A little alarm started to ring in the back of my head.
“Sure. I mean, what’s so unusual about a businessman
investing in a new enterprise?”
“Wait a minute. What kind of an enterprise did you think
you were buying into?”
“He said he was going to open a retail storefront,” I said
uneasily. “But he did say something about supplying the
other street vendors for a while to build up his operating
capital. Exactly what he was supplying I was never really
sure.”
188 Robert Asprin
“You weren’t sure?”.
“Well, the truth is I was in a hurry and forgot to ask.
Why? What was he …”
“We just picked him up for smuggling! It seems your
buddy and business partner was using your funds to buy
and sell contraband!”
Needless to say, the news upset me. It had occurred
to me that, in his enthusiasm, J.R. would go outside the
law for the sake of quick profits.
“How serious is it. Captain? Can I post bail for him . . .
or arrange for a lawyer?”
“Don’t worry about him,” the Pervect advised. “It turns
out he has some information on the ax murderer we’ve been
looking for and is willing to share it with us if we drop the
smuggling charges. No, you should be more worried about
yourself.”
“ME?”
“That’s right. You’ve admitted you’re his partner in this,
which makes you just as guilty as he is.”
‘ ‘But I didn’t know what he was going to do! Honest!”
Now I was worried. The whole thing was absurd, but I
was starting to think I should have insisted on having a
lawyer after all.
“That’s what you say,” the captain said grimly. “Would
you like to see what he was smuggling?”