Grogan stopped pacing. He sat down in an ebony armchair, facing Corey. “All right, here it is,” he said. “I like to give credit where credit is due. What you did tonight at the Hangout, it took talent. It was clean and fast and I guess you got as much style as I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen the best.”

Corey leaned further back in the chair. He thought, well, that’s nice to hear. But I can’t put it on a plate and eat it. And then he saw Grogan reaching into a pocket and taking out a wallet.

“Here,” Grogan said, and handed him some ones and fives and tens. It amounted to seventy dollars.

Corey said, “Thanks.”

“Thanks nothing. You’re gonna work for that. That’s your first week’s salary.”

“Doing what?”

“Investigation,” Grogan said. “I want to know who hired them.” Corey looked down at the money in his hand. He murmured, “Well, it’s bread and I damn sure need it. Except—”

“Except what? What bothers you?”

“Well, it ain’t like steady employment. I come up with the answer; I’ll be out of a job.”

“You come up with the answer, you won’t need the job.”

Corey’s eyes widened slightly.

Grogan said, “It’s like this—the seventy is just a drawing account. If you score, you’re in for velvet. You get fifteen thousand dollars.”

“Fifteen what?”

“Thousand.”

Corey sat motionless. Fifteen thousand dollars, he thought. The man said fifteen thousand. Should we tell him to say it again, just to make sure we heard him right? No, we heard him right. He said fifteen thousand dollars.

“Well?” Grogan murmured. And then, a trifle louder, “Well?”

“It’s velvet, all right.” Corey gazed past Walter Grogan. “I’m wondering why it’s worth that much to you.”

The silver-haired man slowly lifted himself from the ebony armchair. Annoyance came into his eyes. “I don’t like it when they start getting cagey.”

“It ain’t that,” Corey said. “I just want a little briefing here.”

“That’s out,” Grogan said. “Ain’t nothing I can tell you.”

“How come?”

“I just can’t.”

Corey smiled dimly. “You can’t or you won’t?”

Grogan gave him a look. Just a look. The look said, you want this job or don’t you?

The dim smile faded. Corey shrugged and said, “After all, I’m not a cat. I can’t operate in the dark.”

It was quiet for some moments. Grogan moved slowly toward the other side of the parlor, stood facing the massive bronze Buddha. Then he moved closer to it as though he was consulting the Buddha. Finally he turned and looked at Corey; his eyes slits like the eyes of the Buddha.

“Well now, you got me thinking. Just standing here wondering how much I should tell you. If I tell you too much, you’ll know too much.”