minutes when a cab pulled up and Deegan got out with an overnight bag in his hand. He went to the door and it opened and he stood for a moment with his arms wide and Madelaine came out and jumped against him and wrapped her legs around his waist. They kissed for a considerable time and then Deegan carried her into the house, still holding the overnight bag dangling kind of awkwardly from his left hand behind her back and slapping against her buttocks as Deegan walked. The door slammed shut behind them. Deegan had probably kicked it shut with his heel.
I speculated on what might happen next. Whatever it was did not involve coming back out. At ten thirty I gave up and went home to bed. Deegan was going to stay the weekend. That seemed pretty clear. Probably had been back to New York to see his wife and count his money and, maybe, bring in a hitter from the Big Apple to deal with me. So I had access to him, I was pretty sure, for the next two days. If only it were pretty clear what I was going to do with him. It seemed time to consult with Susan and, perhaps, Hawk.
Susan was in pajamas when I arrived. But I wasn't fooled. Her hair wasn't up. She was waiting for me.
'Hey,' she said, 'how's it going?'
'Bobby Deegan just showed up at Madelaine's house and she ran over and jumped in his arms and wrapped her legs around his waist.'
Susan smiled. Her face softened. 'Hey, how's it going,' she said.
'Yeah,' I said. 'We'd probably hurt ourselves doing that.'
Susan went to the refrigerator and took out a low glass pitcher with a glass stirrer in it. It contained a pale chartreuse-colored fluid. 'Gimlets,' she said.
'Gimlets?'
'Yes, I decided we ought to have something that was our drink,' she said.
'And you chose gimlets?'
'Yes, the color is so lovely.' I nodded.
'And we only drink them with each other, and we keep our pitcher and our two gimlet glasses by themselves and we don't drink anything else out of them.' Susan's eyes were bright.
'I'll get a matched set for my place too,' I said.
'Yes,' she said.
'That's very romantic,' I said.
'I thought so,' Susan said.
'Wouldn't it be just as easy to jump into my arms and wrap your legs around my waist?' Susan poured out a gimlet over ice and handed it to me.
'Drink the goddamn gimlet,' she said.
'Right,' I said, 'it wouldn't be easier at all.'
Susan leaned against me and I put my arms around her and one thing led to another and we left the gimlets half drunk on her kitchen counter.
Around midnight we were quiet. I lay on my back with my right arm outstretched. She had her head against my shoulder.
'Madelaine and Deegan are the keys to this,' I said.
'Is that what we're going to do now? Talk about your case?'
I nodded.
'Then it must be they who prevent Dwayne from testifying,' Susan said. 'Unless you've missed a great deal, and you usually don't, there's no one else that could be.'
'Yeah, but what have we got on him and how do I find out?'
'Without exposing Dwayne,' she said.
'Sure, that's the goddamned kink in the rope. Otherwise I just give what I've got to Taft and let them take it to the D.A. and you and I can go to Chicago and have dinner at Le Perroquet.'
'And a gimlet first?'
'The whole ball of wax,' I said.
'Is that what we've been involved in tonight?' Susan said.
'Yes, tonight was the whole ball of wax,' I said.
'And you call me romantic,' Susan murmured.
'Shucks,' I said. We were quiet.
'Is there a way to bring them together?' Susan said.
'Dwayne, Madelaine and Deegan?' I said.
'Yes.'
I shrugged. 'Probably,' I said, 'though you've got to understand about Dwayne. If he's recalcitrant, it's heavy work.'
'I know,' Susan said, 'I know. You've mentioned that he's big, but you and Hawk can probably reason with him.'
