“Aw, naw,” Kelp said, casually waving the beer can. “You wouldn’t do that, John.”

Dortmunder drank some beer, in lieu of having something to say.

May said, “What about you, Andy? Anything on the horizon?”

“Well, there is one little remote possibility,” Kelp said, which of course would be the other reason he’d happened to drop by. “I don’t know if John’d be interested.”

Dortmunder kept the beer can up to his face, as though drinking, while May said, “What wouldn’t he like about it?”

“Well, it’s in New Jersey.”

Dortmunder put the beer can down. “They got a lotta domestic fires in New Jersey,” he said. “I was just noticing on the news.”

“Family feared lost?” Kelp nodded. “I seen that sometimes. No, this is one of those big box superstores, Speedshop.”

“Oh, that,” Dortmunder said.

Kelp said, “I know you had your troubles with that store in the past, but the thing is, they’re having this giant television sale.”

“Got one,” Dortmunder said, pointing at it. (He’d turned it off when all the bell-ringing started.)

“Well, here’s my thinking,” Kelp said. “If they’re gonna have a giant sale on these things, it stands to reason they’re gonna have a bunch of them on hand.”

“That’s right,” May said. “To fill the demand.”

“Exactly,” Kelp said to May, and to Dortmunder he said, “I happen to know where there’s an empty semi we could borrow.”

“You’re talking,” Dortmunder said, “about lifting and carrying a whole lot of television sets. Heavy television sets.”

“Not that heavy,” Kelp said. “And it’ll be worth it. You see, I also happen to know a guy out on the Island, recently opened up a great big discount appliance store out there, Honest Irving, not one item in the store is from the usual channels, he’ll take everything off our hands but the semi, and I might have a guy for that, too.”