’ ‘Just don’t forget your promise to write this down,’ Bette said. ‘I’ve got to have some protection, the way I’m sticking my neck out f...r you.’ ‘I’ll do it tomorrow,’ I said. She was stroking me now, and bending over to lick it. Suddenly the phone rang. Since I was lying on the couch, Bette answered. ‘Oh, hi,’ she said. Bette listened for a minute. I could tell by the way she was standing that she was surprised. She said, ‘Sure. . . I guess so. . . I need to pick some stuff up at the drug. "Apparently so. Don't get your hopes up, though. I won't forget our contract." Argyle made a sigh that sounded like a car driving through a hailstorm of razor blades. "I'd had my hopes," he observed. I reached out and playfully tapped Argyle's long, tapered ear. "I'm not such a horrid mistress, am I?", I asked. "Besides, I can't exactly leave you to your own devices." Argyle smiled, revealing the double rows of thin, needle-sharp crystalline teeth in the jaw under his bat-like. "You won't be needing me after this, Sir Robert?" asked the driver with a little laugh"I can handle the the rest myself, thanks" said Sir Robert, smilingIt should have been five minutes but we hit traffic, someone had fallen off a bike or moped. "You know these ..occasions.. when you've brought a ..third party in..?" ventured Sir Robert as we sat in the traffic"Yes?" "Is the ...third party... male or female?" he finally asked"You're very NOSY" I teased"Yes, I am, actually. Tell. Spill" he. "Hello Ma'am, what happened to your car", Miguel asked as he approachedLeslie with a warm friendly smile on his face. "Oh my God, Miguel I didn't recognize you!" She said excitedly, happy to see her son's old friend and then recognizing the others she called out their names as they exchanged greetings. She explained quickly to Miguel how her car gave out and wouldn'trestart, and he asked Paul to pop the hood open. After a brief check he figured the problem out and explained that it would take a.