'I'll be here,' he said.
I walked with Susan through the brief wedge of dry heat into the air-conditioned terminal. We went along the concourse past the people on their way home desperately trying to recoup with one last dollar in one last slot until we got to the security gate.
'Did anyone follow us out here?' she said.
'No. Once they located Anthony they jilted me,' I said.
'That would suggest that it was Anthony they were looking for.'
'Yes.'
'Do you think he's in danger?'
'Hawk's with him,' I said.
'I wish you knew if there were danger, where the danger was coming from,' Susan said.
'Where's the fun in that?' I said.
We stood silently for a moment. Then Susan put her arms around me.
'I love you,' she said.
'There's a certainty,' I said.
'Maybe the only one.'
'Maybe the only one necessary,' I said.
She nodded as if I'd said a smart thing and smiled up at me.
'Take care of yourself,' she said.
'I'll call you.'
'Often,' she said.
We put our arms around each other and kissed each other gently. This kiss was loving but not big and smoochy. Susan never did big smoochy kisses while wearing lipstick.
'You got your ticket,' I said.
She held up the ticket which she had in her left hand. Then she put her right hand on my face for a moment and turned and went through the gate. Watching her I felt the little knot in my stomach that I always felt when I left her. She walked a ways down the concourse, and looked back and waved and then turned a corner and was out of sight. I still stood for a moment, looking at the last place I had seen her, being careful not to be routine, while I became the other guy again, the one I was without her. It took a couple of minutes. And then I was him. He wasn't a bad guy; in fact sometimes I thought he had strengths that the other guy didn't have. Certainly he wasn't worse. But he was no one I wanted to be all the time. I turned back and headed for Lester and the Lincoln.
CHAPTER 20
When I got back to The Mirage there were a couple of Las Vegas detectives waiting for me with a hotel security guy in the corridor outside my room. When I put the key in my door, one of them showed me his badge.
'Your name Spenser?'
I confessed to it, and unlocked the door.
'May we come in?'
'Sure,' I said.
They looked for a moment at the security guy.
'Let me know if there's anything you need,' he said.
Both of the cops looked at him without speaking. The one who'd showed me his badge nodded slightly. The security guy went off down the corridor and we went into my room.
'Nice,' one of the cops said.
The one who'd showed the badge was leathery and tall and gray haired with a thick gray moustache. His partner was much younger with stylish blond hair, wearing good clothes.
'This is Detective Cooper,' the gray-haired one said.
'I'm Detective Sergeant Romero, Las Vegas Police Department.'
'You know I'm a famous detective, and you came here looking for crime stopper tips,' I said.
'Never heard of you,' Romero said, 'until we found your card at a crime scene.'
'Pays to advertise,' I said.
'Oh good,' Cooper said, 'a funny one.'
'Yeah,' Romero said.
'Makes it so much nicer when they're funny.'
'Just think of me as lighthearted,' I said.
'Tell me about the crime.'
