Like who?
Call me Al, Dot said.
Huh?
The man who made the call to hire me, Keller said. The man who gave you your orders. Your boss.
Forget it.
Keller touched the mans shin with his foot, pressed just enough to get the message across. Youre going to tell me, he said. Its just a question of when.
So well see whos got the most patience, Taggert said.
You had to admire the mans nerve. You really want the other leg broken? And everything else that comes after that?
Once I give you what you want, Im dead.
And if you dont
If I dont Im dead anyway? Maybe, maybe not. Way I see it, if youre up for killing me, youll do it whether I talk or not. In fact as long as I dont talk, youll keep me alive hoping you can open me up. But once I turn rat and sell the boss out, Im a dead man walking.
Not walking, Keller said.
Not on this leg, youre right about that. Point is, either you kill me or he does. Either way its the same ending. So I think maybe Ill see how long I can hold out.
Theres only one problem with that.
Oh?
Sooner or later, Keller said, your wifes going to come home. She was dressed for a day on the town, so maybe shell go shopping, maybe have lunch with a girlfriend. If were gone by the time she gets back, shell be fine. If were still here, well have to deal with her.
Youd hurt an innocent woman?
It wouldnt hurt her much. Shed get what the dog got.
Jesus Christ, what did you do with the dog?
Keller brandished the pry bar, made a chopping motion with it. Hated to do it, he said, but I couldnt take the chance hed bite somebody.
Aw, God, Taggert said. Poor old Sulky? He never bit anybody in his life. He could barely bite his dinner. Whyd you go and do a thing like that?
I didnt feel I had any choice.
Yeah, the poor old guy might have licked your face. Slobbered all over you. Hes got arthritis, he can barely walk, most of his teeth are gone
It sounds like I did him a favor.
Sometimes I think Im a hard case, Taggert said, and then I run into a son of a bitch like you. My kids loved that fucking dog. Hes been part of the family longern theyve been alive. How am I gonna explain to them that their buddy Sulkys dead?
Make up some story about Doggie Heaven, Dot suggested. Kids buy that crap all the time.
Jesus, youre coldern he is.
And speaking of the kids, Keller said, if youre still holding out when they come home
Youd do that?
Id rather not, but if were still here when they turn up, you want to tell me what choice Id have?
He looked at Keller, looked at Dot, looked down at his own broken leg. It hurts like a bastard, he said.
Sorry about that.
Yeah, I can tell. Okay, you win. Between you and him, either one of you would kill me, but he wouldnt come after my family.
Whats his name?
Benjamin Wheeler. And you never heard of him. Thats his fucking secret, nobody ever heard of him.
Call me Ben, Dot said.
Hows that?
Never mind, Keller said. Keep talking. His address, his schedule, everything you can think of.
38
and nodded again at each of the other two sheets.
Keller took one of the sheets hed nodded at and looked at a color photo of three men standing next to a horse. A fourth man, the jockey, was on top of the horse, and one of the men was holding a trophy, to be presented to the horse, the jockey, or the owner. Keller couldnt tell which, nor did he know which of the men was Wheeler although he was ready to rule out the jockey.
He looked at the other photos, and there was only one man who appeared in all three. In one he was with two women, posing for the camera, while the third shot showed him and another man in conversation. In each of the pictures Wheeler was the dominant figure, taller than anyone else, except for the horse. He dressed in expensive suits conservatively cut, and wore them with the ease of a retired athlete. His dark hair was well barbered, his face deeply tanned, and he wore a mustache.
Financier, sportsman, and philanthropist, Keller read aloud.
A hell of a guy, Dot said. On all these committees for civic betterment. Patron of local cultural events. That one woman there is an opera star, and there was a pretty good shot of him shaking hands with the new mayor, but I thought three was plenty.
You could have a hundred pictures, Taggert said, and thats as close as youre gonna get to him, because you cant just pick up a Bible and go ring his doorbell. Hes got a house thats the closest thing Ive ever seen to a castle, up on a hill with an electric fence around the whole property. You got to go through a gate to get close to the house, and the guy on the gate confirms by intercom before he lets anyone in. If you got over the fence, youd have the dogs to contend with, and you couldnt deal with them the way you did with poor Sulky. Man, I cant believe you killed my dog.
Then dont.
Theyre Rhodesian ridgebacks, a boy and a girl, and if you took a swat at one of them, hed take your hand off at the wrist, while his sister was having your balls for dinner. Get past em somehow and make it into the house and hes got four guys on staff, and theyve all got guns and know how to use em. When he leaves the house, two of them go with him, one to drive and one to ride shotgun. The other two stick around and guard the house.