k. She was a living
dream in a black lace negligee. Transparent. It figured. A lot of things
were beginning to figure.

"Shall I tell you a secret?" she asked.

"I didn't think you had any left." He couldn't take his eyes from the
negligee.

"I think Mr. Chase and Mr. Boles are the best of the seven. I think they
come closest to what you're looking for." She lifted her glass and
clinked it against his.

Harry smiled. He wasn't looking at her anymore. It was more of an
education to look through her. She was good. Damn good. She could lull
you into believing the Grand Canyon was brimming over with silver
dollars, all yours for the taking. It was next to impossible to doubt
the sincerity in her face.

"I liked all seven of them," he said. "But since you know them better
than I do I'll take your recommendation that Chase and Boles are the
best."

She moved closer to him. He could feel the warmth of her body.

"We're making some progress, Harry. We've narrowed the field down to two
candidates."

Harry kept her maneuvering. "Paula, I'm still faced with the problem of
finding a way around the regulations. I can't hire either one of them
until I solve that."

Nothing stopped this girl. Nothing even slowed her down. She moved still
closer to him. "There's a way around anything if a man has the right
incentive to look for it."

He knew what the right incentive was. He didn't have to go looking for
that. He laid his drink down, put his arms around her and kissed her.
They walked to the sofa. Paula stayed close to him, the ever thoughtful,
loving female companion. She rubbed his back and neck and sprinkled him
with soft moist kisses. She never mentioned her clients again. And Harry
promised to hire one of them the following day.

* * * * *

He was anxious to get back to his apartment to find out if Frank Barnes
had called. As he drove back along Woodward Street he couldn't put Paula
out of his mind. He already had her character pegged. But what was she
up to? What was her goal? She wasn't doing all this for a lousy
commission. The stakes were bigger than that.

In a way it was too bad she was going to have to settle for less than
she bargained for. If her seven clients hadn't been so phoney she might
have gotten away with it. But why was it necessary for them to be
phoney? Why should a girl as shrewd as Paula send seven men in disguise
to see ...

Disguise! Somehow that word threw