and I never drink the whisky?'
'
'Cause you're Irish, aren't you?'
'Oh, yeah.'
'What else you want?' Lennie said. He had on a brown suit with a tan chalk stripe, a lavender shirt, with a white collar and a wide chocolate-colored silk tie tied in a big Windsor knot. His black hair was parted in the middle and slicked back evenly on both sides of the part.
'Know a guy named Anthony Meeker?'
'Un huh.'
'He a gambler?'
'Gambler implies that sometimes you win. I win more than I lose, for instance. It's how I make my living. Anthony don't gamble. Anthony loses.'
'Stupid?'
'Yeah, but that ain't it. Stupid you lose more than you win; but even stupid, you win sometimes. Anthony needs it too much.'
'The money?'
'Probably not the money. Probably the rush. I don't know. For me it's better than regular work. But it don't make me crazy. For Anthony? I seen him once keep betting in five-card stud when he was beat on the table. You know? Guy had three eights showing with four cards out. Anthony had nothing. Best he could do with a fifth card was a pair. But he kept kicking into the pot.'
Lennie drank some beer, poured out the rest of the bottle, and stared at the foam as it settled.
'Compulsive,' I said.
'Sure,' Lennie said.
'He been losing a lot lately?'
'Don't know. He married Julius Ventura's daughter I wouldn't let him bet with me anymore.'
'Julius say anything?'
'No, but I been doing fine these years without pissing Julius Ventura off. I didn't see no reason to start.'
'So you don't know firsthand, you hear anything?'
'People don't talk about Julius Ventura's son-in-law, Spenser.
He's in hock to them they stay low about it, you know.'
The bartender brought Lennie a new bottle of Budweiser.
'How many beers you drink a day?' I said.
'Maybe sixteen,' Lennie said.
'Why you asking about Anthony.'
'He's missing.'
Lennie nodded.
'Julius hired me to find him,' I said.
'You're shitting me.'
'Nope.'
I drank some beer.
'He fool around with women?' I said.
'Julius Ventura hired you to find his son-in-law?'
'Me and Hawk,' I said.
'What kind of beer is this?'
Lenny shrugged and called to the bartender over his shoulder.
'Jackie, what kinda draught beer you serving us?'
'New Amsterdam Black and Tan,' Jackie said.
'New Amsterdam Black and Tan,' Lennie said.
'Thanks,' I said.
'His answer was much too hard for me.'
'Why the fuck is Julius hiring you and Hawk, for cris sake 'Julius's a first-class guy,' I said.
'You know he ain't,' Lennie said. He lowered his voice when he said it.
'What's going on?'
