'Umm,' Hawk said.
'Umm?'
'Umm.'
'What the hell does `umm' mean?'
'Means how'd you feel talking with Susan's ex-husband.'
'He seemed like kind of a goofball to me.'
'Umm.'
'His name was Silverman,' I said. 'He changed it to Sterling.'
'Cute.'
We ate some more oysters.
'He's got that sort of Ivy League old money WASP goofiness that they have,' I said.
'Silverman?'
'Sterling,' I said.
'So he trying to pass.'
'I'd say so.'
'And succeeding,' Hawk said.
'Yes. He's got it down cold. Bow ties, everything.'
'Maybe he just like bow ties.'
'Who just likes bow ties?' I said.
'Got a point,' Hawk said. 'How he measure up?'
'To what?'
'To you.'
'No better than anybody else.'
Hawk grinned.
''Cept me,' he said. 'How you feel about him?'
'Something's wrong,' I said. 'Susan tells me he's at the verge of dissolution. He says he's doing grand and has the office to prove it.'
'So somebody lying,' Hawk said.
'Right.'
'And it ain't Susan.'
'Also right.'
'How she know he is in a state of near dissolution?' Hawk said.
'Wow,' I said. 'You talk like an Ivy Leaguer yourself.'
'Ah's been practicin',' Hawk said. 'How she know?'
'I assume he told her.'
'So he either lying to her, or lying to you.'
'And he hasn't got much reason to tell her he's going under if he's not,' I said.
''Less he looking for sympathy.'
'He's got no reason to,' I said. 'He's two, three wives past her.'
'So why he go tell her his troubles?'
'Well, she's a good one if you need some help.'
'How long since he seen her?'
I shrugged. 'Maybe twenty years. She was already divorced when I met her.'
'And now he decides she's a good listener?'
'Umm,' I said.
''Tha's right,' Hawk said.
We were quiet. Someone was playing The Platters on the jukebox. In the corner of the bar up high a hockey game played silently on television. The perfect compromise.
'Maybe knew about you,' Hawk said.
'He wanted me he could walk into my office and tell me his problem,' I said.
'And you'd do it free?'
