"MacDonald, John - Travis McGee 06 - Bright Orange for the Shroud" - читать интересную книгу автора (MacDonald John D)

"I always am." He leaned against the counter top beside me, and we spoke over the roar of the shower. "Ten thousand seems smaller every day, Watts. If a deal could get more complex, maybe a little more would rub off. Like if something could be picked up and held and resold. You might have more ideas about that kind of thing than I would."

"Why should you think so?"

80

"From some bar talk today I got the idea you pulled off something pretty cute."

"Oh, it was cute all right," he said angrily. "It was even legal. But all I got was peanuts, comparatively speaking. It wasn't anything I set up. This lousy town. Other lawyers get a little tricky and everybody says how smart they are. You know what I got? A whispering campaign. I'm down to a practice that just about pays the light bill."

"Maybe you could try it again, and cut yourself a bigger piece. Legally, of course."

"Maybe your guy is too shrewd for it. The one they cleaned was truly stupid."

"My guy is no giant, and he's never held a job in his life. You said they cleaned. Who?"

"Some out-of-town operators."

"Would we need them?"

He frowned, tugged his lip. "It wouldn't hurt at all to bring one of them in on it. He's damned good." He straightened up. "You're acting as if we're going to try it, and you don't know a damn thing about it."

"All I want to know is that there's no ten years in Raiford afterwards."

"Nothing like that. It's all legal, believe me."

"How does it work?"

"Your guy has to go along with certain things. Like being willing to be in on a land syndicate operation. And your guy should be off balance a little. They used a woman on the last one."

"Is she still around?"

"Not that I know of. Why?"

"It could work with my man too."

"Listen. You said he trusts you. The way this thing works, it

isn't halfway. It has to clean him completely, or it doesn't work.

|Would that bother you?"

"Not on his account. But it makes me a little nervous. We're

talking about close to two million dollars, Watts."

"With family lawyers riding herd on it, maybe?"

"No. How does it work? Make it simple. I'm not a lawyer."