'He knows he's being a pest,' Magliore told the walls. He raised his hands and then let them fall back to his meaty thighs. 'Then why in the name of Christ don't you stop?'
'This is the last thing.'
Magliore rolled his eyes. 'This ought to be beautiful,' he told the walls. 'What is it?'
He pulled out some bills and said, 'There's eighteen thousand dollars here. Three thousand would be for you. A finder's fee.'
'Who do you want found?'
'A girl in Las Vegas.'
'The fifteen's for her?'
'Yes. I'd like you to take it and invest it in whatever operations you run that are good to invest in. And pay her dividends. '
'Legitimate operations?'
'Whatever will pay the best dividends. I trust your judgment.'
'He trusts my judgment,' Magliore informed the walls. 'Vegas is a big town, Mr. Dawes. A transient town.'
'Don't you have connections there?'
'As a matter of fact I do. But if we're talking about some half-baked hippie girl who may have already cut out for San Francisco or Denver-'
'She goes by the name of Olivia Brenner. And I think she's still in Las Vegas. She was last working in a fast-food restaurant-'
'Of which there are at least two million in Vegas,' Magliore said. 'Jesus! Mary! Joseph the carpenter!'
'She has an apartment with another girl, or at least she did when I talked to her the last time. I don't know where. She's about five-eight, darkish hair, green eyes. Good figure. Twenty-one years old. Or so she says.'
'And suppose I can't locate this marvelous piece of ass?'
'Invest the money and keep the dividends yourself. Call it nuisance pay.'
'How do you know I won't do that anyway?'
He stood up, leaving the bills on Magliore's desk. 'I guess I don't. But you have an honest face.'
'Listen,' Magliore said. 'I don't mean to bite your ass. You're a man who's already getting his ass bitten. But I don't like this. It's like you're making me executor to your fucking last will and testament.'
'Say no if you have to.'
'No, no, no, you don't get it. If she's still in Vegas and going under this Olivia Brenner name I think I can find her and three grand is more than fair. It doesn't hurt me one way or the other. But you spook me, Dawes. You're really locked on course. '
'Yes. '
Magliore frowned down at the pictures of himself, his wife, and his children under the glass top of his desk.
'All right,' Magliore said. 'This one last time, all right. But no more, Dawes. Absolutely not. If I ever see you again or hear you on the phone, you can forget it. I mean that. I got enough problems of my own without diddling around in yours. '
'I agree to that condition.'
He stuck out his hand, not sure that Magliore would shake it, but Magliore did.
'You make no sense to me,' Magliore said. 'Why should I like a guy who makes no sense to me?'
'It's a senseless world,' he said. 'If you doubt it, just think about Mr. Piazzi's dog.'
'I think about her a lot,' Magliore said.
January 16, 1974
He took the manila envelope containing the checkbook down to the post office box on the comer and mailed it. That evening he went to see a movie called
January 17, 1974
Mary called on the phone. She sounded absurdly relieved, gay, and that made everything much easier.
'You sold the house,' she said.
'That's right. '
'But you're still there.'
'Only until Saturday. I've rented a big farmhouse in the country. I'm going to try and get my act back together.'
'Oh, Bart. That's so wonderful. I'm so glad.' He realized why it was being so easy. She was being phony. She wasn't glad or not glad. She had given up. ' About the checkbook . . . '
'Yes.'
