'You got custody this week?' he said.
'It's take your dog to work day,' I said. 'You want some coffee?'
'Of course.'
I got a cup from the storage cabinet and handed it to him and pointed at the Mr. Coffee machine on the side table.
'There's milk in the little refrigerator,' I said.
Quirk poured some coffee, and added milk and sugar. Pearl paid close attention. There was a canister of dog biscuits beside the coffee maker. Quirk took one out and gave it to Pearl. Then he came and sat in one of my conference chairs. Pearl sat on the floor beside him and put her head on his thigh.
'Why you,' Quirk said to Pearl, 'why not my old lady?'
Pearl wagged her tail.
'Going through Sterling's address file, we came across the name Richard Gavin,' Quirk said.
I nodded.
'When we talked the other night in Sterling's office,' Quirk said to me, 'you mentioned a guy named Gavin who kept popping up in whatever it is you think you're doing.'
'Investigating,' I said. 'I'm investigating.'
'Sure you are,' Quirk said. 'Gavin has popped up again.'
'And you stopped by on your way to work to share?' I said.
'Spirit of cooperation,' Quirk said. 'Maybe you can learn by example.'
He drank some coffee.
'Good coffee,' he said. 'You remember the name of the stiff in Sterling's office?'
'Cony Brown,' I said.
'Right. You remember he was tried for assault in Massachusetts.'
'Yeah, dismissed because the plaintiff got frightened.'
'Uh huh. You want to guess who his lawyer was?'
'Richard Gavin.'
Quirk pointed his forefinger. 'Bingo,' he said.
'Richard gets around.' I was thinking out loud. 'He warns me away from Carla Quagliozzi, who is Sterling's ex-wife. Number 3, I think, who is the president of a charity, of which Gavin is a board member, which was part of Galapalooza which Sterling produced. Gavin's name is in Sterling's address file…'
'To which you of course have no legal access,' Quirk said.
'Right. And a guy who answers Gavin's description is calling on some of the other charities in Galapalooza asking how much money they made from the event.'
'Is he now?' Quirk said. 'You got any idea why?'
'No. All I know is that nobody made a dime, except Civil Streets.'
'How much did they get?'
'I don't know,' I said. 'Maybe they didn't get anything either. They won't talk to me.'
'I'll bet I can get them to talk to me,' Quirk said.
'You have a winning way about you, Captain.'
'Yeah. You want to make a wager what I'll find out?'
'If you get past the cooked books?'
'I got people can get past those,' Quirk said.
'I'll bet they made a bundle.'
'No bet,' Quirk said.
We sat quiet for a time drinking coffee, both of us thinking.
'Here's what I know,' I said to Quirk.
'See, spirit of concentration is working already.'
'He talks a good game, and he puts up a nice front, and he won't admit it, but financially, Sterling is in the crapper. He's got alimony and child support. He can't pay his bills. He's apparently run out of people to borrow from. Even his sister won't lend him money.'
I held up a last small corner of my oatmeal scone.
Pearl left Quirk and came over and I gave it to her. She ate it with a lot more enthusiasm than its size deserved.
'It's a mess,' Quirk said. 'But there's ways to get out of it. People get out of it all the time.'
'Sure,' I said. 'The right kind of people. They change the way they manage their money. Restructure for debt
