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"I thought so then," Phil said softly "Now I&039; breath and looked up at him "You know," she said with sudden warmth, "neither am I Say Phil, how valuable is that cat, anyway, if there is a cat? Could it be worth 10,000?"

Phil felt his eyes bug at the sa that Lucky&039;s worth could never be measured in money "10,000?" he murmured "I haven&039;t the faintest idea What ure?"

"Well," Juno said slowly, "after the Akeley&039;s - muck &039;em! - had left this afternoon, Jack caain about how dumb I was about you Only this time it wasn&039;t because I had let you in, but because I&039;d let you go He says to me, &039;You&039;re dunize opportunity Now I&039;m in a position to oing to do it, at least not right away,&039; he says, &039;because there are higher things, Juno, there are higher things&039;" And she rolled her eyes as if she were in the ring and approaching her spouse in his character of Swish Jack Jones, the Lady Killer

"Well, anyway," she went on after a ed voice, "I didn&039;t wonder too much about that at the ti to needle me that way since he met Sashy (Jack hates et out of the ring tonight, Moe Brireen cat Sees of his conversations for the afternoon, and I&039;d talked about a green cat when I was talking to you He pretended it hat you call idle curiosity, but that&039;s so of Course I told him you were just a harmless nut with cats in your bonnet, but he didn&039;t seem satisfied" She looked at Phil puzzledly "You did think you were a nut this afternoon, didn&039;t you? You didn&039;t believe in any green cat then - I ued you out of it?"

Phil had to nod

"But now you&039;ve changed your mind?"

"Yes, I have You see, I finally took your husband&039;s advice and went to see the analyst"

"That lousy psycher the Akeleys put him onto!" she snorted

Phil sketched the essentials of his episode with Dr Roht If he locks you up and calls in so you, then that green cat&039;s no weed dream, brother!"

"They didn&039;t look like hoodlums," Phil objected doubtfully "Besides, Miss Roreen cat was important"

"That sexy little she-punk!" Juno dismissed Mitzie contemptuously

Phil was startled - he hadn&039;t realized he&039;d told Juno so much about Mitzie

"Besides," Juno went on conclusively, "Moe&039;s interested in the green cat, or he wouldn&039;t puotta be real Oh, the poor little mutt"

"Who, Moe?" Phil asked confusedly

"Course not I mean Jack, specially after Moe catches up with hireen cat and then didn&039;t deliver" Her brow furrowed excitedly "Look, Phil, this is the way I figger it: Moe tells Jack and so 10,000 to anybody who brings er dealing with sreen cat?" Phil objected "Did you ask hi you?"

"Brother, you don&039;t ask Moe Bri," Juno assured him

"But you do think now that your husband and Cookie stole the green cat while Old Rubberar me out?"

Juno&039;s look implied he stated the obvious far too often

"Has Mr Bri your husband questions?" Phil asked

"Jack wasn&039;t billed for tonight," Juno explained "He went off somewhere"

"To the Akeleys&039;?" Phil asked, a blurred ht," Juno said Her voice beca "They only receive wunct a week! Most likely Jack&039;s gone off with Cookie soht about Mr Brireen cat, and Jack stole the cat, then why hasn&039;t he taken it to hiry bull "Oh, it&039;d be so they flattered hiive them the cat They can really twist hiain "But ould the Akeleys ith the cat?"

"What do screwballs like that ith anything?" Juno countered "What do they ith Jack?" She snuffed and looked at Phil "Get one thing straight," she said gruffly, "I love Jack, the little rat I&039;ve taken a lot from him, but I haven&039;t ht more of Cookie and those other punks than he did for h my skin After all, if a man knows you can lick him, I suppose it&039;s bound to affect hian to play up to hie him, that was too much for me They&039;re intelleckchuls, you see, and they flattered Jack and filled hiux about how he had a hidden artistic talent and hoas Zeus or so the female principle and so on Well, he falls for it see? - goes into a co tapes, printed books even! Next thing he&039;s insultinga lot of words I never hardly heard of Keeps talking about how great Mary is, with her art and her ures or whatever they are, and hoonderful Sashy is, with his great ideas about understanding and love and a lot of other junk Tells me to my face that I&039; done ith that last word, Juno slugged down the rest of her drink "Look, Phil," she went on, "I could fight Cookie and the others, because they&039;re on ht intelleckchuls They&039;re lifting Jack away fro about it And now they&039;ve done and got hireen cat business Because Moe Bri" She carefully took the glass out of her hand and made claws "If I had the little rat here," she said, "I&039;d strangle some sense into him But until Moe Bri rong, and now I can&039;t do nothing"

Phil&039;s blurredto Dr Romadka&039;s, he had seen Jack, Cookie, Sacheverell, and Mary driving somewhere in the ancient electric

Juno slammed the table with both fists People looked around "That black hearse-box!" She roared "I should have known it Tonight&039;s so irabbed Phil by the wrist, funized it just before draining the last of the soybean milk, set it doith a shudder and yanked Phil out of the booth "Co to the Akeleys! To the te to the sub-street, Juno had to pause Phil got a chance to look back the long length of the bar As he did, the elevator door at the far end opened A fat forlasses were twin patches of sot an unannounced deth He was lifted off his feet and lightly swung so and glaring with trucks

"That was Moe Briasped

"I know," Juno told hiher levels and cab phones "He didn&039;t see us"

Phil wasn&039;t so sure