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My mouth was dry I clearedon the Porsche the first night it was parked in front of your place See this? My receiver I’ve been following you guys everywhere in a couple of different rental cars"

"Why’d you kill Patrick?"

"Why not He’s a dickface"

I glanced over at him curiously "Why’d you spare Ernie?"

"That old fart? Who knows? Maybe I’ll go back and do hi A little hit-uy he was He’d taken the gun away from my head and it rested now on his knee "What’s the story with this bodyguard? He’s a pain in the ass Two times I nearly had you and he stepped in"

I kept ood at his job"

He looked over at me "You makin’ it with him?"

"That’s none of your business"

"Cohteously

"So what?"

"So I don’t juuys that quick"

"You should have done while you had the chance Now he’s a dead man I’ll make you a deal How’s this? Him or you Better yet, Rochelle or him Take your pick If you don’t choose, I kill all three of you"

"You’re only getting paid for one"

"True, but I’ll tell you, the money doesn’t mean that much When you do what you love, you’d do it for free, aht?" He leaned toward the tape deck "Want soae I hate that shit You want Sinatra?"

"No thanks" I saw the off-raht The road curved up and to the left, crossing the freehich now passed underneath It was gone and we hit the straightaway Twoto do? The digital clock on the instrument panel showed that it was 8:02 A mile farther on, the access raht I took the turn I knew the ocean was close by, but all I could sed the road A fog was rolling in, a dense bank of white against the blackened sky The university sat up on the bluffs like a walled city, all lights and buff-colored towers I’d never gone to college I was strictly blue-collar lineage-like this guy, come to think of it Like Dietz

I took Rockpit for half a s of Neptune Air appeared on the left "Here," he said I slowed the Rolls and turned in Messinger sat forward, peering through the windshield, which had been spritzed with fine mist

There were four n of Rochelle’s rental car Messinger had ar Under the inverted V of the roofline, illuht instruction, FAA REPAIR STATION, 24 HOUR CHARTERS, PIPER dealer, and avionics sales services The perimeter fence was made of chain link, wrapped with barbed wire on top, and padlocked Warnings were posted at intervals Floodlights on the far side of the hangar glowed blankly on the empty runway

We left the car It was cold and a hipped along the tarlot, Messinger took esture so reht in my throat

The offices of Neptune Air were closed, the interior darkened, one dilass We circled the building A broad redwood deck stretched out across the rear A picnic table and two benches had been set up for those waiting for their charter flights I pictured the Neptune e planes land, drinking canned sodas froht, there was a line of small private planes tied down on the tarmac Beyond them, half a mile away, I could see the Santa Teresa Airport, the upper portion of its tower peeking up above a row of storage sheds On one of the runways, a United 737 was luer gestured and we sat down on opposite sides of the picnic table "It’s fuckin’ cold out," he said

I heard voices behind me I turned and watched as torkar and er rose to his feet, peering in their direction He pulled the nose of the45 up and pointed, inary smoke away from the barrel and then he smiled "They don’t kno lucky they are, do they?"