As MacKenzie moved to leave, the young blond fellow turned to him. “Just a second, Bob,” he said.
MacKenzie blinked. “Your name is Smith?”
“Just call me John.” The young man’s smile was brilliant. He was holding out the bag. “You want a peanut?”
“No, I don’t think so—”
“Go on and have a peanut, Bob.” The young man gestured with the bag.
MacKenzie took a peanut. He ate it, but he didn’t taste it.
“That’s right, relax, live a little. You don’t mind if I call you Bob?”
“I don’t care what you call me as long as we get this matter settled. You’re not quite what I expected.”
The young man nodded. “You were counting on George Raft and instead you got Troy Donohue. I know it’s disappointing.” He was frowning sympathetically. “But nothing’s what it seems today. Would you believe I was a business major? But with the recession I couldn’t get a job in management, so I’m doing this.”
“You mean you’re not experienced?”
“Take it easy, Bob. I didn’t say that. I can handle my end. Don’t you fret about a thing. You see these monkeys? Just watch this.” He threw some peanuts. All the monkeys scrambled, fighting for them.
“See — they’re just like us, Bob. We’re all scrambling for the peanuts.”
“Well, I’m sure that’s very symbolic—”
“All right, you’re impatient. I’m just trying to be sociable.” He sighed. “No one takes the time any more. So what’s your problem, Bob?”
“My business partner.”
“Is he stealing from the kitty?”
“No.”
“He’s fooling with your wife then?”
“No.”
The young man nodded. “I understand.”
“You do?”
“Of course. It’s very simple. What I call the marriage syndrome.”
“What?”
“It’s like you’re married to your partner, but you hate him and he won’t agree to get divorced.”
“Why, that’s incredible!”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re right. That’s it.”
The young man shrugged and threw a peanut. “Bob, I’ve seen it all. My specialty is human nature. So you don’t care how I do it?”
“Just as long as it’s—”
“An accident. Precisely. You recall my price when we discussed this on the phone?”
“Two thousand dollars.”
“Half now, half later. Did you bring the money?”
“It’s in my pocket.”
“Don’t give it to me yet. Go over and put the envelope inside that waste container. In a moment I’ll walk over and stuff this empty bag in. When I leave I’ll take the envelope.”
“His name is Patrick Dolan.”
“The particulars are with the money?”
“As you asked.”
“Then don’t worry. I’ll be in touch.”
“Hey, wait a minute. Afterward, I don’t have any guarantee that—”
“Blackmail? You’re afraid I’ll extort you? Bob, I’m surprised at you! That wouldn’t be good business!”
Dolan walked out of the hardware store. The afternoon was glaring hot. He wiped his brow and squinted. There was someone in his pickup truck, a young guy eating corn chips. Blond, good-looking, in a jogging suit.
He stalked across the parking lot, reached the truck, and yanked open the door. “Hey, buddy, this is my truck you’re—”
The young man turned. His smile was disarming. “Hi there, Pat. You want some corn chips?”
Dolan’s mouth hung open. Sweat was trickling from his forehead. “What?”
“The way you’re sweating, you need salt. Have some corn chips.”
Dolan’s jaw went rigid. “Out!”
“Excuse me?”
“Get out before I throw you out.”
The young man sighed. Tugging down the zipper on his sweatshirt, he revealed the big revolver bulging from a shoulder holster.
Dolan’s stomach lurched. He blanched and stumbled backward, gaping.
“What the—?”
“Just relax,” the young man said.
“Look, buddy, all I’ve got is twenty dollars.”
“You don’t understand. Climb on up here and we’ll talk a little.”
Dolan glanced around in panic. No one seemed to notice him. He wondered if he ought to run.
“Don’t try to run, Pat.”
Relieved of that decision, Dolan quickly climbed inside the truck. He ate the corn chips the blond offered a second time but he couldn’t taste the salt. His shirt was sticking to the back of the seat. All he could think of was the bulging object underneath the jogging suit.
“Here’s the thing,” the young man told him. “I’m supposed to kill you.”
Dolan sat up so hard he bumped his head against the ceiling. “What?”
“Your partner hired me. For two thousand dollars.”
“If this is a joke—”
“It’s business, Pat. He paid a thousand down. You want to see it?”
“But that’s crazy!”
“I wish you hadn’t said that.” The young man reached inside his sweatshirt.
“No, wait a minute! I didn’t mean that!”
“I only want to show the note your partner gave me. Here. You’ll recognize his handwriting.”
Dolan glared down at the note. “It’s my name and address.”
“And your physical description and your habits. See, he wants your death to seem like an accident.”
Dolan finally accepted this wasn’t any joke. His stomach burned with sudden rage. “That dirty—”
“Temper, Pat.”
“He wants to buy me out — but I won’t let him have the satisfaction!”
“I understand. It’s like the two of you are married and you want to make him suffer.”
“You’re damn right I want to make him suffer! I’ve put up with him for twenty years! So now he figures he can have me killed and take the business for himself? That sneaky, rotten—”
“Bob, I’ve got bad news for you.”
MacKenzie almost spilled his Scotch. He turned. The young man had come up beside him without warning and was eating popcorn at the bar.
“Don’t tell me you botched the job!” MacKenzie’s eyes went wide with horror. He glanced quickly around as if expecting to be arrested.
“Bob, I never even got the chance to start.” The young man picked at something in his teeth.
“My God, what happened?”
“Nearly broke a tooth. These kernels aren’t all popped.”
“I meant with Dolan!”
“Keep your voice down, Bob. I know you meant with him. No one cares if someone else breaks a tooth. They only care about themselves. Do you believe in competition?”
“What?”
“Do you support free enterprise, the thing that made this country great?”
MacKenzie felt his knees go weak. He clutched the bar and nodded weakly.
“Then you’ll understand. When I went to see your partner—”
“Oh, my God, you told him!”
“Bob, I couldn’t simply kill him and not let him have a chance to make a bid. That wouldn’t be fair.”
MacKenzie started trembling. “Bid? What kind of bid?”
“Don’t get excited, Bob. We figured he could pay me not to kill him. But you’d just send someone else. So what we finally decided was that he’d pay me to come back and kill you. He offered double — two grand now and two when you were shoveled under.”
“He can’t do that!”
“But he did, Bob. Don’t go simple on me now. You should have seen his face. I mean to tell you, he was angry.”