concerned, you just let Rivers sell you a bill of something you hadn't
gotten a good look at. He's a smart operator, and he's crooked as a
wagon-load of blacksnakes. Maybe you never realized just how much money
Fleming put into this collection; naturally you wouldn't realize how much
could be gotten out of it again. A lot of this stuff has been here for
quite a while, and antiques of any kind tend to increase in value."

"Well, I want you to know that I'm just as glad as anybody if you can get
a better price out of him than I could." Dunmore smiled ruefully. "I
guess he's just a better poker player than I am."

"Not necessarily. He could see your hand, and you couldn't see his," Rand
told him.

"You going to see Gresham and his friends, this evening?" Dunmore asked.
"Well, when you get back, if you find four cars in the garage, counting
the station-wagon, lock up after you've put your own car away. If you
find only three, then you'll know that Anton Varcek's still out, so leave
it open for him. That's the way we do here; last one in locks up."




CHAPTER 9


Rand found another car, a smoke-gray Plymouth coupé, standing on the
left of his Lincoln when he went down to the garage. Running his car
outside and down to the highway, he settled down to his regular style of
driving--a barely legal fifty m.p.h., punctuated by bursts of absolutely