“Yeah, but you’d a thought he had something, she was so goddam mysterious about it. And then what is he? Just a bum, that’s who Buzzy was.”

“You mean the man they pinched?”

Lola nodded her head solemnly. She seemed to be too drunk to realize that Terry was pumping her for information. But as Terry searched for the next question to ask, without wanting to seem obvious about it, the conversation was interrupted.

Carrol appeared. He stood in the doorway leading to the rear, looking at her. She tried not to meet his glance. But eventually she had to. He caught her eye and signaled to her to leave the bar. Then he went inside without a word.

Lola giggled. “Looks like the boss wants you, huh, kid?”

“Looks that way,” Terry said tightly.

“Give him a good time,” Lola said with a leer. “That’s what he likes. A real good time.”

“I’ll bet,” Terry said. “Excuse me.”

She got up and crossed the room, heading in the direction Carrol had gone. He was waiting for her in the back room. He looked mean.

“What the hell you think you’re doin’?” he demanded blusteringly. “Just sitting around on your can gassin’ with that dame.”

Terry shrugged. “There doesn’t seem to be anything for me to do right at this particular minute,” she said cautiously.

Carrol sneered and said, “There won’t be, either, the way you’re goin’ about it. Hell, I thought you said you could manage it.”

“Did I?” she asked archly.

Carrol got slowly to his feet. He was a big man, with a big man’s slowness, but Terry got the idea that he could move fast if he ever had to.

He was nodding. “Yeah, it is pretty slow out there,” he said quietly.

She felt his eyes boring lustfully through her clothes again. She said nothing.

Carrol smiled. “Maybe you’re wastin’ your time anyway,” he said.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Maybe you can do better for yourself than just trying to work the stews out there. You’ve got class, you know that? You could be doing a lot better for yourself some other way.”

“For instance?”

“Shacking with me,” he said bluntly.

Terry glared at him. “You’ve got big ideas, huh?”

“I’m a fussy guy,” Carrol said. “But I like you, Terry. I could help you go places. Come here, will you? You stand over there like I got leprosy or something, you know that?”