'If you lose, can you pay the judgment?'
'That's not the point. I'm…' He grinned. 'I'm an innocent man.'
'But you could pay it.'
'Certainly.'
'You're not at the brink of, ah, dissolution?'
'Dissolute, yes, whenever possible,' Sterling said. 'Dissolution? Not hardly.'
Sterling made a gesture that encompassed the office and the view. 'This look like dissolution?'
'All it proves is they haven't evicted you,' I said.
Sterling laughed out loud.
'A hard man is good to find,' he said when he had stopped laughing.
'You want me to look into this a little?' I said. 'See if I can fix it?'
'I wish someone would fix Francis Ronan,' he said.
'Yes or no?'
'What do you charge?'
'Pro bono,' I said.
'Well, the damn price is right, I guess. Sure, why not? You may as well take a whack at it.'
'Okay. Who's your lawyer.'
He shook his head.
'You don't have a lawyer?'
'Haven't got to it yet,' he said. 'Thought I'd wait until there was an actual court date. No point in paying some guy to shuffle papers for a month.'
'Sometimes if a good lawyer shuffles them right, you don't have to go to court.'
'Oh,' he said, 'a good lawyer.'
And he leaned back in his chair and put his head back and laughed again. It was a big laugh and sounded completely genuine.
'I'll need the names of the plaintiffs,' I said.
'Sure. I had Patti start a file on this. Ask her for a copy.'
I stood. He stood. We shook hands.
'Give Susan a kiss for me,' he said.
'No,' I said.
chapter three
HAWK WAS SIPPING champagne at the corner of the bar in the Casablanca in Harvard Square and saving the bar stool next to him for me. As far as I could tell, no one had contested the seat.
'I ordered us a mess of pan-fried oysters,' Hawk said. 'Figured you could use the protein.'
Jimmy the bartender looked at me and pointed to the Foster's tap. I nodded.
'Been here before?' Hawk said.
'Susan and I come here.'
Jimmy brought the beer.
'Irish,' Hawk said.
'His name is James Santo Costagnozzi,' I said.
'Bad luck,' Hawk said. 'To look Irish when you not.'
'Unless you're trying to pass,' I said.
'Nobody trying to pass for Irish,' Hawk said.
'Is that an ethnic slur?' I said.
'Believe so,' Hawk said.
The pan-fried oysters arrived and we ate some.
'Feelin' stronger?' Hawk said.
'Potent is my middle name,' I said.
'Always wondered,' Hawk said. 'How you doing with Susan's ex?'
'I met him today,' I said.
