Part 12 (2/2)
Bollinger shot him twice.
Neely did an ungraceful pirouette, fell on the table, collapsed it, and went to the floor in a flutter of pinochle cards.
Bollinger checked their pulses.
They were dead.
When he left the room, he closed the door.
At the front of the big lobby, he locked the last revolving door and put the keys into his pocket.
He went to the lectern, sat on the stool. He took the box of bullets from his left coat pocket and replenished the pistol's magazine.
He looked at his watch. 8:10. He was right on schedule.
17.
”That was good pizza,” Graham said.
”Good wine, too. Have another gla.s.s.”
”I've had enough.”
”Just a little one.”
”No. I've got to work.”
”Dammit.”
”You knew that when you came.”
”I was trying to get you drunk.”
”On one bottle of wine?”
”And then seduce you.”
”Tomorrow night,” he said.
”I'll be blind with desire by then.”
”Doesn't matter. Love is a Braille experience.”
She winced.
He got up, came around the table, kissed her cheek. ”Did you bring a book to read?”
”A Nero Wolfe mystery.”
”Then read.”
”Can I look at you from time to time?”
”What's to look at?”
”Why do men men buy buy Playboy Playboy magazine?” she asked. magazine?” she asked.
”I won't be working in the nude.”
”You don't have to be.”
”Pretty dull.”
”You're even s.e.xy with your clothes on.”
”Okay,” he said, smiling. ”Look but don't talk.”
”Can I drool?”
”Drool if you must.”
He was pleased with the flattery, and she was delighted by his reaction. She felt that she was gradually chipping away at his inferiority complex, peeling it layer by layer.
18.
The building engineer for the night s.h.i.+ft was a stocky, fair-skinned blond in his late forties. He was wearing gray slacks and a gray-white-blue checkered s.h.i.+rt. He was smoking a pipe.
When Bollinger came down the steps from the lobby corridor, the gun in his right hand, the engineer said, ”Who the h.e.l.l are you?” He spoke with a slight German accent.
”Sie sind Herr Schiller, nicht wahr?” Bollinger asked. His grandfather and grandmother had been German-Americans; he had learned the language when he was young and had never forgotten it. Bollinger asked. His grandfather and grandmother had been German-Americans; he had learned the language when he was young and had never forgotten it.
Surprised to hear German spoken, worried about the gun but confused by Bollinger's smile, Schiller said, ”Ja, ich bin's.” ”Ja, ich bin's.”
”Es freut mich sehr Sie kennenzulernen. ”
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