“Anything but, dear boy. Harry?s brought a lot of money to the state. And a lot of tax money for the
schools.”
“I never trust a politician who was born with his mouth full of silver,” I said.
“Ah, bit he wasn?t.”
“So he married the money, that it?”
“Do you know Harry?” she asked. Her tone was turning cautious. I had the feeling I had stretched my
luck a little thin.
“Nope,” I said. “Just trying to get the feel of things. Obviously he?s a man with a lot of drive. A lot of
ambition.”
“Is there something wrong with that?” she asked.
“Not necessarily. Depends on how much ambition and how big a drive. What you?re willing to trade
for success.”
“He didn?t have to trade anything for it, darling. He got all the prizes. The town?s richest and most
desirable young woman, her father?s political clout. But he didn?t sit on his little A-frame and drink it
up the way a lot of them have. He made a name for himself.”
“What?s he like personally?”
She leaned back in her chair and eyed me suspiciously. I was beginning to sound a little too much like
a man with an axe to grind and Babs Thomas was nobody?s fool.
“Just what the hell is your game, Kilmer?” she said.
“Told you, I?m trying to get a line on the town.”
“No, you?re trying to get a line on Harry Raines.”
“Well, he?s part of the big picture,” I said, trying to sound as casual as I could.
She leaned forward and said flippantly, “You don?t have to like a man to vote for him. Personally I
find him a bit cold, but he gets things done. The rest of the state is in a depression and Dunetown is in
the middle of a boom. You can?t have everything. If he was any better he?d probably be in the
movies.”
I laughed at her rationale. I?m sure most of the voters in the state would look at Harry Raines in the
same way. Babs Thomas had a bit of Everywoman in her, although I?m sure she would have killed
anyone who accused her of that.
“Anyway,” she said, tossing her head, “the sheriff?s on his side. That?s reason enough to get elected.”
“That would be this Titan fellow?”
“No, darling, not „this Titan fellow.? Mister Stoney. Cod owes him favours.”
“And he and Raines are buddies?”
