'He left Bibi broke in Vegas and took off with the money that was supposed to be their start-over cash.'
Pearl gave me another lap.
'Besides,' I said, 'I like dogs.'
'So did Hitler,' Susan said.
I eased Pearl away from me and got up. Pearl immediately transferred her weight to Susan. I put a couple more logs in the fireplace and went to the stove and opened the oven. There were yellow eye beans baking in an old- fashioned brown and tan pot. I put a pan of corn bread batter in to bake beside them. Then I got some Iron Horse champagne out of the refrigerator and two glasses and brought them back to the couch.
'What about the mob takeover business in Boston?' Susan said.
'Don't know,' I said.
'Read that Tarone Jessup got killed, and a couple weeks later I read that two Russian immigrants from New York got dumped on Blue Hill Ave. Probably means that Tony Marcus has got to risk a tougher caretaker until he gets out.'
'Do you think the Russians can do it?'
'They've got to form an alliance,' I said, 'with Julius, or Gino, or Fast Eddie Lee. After the fiasco with Marty, I don't think it's going to happen.'
'What's going to happen to Marty?'
'Once they get wind of his connection with the Russians, I think platoons of feds will head for Nevada to see what kind of deal they can make with him to help them with the Russians.'
'Would it be bad if the Russians succeeded? If they, what?
Took over organized crime in Boston.'
I shrugged.
'Too big an issue for me,' I said.
'I work on a smaller scale.'
'Who killed Shirley Ventura,' Susan said.
'Yeah.'
'How to save Bibi Anaheim.'
'She's gone back to using her maiden name,' I said.
'Costa.'
'Have you ever thought about what would have happened if you and Hawk had failed.'
'Yeah.'
'She was right,' Susan said.
'You did use her.'
'I know.'
'Even though it was in her best interest.'
'I know.'
'You should have found another way.'
'I know.'
'If you had it to do over again you'd do the same thing,' Susan said.
'Wouldn't you?'
'Yeah.'
Susan smiled at me and drank some of her champagne. Incredibly, Pearl had found a way to lie down and stretch out fully on the couch between us. This left us less room than one would have hoped for, at opposite ends of the couch. The fire had fully involved the new logs I'd put on, and the flicker of it on the dark windows made the room seem nearly antic. I tasted my champagne. It was very cold, as it should be, and the bite of it was clean on the back of my mouth.
'You don't always do the right thing,' Susan said.
'True,' I said.
'But you get as close as you can,' she said.
The fireplace hissed as sap boiled out one end of a log. The log settled a little deeper into the flames.
'What are we having with the beans and corn bread?'
'I got four venison chops,' I said.
'They've been marinating in red wine and rosemary.'
'Dessert?'
'Bread pudding with whisky sauce.'
