“Wow!” I said.
“What can we do for you, Mr. Spenser?”
“I’m interested in who hooked DeRosa up with Mary Smith,” I said.
“And what is your interest, Sergeant?”
“I’m just along to learn,” Belson said.
“Are you here officially?”
“You mean if your client helps us out can I help him out?”
“Precisely.”
“Sure.”
She nodded slightly at DeRosa.
“Guy I know called me,” DeRosa said. “Told me this broad was interested in a shooter.”
“What’s the guy’s name?”
“Chuck.”
“Chuck.”
“Yeah. I don’t know his last name, just Chuck.”
“Where’s Chuck from?”
“In town somewhere,” DeRosa said.
“In town.”
“Yeah.”
“If I wanted to talk with Chuck, how would I reach him?”
“I don’t know. He called me.”
“So how’d you get in touch with Mary Smith?”
“Chuck give me her number,” DeRosa said. “I called it.”
I looked at Belson. He shrugged slightly.
“So,” I said. “A guy named Chuck, you don’t know his full name or how to reach him, calls you up and tells you that a woman wants her husband killed, and you call her up and offer your services?”
“Yeah.”
I looked at Belson again. He had no expression. I looked at Ann Kiley. She seemed calm.
“Okay. Tell me about your conversation with Mary Smith.”
“Hey, I already told about a hundred fucking cops and ADA’S,” he said. “Didn’t you read the reports?”
“It’s just an excuse,” I said. “You’re so goddamned charming that I just like to talk with you.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t like saying the same shit over and over.”
“Sure,” I said. “Like you got important stuff to do in here.”
“It won’t hurt,” Ann Kiley said, “if you tell it once more, Jack.”
“Yeah? Well, she met me at some fucking restaurant in a fucking clothing store, for crissake.”
“Okay. How’d you recognize her?”
“I asked the hostess, or whatever, and they seated me.”
“What’d she say?”
“She just said she wanted her husband killed and could I do it?”
“How much she paying?”
“Fifty grand.”
“Why didn’t you take the job?”
“I did.”
“But you didn’t kill her husband.”
“No.”
“Because?”
“Because I don’t do that kind of work.”
“But you took the money.”
“Yeah, sure. I figure I take the dough and don’t do it. What’s she gonna do?”
“And you have fifty large in your pocket,” I said.
