is gone. What was left, anyway ... " And the pause was pregnant as she stared at him.
Harry was ready for it, but stil he glanced at her before looking away. That was bad of me,' he said. 'Would you believe me if I said I came to see you? I mean, you'd asked me to stay in touch, and here I was about to go away. And I couldn't contact you.' 'But why break in?'
'Break in? As in burglary?' He shook his head. 'I didn't have to break anything. I told you: this is what I do best. It was my job, remember? And your place is a walk-in, believe me! From the back, anyway.'
'Oh?' She'd thought she was so secure, but the fact was that she had been advised to employ more security at the rear of the premises. 'It was that easy?'
Til show you some time,' he said, hoping he would never have to. And he carried on eating.
'And you got past one of my girls,' B.J. wasn't finished. 'I move very quickly, and very quietly,' Harry said, knowing that she couldn't argue with that.
'But it was very wrong of you, anyway! What would I have thought or done, if I had been in and you had suddenly entered my bedroom? And as for stealing a botle of my wine ...!'
Harry grinned in what he hoped was a disarming manner. 'I left a caling card, that's al. You must have seen that ad on TV. You know the one: "and al because - " '
' " - Harry Keogh loves red wine?" '
'Something like that, yes. But you know that stuff realy did have an adverse effect on me? And didn't I read something recently - about a mass-poisoning or some such - where certain European vintners were accused of topping up their wines with antifreeze? And now you tell me it's gone? What, did you actualy sel that stuff?'
What? Bonnie Jean could hardly believe it! Now he seemed to be accusing her of something! Also, this was beginning to sound a lot like one of Radu's word-games ... and if so, then Harry Keogh was good at them! But she kept her temper, answering: 'You know, you could be right? I tried it myself and the next morning felt like you looked that time. But no, I didn't sel it. I gave it to my customers to try - and they didn't like it either.' 'And so it's gone?' 'Finished, yes.'
Against his wil, Harry felt himself griting his teeth. He didn't quite know whether to be glad or mad. He should have taken all the bottles when he had the chance. But no, of course he shouldn't! It had to be for the best that the vile stuff was finished. And with it the 'after-image,' or whatever, of Kyle's alcoholism, obviously. For Harry was damned if he could fancy B.J. 's Liebfraumilch! Exactly how it all tied up he couldn't say, but now, at last, it was over. It had to be over, because there was no more of B.J. 's wine.
And as if someone had pulled a plug in his brain, most of Harry's frustrations, anxieties and self-doubts went flooding away down the drain of his mind, leaving him relieved and cool where a moment ago he'd been burning up.
For perhaps, after all, he was that one smoker in ten million who could only smoke one brand ... and at last they'd stopped making it! Yet even now, in the depths of his subconscious mind, a small voice was asking him: 'Oh, really?
But what about Greece? I'll bet you can get it in Greece ...'
And there it was: the question right there on the tip of his tongue, making ready to blurt itself out: That friend of yours, the one who brought it back for you? You wouldn't happen to know where he got it, would you? Except he mustn't ask it! Never! Not if he would be his own man again. She came to his rescue, saying: 'All I knew was that someone had been into my place. I didn't think of you at first, but wondered if maybe it had been this organization you worked for. Maybe they were checking me out or something.'
For a moment that caught him off guard; he had quite forgotten the story he'd told her about the Branch wanting him to clear up a point or two. But now she'd brought it all back to mind, and since