Larry stood, glowering down at Myron. 'Why don't you give the kid some good advice?' he said. 'Tell him to get a real agent.'

Myron had expected this whole good-cop, bad-cop routine. He had, in fact, expected worse; Larry Hanson had not yet attacked the sexual appetites of anyone's mother. Still, Myron preferred the bad cop to the good cop.

Larry Hanson was a frontal assault, easily spotted and handled. Otto Burke was the snake-infested high grass with buried land mines.

'Then I guess we have nothing more to discuss,' Myron said.

The believe a holdout would be unwise, Myron,' Otto said. 'It might soil Christian's squeaky-clean image. Hurt his endorsements. Cost you both a great deal of money. You don't want to lose money, Myron.'

Myron looked at him. 'I don't?'

'No, you don't.'

'Can I jot that down?' He picked up a pencil and began scribbling.

'Don't… want… to… lose… money.' He grinned at both men. 'Am I picking up pointers today or what?'

Larry mumbled, 'Goddamn wiseass.'

Otto's smile remained locked on autopilot. 'If I may be so bold,' he continued, 'I would think Christian would want to collect quickly.'

'Oh?'

'There are those who have serious reservations about Christian Steele's future. There are those' - Otto drew deeply on his cigarette - 'who believe he may have had something to do with that girl's disappearance.'

'Ah,' Myron said, 'that's more like it.'

'More like what?'

'You're starting to fling mud. For a second there I thought I wasn't asking for enough.'

Larry Hanson stuck a thumb in Myron's direction. 'Do you believe this fucking sliver of pond film we're sitting with? You raise a legitimate issue about Christian's ex-bimbo, one that goes to the heart of his value as a public relations commodity-'

'Pitiful rumors,' Myron interrupted. 'No one believed them. If anything, they made the public more sympathetic to Christian's tragedy. And don't call Kathy Culver a bimbo.'