Corey frowned thoughtfully. He muttered, “We better get our signals straight. So I’ll know what to tell your people. They know you brought me here to offer me a job.”

“It ain’t no problem,” Grogan said. “They start askin’ questions, you can tell them you’re on the payroll.”

“Collector?”

“Make it watchdog.”

“Watchdog? That’s Rafer’s job.”

“All right, let’s say you’re Rafer’s assistant.”

“Will he go for that?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Grogan said. He opened the door for Corey. But Corey closed the door and said, “There’s another item. I’m gonna need a gun.”

“Wait here,” Grogan said, and went through the parlor and into the dining room. Corey heard him opening a drawer. He came back with a .38 and a box of cartridges. Corey loaded the pistol and slipped it under his belt and pocketed the cartridge box. And just as he was doing that, he heard something.

It wasn’t loud, barely audible; but he heard it as clearly as the slamming of a door. It came from upstairs. It was just a tiny clicking noise and he knew it was the bedroom door. The door had been open and Lita had closed it. Closed it very quietly, he told himself. Quietly and carefully. Which means that all this time she wasn’t in the bedroom. Or in the bathroom. You’re a former plainclothes man and you add it up in a jiffy. You know where she was all this time. She was in the hallway up there, listening in.

Grogan hadn’t heard it. Or maybe he was pretending he hadn’t heard it. His face showed no reaction. His tone was technical as he said, “Keep in touch. That means at least once a day. If I’m not at the Hangout, try me here.”

Corey nodded. He said good night and walked out of the house. He crossed the street diagonally, and when he was on the other side he turned his head quickly, just in time to catch a glimpse of her face in the bedroom window. She’d pulled at the side of the shade to have a look, and now the shade was in place again. Is that important? he wondered. Well, it could be important. Then again, maybe it’s nothing. Maybe she lives a very dull life in that house and this eavesdropping and peeking out of windows is just to break the monotony. But then, on the other hand, I mean if you wanna look into it deeper—

Cut it, he told himself. You start with the digging, you’ll wind up way over your head. Better stick with what you know. And all you know is, her name is Lita and she’s Grogan’s woman.

And what do you know about Grogan?