"It would appear our man has developed a conscience with respect to his latest assignment."

A thick cloud of smoke arose from the listener's mouth and he took a moment to examine the long cigar.

"The Cara Forrester girl?"

"Yes. He's making a case for her as a harmless, silly girl who just had her feelings hurt."

"Our client has paid a handsome sum for this." Another smoky haze.

"Well we do have other options. Pope is just one choice."

The listener set the cigar in an ashtray and picked up a snifter glass of brandy.

"And until now, the perfect one. We can't have any questioning or doubts about assignments, they are given the job, they do the job. End of story."

"I do agree totally, but in this case I sense a real reluctance on his part and I would not like to contemplate the ramifications if this particular employee was made unhappy."

The snifter paused on the way to the listener's mouth and he set it down, thoughtfully considering his colleague's statement.

"Perhaps, just this once and in this case, we could make an exception. Have George pay a visit to the client and explain how this will be handled and then have him keep an eye on Pope for a while. Let's just make sure this is not some messy personal thing he has stepped into with this girl."

"I'll call Pope back and apprise him of our decision."

********

Harold stopped the cab outside Betts Fashions and turned to Cara.

"I need you to understand just how close you came to a very unpleasant experience. I have burned a favour on your behalf and trust me, it won't be forgotten so you must listen carefully. Forget the man. Do not talk about him, think about him or ever mention his name. Just wash him right out of your head and get on with your life."

"How do I know I'll be safe? That he won't come after me again?"

"You have my word. You will never hear from him again. The incident is done. Over. Kaput. Just move on, Cara and forget the whole thing . . . me included."

He leaned across and opened the door, urging her out.

"Go on back in and join your friends and have a good life." He pulled the door shut and waited until she was inside then gave the driver his address.

At home, he lay in bed wondering what his penalty might be for breaking a cardinal rule of his profession. He could have just refused but he knew another like him would get the postcard and the life of a silly young girl would be snuffed.

His thoughts turned to Staines and he knew he had bigger problems to deal with.

In a car outside his building the man closed his phone after reporting that the girl was released and Pope was home for the night.

********

Bill Staines was overwhelmed by Mona's assault and thoughts of Harold fell down behind the filing cabinet in his head. By the time he realized her advances were simply a tease he had completely lost the plot. Back inside the hall he scoured every corner and suspect space he could think of without success, Pope was gone.

The call to his superior resulted in a verbal keelhauling and a threat to hire the very person they were hunting to remove him. He hung up, shaken but still stirred enough to expose Pope.

The elusive trick, of course, was how.

Pope's proximity to the killing at Creemore Investments was more than suspicious and if he hadn't missed the subway train he was sure he would have seen Pope go into that building and commit the crime. But he did miss the train and consequently, the crime.

Still, there was no reason for him to be in that area. Staines had followed him faithfully for months and there was no indication of any friend living near the Creemore building. It was the only crack he had discovered in an almost perfect double existence, and it was useless by itself. The guy just seemed error proof.

Staines sat in his favourite booth in Clyde's, sipping a beer and watching the dancer go through her gyrations. She was always there whenever he came in and he wondered if she ever slept. He heaved a sigh and focused on the wet glass rings on the table-top. The drink gambit hadn't ended well and neither had his botch up at the party. Whatever he did from now on had to be done with much more care.

He had broken in to Pope's apartment and done a thorough search of the rooms and his computer - at least as far as he could without a password. Didn't pay to mess too much with that and risk leaving footprints.

He needed some crumb of information, some way to find out how Pope conducted his business. How he contracted for the work he did. Following him seemed to be the only option and he'd been doing that longer than he cared to remember . . . and neither did his boss.

********

Tony Renesto sat on his stool in the Parkhurst, still lamenting over striking out again with Della at the cocktail party. His big chance to show her he was a mover and shaker in the company went straight down the drain with his stupid introduction. The balance of the evening had been a wasted exercise in getting her drinks and being warned about expecting a quick forgiveness.

She even embarrassed him further by refusing his offer to take her home, instead wangling a ride with the Braxtons, leaving him with mother hen egg on his face.

"Troubles, Mr. Renesto?" The bartender removed some empty glasses and wiped the bar top.

Tony snickered. "Like you wouldn't believe."

"Well it's pretty slow tonight and I'm a great listener if you need an ear."

"If it was that easy your ear would be flooded, Marty." Tony tapped his empty glass on the bar and blew out a breath while it was refilled.

"I do have two . . ." Marty grinned, leaning in front of Tony.

For the next several drinks and the interruption of some new arrivals, Tony spilled his sad tale to an attentive bartender, omitting of course his own culpability and blaming Harold, a handy substitute.

"You should take it up with the guy, Mr. Renesto. Let him know he's trespassing on your turf."

"It's not quite that easy. We work at the same company and . . ." Tony waved a hand to indicate the rest of his thought and dropped some bills on the bar for his tab.

"More than one way to deal with situations like that, Mr. Renesto." Marty winked, and moved away to wait on more customers.

********

George watched as Harold left his apartment and headed up the street toward the subway and work. He checked his watch then waited as the grey Taurus pulled slowly away from the curb in the same direction. George had run the plate through his contacts and then phoned his employer, advising him that a William Staines of the DA's violent crime task force was following Harold Pope.

"This is not good news. George. I want you to stick with them both like glue and give me regular reports. We may have to find a solution to this situation that could severely cripple our operations."

"A hit on a DA's investigator would be extremely risky, sir."

"I wasn't thinking about the investigator, George. Keep in touch."

George considered the comment and made a face. He had always admired Pope's skill. It would be a real shame to lose him.

9664 Word Total (Microsoft Word count)