“I’ll knock him off for you for half a grand.”

“Whisper?”

“Yep, and it’s dirt cheap.”

“Why do I want him killed?” I asked.

“He un-womaned you, didn’t he?”

“Yeah?”

“You ain’t that dumb.”

A notion stirred in my noodle. To give it time to crawl around I said: “Sit down. This needs talking over.”

“It don’t need nothing,” he said, looking at me sharply, not moving toward either chair. “You either want him knocked off or you don’t.”

“Then I don’t.”