'Clean her off,' he said to me.
I wet one of the hand towels and did the best I could. She wasn't cooperative but she was too zonked to put up much resistance. I used a second towel to finish the cleanup and a third to dry her off.
'Okay,' I said.
'Want me to take an arm?'
Jackie shook his head.
'Easier I just do her around the waist like this. You can go ahead and open doors.'
'Done this before, I gather.'
Jackie didn't say anything but he let his eyes roll upwards in their sockets for a moment. We got her through the restaurant, out the door, and into her father's car. She slumped over when Jackie put her in the backseat. He went around to the front, got in behind the wheel, nodded at me, power-locked the doors, and drove her away.
I went back in to pay the check.
'I hope the lady is all right, sir,' Jose said.
I gave him my American Express card.
'I don't think she'll ever be all right,' I said.
'But she'll be no worse for this experience.'
Jose went away with my card.
No wonder they didn't like her to drink wine at lunch.
CHAPTER 9
I feel like Chester the Molester,' I said to Susan.
We were walking Pearl the Wonder Dog along the Charles River, on the Esplanade, near the Hatch Shell.
'Getting a young woman drunk and pumping her for information?'
'Yeah,' I said.
'Are you familiar with the term 'Consenting Adult'?' Susan said.
I nodded. Susan was wearing black high top sneakers, black sweats, a black baseball cap with the words 'Community Servings' printed in 'white over the visor, and a yellow all-weather jacket which said 'DKNY Athletic' in black letters on the back.
'Did you find out things that will help you?'
'I found out that her husband handles a lot of money. I found out that he has cheated on her and seems inclined to again, except he's afraid that her father will have someone cut off his testicles.'
'Well, it would render the question of adultery moot,' Susan said.
'Conventionally denned.'
'Good point,' Susan said.
'I also found out from Lennie Seltzer that Anthony, that's Shirley's husband, gambles a lot and loses.'
'And,' Susan said, 'you found out that Anthony is married to a stupid, coarse, spoiled, self-indulgent, childish drunk.'
'You shrinks have a real knack for saying things so they don't sound bad.'
A platoon of people in elbow pads, helmets, and spandex pants Rollerbladed by with various degrees of grace. Pearl gazed after them with what might have been scorn, or even derision. I wasn't sure. Dogs are hard to read.
'I'd love to do that,' Susan said.
'I think I'll take some lessons.'
I made no comment. Pearl returned to straining against her leash, sniffing the grass along the edge of the sidewalk, alert for a wayward Zagnut wrapper.
'So what you have is a picture of perhaps a compulsive gambler with a wandering eye, married to an undesirable wife, with access to a great deal of money,' Susan went on.
'That you had to find some of this out by sitting quietly while Shirley Ventura got drunk and made an ass of herself seems a fair exchange for a man in your business.'
'You ought to try Rollerblading, at that,' I said.
'And if you don't like it you can always eat the skates.'
'Oh come on,' Susan said.
'You complain that I'm hard. You're the hardest person I've ever known. And I'm in a fairly tough profession, myself.'
'Including Hawk?'
'Okay, one of the two hardest people I've ever known,' Susan said.
