”Perfect,“ I said. ”The very phrase.“
Elaine Brooks turned and looked at me. Her eyes widened.
”That’s him, Mel,“ she said. ”That’s the guy brought the package from you.“
Giacomin was wearing a gold Ban-Lon turtleneck and green polyester pants with no belt loops and one of those little flaps that buttons across in front instead of a belt. On the little finger of his right hand was a silver ring in the form of a snake biting its tail. On the little finger of his left hand was a silver ring with an amethyst set in it. The Ban-Lon shirt was not flattering to his body. He was fat around the middle. He said, ”I asked you a question. I want an answer and I want it now.“
I said, ”You shouldn’t wear a Ban-Lon shirt like that if you’re going to scare people. It’s a loser. Cary Grant wouldn’t look good in Ban-Lon, you know.“
”What did you bring her a present for? What the hell you doing trying to sneak into my house?“
I noticed he had sucked up his gut a little, but there’s not a lot you can do with beer wings. I said, ”My name is Spenser. I know it sounds corny, but I’m a private detective. Your wife hired me to find her son.“
”My ex-wife,“ he said. ”She offered to screw you yet?“
”No. I was surprised. Most women do at once.“ I looked at Elaine Brooks. ”Am I starting to show my age, you think? I’m zero for two today.“
Giacomin said, ”Listen, Jack, I’ve heard all I’m going to hear from you. Move out.“
I shook my head. ”Nope. I need to stay and talk a little about your kid. Let’s start over. Pretend I haven’t snuck in here. Pretend you haven’t yelled at me. Pretend I haven’t been a wise guy. It’s a bad habit, I know, but sometimes I can’t resist.“
”The kid ain’t here. Now get the hell out of here or I’m going to throw you down the stairs.“
”Now I told you, we have to talk. I am very stubborn. Maybe I’ve lost my sex appeal, but I’m still stubborn. I’m going to find that kid and I’m pretty sure you can help.“
Giacomin was looking at me. He was a big guy and he’d played football, and he was probably used to being tough. But he probably also knew something about physical potential from his old football days and I think he had a suspicion that he couldn’t throw me down the stairs.
”I don’t know where he is,“ Giacomin said.
”Are you worried at all about the fact that his mother doesn’t know either?“ I said.
”She tell you that?“ he said.
”Not exactly. She told me he was with you.“
”Well, I told you before he’s not. Now are you going to leave or am I going to call the cops?“
”You’re going to call the cops,“ I said.
”You think I won’t?“
”I think you won’t,“ I said.
”You think you can stop me?“
”I don’t need to. I don’t want to. I enjoy meeting policemen. Sometimes if you’re good they let you play with their handcuffs.“
He looked at me. Elaine Brooks looked at me. If there’d been a mirror, I would have looked at me. But there wasn’t. So I looked at them. In the quiet I could hear a television playing. It didn’t seem to be from downstairs.
”Look, Jack, I’m getting pretty tired of you,“ he said. ”What is it you want?“
”I want to take your kid back to his mother,“ I said. ”I told you that already.“
”And I told you he ain’t here.“
”Why don’t I look around and prove it to myself,“ I said.
”You got a search warrant?“
”A search warrant? You gotta stop watching Starsky and Hutch,“ I said. ”I’m not a cop. I don’t get search warrants.“
”You can’t just walk in here and search my house,“ he said.
”Why not?“
We looked at each other some more. I was pretty sure the kid was there. If he wasn’t, why not call the cops? All I had to do was stay there. They’d bend. They wouldn’t be able to think of anything else to do.
Giacomin stopped looking at me long enough to look at his girl friend. She didn’t have anything to offer. He looked back at me.
”All right,“ he said. ”I’ve had enough. Either you walk out of here now or I kick your ass out.“
”Don’t do that,“ I said. ”You’re out of shape. I’ll hurt you.“
Giacomin looked at me and looked away. I knew he wasn’t going to.
”The hell with it,“ he said with a small push-away hand gesture. ”It’s not worth a fight. Take him. He’s down the hall.“ Giacomin gestured with his head. He didn’t look at me or Elaine Brooks.
But the boy wasn’t down the hall. He was right around the corner in the dining room. He stepped into sight
