bitch who thinks he can spot fakes instantly He would never take it for further tests because then he’d have to admit he couldn’t do the job by hiuy Just give et it ready"

Bea leaned closer "How hed "You don’t mess around much, Bea No shter?"

"Life’s short, Carl"

He sighed "Okay I’ll take ten percent Fifty grand and it’s yours"

Bea grunted "I’ll give you ten grand Take it, or else"

Or else? Was Bea black Carl, too? I wouldn’t put it past her

Carl rolled his eyes and grimaced "Fine"

Bea pulled a wad of cash from her purse She counted out a fat handful and dropped it on the table "Here’s half" She stared atto Carl "Dee will come to pick it up tomorrow, and she’ll pay you the other half" My nod was both an acceptance of Bea’s demand and an assurance to Carl We had a deal

Bea and I slipped out the back door of the music shop and returned to her house She wanted to talk about the next step, but I needed air I was suffocating, pulled in by the quicksand world of grifting The ga fear of bad outco out of control I desperately needed to recover that blackhter than a rubber-band airplane I felt the pressure of the con oozing fro people Aunt Franny called this "con energy," and she could always spot it in people I could certainly see it in Bea--it practically radiated froies, and whatever else she could think of This went on for hours, only stopping when my attention started to fade and I pleaded exhaustion

One difference of opinion we had was hoould handle Alejandro Could we ad who he was, or would we have to pretend to be norance would be foolish, because everybody knew Alejandro Bea insisted that we play it cooler, allowing ourselves to be aware of hiued that if we came across as rabid fans, it would be harder for him to take us seriously My probleine pretending otherwise