go after him at will. If he could kill Harris where he chose, kill him
cleanly, he could salvage the plan that he and Billy had devised this
afternoon.
As he waited for his prey, he thought again of that second night of his
relationship with Billy....
After the whore left Billy's apartment, they ate dinner in the kitchen.
Between them they consumed two salads, four steaks, four rashers of
bacon, six eggs, eight -ces of toast, and a large quantity of Scotch.
They ap ached the food as they had the woman: with inten _ty, with
singling mindedness, with appetites that were those of men but those of
supermen. -t midnight, over brandy, Bollinger had talked about the years
when he had lived with his grandmother.
Even now he could remember any part of that conversation he wished. He
was blessed with virtually total -,.'recall, a talent honed by years of
memorizing complex poetry.
,So she called you Dwight. I like that name.
'Why are you talking that way?'
'The Southern accent? I was born in the South. I bad an accent until
I was twenty. I made a concerted effort to lose it. Took voice
lessons. But I can recall it when I want. Sometimes the drawl amuses
me.'
'Why did you take voice lessons in the first place?
The accent is nice.'
'Nobody up North takes you seriously when you've got a heavy drawl. They
think you're a redneck. Say, what if I call you Dwight?'
'If you want.'
'I'm closer to you than anyone's been since your grandmother. Isn't
that true?'
'Yeah.'
'Ishouldcallyou Dwight. In fact, I'm closer to you than your
grandmother was.
'I guess so.'
'And you know me better than anyone else does.
'Do I? I suppose I do.'
'Then we need special names for each other.
'So call me Dwight. I like it.
'And you call me-Billy- 'Billy?'
'Billy lames Plover.
'Where'd you get that?'
I was born with it.
'You changed your name?'
'just like I did the accent.
'When?'
'A long time ago.
'Why?'
'I went to college up North. Didn't do as well as I should have done.
Didn't get the grades and Finally dropped out. But by then I knew why I
didn't make it. In those days, Ivy League professors didn't give you a
chance if you spoke with a drawl and hag a redneck name like Billy lames
Plover.
