'You're as fucking goofy as he is,' Vinnie said.
Vinnie drove us home through the new Ted Williams Tunnel, which was not yet open to the general public. I raised this point with Vinnie.
'I am not the freakin' general public,' Vinnie said.
We went through the tunnel without incident.
In the morning I called Daryl, and at 10 A.M., with Hawk lounging on the couch, I sat in my office and drank coffee and talked with her.
'I'm half awake,' she said. 'We had a performance last night.'
'Coffee is the answer,' I said.
She smiled. 'To everything?'
'No. Sometimes there needs to be orange juice too.'
'Did you see my father?' she said.
'I did.'
'Isn't he a jerk?'
I nodded. 'He is,' I said.
She shook her head sadly. 'He couldn't control himself,' she said. 'Let alone control my mother.'
'Leon's last name was Holton. That ring any bells?'
'No.'
'How about Abner Fancy?'
'What kind of name is that?'
'A funny one,' I said. 'You ever hear it?'
'No.'
'Do you remember any of your mother's friends?' I said. 'Anywhere?'
'In her whole life?'
'Yes. Any names come to mind? Even if you've only heard of them?'
'My mom died when I was six, for God's sake.'
'I'm almost as keenly aware of that as you are. Any names?'
'Bunny,' she said. 'One of the people my mom was with in Boston was named Bunny. I remember because I always thought of a huge white rabbit hopping along.'
'Bunny Lombard?'
'Could be,' Daryl said. 'I don't think I ever heard a last name.'
'How did your mother know her?'
'I think they were in college together,' Daryl said.
'Your mother went to college?'
'A year or two, then she dropped out.'
'Where?'
'Some school around here,' Daryl said.
'Here?'
'Boston. Starts with a T.'
'Tufts?'
'No.'
'Taft?'
'Yes, that's it. Taft University.'
I looked at Hawk, draped on my couch. He looked back at me and smiled widely.
'It would have been good to know that sooner.'
'Why? What difference would it have made?'
'If you want me to find who killed your mother,' I said, 'then you give me whatever you know, and let me decide if it will make a difference.'
'Well, you don't have to get all rumpled up about it.'
'The hell I don't,' I said. 'What else haven't you told me? Do you know how she met Leon?'
'No.'
'Did your aunt go to Taft?'
