'I'm afraid I've never met him.'
'Yeah, but if you're out there at the house, you know ol' Manny, that's for sure! A real pistol, ain't he? I tell ya, that crazy Jewish fella is somethin' else!'
'He certainly is.'
That'll be six dollars and thirty-one cents, son. Skip the penny if you ain't got it.'
'I'm sure I have—' Varak reached into his pocket, 'Does Mr… Manny come in here often?'
'Some. Maybe two, three times a month. Drives in with one of them nurses of his, then as soon as she turns her back, he splits over to Gee-Gee's. He's some fella. Here's your change, son.'
'Thank you.' Milos picked up the bags of rice and turned towards the door, but was suddenly stopped by the owner's next words.
'I figure those girls snitched on him, though, 'cause Evan must be gettin' a little stricter lookin' after his ol' pal, but I guess you know that.'
'Yes, of course,' said Varak, looking back at the man and smiling. 'How did you find out?'
'Yesterday,' replied the owner. 'What with all the fuss out at the house Manny got Jake's cab to bring him down to Gee-Gee's. I saw him so I went to the door and shouted to him about how great the news was, y'know. He yelled back something like “my sugar” or something, and went inside. That's when I saw this other car comin' real slow down the street with a guy talkin' on a telephone—you know, one of them car telephones. He parked across from Gee-Gee's and just stayed there watchin' the door. Then later he was on that telephone again and a few minutes after that he got out and went into Gonzalez's place. No one else had gone in, so that's when I figured he was keepin' tabs on Manny.'
'I'll tell them to be more careful,' said Milos, still smiling. 'But just to make sure we're talking about the same man, or one of them, what did he look like?'
'Oh, he was city, all right. Fancy duds and slick-down hair.'
'Dark hair, then?'
'No, sorta' reddish.'
'Oh, him?’ said Varak convincingly. 'Approximately my size.'
'Nope, I'd say a mite taller, maybe more than a mite.'
'Yes, of course,' agreed the Czech. 'I imagine we often think of ourselves as taller than we are. He's somewhat slender, or perhaps it's his height—’
'That's him,' broke in the owner. 'Not much meat on his bones, not like you, no sirree.'
'Then he was driving the brown Lincoln.'
'Looked blue to me, and big, but I don't know one car from another these days. All look the same, like unhappy bugs.'
'Well, thank you, sir. I'll certainly tell the team to be more discreet. We wouldn't want Manny upset.'
'Oh, don't worry about me tellin' him. Manny had a big operation and if young Evan thinks he needs closer watchin', I'm for it. I mean, ol' Manny, he's a pistol—Gee-Gee even waters his whisky when he can get away with it.'
'Thank you again. I'll inform the congressman of your splendid co-operation.'
'Thought you didn't know him.'
'When I meet him, sir. Goodbye.'
Milos Varak started the hired car and drove down the stretch of road, leaving behind the general store, the barber shop and Gee-Gee's cafe. A tall, slender man with neatly combed reddish hair and driving a large blue car. The hunt had begun.
'I don't believe it!' whispered Mitchell Jarvis Payton.
'Believe, MJ,' said Adrienne Rashad over the red-checked tablecloth at the rear of the Italian restaurant in Arlington. 'What did you really know about Oman?'
'It was a Four-Zero operation run by State and liaisoned by Lester Crawford, who wanted a list of our best people with the widest range of contacts in the southwest basin. That's all I knew. There may be others more qualified than you,
