“It’s just that myth about your equipment,” I said.
“Ain’t no myth, man.”
I took $100 Canadian out of my wallet and gave it to Hawk. “Here, buy her a hundred worth of clothes. Whatever she wants. Don’t let her blow it on fancy lingerie though.”
“From what I seen last night she ain’t planning to wear none.”
“Maybe tonight is your turn,” I said.
“Didn’t satisfy her, huh?”
“I didn’t come across,” I said. “I never do on the first date.”
“Admire a man with standards, babe, I surely do. Suze be proud of you.”
“Yeah.”
“That why she so grouchy about you this morning. That why I looking better to her.”
“She’s a sicko, Hawk.”
“Ah ain’t planning to screw her psyche, babe.”
I shrugged. Kathie came down the stairs in the wrinkled white linen. She went with Hawk without looking at me. When they were gone I washed the dishes, put everything away, and then I called Dixon’s man, Jason Carroll, collect.
“I’m in Montreal,” I said. “I have accounted for all the people on Dixon’s list, and I suppose I should come home.”
“Yes,” Carroll said. “Flanders has been sending us reports and clippings. Mr. Dixon is quite satisfied with the first five. If you can verify the last four…”
“We’ll get to that when I’m back in town. What I want to do now is talk to Dixon.”
“About what?”
“I want to keep on for a while. I have the end of something and I want to pull it all the way out of its hole before I quit.”
“You have been paid a good deal of money already, Spenser.”
“That’s why I want to talk with Dixon. You can’t authorize it.”
“Well, I don’t…”
“Call him and tell him I want to talk. Then call me back. Don’t act executive with me. We both know you are a glorified go-for.”
“That’s hardly true, Spenser, but we need not argue about that. I’ll be in touch with Mr. Dixon, and I’ll call you back. What is your number?”
I read him the number off the phone and hung up. Then I sat down in the sparse living room and thought.
If Paul and Zachary were here, and maybe they were, they had tickets for the Olympics. Kathie had no idea which events. But it was pretty likely that they’d show up at the stadium. It was possible they were sport fans, but it was more likely that, sport fans or not, they had a plan to do in something or someone at the Olympics. A lot of African teams were boycotting, but not all. And on their track record they were pretty loose on who they damaged on behalf of the cause. There wasn’t much to be gained by going to the Canadian cops. They were already screwing the security down as tight as they could after the horror show in Munich. If we got to them, all they could do was tell us to stay out of the way. And we didn’t want to stay out of the way. So we’d do this without the cops.
If Paul wanted to make a gesture, the Olympic stadium was the place. It was the center of media attention. It was the place to look for him. To do that we needed tickets. I was figuring that Dixon could do that.
The phone rang. It was Carroll. “Mr. Dixon will see you,” he said.
“Why not a phone call.”
“Mr. Dixon doesn’t do business on the phone. He’ll see you at his home as soon as you can come.”
“Okay. It’s an hour flight. I’ll be there this afternoon sometime. I’ll have to check the flight schedule.”
“Mr. Dixon will be there. Any time. He never goes out and he rarely sleeps.”
“I’ll be there sometime today.”
I hung up, called the airport, booked a flight for after lunch. Called Susan Silverman and got no answer. Hawk came back with Kathie. They had four or five bags. Hawk had a long package done in brown paper.
“Picked up a new shotgun at a sporting goods store,” he said. “After lunch I’ll modify it.”
Kathie went upstairs with the bags.
I said to Hawk, “I’m flying to Boston this afternoon, be back tomorrow morning.”
“Remember me to Suze,” he said.
“If I see her.”
“What do you mean if. What you going for?”
“I gotta talk to Dixon. He doesn’t talk on the phone.”
“You got his bread,” Hawk said. “I guess you don’t have to do what you don’t want.”
