“Borrow from somebody else,” Kelp suggested.

“Well, the problem with that,” Little Feather told him, “anybody that wants to invest in a casino, they gotta be investigated by the government, make sure they’re not mobbed up. Only, most people that want to invest in casinos are mobbed up, so it takes a while to prove you’re not.”

Dortmunder said, “How long?”

Kelp said, “She’s gonna say eight years.”

“If everything goes smoothly,” Little Feather said.

“Everything goes smoothly,” Dortmunder repeated in a quiet and contemplative way, as though wondering what those pretty-sounding words meant.

Tiny said to Little Feather, “So what it comes down to is, we don’t get no money because you didn’t get no money, and you aren’t gonna get no money because there isn’t any casino.”

Kelp said, “It sounds pretty final when you put it that way.”

Tiny, looking like Grendel between meals, said, “How’d I wind up here anyway?”

“Fitzroy,” Little Feather promptly answered. “Fitzroy and Irwin got us into this.”

Kelp said, “Well, don’t leave out Oglanda and Fox.”

“Maybe I’ll rush the courthouse, too,” Tiny decided.

“Well,” Dortmunder said, “I’m gonna forget the whole thing, if I possibly can. Tomorrow, we start a whole new year, and it’s gonna be a better year, I just believe it is, and I’m gonna start it by going over to Jersey and pick up some cameras I left there.”

“I know you meant to ask me to come along,” Kelp told him, “and just forgot, but in fact, I’m gonna be busy. When I leave here, I gotta go over to St. Vincent’s hospital.”

They looked at him. Little Feather said, “Why, you sick?” as though she was about to go for the Lysol.

“No, I need a car,” Kelp said. “Anne Marie wants us to drive to Kansas, start tomorrow, there’s some people there she wants to show me to.”

Tiny grumbled and moved his shoulders around. “It’s New Year’s Eve,” he said. “I’m goin down to Brooklyn, find a good bar, start a fight.”

Dortmunder said, “How about you, Little Feather? You heading back north?”

“In a few days,” she said. “We’re gonna stick around the city awhile, take in some shows.”

Kelp said, “We?”

“Well, if the business part of the meeting is over,” she said, “I’ll bring him out.” Turning, she called over her shoulder, “Benny!”

Benny Whitefish appeared in the doorway, in the suit and tie he’d worn to court, but the face above the raiment was very different. His smile was both awed and grateful, like a lottery winner who hadn’t known he was playing the lottery. “Hi,” he said, and gave a little wave.

Dortmunder and Kelp and Tiny had nothing to say. Little Feather gave them her own unreadable smile and said, “Benny’s my protector now, aren’t you, Benny?”

“Uh-huh,” he said, and gulped, his Adam’s apple bouncing like a golf ball.

“That’s nice,” Dortmunder managed to say.

“I been needing a protector,” Little Feather said. “Benny, bring out the pretzels, let’s make it a party.”

Benny trotted off on his errand.