Page 33 of Near Miss

“Well, I’m not Huff.”

“What about Matilda?”

“No sign of her yet.”

“What’s the plan?”

“I have a couple of ideas. How identifiable do you want the bodies?”

“It doesn’t matter to me, as long as they’re both gone.”

“That’s what I was hoping you’d say. What do you think about giving them a big send-off.”

“How big?”

Bozo explained what he had in mind.

Trench chuckled. “I like it.”

“I thought you would.”

“How long until you can be ready?”

“I’ll need a few hours to get everything worked out, then it’ll depended on when Barrington and Matilda go out. Worse case, by tomorrow. It’s not going to be cheap, though.”

“How much?”

“I need to make a few calls first.”

“All right. Remember, when it happens, I want to be there.”

“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t want you to miss it.”

Bozo called an acquaintance he knew named Pike Larson.

“Yes?”

“It’s Bozo.”

“What do you want?” Larson asked, surely as ever.

“I need to do a little shopping. Is your store open?”

“That depends on what you want.”

“An accessory for a friend’s Bentley.”

“How big of an accessory?”

“As big as it needs to be.”

“I might have what you need. It’ll cost you, though.”

“How much?”

“Two Gs.”

“No friends-and-family discount?”

---