returned

his own TV shows, and a take of easily a quarter million a month. Lester had known that Brother Lee had come to town for a televised revival, of course; that was why he himself had taken the night off. No one would be coming to his little storefront church as long as Brother Lee was in town, filling the football stadium with his followers.
He had not expected to see the preacher here—although he wasn’t particularly surprised to see him with Star. She had a weakness for men of the cloth, and practically begged to be “ministered to.” Besides, rumor said that Brother Lee had a weakness for blonds.
Lester had taken in the situation in a glance, and acted accordingly.
He knew enough to recognize a heart attack when he saw one, and he had also known what would happen if Brother Lee was taken to a hospital from this particular motel. People would put two and two together—and come up with an answer that would leave Brother Lee in the same shape as Jim Bakker. Ruined and disgraced, and certainly not fluid enough to pay blackmail.
First things first; Brother Lee’s wallet had been lying on the stand beside the bed. Lester grabbed it, pulled some bills out of it and shoved them at Star. The little blond grabbed them and fled without a word.
Now one complication had been dealt with. Star wouldn’t say anything to anyone; a hooker whose clients died didn’t get much business.
Then, he had helped Brother Lee back into his pants; shoved the wallet into his coat-pocket (a small part of his mind writhing with envy to see that the suit was Armani and the fabric was silk) and draped the coat over Brother Lee’s shoulders. He could not be found here; he had to be found somewhere neutral and safe.
There were car keys on the nightstand too; Lester had assumed they were for the vehicle outside. He had hoped there was a car-phone in it, but even if there hadn’t been he could still have worked something out.
But there had been a phone, a portable; Lester dialed the emergency number, returned to the motel room, got Brother Lee into the car and got the car down into the street moments before the ambulance arrived. There was, after all, no harm in being rescued from the street—only in being taken from a motel room in a state of undress. He had followed