'Sure,' Susan said. 'He ain't heavy, he's my brother.' Her eyes were full of laughter, and something else, as she looked at me over the rim of her brandy alexander.
'A romantic diddle?'
'It's the first word that came to mind,' she said.
'And yet you find me physically compelling.'
'I find you compelling in every way,' Susan said. And I knew what the something else was in her eyes.
'Even though I'm a romantic diddle?'
'Especially,' Susan said, 'because of that.'
'So you agree that I should look into things a little more before I toot the whistle on the kid.'
'I agree, I approve and, more than that, I knew before the conversation began that you weren't going to 'toot the whistle.' '
'Nobody likes a know-it-all,' I said.
Susan put her hand out and laid it on top of mine.
'Somebody does,' she said.
12
I was sitting in my office with my feet up, thinking about Dwayne Woodcock and Chantel and point shaving and illiteracy and the backside of the new young paralegal who'd opened an office across the hall. The door to my office was open in case the paralegal wanted to stroll down the hall. A fine-looking black-haired man with a ruddy face walked in. He was wearing pale brown boaters and starched acid-washed jeans and a green polo shirt with the collar up. His jacket was silk tweed, dark brown and nipped in at the waist. His thick black hair was longish and brushed back on each side. A gold medallion on a thick gold chain showed at his throat. On his left hand was a big ring with a blue stone that looked like a high school or college ring. His sunglasses hung against his chest on a cord.
'How ya doing,' he said when he came in.
'Fine,' I said. I kept one eye peeled on the hallway.
'Got a few minutes?' he said.
'Sure.' The accent was New York.
'Mind if I close the door?'
I sighed. 'No,' I said brightly, 'go ahead.'
He closed it and then turned and sat down in my client chair. He was about my height and slender. His hands were square and pale with a lot of black hair on the backs. The nails were manicured. I could smell cologne. There was a yellow silk handkerchief in the breast pocket of his jacket. He had the jacket sleeves pushed up over his forearms. On the left wrist was a gold Rolex.
'Nice office,' he said.
'Compared to what?'
'Compared to working out of a packing crate in Canarsie,' he said. 'You mind if I smoke?' I shook my head. He took a pigskin cigarette case out of his coat pocket, and a round gold lighter. He took out a cigarette, offered the open case to me. I shook my head. He snapped the case closed, dropped it into his side pocket, snapped a flame from the lighter, put the cigarette into his mouth and lit it, automatically shielding the flame as if the wind were blowing. He took in smoke and let it out through his nose as he dropped the lighter back into the pocket with the cigarettes. Then he leaned back in the chair and stretched his feet in front of him and surveyed my office some more. He nodded approvingly.
'Nice little setup,' he said. I tried to look humble.
'Must make a pretty nice living with a setup like this.
I looked at the closed door.
I said, 'I don't mean to seem impatient, but for the last hour I've been trying to get a look at the young woman across the hall and she usually walks by about this time.'
He glanced over his shoulder at the closed door and then back at me, pausing a moment to figure out if he was being kidded. Then he grinned.
'Hey, pal, I never blame a man for hustling.' He took the cigarette out of his mouth oddly, with the palm facing away and the back of his hand closest to his face. He held the cigarette between his first two fingers, keeping the lighted end cupped slightly toward his palm.
'I'll make it quick,' he said.
'Thank you,' I said.
'We got a problem, you and me. Not the kind of problem can't be worked out. Couple of successful guys, a little good will, you scratch my back I scratch yours, everything is jake with a little effort.'
I waited. He made himself even more comfortable in my client chair.
'My name is Bobby Deegan,' he said. I nodded.
'I'm in business in Brooklyn,' Deegan said. 'And I got some business interests up here.'
I waited some more. He smoked some of his cigarette.
