She was indeed, a pretty blonde and pretty bored, weighing about a hundred pounds, a considerably better-looking hundred than the one Barney had added on. I ordered the clubhouse sandwich with potato chips and cole slaw. Barney had a triple order of the boneless butt steak with mushroom sauce and triple french fries; it came with three salads too, but he passed on those. Cutting down, I guess.

I figured he would get around to what this was about soon enough. Till then, I thought we could stand some catching up.

“So after they bumped Ben,” I said, “you went back into union work, huh?”

“Yeah, the Teamsters. I was president of local 730 in D.C. for a while. Then opportunity knocked here in the Midwest. You done all right for yourself, Nate. L.A. office and everything. You get around. I mean, here you are in Kansas City.”

“Here I am. And what’s that to a union organizer who specializes in cab companies?”

Our drinks came—Coca-Cola for me, coffee with cream and sugar for Barney. The disturbingly nice blue eyes looked rather fondly at me.

“What I always liked about you, Nate, is your attitude toward money. There were lines you wouldn’t cross. But also, there were lines you didn’t mind crossing. Or are you too respectable now to turn your nose up at a good opportunity? Let me give you a hypothetical.”

“A what? When did you drop out of school, Barney?”

“After the third grade.”

“Ah.”

“But I learned to read by then. So. If we can get hypothetical and all? Suppose there was a despicable fucking crime like a kid getting snatched.”

I can’t say I didn’t see this coming, but it rocked me a little just the same.

Very quietly I said, “If you were involved in such a thing, Barney, I would gladly kill your un-hypothetical ass. I assume there are some vital organs still lurking under all of that blubber.”

His frown looked hurt, not mad. “Unkind, Nate. You ever know me taking part in an act of such a lowdown nature? You recall me ever doing something so criminal I’d go straight to Hell and take it up the ass from the Devil himself for all eternity?”

“Hey, you brought it up, Barney, and frankly? I never knew you all that well. Here’s the food.”

It came and we ate. Conversation ceased. He frowned throughout the meal, annoyed when he would rather just be savoring the enjoyment of shoveling butt steak between his thick lips. Somewhat surprisingly, he finished his three orders about the time I finished mine. He had tapioca coming with his meal. That came, was gone in seconds, and then he had another cup of coffee and I sprang for a second Coke, though I pretty much let it sit. I leaned back with my arms folded, kind of wishing the nine millimeter weren’t in my overnight bag at the desk.

“Hypothetically,” he said, very quietly, “we may have a line on the snatch.”