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me handle this, please.”
    It took me a second to calm down. I was still jazzed, and I don’t think so good when I’m pissed off. A lot of big guys, particularly drunken big guys, think that they can just take a swing at a little guy and slam him around. Makes me mad every time.
    Frenchy showed up at the top of the stairs. I told him everything was OK.
    Klapprott turned to the big guy who was still on the floor. He knelt and held a pocket square to the bleeding nose.
    After I’d calmed down, I said, “Now you can tell me what you really want in my cellar. And you can forget the song and dance about wanting to buy me out.”
    â€œThat is the truth, Mr. Quinn, I assure you.” He stood up and turned around to face me. “It is not the only reason we came here this evening, but an offer will be made, and it will be legitimate. I do not understand why Luther would act so unconscionably.”
    His sincerity tugged at my heartstrings. “Sure. Now tell me why you were trying to break in this morning. Was that your guy with the bomb?”
    â€œReally, Mr. Quinn, I can promise you that …” He stopped, and I could see the moment when the realization came to him. He whirled around and cuffed the big guy on the ear. He rattled off more German. I caught the word schisskopf . They went back and forth for a while, with the big guy sounding a little apologetic but still drunk and stupid.
    Klapprott took a long wallet from his breast pocket and asked how much for the Scotch. We settled on three hundred dollars. He counted it out.
    â€œI will not ask you again to excuse Luther. He is an idiot and I will see to it that he is properly punished for his stupidity.” Hearing his name, Luther said something sarcastic in German through the pocket square he still held to his nose. Klapprott lashed out with the cane and cracked him across the nose and hand. Luther howled and fell back, more blood seeping from his broken fingers. Klapprott kicked him in the thigh and poked him with the cane. Luther scrambled up the stairs.
    Klapprott said, “There is one more thing I feel I must tell you. Even now, matters beyond my control are transpiring. They involve something that is of the greatest importance to me and my clients. You are, I think, aware of it.”
    His tone turned more serious. “These matters concern an item that belongs to one of our members who has not yet taken delivery. Should this item come into your possession, I strongly advise you not to attempt to keep it from us. That would be a mistake, a grave mistake.”
    At the top of the steps, Luther waited, bleeding all over the floor and giving me a hard glare until Klapprott cuffed him again. The two of them left, and I asked Connie to take care of the mess on the floor. She made a face but got the mop and bucket.
    I went to the bar and told Frenchy to give me a brandy. He asked what the ruckus was downstairs. I told him I was pretty sure those were the guys who had been trying to break into our door. “At least the big one was, not the other guy. They seem to think we’ve got something that belongs to them in our cellar.”
    Frenchy said, “That’s nuts.”
    I agreed and carried my brandy over to my table. It took a couple of belts for me to calm down. I finally sat back, hooked my thumbs in my vest pockets, and froze. There was something in the right pocket that hadn’t been there when I got dressed. I pulled it out carefully. It was a thick square of stiff folded paper about two to three inches on each side. It sprang open when I loosened my fingers to reveal a light blue envelope from the Hotel Chatham. As soon as I saw that, I thought somebody was playing a nasty joke. Then it came to me—the pickpockets, the two guys who braced me on Lex on the way to the Cloud Club. The one guy wasn’t trying to take anything, he slipped this into my vest pocket. So what the hell did that mean?
    I opened