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Page 30<br />
“I’m sure it’s something disgusting, and I’ve got more than enough of that without<br />
rolling around in yours.” Felix rose and started for the door. “Now, excuse me, but I have<br />
something urgent to…”<br />
“It’s a candle. That’s all.”<br />
Felix wasn’t sure he’d heard right. “What?”<br />
“A candle. That’s what I want you to find.”<br />
Every instinct he had for self-preservation told him to leave the room and to forget<br />
anything about this guy, but the pragmatic side of him argued that was ridiculous. “If it’s just<br />
a candle, buy a new one. Why send me looking for it? My daily rate would buy you a<br />
hundred candles.”<br />
it?”<br />
“If I told you that you were looking for a live hand grenade, how would you handle<br />
“Carefully.”<br />
“Then treat this the same way. It may look benign, but it is not.”<br />
“… a candle. We’re still talking about a candle.”<br />
Peter took a photo from his desk and walked it over to Felix. “Three feet high. It’s so<br />
black it almost looks blue. It is fixed in a heavy brass stand that looks like gold. Someone<br />
might think the stand has value. They would be wrong. It is old, but it is worthless. It is the<br />
candle itself that matters. I need it back tonight. Today. As soon as you can lay hands on it.”<br />
“If I don’t understand why I’m doing something, I have a hard time doing it well, and<br />
I don’t understand this.”<br />
“All you have to understand is that I want it. It is important to me. That’s all that<br />
ever makes anything special. I want it. It is mine, and someone took it, and I want it. And if<br />
you get it for me, Mr. Fortune…”<br />
“Felix.”<br />
“… if you get it for me, Felix, I am in a position to help you enormously.”
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