And, Dorlgy H. Alder went on, we happen to know the syndicate has been very anxious to sign an oil lease, but the drilling company will not go ahead with development work unless it can also control our acreage. Not only have we refused to consolidate our holdings with yours for the purposes of the lease, but, frankly, we were quite definitely manipulating things so as to force your clients to sell out their holdings for a fraction of their value. A little financial squeeze here, a little political pressure there. Under those circumstances, Mr. Mason, to think that you would be entirely ignorant of die nature of our little corporation would be a reflection on your own abilities as an attorney, and my perspicacity as an opponent. Im sorry, Doxey said, laughing, but the corporation doesnt pay me to discuss members of the board with the stockholders. I wasnt about to interrupt them with some lame pep talk. By whom? Yes. But he got away. Showalter said that they needed to lay low for a while. One day Denny asked him about the money and the compound. Denny was pretty sharp about most things but he hadnt figured out that Showalter was a con artist. Until that day. Showalter planted some of the robbery money in his apartment and then claimed that hed confronted Denny about it and Denny had drawn his weapon. Showalter didnt have any choice but to kill him. That was the story he gave, anyway. It made the national news, then he got invited to this big police convention. I guess the speech he gave about dishonest cops was pretty good stuff. He even got interviewed on60 Minutes.’ Im not really a drunk. Then, Im wondering if Showalter somehow found out who I really am. Maybe that’s why Wade is following me.’ With absolutely no proof but well-grounded suspicion, I played out a quick scenario. A Showalter cop follows her up into the hills after she leaves the office. The dark. The rain. Slams into her hard enough to push her off the road. The descent was supposed to be violent enough to kill her. But she didnt have the decency to die. Showalter had to be afraid now. If she could survive she could talk. And even if nobody believed her, she would be able — and willing now — to tell the story about Showalter and his bank-robbing patriotic cops. I cant afford it, Drake told him, grinning. He and Murfin and I had moved down the cafeteria line in the bus station. Gallops had gone first. I remembered looking down the line toward the cashier. She was a white, middle-aged woman with a cheaters eyes and a bitter mouth. Her gaze was fixed on Gallops and the only expression in her eyes was hate, the hot kind that supposedly sears souls. I expect so. Smart criminals understand that that sort of thing is not in their best interests, because the worse the crime, the harder law enforcement goes after them. Quane nodded.About that. Some dynamite, eh, Paul? Well, I put it in front of an electric heater so it would dry out more rapidly. Well, the witness said, sometimes things get stolen out of glove compartments and— Maybe we should have three rentals, Dino said. Im trying to come up with the best way of handling this, Devine. Good, Stone said, starting to eat. When can we get out of here? Try to make Roxy pay for her roadway through the nose. Age forty, five-ten, two hundred pounds, sandy hair. Theres a photograph. Mason shrugged his shoulders.Well, theres nothing we can — wait a minute. What happened when you paid the meter? big tits womans.