Winder said, "You look sixteen years old." Only about three dozen other guys must have told her the same thing. His heart was pounding a little harder than he expected. "Tomorrow I'll get a motel room," he said.

"No, you're staying here."

"I appreciate it but – "

"Please," Carrie said. "Please stay."

"I've got serious plans. You won't approve."

"How do you know? Besides, I'm a little nervous about this new job. It's nice to have someone here at the end of the day, someone to talk with."

Gazing at her, Winder thought: God, don't do this to me. Don't make me say it.

But he did: "You just want to keep an eye on me. You're afraid I'll screw everything up."

"You're off to a pretty good start."

"It's only fair to warn you: I'm going after Kingsbury."

"That's what I figured, Joe. Call it a wild hunch." She took his hand and led him toward the bedroom.

I'm not ready for this, Winder thought. Sweat broke out in a linear pattern on the nape of his neck. He felt as if he were back in high school, the day the prettiest cheerleader winked at him in biology class; at the time, he'd been examining frog sperm under a microscope, and the wink from Pamela Shaughnessy had fractured his concentration. It had taken a month or two for Joe Winder to recover, and by then Pamela was knocked up by the co-captain of the junior wrestling squad. The teacher said that's what she got for not paying attention in class.

The sheets in Carrie Lanier's bedroom were rose, the blanket was plum. A novel by Anne Tyler was open on the bedstand, next to a bottle of nose drops.

A fuzzy stuffed animal sat propped on the pillow: shoe-button eyes, round ears and short whiskers. Protruding slightly from its upturned, bucktoothed mouth was a patch of turquoise cotton that could only be a tongue.

"Violet the Vole," Carrie explained. "Note the sexy eyelashes."

"For Christ's sake," Joe Winder said.

"The Vance model comes with a tiny cigar."

"How much?" Winder asked.

"Eighteen ninety-five, plus tax. Mr. X ordered a shipment of three thousand." Carrie stroked his arm. "Come on, I feel like cuddling."

Wordlessly, Winder moved the toy mango vole off the bed. The tag said it was manufactured in the People's Republic of China. What must they think of us on the assembly line? Winder wondered. Stuffed rats with cigars!

Carrie Lanier said, "I've got the jitters about singing in the parade. I don't look much like a Seminole."

Winder assured her she would do just fine. "Listen, I need to ask a favor. If you say no, I'll understand."

"Shoot."

"I need you to steal something for me," he said.

"Sure."

"Just like that?"

Carrie said, "I trust you. I want to help."

"Do you see the possibilities?"

"Surprise me," she said.

"Don't worry, it won't be dangerous. A very modest effort, as larcenies go."

"Sure. First thing tomorrow."

"Why are you doing this?" he asked.

"Because it's a fraud, the whole damn place. But mainly because an innocent man is dead. I liked Will Koocher." She paused. "I like his wife, too."

She didn't have to add the last part, but Winder was glad she did. He said, "You might lose your job."

Carrie smiled. "There's always dinner theater."

It seemed a good time to break the ice, so he tried – a brotherly peck on the cheek.

"Joe," she murmured, "you kiss like a parakeet."

"I'm slightly nervous myself."

Slowly she levered him to the bed, pinning his arms. "Why," she said, giggling, "why are you so nervous, little boy?"

"I really don't know." Her breasts pressed against his ribs, a truly wonderful sensation. Winder decided he could spend the remainder of his life in that position.

Carrie said, "Lesson Number One: How to smooch an Indian maiden."

"Go ahead," said Winder. "I'm all lips."

"Now do as I say."

"Anything," he agreed. "Anything at all."

As they kissed, an unrelated thought sprouted like a mushroom in the only dim crevice of Joe Winder's brain that was not fogged with lust.

The thought was: If I play this right, we won't need the gun after all.

TWENTY-TWO

Pedro Luz was in Francis Kingsbury's den when the blackmailers called. He listened to Kingsbury's half of the conversation, a series of impatient grunts, and said to Churrito, "Looks like we're in business."

Kingsbury put down the phone and said, "All set. Monkey Mountain at four sharp. In front of the baboons."

Monkey Mountain was a small animal park off Krome Avenue, a cut-rate imitation of the venerable Monkey Jungle. To Pedro Luz, it didn't sound like an ideal place to kill a couple of burglars.

With a snort, Kingsbury said, "These assholes, who knows where they get these cute ideas. Watching television, maybe."

"What is this monkey place?" Churrito asked.

"For Christ's sake, like the name says, it's basically monkeys. Two thousand of the damn things running all over creation." Kingsbury disliked monkeys and had summarily vetoed plans for a Primate Pavilion at the Amazing Kingdom of Thrills. He felt that apes had limited commercial appeal; Disney had steered clear of them, too, for what that was worth.

"For one thing, they bite. And, two, they shit like a sewer pipe." Kingsbury put the issue to rest. "If they're so damn smart, how come they don't hold it. Like people."

"They tasty good," Churrito remarked, licking his lips. "Squirrel monkey is best, where I come from."

Pedro Luz sucked noisily on the open end of the IV tube. He had purchased a dozen clear bags of five-percent dextrose solution from a wholesale medical shop in Perrine. The steroid pills he pulverized with the butt of his Colt, and funneled the powder into the bags. No one at the gym had ever heard of getting stoked by this method; Pedro Luz boasted that it was all his idea, he'd never even checked with a doctor. The only part that bothered him was using the needle – a problematic endeavor, since anabolic steroids were usually injected into muscle, not veins. Whenever Pedro Luz was having second thoughts, he'd yank out the tube and insert it directly in his mouth.

Sitting in Kingsbury's house, it gave him great comfort to feel again these magnificent potent chemicals flooding his system. With nourishment came strength, and with strength came confidence. Pedro Luz was afraid of nothing. He felt like stepping in front of a speeding bus, just to prove it.

Churrito pointed at the intravenous rig and said: "Even monkeys aren't that stupid."

"Put a lid on it," Pedro growled. He thought: No wonder these dorks lost the war.

"Stuff make you bulls shrink up. Dick get leetle tiny." Churrito seemed unconcerned by the volcanic mood changes that swept over Pedro Luz every few hours. To Francis Kingsbury he said, "Should see the zits on his cholders."

"Some other time," Kingsbury said. "You guys, now, don't get into it. There's work to do – I want these assholes off my back, these fucking burglars, and I want the files. So don't start up with each other, I mean, save your energy for the job."

Pedro Luz said, "Don't worry."

The phone rang and Kingsbury snatched it. The call obviously was long-distance because Kingsbury began to shout. Something about a truck accident ruining an important shipment of fish. The caller kept cutting in on Kingsbury, and Kingsbury kept making half-assed excuses, meaning some serious money already had changed hands.

When Kingsbury hung up, he said, "That was Hong Kong. Some cat-food outfit, I set up this deal and it didn't work out. What the hell, they'll get their dough back."

"My uncle had a fish market," remarked Pedro Luz. "It's a very hard business."

Without warning Mrs. Kingsbury came into the room. She wore terry-cloth tennis shorts and the top half of a lime-colored bikini. She nodded at Churrito, who emitted a low tomcat rumble. Pedro Luz glowered at him.