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I parked the Jeep and wandered into the convention center. I asked the convention desk for planning office for the Science-Fiction convention. I got the directions and strolled back there. I knocked on the office door.
A voice that brought back memories said, "Come in."
I did. The temperature dropped about 50 degrees.
"What are you doing here, Red?"
We stared at each other a few seconds until he relaxed that little bit, and I knew we weren't gonna have a shootout. "I'm workin' a I.P. piracy case, among other things. There's a huckster selling unauthorised T-Shirts. I've be retained by the author to find the huckster and shut him down. I came by here to get a list of huckster tables, so I can compare them to the list from the last convention in Philly. I've got a lawyer and the Feds on tap when I need them."
He drummed his fingers on the desktop. "Ok." He reached into the desk drawer and pulled out a folder. "What, no gun, Red?", he said when he pulled his hand out of the drawer. "You're getting old."
"I didn't figger you'd splat me on an obviously legitimate case. If you always let you temper go, you'd be workin' on your third neuralizer. Or else Zed would have blanked you and left you as a bum in San Francisco."
"Yeah, a real smart P.I. Use the copier in the corner. I don't want my sheets to get lost. I'll fumigate later."
Same old L. Some day somebody was going to give him an attitude adjustment. I hope they sell tickets...
I did my copying and gave him back the originals.
"I got something here for you, L." I handed him the mostly empty bottle of Zany Carter Deluxe.
"What, no Pearl?", he sneered.
"Now, if I brought you a Pearl, that be bootlegging. I wouldn't want to do something illegal. A client got this across the border at Nogales. It's from Austrailia. I figger you're boys might want to run a log on it."
"Now why would I want to waste my time analysing some cheap booze?"
"Well, you see, it has to do with another case I'm workin' on. And since it kinda overlaps with what you boys are doing, I figger you might want know how it works. It, ummm, neutralizes the effect of your neuralizers."
The ice suddenly acquired another layer.
"What case?"
"You know what case. A little matter of an armed disapperance having to do with a sunning Gila Monster. I'm here to get the return of the disappearee, intact and unharmed. I sure would like to leave you boys in the same state. Capesh?"
"What makes you think that my organization had anything to do with such a thing?"
"I got a witness. She's been sippin' Zany Carters and holdin' her shotgun, in case you're thinkin' of neuralizing her. She wants her husband back.
"Now, I can arrange for her and her husband to shut up over the deal if you'll let him go. I figger you are keepin' him just to figger out why the neuralizer didn't work. That's why I brought the bottle for you to log. If it's the cause, then you got no reason to keep him. To them, A Gila Monster is a Gila Monster, not a Ambassador to Arcturus."
"Barnard's Star, actually."
"I don't care if it's Bozo The Clown! I'm just tryin' to get this settled easy for everybody!" I'd had a bellyful of this Yahoo. He was a jerk then and a jerk now.
"You're going to forget about this, Red, just like ten years ago. You're going to go back to Texas and leave this client alone. You'll just think she's crazy."
There was a red flash.....
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