I looked at the closed door of Susan's office.
'She got a client?' I said.
'Woman,' Hawk said. 'In a short skirt.'
'Observant,' I said.
'A natural gift,' Hawk said.
A client canceled, and Susan had a two-hour break before the next one. We had lunch together upstairs in her apartment. I told her what I knew and what I was going to do.
'People are going to some lengths,' Susan said.
'And I'm not quite sure why,' I said.
'It must have something to do with that bank robbery when Daryl's mother got killed.'
'But what?' I said. 'Was she there? Did she do the shooting? Is there something else?'
'Do you think Barry Gordon knows?'
'He knows something worth two thousand dollars a month to Bunny's mother.'
'And you can't call him on the phone?'
'Can't scare him as effectively on the phone,' I said.
'You plan to scare him.'
'Yes. I can't pay him more than Mrs. Karnofsky.'
'Can you scare him more than Mr. Karnofsky?' Susan said.
'A guy in your living room is more scary than a guy three thousand miles away,' I said.
We were sharing a large tossed salad and hot cornbread, which I had put together while I waited for Susan. Susan nibbled on a wedge of purple heirloom tomato, which we had bought on Sunday at Verrill Farm. She nodded.
'And,' I said, 'we don't know for a fact that Sonny, Mr. Karnofsky, knows about the money going to Gordon.'
'Because it comes out of her bank account,' Susan said.
'Yes.'
'But wouldn't he be the one putting money into the account?'
'Doesn't mean he knows how she spends it,' I said.
'No,' she said. 'I suppose it doesn't.'
I ate a square of cornbread. Susan had a bite of red lettuce. In a move reminiscent of her predecessor, Pearl coiled in and around our feet-ever hopeful.
'How do you feel?' I said to Susan.
'Being in danger is rarely pleasant,' she said. 'And though the prospect of being in danger without you is less pleasant, I'm feeling well looked-after.'
'How do you feel about Junior and Ty-Bop?'
'They're hideous,' Susan said. 'But I trust them because Hawk said I should.'
I nodded. 'Vinnie will be along tomorrow,' I said.
'Vinnie is not actually charming,' Susan said.
'That's because you haven't seen him shoot,' I said.
'And I hope not to.'
We finished our lunch, during which I gave Pearl a couple bites of cornbread when Susan wasn't looking. The second time, she caught me.
'You are just teaching her to beg from the table,' she said.
'If she's going to do it,' I said, 'isn't it best if she knows how?'
Susan pretended that what I said was not amusing. 'Oh, God,' she said.
In the afternoon, Susan saw the rest of her patients while I organized my travels. That night, we had supper together and went to bed early. Unfortunately, Pearl went to bed with us, which is a bit like trying to make love around a giraffe.
We are, however, experienced, determined, and adroit.
We managed.
52
On a case where I'd been paid six Krispy Kreme donuts, air travel alone had put me in deficit. But here I was again in San Diego with a Colt Python loaner gun and a rented Ford Taurus, driving up Route 5 again, toward Mission Bay to visit Barry Gordon. It was warm and sunny and pleasant in San Diego, as it always was, except
