"There is a- a gentleman to see you, Mister Jaeger. He won't state his business." Walter stared at the intercom and felt his mouth go dry. "Mister Jaeger?"

His voice cracked and rattled as he instructed his secretary to send the man in and he watched transfixed as the door opened and filled with the enormous figure of Toto. He moved toward Walter's desk like a slow and deadly landslide.

"My employer, Mister Bonducci, sent me to have a chat." The voice rumbled out like a prairie storm and Walter feared his bladder would loosen. "He would like to have his money. He doesn't want to wait another week"

      Walter fought to regain his composure and tried a bleak smile as he suggested Toto might like to sit while they discussed the matter. The huge man looked about and selected the sofa, filling it like a chair.

"Would you like something to drink?" Walter waved a weak hand. This could not be the same man he spoke to on the phone asking for an extension.

"Tea would be nice."

"Tea. Of course." He buzzed his secretary and ordered a pot of tea for his guest. "Won't be a moment," he smiled weakly.

"Nice place," Toto offered conversationally, gazing about the room.

"Uh yes, it's uh- it's very pleasant... listen, Mister ah..."

"Toto. Just call me Toto." The wide face beamed pleasantly. "My mom's favourite film was The Wizard of Oz."

"Toto, of course, the uh- little dog," Walter observed incongruously. "About the debt to Mister Bonducci, we had the money, the payoff was all set up. I told you all this. When I- we, my partner and I, asked for that extension it was well- it was a ballpark amount of time. We have made good progress since and I can guarantee you, Mister Bonducci will get his money uhm, shortly."

   The office door opened and Walter's secretary hurried to the table in front of the sofa, setting down the rattling tray and shakily pouring a cup of tea before fleeing. Toto added some cream and sugar with an almost dainty precision and lifted the cup to his lips.

"Mmm, Oolong I believe. Very nice." The cup looked like a thimble in the cantaloupe-sized fist and he set it down carefully, dabbing his lips with a mini napkin and fixing his gaze on Walter. "He knows he will get his money, Mister Jaeger. The thing is, he wants it now."

Walter gasped a short laugh. "B-b-but my partner is out getting it right now—right now," he lied. We expect we will... Mister Toto?" Walter shrank into his chair as Toto rose from the sofa like an emerging volcano.

"I didn't know about that, sir. I will make a call and get back to you." Toto turned and tugged out the office leaving Walter sweating and trembling in his wake.

*****

Christopher watched the phone display as the bell rang. He didn't recognize the number and wasn't sure he wanted to answer, rather he would let the machine take it.

"Christopher Wallace? I'd hoped to speak to you personally. This the person you shared a table wi—"

"HELLO!" He grabbed the phone quickly and yelled his greeting.

"Ouch! Mister Wallace?"

"Sorry. Sorry, I uh- I just- you went back then, to the coffee shop?"

"Yes. Listen... I'm guessing you looked in the bag already, I can explain but not on the phone. Can I come over?"

"No! I mean no, not here. Uhm, is there some other place we can talk? I've already had a strange call today about this- this problem, and I don't want to hang around my apartment." Nora felt a tinge of panic and was now in doubt about taking this any further. "Someplace public is fine," Christopher added. "I'm not trying to pull anything here. Actually, I'd just like my socks back." He tried a light-hearted chuckle.

"The driving range down from the mall, there's a small coffee stand there. I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Great, that's perf—" He heard himself speaking to a dial tone.

      Nora climbed out of her car as Christopher walked through the entrance to the driving range. They moved toward each other, both studying the others' face for advantageous clues.

"Hello again," Christopher began, offering his hand.

She accepted his hand and gave a brief shake. "Can we sit in the shade?"

"Of course. Would you like a coffee while we talk?"

"Small. Black." She replied, heading for a wooden picnic table behind the clubhouse.

"Right." He jogged over to the stand and then joined her at the table with two coffees.

"You said someone else called you." She began without waiting for him to settle.

"Uh yeah, I did, Miss uh..."

She gave him a suspicious look and then softened her features. "Nora Hill. Sorry, I'm just- I'm upset over this whole thing."

"I can imagine. I'm Christopher Wallace. Chris or Wallace, take your pick. I actually like Chris best."

"Not Christopher?"

"Preferably." He smiled and popped the top off his coffee. "So, Nora Hill, you must have had quite a shock when you saw my socks."

He sipped her coffee and looked down at the table. "Not really, you see I didn't get your socks."

"Huh? I don't..."

"I traded my bag with another man in the mall—the one I supposed to trade with in the first place—he got your socks instead of the- what you found in my bag."

      Wallace stared at her fine features, feeling himself drifting off topic and into a fantasy before realizing what she had said. "Another man? You are telling me, I think, that you traded with the wrong person first—me?"

"Yes, and now I'm in major trouble unless I can get that money back to my employer." She looked up and locked on his eyes. "You do have it?"

"I do, but someone else also knows I might have it. That was the call I mentioned. That's why I didn't want to meet at my place."

"Who was it? What did they say?" Nora's nerves began to show visibly as she picked at the rim of her cup.

"Some Investigator, he said. Wiggens something. He said that I had received a package in error and they wanted to come around and see me about it."

"An investigator?" She thought for a moment. "That must have been the man in the mall. Bond- my- the person who hired me to make the switch must also have made the arrangement with this Wiggens. He must think you're me, I mean calling your number and all." She wondered how they tracked the number down.

"You were hired to do this?"

"It wasn't anything criminal." She said, defensively.

"No but- someone hired you? Didn't you think that it might be somewhat dubious, this secret trading of bags in a mall?"

"Hey! What do you know about it. Are you some crusading moralist?"

"No, and what I know about it is that I didn't make the mistake in the first place." She jerked back, giving him a dirty look then turned away, biting her lip. "Look, Nora, I'm sorry. I was out of line. This is your business." He waited for some sign of forgiveness.

"How did they find your number?" Her voice retained a hint of a tremor.

"He said he was an investigator. I guess he's good at what he does."

She slumped with a sigh. "I'm sorry too, Wallace. I'm just really scared. I wasn't supposed to look but I did. It was a lot of money wasn't it?"

"Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars," he agreed. "I looked too." He smiled and ducked his head trying to see her eyes. "Look, why don't we just go to the person that hired you and give it back? They can find another way to deliver it."

      She fiddled with a scrap torn from her cup and spoke in a low voice. "I'd have to give back my money too." She looked up and blushed. "I know what that sounds like, but I really needed it, that's why I agreed in the first place." Wallace wasn't about to begin another lecture so he remained silent and waited her out. "I guess you're right. That's the easiest way out of the whole thing." She took another sip of coffee. "Would ah- would you go with me?"

"To take it back? Sure."

"Then I guess we should get it done, and thanks."

*****

"That's the broad from the mall!" Daryl pointed excitedly. "Wonder who the guy is, I bet it's our sock man. You think they're in this together?"

"I don't know, but Hoyte sure came through, eh?" They watched from their car as Nora and Wallace left her car at the curb and hurried into the condominium tower.

"Are we goin' in?"

"That's a condo, Daryl. There's no way we can get inside without bein' buzzed in. We'll wait here a bit and see what happens."

"I can get us in easy," Daryl said, climbing out of the car. Butch cursed and jumped out, running across the street after him. By the time he reached the lobby, Daryl was holding the door open for him wearing a big, smug grin. "Tol ja."

"I hope you didn't give our name to anybody, Daryl," Butch said, pushing past him to the elevator lobby.

"Just said I was a detective on a police matter. Super buzzed right away."

"Hmmph, remind me not to live here."

"Like you could afford it."

"Daryl," Butch pleaded, "could you just button your mouth once, please?" He checked the suite number Hoyte had provided in the address and punched the elevator button.