'Looking for Bibi.'
'And why we think she be here?'
'We don't,' I said.
'But we don't know where else to start. So if we find out what was going on between Gino and Marty and Anthony and Julius, maybe we'll get an idea of where to look for Bibi.'
'Or maybe we won't.'
'Welcome to the world of detection,' I said.
'And why we looking for Bibi?'
'Because we're worried about her.'
'Of course we are,' Hawk said.
The door opened and Gino came in with Vinnie Morris. He saw Hawk and nodded to him. Hawk made no response.
'I came to see you,' Gino said.
'Now you come to see me.'
'Equipoise,' I said.
Gino smiled with neither warmth nor humor, on and off.
'Geoffrey spoke of Marty Anaheim,' he said.
'Geoffrey?'
'My assistant. He said you wanted to tell me something about Marty.'
'I just told him that to get in,' I said.
'I don't know anything about Marty. Is he back from Las Vegas?'
'I didn't know he was in Las Vegas,' Gino said.
'I don't know if he's back. Marty worked for me for fifteen years. He does so no longer.'
'Can you tell me why?'
'No.'
'Do you know his wife? Bibi?'
'I'm afraid not,' Gino said.
'I require that my private life be my own. I treat others on the same basis.'
'He used to beat her up.'
'Beating people up is what Marty does,' Gino said.
'It is why I employed him so long.'
'You implied last time I saw you that Marty might be stealing from you.'
'Did I.'
'Yeah. You know Anthony Meeker?'
'Who?'
'That's a mistake, Mr. Fish. Last time we talked you knew his name.'
'It's a mistake of my age,' Gino said.
'I still think well, but I no longer remember well. Is Anthony Meeker Julius Ventura's son-inlaw?'
'Yes, you implied last time that he might be stealing too.'
Gino was sitting in one corner of the big rock maple couch. He had his legs crossed and his thin hands resting in his lap. I could see the dappling of age spots on the backs of them. He pursed his lips a little and stared for a moment out his big picture window at what probably seemed to him, his ocean. He raised his hands from his lap and put his fingertips together and tapped his lips for a moment. Then he pointed his fingertips at me.
'You think, Mr. Spenser, that I am being cute,' Gino said.
'It is not an unreasonable thought. I am capable of cuteness. Indeed there is very little that I am not capable of. But in this instance I know very little more than you do. There have been some financial irregularities in my business. It was Marty's responsibility to oversee all the financial transactions and to ensure that they were as alleged. These irregularities came inopportunely at a time when we were beginning to organize in contemplation of a merger. I came to you to see if you could shed any light on whether Marty was culpable. You didn't shed much, being primarily interested in getting me to shed some light on your interest. It was largely a waste of our time.'
'But you fired Marty.'
'No. Marty left.'
'Did he give a reason?'
'None. He simply failed to show up for work one day, and I have not seen him since. You tell me he was in Las Vegas. He may still be there. Or he may be next door, I simply don't know.'
