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"You’d think so"

"So why does he wait? In Boston he may not have had much choice He probably couldn’t ID you until you were on your way out of the place But in Louisville he had all the ti for?"

"Maybe he was being considerate"

"Of whom, for Christ’s sake? Not of Hirschhorn, that’s for sure Considerate of you? Like he wants to let you have your moment of triumph before he takes you off the board? Somehow I don’t think so So who does that leave?" Her eyes widened "Jesus He was being considerate of the client"

"I don’t knoho else there is"

"But ould he care about the client? Wait a lis up for the client, so that’s why he lets the hit go down before he makes a move on the hitter And what does he care about the client?"

"He’s in the business"

"Which I suppose should have been obvious from the jump I mean, look at his tradeht at the OK Corral That’s a pro signing his work"

"But what’s he got against ot to his feet "It can’t be personal He doesn’t even knoho I aet me to join the union? I didn’t even know there was one, but I’d paywith everybody else"

"It roup e Keller, maybe you’re too self-centered"

"He wants to kill me because I’m too self-centered?"

"Maybe it’s not about you"

"You know," he said, "it couldn’t be about me, could it? Because he starts with the contract and waits for the hitter to show up So where does that lead us? He’s in the business and he’s trying to kill other guys in the business? Is that possible, Dot? And wouldn’t we have heard so?"

"Remember the New York job?"

"Of course I re about it"

"Reenerally call for work in the city?"

"His phone was disconnected"

"Right"

"And later you found out that…"

"Don’t stop there, Keller Finish the thought"

"That he was dead Didn’t he die in bed?"

"So did that nice couple in Louisville, re"

"His heart stopped," she said, "and so did theirs You die, your heart stops That’s hoorks"

"You think he was killed?"

"I don’t think we can rule it out If it went down as natural causes, well, how many of your jobs over the years went in the books that way?"

"A few"

"And in every case," she said, "their hearts stopped"

"So you figure your guy had a job souy waited until he was done and followed him home and…"

"And made his heart stop"

"Why?"

"Why would so like that? Is that your question?"

"Uh-huh, because I don’t get it"

"Well, you do the sa, Keller, so I’ll ask you the saht about it " Andria told me it was my karma," he said, "but I’m not sure I knohat that means Maybe it’s in the stars, I don’t know Maybe in to understand, and o philosophical on irl like you doing in a business like this I’ here you are, you do what you do, and a job comes in, and you take it Why do you take it?"

"What do you mean, Dot? Why do I take it? It’s what I do"

"And why do you do it? What’s in it for you?"

"What’s in it for me? Well, you know"

"Huo"

"That’s what you wanted ht it ithout saying So what’s the point? Guy who tried to kill me, he did it because somebody paid him?"

"No, he did it for the money"

"Whatter off the competition"

Fourteen

It sounded crazy

"Maybe it is crazy," Dot allowed "Maybe he’s crazy When did sanity get to be part of the job description? As far as the dollars-and-cents logic of it is concerned, I don’t see how you can argue the point If you kill off the other people in your line of work, there’s going to beyour way Either you’ll increase your volume or boost your price, but one way or another you’ll be putting more dollars in your pocket"

"But who thinks that way? All the years I’ve been doing this, all I ever did was coo where I was sent The old o and what to do, and I herever and did whatever, and when I caet more money I didn’t have to, I always hadfor business"