'Well,it's fifteen dollars a person, but that includes the dinner first and the bus ride out to the Coliseum.'
'How much extra do you have to pay if you don't have the dinner?'
'Huh? I don't- oh.' He started to giggle. 'Hey, that's really neat,'
he said. 'Let me tell Mick. Dad wants to know how much extra you have to pay if you don't have the dinner. Don't you get it, stupid?Dad?
How much extra if you don't ride on the bus?'
'That's the idea.'
'I bet the dinner's chicken a la king.'
'It's always chicken a la king. Look, the cost's no problem, and if the seats are halfway decent it doesn't sound like too bad a deal. When is it?'
'Well, it's a week from tomorrow. Friday night.'
'That could be a problem. It's pretty short notice.'
'They just told us at the last meeting. Can't we go?'
'I don't know. I've got a case and I don't know how long it'll run.
Or if I can steal a few hours in the middle of it.'
'I guess it's a pretty important case, huh?'
'The guy I'm trying to help is charged with murder.'
'Did he do it?'
'I don't think so, but that's not the same as knowing how to prove it.'
'Can't the police investigate and work it out?'
Not when they don't want to, I thought. I said, 'Well, they think my friend is guilty and they're not bothering to look any further. That's why he has me working for him.' I rubbed my temple where a pulse was starting to throb. 'Look, here's how we'll do it. Why don't you go ahead and make the arrangements, all right? I'm sending your mother some money tomorrow and I'll send an extra forty-five bucks for the tickets. If I can't make it I'll let you know and you can just give one ticket away and tag along with somebody else. How does that sound?'
There was a pause. 'The thing is,Jack said he would take us if you couldn't.'
'Jack?'
'He's Mom's friend.'
'Uh-huh.'
'But you know, it's supposed to be a father-son thing, and he's not our father.'
'Right.Hang on a second, will you?' I didn't actually need a drink, but I couldn't see how it would hurt me. I capped the bottle and said,
'How do you get along with Jack?'
'Oh, he's okay.'
'That's good. Well, see how this sounds. I'll take you if I possibly can. If not, you can use my ticket and take Jack. Okay?'
That's how we left it.
IN Armstrong's I nodded to four or five people but didn't find the man I was looking for. I sat down at my table. When Trina came over I asked her if DougFuhrmann had been in.
'You're an hour late,' she said. 'He dropped in, drank one beer, cashed a check and split.'
'Do you happen to know where he lives?'
She shook her head. 'In the neighborhood, but I couldn't tell you where. Why?'
'I wanted to get in touch with him.'
'I'll ask Don.'
But Don didn't know either. I had a bowl of pea soup and a hamburger. When Trina brought my coffee she sat down across from me and rested her little pointed chin on the back of her hand. 'You're in a funny mood,' she said.
'I'm always in a funny mood.'
'Funny for you, I mean. Either you're working or you're uptight about something.'
'Maybe both.'
'Are you working?'
'Uh-huh.'
'Is that why you're looking for DougFuhrmann ? Are you working for him?'
'For a friend of his.'
'Did you try the telephone book?'
