The man I had assigned to keep the house covered just got there. He found police cars around the place, got a flash that Alder had been murdered, and beat it to a phone to give me die news. Now hes gone back to prowl around and contact someone who will talk—a newspaper photographer, reporter, friendly cop, or someone. He has contacts and we should hear from him in a few minutes. Yes, sir. Is it a well-lit neighborhood? Whats quite a bit, I said, everything? Della Street suddenly jerked her hand away. Dont worry. Im going toquadruple rather than triple it. That way we can back off to look like were giving something up and still get to three-x of what we had hoped for. In this business, Mason said, smiling, the difficult thing is to tell whether youre making an ally, or simply arming an enemy at your rear. But nevertheless, though he legally wasnt aqualified investor under the securities laws, hed bought a thousand bucks worth of stock in the little bird that flitted around flowers sucking up nectar and paying it forward. Which was where she had gotten the name, Tapshaw had told him. You can spend a hundred grand on a branding firm to come up with horseshit and then focus-group the hell out of it for another hundred grand, or you can do it on your own for free. He sat back and thought about this. Morgan and Stanley. Plenty of stuff on both people, now long dead. Same for Merrill and Lynch. The defunct Lehman Brothers, the same. J. P. Morgan was a real guy. E. F. Hutton as well. Hell, even Harley and Davidson, if you ventured outside the financial world. Then you wouldnt have very many clients, Mason told him, particularly in criminal cases. I dont know why it is, but its not once in fifty times that you’ll find a client who tells you theentire truth. Nearly all of them, no matter how innocent they may be and how honest they may be, will try to sugar-coat the facts so that they become more favorable. Then Im going to have some of my people watch over you. Because some people were trying to make out that I was the father of her child. This was Dantons one and only police bar. Devine, right? said Cowl. And make sure theyre notyour guts and brains, Dino said. Mr. Lutts said he had some business to attend to, and I went home. I saw his body at the funeral..