I hope you get aspersions from it.”

Topper watched the three men from afar. When they sat down at the bar, he patted his breast pocket again. The wallet was there, plump as ever. If that little runt was a dip, even if he was a friend of Catell’s—Topper didn’t like any of the three men at the bar. Larry was a snooping nut, and with enough stuff behind him to be a real danger. That Herron character somehow didn’t sit right, either. One of those characters you couldn’t place. And the Turtle, a friend of that slime Catell—

Topper put his hand in his pocket and pulled out his alligator billfold. It was so stuffed that the flaps opened up in his hand.

Suddenly Topper’s eyes got droopy, the way they had done when he had tangled with Catell in the machine shop. His color got darker, and his neck swelled out. Topper opened the billfold all the way. Folded inside there was a pink napkin.

When Topper got to the bar, only Herron and Larry were sitting together.

“Where’s your friend, Larry?” Topper sounded smooth and unruffled.

“My who? Topper, you hit a sensitive spot there. I have no friends.”

“That other guy, the runt. Where is he?”

“What I mean is, no real friends, Topper. You were saying?”

But Topper had turned and gone. He went around a corner to get to Catell’s table. It was empty.

Back at the bar, Topper used the house phone, giving instructions.

“Oh, Topper, you looking for the Turtle?” Larry was leaning over the bar, waving an arm.

“Yeah. Your friend.”

“He left, Topper. He left after buying us two of your most expensive drinks. Tell me, Topper, why do you charge—” but Topper had turned and gone again.

“Not very friendly,” Herron said.

“This is nothing. Sometime you should introduce yourself as the cop you are, Jackie, if you want to study the ultimate extent of true unfriendliness.”

Meanwhile Topper was walking down a service corridor. He was licking his lips and there was a mean wrinkle down the middle of his forehead. Footsteps sounded and one of his boys came around a bend.

“Well, where is he?” Topper said.

“Not a trace, Topper. I swear we looked everywhere. I think he musta—”

“Don’t think, damn it. Find that dip. Find him, I don’t care where, and bring him back. Alive. Just so he’s still alive. Now beat it.”

“Yes, sir. Another thing, the car’s ready out back. That is, if you still want it,”

“Yeah, yeah, I want it. I’m getting Lily now. Have Rudy drive her home.”

“O.K., Boss.”

Topper walked up to a door that had a paper star glued to it and started to open it when he heard voices.

“Of course I remember you.” It was Lily’s voice.

Topper stopped, stiff.

“I’m glad,” Catell’s voice said.

Silence. Then: “And I remember you, it goes without saying.”

“Is that why you came back?”

“You might say that. I came back for more.”

“Of the same?” Lily’s voice sounded amused. “Don’t kid yourself. I mean that you and me—” “It’s no good, Tony. This’ll only mean trouble.” “Listen, kid. Maybe you’re too young to know, though I doubt it, but it’s worth the trouble.”

“I don’t know. I think you’d better go, anyway.”

Catell couldn’t make her out. Was she interested, was she just playing, or was she afraid? It could also be, with her wide-eyed face always looking a little vague, that Lily didn’t have any feelings about this thing, one way or the other. Catell wondered how she’d look when she was excited. She must get that way sometimes.

“Leave the worrying to me, Lily. I got plans in this town, and one of the biggest of them is you. Lily, I’m not just playing around. I’m not just…” Catell’s voice halted, getting nowhere. In the silence, he heard the door open. He spun around.

Topper walked in. “Go on, Tony. I might as well hear the rest. For that matter, you might as well finish what you had to say while you can.” Topper had an easy smile on his face.

Lily blinked her eyes but there was no clear emotion on her face. Catell stood wide-legged, his face turning to sharp stone.

“Let’s have it out right here and now,” Catell said. “I didn’t come here to get in your way. I came here after Lily, and no matter what gets in my way, I mean to have her. And I’d just as soon kill you, Topper, you and anybody else who gets in my way. I’m not trying to beat your time, either with Lily or with your