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perfectly. We could make a hell of a pair, you and me, but it's going to take some cooperation from both of us.”
    “What is it you want?” she said tightly.
    “Right now I want to get back where we left off.”
    “It isn't important now.”
    “It was important a few minutes ago, so it still is. You wanted somebody killed. I want to know who and I want to know why.”
    She knew I wasn't kidding. She glanced at roe, then away. She put her hands in her lap and stared at them. “His name,” she said at last, “is Alex Burton.”
    I whistled in surprise. “Alex Burton, the ex-governor of the state?”
    She nodded, and I said, “Well, this is very interesting. Suppose you begin at the beginning.” Then, before she could speak, I said, “Wait just a minute. I've been working on a hypothesis, and I want you to tell me if it's right.”
    So I told her my idea, the way I had it figured out. Her eyes widened when I began describing the scheme of blackmail and suicide.
    “How did you know that!”
    “It was just a guess,” I said, “but a pretty sure one. Anyway, we can skip that part of it since I'm already familiar with it. Let's get down to the reasons for killing an ex-governor. Is he the one who killed your husband?”
    She wanted to just sit there and say nothing, but she knew better than that. “… No,” she said finally. “That is, I don't know, I'm not sure.”
    “Then why?”
    “… Alex Burton wants to kill me.”
    I thought that one over,, letting the picture take shape. “Uh-huh,” I said, “that could make sense. Your husband was turning the screw on Burton. What he wanted was the dossier that Venci had gathered on him, some irrefutable evidence that would ruin Burton for good, especially in politics. So now Burton is trying to kill you, which means that he didn't get that dossier after all, which means that you have a pretty good idea where it is, or what's in it. Is that the way it is?”
    She nodded, heavily.
    “Where do you live?”
    Only a moment's hesitation this time. She was beginning to come around, she was beginning to realize that I meant business. “208 Hunters Drive,” she said flatly.
    I gave the cab dispatcher the address and hung up. “Mrs. Venci,” I said, “you can stop worrying about Alex Burton; I know how to take care of bastards like him. But I think we ought to have an understanding-there's going to be a fee.”
    She had recovered from her attack of female pride. Given time to think it over, even Dorris Venci could see that her chances of living were practically nil if Alex Burton wanted her dead-that is, unless I took care of Burton first. She said, “AH right… I'm willing to pay.”
    “You don't understand me,” I said. “I want money, but not your money, not John Venci's money. I want that dossier that your husband collected on his enemies.”
    She stared hard at her hands. “And what… do I get in return?”
    “I told you, Mrs. Venci. I'll kill Burton before he kills you. You know you'll never be safe as long as you have those documents in your possession; actually, I'm doing you a favor by taking them.”
    Then she looked at me, and smiled the smallest, bitterest smile I ever saw. “I thought it would be so simple,” she said, “when I helped you escape from prison. You would kill Alex Burton; I would give you a certain amount of money; and then you would leave the city and I would never see you again-that's the way I had planned it.”
    “Things are never as simple as they seem at first glance, Mrs. Venci. We'd better go now, the taxi's waiting.”
    “Wait a minute,” she said, in a way that made me turn and look at her. “I agree to your… proposition, but under two conditions. The first is that I am never to see you again, after you come into possession of the documents.”
    “That's fair enough. What's the second condition?”
    “You don't get the documents until after the… transaction has been completed.”
    I laughed. “Mrs. Venci, I was