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beautiful when
you’re mad?”
    “Men tell me I’m beautiful whatever my mood.
It’s bullshit. Why did you send that man? I hired
you.”
    “You brought me a situation you didn’t like. I sent
somebody to take care of it. Where’s your problem?”
    “I hired you.”
    “And only I will do?”
    She nodded.
    “That’s great for the ego, but—”
    “I didn’t pay for some second-rate
unknown.”
    “Interesting. Considering Saucerhead is probably better
known than I am.” I looked her hard in the eye for a dozen
seconds, until she shifted her attention to Dean. “I wonder
what your real game is,” I said softly.
    She jerked her attention back to me.
    “First you tried to con me. Then you gave me way too much
money. If you wanted to buy a man to impress somebody, anybody who
knows me will know Saucerhead. And be more intimidated by him.
I’m a pussycat. Finally, and dearest to my heart, not five
hours after you saw me, somebody tried to kill me.”
    Her eyes got big. I had to remind myself she’d said she
was an actress.
    “It was a cold-blooded ambush, Jill. Five men, plus
whoever did the watching and running messages. A major
effort.”
    Her eyes got bigger.
    “You know an albino half-breed chuko called
Snowball?”
    She shook her head. It was a very impressive head. She was
beautiful when she was frightened.
    “How about a street gang called the Vampires?”
    She shook her pretty head.
    I had obviously recovered from my unpleasant night, because I
was starting to pant. I slapped myself down. “What do you
know? Anything? How about why you want to play me for a sucker. Or
has that slipped your mind, too?”
    She got mad again. But she swallowed her anger. She’d
decided to clam.
    I got up. “Come with me.” Sometimes a good surprise
loosens them up.
    I took her into the Dead Man’s room. Her response was
cliché. “Yuk! That’s gross!” But that was
it.
    I fished her retainer out from under the Dead Man’s chair,
which is the safest place in TunFaire. “I’ll hang onto
some of this, for Saucerhead’s time and my
aggravation.” I took a couple coins in a gesture mainly
symbolic, and handed the rest to her.
    She eyed that purse like it was a snake. “What are you
doing?”
    “You’re unhappy. I’m giving your money back
and getting out of your life.”
    “But . . . ” She went into a huddle with herself.
While the committee was in conference I sneered at the Dead Man.
Brought one right in here with you, Chuckles.
    I was trying to get two birds with one big hunk of alum.
    There’s no prod more effective than bringing a woman into
the house. The prettier the gal the more heated the reaction. Jill
Craight could set the house afire. If he was sandbagging he
wouldn’t be able to keep it up.
    Damn him. He didn’t do a thing. And I’d been halfway
sure he was hiding out from the rent collector.
    “Mr. Garrett?”
    “Yeah?”
    “I’m scared. I made a promise. I can’t tell
you any more till I know who I have to be afraid of. Take this
back. I want you. But if you can’t do the job I’ll take
what I can get.”
    She was scared. If she’d been five feet tall and
baby-faced, my protective instincts would have been inflamed. But
she was damned near tall enough to look me in the eye and had no
knack for playing helpless. You looked at her and you wanted to get
into mischief with her, but you didn’t have much inclination
to take care of her. You knew she could take care of herself.
    “If it wasn’t for last night I’d give in about
now, Jill. But somebody tried to whack me. Finding out who and why
and talking him out of trying again is going to occupy my time. So
Saucerhead is what you get.”
    “If I must, I must.”
    “You must.” I put her retainer back under the Dead
Man. “Now that we’re done yelling at each other and
we’re all friends again, why don’t you come by for
dinner? Dean’s culinary skills don’t get much
exercise.”
    She opened her mouth to turn me down,